#fastest hardest hit baseballs

[dinosaurwithablog]

When you look at the most home runs that were hit over 110mph, Giancarlo Stanton and Aaron Judge are the top two. But of course they are. Giancarlo has 146, and Aaron has 111. That's incredible!! Stanton is the most powerful hitter in baseball, today. He hits them long and hard. Ooh, baby. It's a beautiful sight to behold. 😍 This is, probably, the only statistic in which Aaron Judge is not in first place. He's leading in every other category!! The Bash Brothers are amazing!! I love these guys. They make the game exciting!! Let's go Yankees!!!!! 💜❤️💜⚾️⚾️

[insidethegiftbasket]

Aaron Judge

Basic Info

Aaron is entering his age 29 season from Linden, CA and Fresno State University. After being drafted in the first round by the Yankees in the 2013 MLB Draft, Judge made his MLB debut in 2016, but really broke out on the scene in 2017 when he won Rookie of the Year and should have won the MVP award. Judge is also a four time AL Rookie of the Month, a two time AL Player of the Month, a two time All Star, a Wilson Defensive Player of the Year award in 2019, and the 2017 Home Run Derby Champion. He’s set records in his short career as well- MLB record for walks by a rookie, AL record for home runs by a rookie, the fastest player in MLB history to 60 homers, and has the single hardest hit ball in the Statcast era (at 121.7 mph.)

Judge and the Yankees avoided arbitration this season on a one year, $10.175m deal, and has one more year of arbitration left before becoming a free agent after the 2022 season. He does have three MILB options left, so the Yankees could send him to Scranton, even if it would be insane to do so.

Aaron Off the Field

Judge, like a certain other player that was the leader of the Yankees, likes to keep his off the field life private. He does commercials, he does a lot of charity work (including his own charity, the All Rise Foundation) but he tries to keep a low profile. However, I am required to add this picture that Judge posted—him with Rookie chilling at the stadium:

Judge 2020 Breakdown

Judge, when healthy, is one of the five best players in baseball.

Over the course of this breakdown series, we’ve seen a lot of guys who are really good at one or two things, or guys that are pretty good across the board. Judge is in the top 1% in hard hit rate, top 1% in exit velocity. top 5% in xwOBA and xSLG and xOBP and walk rate and xISO (ISO is essentially the percent of extra base hits you have) and in the top 10% in OAA.

Any time you are first in MLB, that’s impressive. When you’re in first every single year in one of the most important categories in baseball, and you’re still improving, that’s scary. Each mph that you add to your exit velocity means the ball travels about an extra five feet, and it also drastically increases the chance of a hit and a home run (chart from PitcherList):

Judge does strike out a lot from his approach, and sometimes it can be frustrating to see him get his third strikeout of the game. However, his wOBAcon (wOBA on balls he makes contact with) is absolutely stupid- the league average for wOBAcon is typically around .370, and Judge in 2017 put up a .633, in 2018 a .531, and a .546 in 2019. Being almost .200 points higher makes all the strikeouts absolutely worth it, because when Judge hits the ball there is a very serious chance of it being an extra base hit. It also makes Judge’s extremely high BABIP (career average at .352) sustainable because of how hard the ball is flying off the bat.

Judge sees, and takes, a lot of pitches- 4.27 pitches per plate appearance in 2020, which makes sense when he walks and strikes out a lot. The amount of pitches that he sees can be to his own detriment at points however:

He’s just a significantly better hitter when he’s ahead of the count, as it can force pitchers to throw fastballs that he absolutely crushes:

He still crushes breaking balls and off speed pitches, but those are low batting average / high slugging percentage deals for him. As you can assume by his large frame, he struggles with pitches low and away (especially breaking pitches):

Those are from his 2019 season (his last mostly full season), and you can see that anything up and anything in is destroyed, but low pitches just kill him. As a not fun fact, in 2019 he had 67 pitches in the bottom two zones (zones 13 and 14, which are balls low and either in or out) that were called for a strike. That ended up being 3.6% of all the pitches that he saw that year that were erroneously called for strikes, and that’s not including all the adjustments Judge had to make because of the terrible strike calls. If the umpires can do their jobs (or we get robo-umps) then Judge could be even scarier.

Judge as a defensive player is a monster too, and it’s a shame because he really should be a Gold Glove right fielder:

That’s a LOT of outs above average in right field despite having poor reaction times and just mediocre bursts of speed, but it turns out that when you’re ridiculously tall you don’t need to be a speed demon to be an elite defender. He also has a howitzer for an arm, and the total package makes him probably the best defender in right field in the AL now that Mookie Betts is in LA. That said, for the Yankees sake part of me wonders if he took it a lot easier in right field if he’d have fewer injuries, and if that trade off would be worth it.

Optimistic 2021 Projection

Judge stays healthy for the full season and plays 150 games. In those 150 games, he puts up a 175 wrc+ with a league leading 55 homers and a league leading 130 walks. He starts the All Star Game, wins a Silver Slugger, wins a Gold Glove, and is the unanimous AL MVP, and people start to wonder “is Aaron Judge better than Mike Trout?” In October, Judge steps up his game to a whole new level, as he absolutely carries the team and wins World Series MVP after the Yankees sweep the Dodgers. Judge signs an extension in the offseason to make him a Yankee for life, and is named Captain going into 2022.

Pessimistic 2021 Projection

It ultimately doesn’t matter that Judge is one of the best players in baseball, because he struggles with injuries again all season. He ends up playing 80 games in 2021, and plays hurt in about 20 of those, and ends up with a 120 wrc+ with 17 homers. When he’s healthy, he hits great, but missing so much time and trying to play through injuries really impacts his season, and the Yankees get bounced early in October. After the season there are rumors of the Yankees looking to trade Judge, and he becomes a big what if? type of player as his career is never the same.

Sam’s Official Final 2021 Gift Basket Projection

I think that when healthy Judge is the best player on the team. Better than Stanton, better than DJ, better than Cole, better than everyone in the AL other than Mike Trout. That said, I just can’t trust Judge to stay healthy. I think he ends up playing about 120 games, and about 100 of them are games that he’s actually healthy and playing well in, and puts up a great season overall—150 wrc+ with 35 homers, but that everyone still wishes he could stay healthy for a full season. I do also think he signs an extension this offseason to keep him in pinstripes for his career and that he’s named captain going into next year.

Join us tomorrow for our final look Inside the Gift Basket as Evan take you into Today, Tomorrow, and Forever with Future 5x consecutive AL CY winner, Gerrit Cole.

[you-cant-stop-me-try-it-waf-blog]

Spring Training

• Who are the kids to look out for heading into the season?

Every year Major League clubs get an infusion of youth and exuberance by adding a prospect or two to the line-up or rotation. Sometimes the kids make the club out of spring training, other times an injury or poor play causes them to get called up mid-season. 2013 was a banner year for these kids as guys like Wil Myers, Gerrit Cole, Yasiel Puig, Jose Fernandez, Hyun-Jin Ryu and Christian Yellich all made a major impact on their clubs. So who will be those guys this year? Well here is a list of at least 7 guys who I guarantee you will hear from in the 2014 season: Taijuan Walker – P Mariners; the kid with the hardest cutter in the game is just about guaranteed a spot in the M’s rotation. He has the skill set to be an ace, yet the luxury of being able to learn from and pitch behind King Felix and Hisashi Iwakuma. Jameson Tallion – P Pirates; His stuff is A+, but his control is more like a C. When he learns to harness what he has, he will team with Gerrit Cole to form one of the best 1-2 combo’s in the NL.

Archie Bradley – P D-Backs; throwing strikes is the key to a long career, but with Bradley’s velocity and incredible curve it hasn’t been easy so far. Once he gets that consistency, he will be mainstay in the D-Backs rotation. Billy Hamilton – OF Reds; any time this kid gets on first, with his speed it might as well be a double. He is the fastest man in baseball, and will easily steal 100 bags as the Reds leadoff man and centerfielder. Of course, in order to steal second, you have to get on first, which may pose the biggest problem for him. Addison Reed – SS A’s; He is poised to lead the next wave of shortstops in the majors. He has all the speed, skill and athleticism to revolutionize the position. He needs to work on his defense, his footwork around the bag specifically, in order to make the impact he should. Miguel Sano – 3B Twins; There is one thing this kid doesn’t lack is confidence. After hitting 35 bombs in 123 minor league games last season, Sano came out and said he expects to hit 45-55 this season in the bigs. I am not so sure of that, but there is no question he will be a big improvement over what the Twins have there currently. Byron Buxton – OF Twins; He is ranked as the number 1 prospect in all of baseball, and for good reason. He has all the tools to be the next Mike Trout. He just needs to learn to settle down and hit Major League pitching and Buxton is a name you will be hearing for years to come.

 • Who will be in the post season and win it all?

Finally, a question that won’t be answered in Spring Training, but merely a forecast of who is playing for October. AL West: Oakland A’s AL Central: Kansas City Royals AL East: Tampa Bay Rays AL Wild Cards: Los Angeles Angels & Detroit Tigers ALCS: The A’s over the Angels

NL West: Los Angeles Dodgers NL Central: St Louis Cardinals NL East: Washington Nationals NL Wild Cards: Milwaukee Brewers & San Francisco Giants NLCS: The Dodgers over the Cardinals

[the-wild-queen]

Albums

Chapter III- Tornado

Chapter II Here

Word Count: 1,859

“California State Championships, here we come.”

“Don’t jinx it, Kaylah.”

“Shut up, Brent. I’ll say whatever the fuck I want.”

“Watch your language.”

“Why can’t our star player be a guy?”

“Do I detect a bit of sexism? Listen here, you misogynistic idiots, and this goes to all the other boys I’ve played with and against, I can throw a ball faster than all of you, and swing a bat harder than all of you. Before I came here, this team was a wreck. Face it, y’all need me. And it’s about time that y’all show me some hot damn respect. I sit here and take in your insults like I take in a breath, and I still have the strength to win. So unless the insults stop to fucking day, this undefeated season we have will not fucking continue. Me getting insults and sexual comments not from rival teams, but from my own team, I SHOULDN’T HAVE TO FUCKING PUT UP WITH IT! I SHOULDN’T HAVE TO FUCKING HEAR IT!”

For the rest of the drive to Oakland, no one said a word, for fear of Kaylah ripping their faces off.

In the Lost Boys cave, three of them did not want to go to Kaylah’s baseball game, but one did.

“Marko, what would be the point in us going?”

“She said she’s the star of her team, and they have an undefeated season. You do the math, David.”

“Fine. If you wanna go, then go. We won’t stop you.”

“Thank you.”

“So Marko,  you are willing to drive an hour away, just to see her throw a ball?”

“Yes.”

“I think it’s safe to say that you’ve found your mate.”

“But it’s not her blood that I want. I just want her.”

“You’ll have to turn her, Marko.”

“I know. But I want to wait on that. I need to know if she’s worth it.”

“I would say it’s dark enough for you to head on out to Oakland.”

Marko had to find out if Kaylah was worth it the hard way.

The bus had arrived at the ball park in Oakland, and Kaylah was ready to show the rival team that playing ball like a girl was not a bad thing. She was the best on her team.

"Well, coach. Do you want me batting or pitching first?"

"Draw straws for it."

"No, no, actually, let Brent go first. He's anxious to pitch his heart out."

“You’re seriously gonna let me go first, Kaylah?”

“Why not?”

“Okay, then. I will.”

“Have fun out there.”

There were games when the coach did not put some layers in, but he always put Kaylah in a game. She had the fastest pitch on the team and the hardest swing on the team.

From the dugout, she could see Marko sitting in the stands, next to Michael, who was not looking happy.

“These Oakland Devils won’t know what hit them.”

Thing was about Brent, he was terrible at pitching. Terrible.

“Batter up!”

Brent threw the ball, and the opposing batter hit it, much to Brent’s displeasure.

“He was supposed to miss that!”

The batter stepped up to the plate again. Brent threw the ball, with the same result. And the same result happened a third time.

“Brent, switch places with Kaylah. Now. We need to get on the scoreboard, not look like idiots.”

“My pleasure, Coach.”

“Please make him miss. Number twenty-three is Oakland’s best batter. He’s never missed a swing.”

Kaylah’s trick was she watched how the batter stood. She watched their body movements.

“Thought you'd change the weather. Start a little storm, make a little rain. But I'm gonna do one better. Hide the sun until you pray. I'm a tornado. Looking for a soul to take.”

She threw the ball, and much to her team and Oakland’s surprise, the batter got his first strike.

“Keep it going, Kaylah!”

“You're gonna see me coming by the selfish things that you did. I'm gonna leave you guessing how this funnel is gonna hit. I'm a tornado, looking for a man to break.”

She threw the ball again, and he missed, for the second time.

“I’m not gonna let this bitch beat me!”

“Yeah, I'm gonna lift this house, spin it all around. Toss it in the air and put it in the ground. Make sure you're never found.”

When the batter got three strikes, he was pissed.

“You’re mine, Bedwell!”

“I’d rather be dead than be yours! It’s not my fault you missed! It was three easy swings! But then again, a big stupid goon like you couldn’t use common sense if it fell flat on your face and started to wiggle!”

Marko watched the whole altercation, and he planned to make sure that number twenty-three would never bother her again. Oakland might soon have the same problem as Santa Carla.

“Kaylah, you’re gonna also be our batter.”

“That’s fine with me.”

“Someone has to do it, cause there is no one else on this team that’s any good.”

“He means that with love, boys.”

“Yeah. Sure I do.”

“Alright. You want me back out there now, or wait?”

“Just wait. I want to see what Oakland has up their sleeve.”

“See, I treat a baseball game like a poker game, and I’ve never lost a poker game.”

“You’ve never lost a baseball game either.”

“See what I mean? Now Aidan, get out there and strike him out, or I swear, I will strike you out. Don’t you boys DARE leave all the work to me. We’re called a team for a reason. I have enough weight on my shoulders.”

“She’s right, boys. You better listen to her.”

But Aidan did the exact opposite of what his team wanted him to do.

“He has got to be the best batter I have ever seen.”

“Shut up, Aidan. You know I can bat better than him. Just don’t make me bat your head.”

“Kaylah, you’re up.”

“It’s about time. I don’t wanna sit on my ass through the entire game.”

“And you shouldn’t have to.”

“This bitch is back out here?!”

That was two lives Marko might have to claim.

“Thought you'd take a swing. Try another girl, try another night. But it's the pain that brings my force of nature back to life. I'm a tornado more disturbed than an F5.”

She hit the ball and made it all the way around the field.

“You won’t get a second chance, bitch!”

“Hey, I'm gonna lift this house, spin it all around. Toss it in the air and put it in the ground. I'm gonna lift this house, spin it all around. Toss it in the air and put it in the ground. Make sure you're never found, oh, yeah.”

She hit it a second time, much to Oakland’s surprise.

“You will fucking lose, bitch!”

“I'm gonna lift this house, spin it all around. Toss it in the air and put it in the ground. I'm gonna lift this house, spin it all around. Toss it in the air and put it in the ground. Make sure you're never found.”

“I’m gonna make you regret the day you ever started playing baseball!”

“The winds are getting stronger. And the sky is falling through. You ain't got much longer. Till the rage rips off the roof. I'm a tornado. And I'm coming after you. Throw the damn ball, Oakland. I ain’t gonna stand here all day!”

She hit it again, and Oakland was pissed.

“You were supposed to lose!”

“According to you, I was.”

Oakland put in a different pitcher, thinking that would change the tides of the game.

“We got you this time, Santa Carla!”

“Russian roulette is not the same without a gun. And baby when it’s love, if it’s not rough, it isn’t fun.”

Kaylah hit the ball again, and this pitcher always got a batter struck out.

“We’re winning. We are fucking winning.”

“Don’t jinx it, Coach.”

“Kaylah never jinxes it.”

One Oakland player tried to trip her on her way around the field, but she caught it just in time.

“Let’s try this again.”

“Do or do not, Oakland. There is no try.”

“Don’t push your luck.”

“Oh, I don’t need luck.”

Second hit, and she made her way around the field again.

“This is impossible! I always strike out a batter!”

“Maybe God thought it was your turn to get struck out.”

“Shut up!”

Her final swing, and she hit it. A home run. Santa Carla won the game. A little boy in the stands caught it.

“Coach, go tell that little boy I’ll sign that ball for him.”

“I certainly will.”

Kaylah headed for the locker room. She used the girl’s locker room since it was also a softball field. She showered and changed into something fancy, and her family was waiting for her outside.

“Kaylah! The little boy does want you sign the ball.”

“Where is he?”

“Right here.”

“Hi, buddy. What’s your name?”

“Mark.”

“That’ll be easy for me to remember. I have a nephew named Markie and a friend named Marko. How old are you?”

“I’m five.”

“I bet all the ladies are all over you. You are just too cute for the ladies to not love you.”

That made the little boy blush. Marko was watching her, and smile came across his face.

“Thanking you for signing my ball.”

“Well, technically buddy, I’m also the one who gave it to you. I am the one that swung into he stands, and you caught it.”

Kaylah signed the ball with not just her name, but also a sweet message that said, cherish your childhood. It doesn’t last forever. Mark gave her a big hug and even gave her a kiss on the cheek.

“Kaylah, you have always been good with little kids.”

“I don’t know why.”

“Bedwell! You’re mine!”

It was Oakland’s batter and the always strike out pitcher. Marko stepped in, but Kaylah stopped him.

“I’ll handle this, Marko. I love how you guys just simply called me a bitch in the field. That’s really the best you got? Come on, y’alls have got to have better insults than that!”

“Why don’t you drop the accent? We’re not falling for it.”

“I can’t drop the accent. It’s all natural. Unlike your balls.”

They went to hit her, but she tackled them both at once, and brought them to the ground.

“Get off of us!”

“No! Now you listen here, and you listen good, cause I don’t like to repeat things! The next time you wanna think your better than a woman, you come find me, and I’ll show you how much better at things at woman can be. You won’t have an ounce of manhood left. And if you don’t like my accent, plug your fucking ears!”

She kicked them in the chest and headed for Lucy’s car. Marko followed her.

“Hey, Kaylah.”

“Hey, Marko.”

“I must say, I am impressed with your baseball abilities.”

“A lot of people are. And a lot people get pissed about them too. Just look at Oakland. They’ll always hold this grudge against us.”

[your-dietician]

2021 MLB Mock Draft: High school shortstops, Vanderbilt arms among the top prospects

New Post has been published on https://tattlepress.com/mlb/2021-mlb-mock-draft-high-school-shortstops-vanderbilt-arms-among-the-top-prospects/

2021 MLB Mock Draft: High school shortstops, Vanderbilt arms among the top prospects

The MLB Draft is just over a week away, and unlike in past years, there is no slam dunk pick for No. 1. 

In past years, it was just a question of how fast the Orioles could announce the pick of Oregon State catcher Adley Rutschman (2019) or whether the Tigers would start playing Arizona State hitter Spencer Torkelson at first base or third base (2020). 

This year, there is a strong group of high school shortstops, a pair of exciting Vanderbilt pitchers and a few college bats that could generate some buzz anywhere in the top 10. 

We’re taking our best shot at what the draft will look like when the commissioner reads the first-round picks on July 11. 

MORE: Who is confirmed to swing in the Home Run Derby? 

Here’s our latest projections for a 2021 MLB Draft first round. 

1. Pirates — Marcelo Mayer, SS, Eastlake High (Chula Vista, Calif.)

The discussion around this draft has been that there is no consensus No. 1 pick as there has been in previous years, but the Pirates have been linked to Mayer for a long time. The high school shortstop has one of the best hit tools and some raw power that excites many scouts, especially when combined with his above-average defense at shortstop. 

2. Rangers — Jordan Lawlar, SS, Jesuit Prep (Dallas)

The Rangers are going with the local product second overall here. Lawlar is perhaps a more dynamic talent than Mayer with his speed and power combination, but his hit tool and defense are behind the California product. A shortstop with tons of upside and a home just a few miles from Globe Life Park? It feels like a perfect fit for the rebuilding Rangers. 

3. Tigers — Brady House, SS, Winder-Barrow (Ga.) High

Prep shortstops now round out the top three as the Tigers opt to go for the upside in House’s bat over the dynamic arms of Jack Leiter and Jackson Jobe. House might have to move off shortstop eventually to play third base as he is not the most agile, but his bat will play anywhere on the diamond. House and Spencer Torkelson could make for an enviable middle-of-the-order combination down the road. 

4. Red Sox — Jack Leiter, RHP, Vanderbilt

The run on high school shortstops finally comes to an end at No. 4 with the Red Sox landing the son of former big leaguer Al Leiter. Vanderbilt’s ace has reportedly wanted to land in Boston and he’ll have the leverage himself down to the Red Sox as the top college arm. He’s so refined on the mound that he might not take long in the minors and could help the resurgent Red Sox earlier than many other prospects in this year’s draft. 

5. Orioles — Sal Frelick, OF, Boston College

The Orioles might be tempted to take the best talent off the board left in catcher Henry Davis of Louisville, even with top catching prospect Adley Rutschman in their system, but Baltimore is saving money and taking the Boston College outfielder early. Baltimore made a similar move last year in reaching to take Arkansas outfielder Heston Kjerstad second overall, but this time instead of power upside, the Orioles go for Frelick and his hit/speed combination. 

6. Diamondbacks — Henry Davis, C, Louisville

Arizona has been linked to other names like Kahlil Watson and Jackson Jobe, but if Davis is available here, the Diamondbacks would probably jump at the chance to take him. He’s a college catcher with a refined hit tool and plus power who should be able to stay at the position as he’s continued to improve behind the plate. Even if he can’t hold up there defensively, Davis offers plenty in the bat to make him worthy of a high pick. 

7. Royals — Kumar Rocker, RHP, Vanderbilt

With recent high-round picks of Brady Singer, Jackson Kowar and Asa Lacy, the Royals have established they’re big on SEC pitching. It just so happens that a dynamic SEC hurler is available for them to take at this spot. Rocker was already coveted out of high school, and he’s gotten even better with improved command and refined secondary offerings. He might have the most upside of any of the college arms taken by Kansas City in recent years. 

8. Rockies — Kahlil Watson, SS, Wake Forest (N.C.) High

Watson has generated a lot of buzz to go higher than No. 8 and could be a potential pick to go as high as No. 2 to the Rangers, but here, he’s falling to the Rockies. He has flown up prospect rankings of late due to his complete game, with the ability to hit for average and power, his speed and his slick defense at shortstop. The Rockies reportedly want a hitter, and they’d be more than happy with landing Watson. 

9. Angels — Jackson Jobe, RHP, Heritage Hall High (Oklahoma City)

Another team very happy to land a high upside prep player, the Angels watch as Jobe falls to them at No. 9. Evaluators have said Jobe might have the most upside of any pitcher in this class — yes, even higher than the Vandy arms — with premium velocity and the best slider in the draft. Jobe has ace potential and the Angels would welcome the chance to work on developing him into that arm.  

10. Mets — Matt McLain, SS, UCLA

The Mets have been linked to several college bats, as well as prep third baseman Colson Montgomery as a bonus-saving pick, but here they’ll take the top college infielder in this year’s class. McLain came into the 2021 year ranked much higher by evaluators, but got off to a slow start. He put it together near the end of the season and his plus hit tool, speed and the potential to add power could make him an enticing prospect. 

11. Nationals — Ty Madden, RHP, Texas

The Nationals would love it for Jobe to fall to them, but it’s not happening in this mock. Instead, they’re going to draft the top college arm left in Texas’ Ty Madden. The right-hander has mid-90s velocity, a sharp slider and above-average control that makes him a refined pitching prospect and a pitcher many see as being a potential front-of-the-rotation starter. 

12. Mariners — Colton Cowser, OF, Sam Houston

An outfield of Jarred Kelenic, Kyle Lewis and Taylor Trammell already sounds pretty good. Do the Mariners need more? Well, it’s always best to take the most talented player left and that’s the case with Cowser still on the board. Seattle wants a bat to draft, and Cowser offers one of the best college hit/speed combinations in this year’s class. 

13. Phillies — Benny Montgomery, OF, Red Land High (Lewisberry, Pa.)

The Phillies have been consistently linked to the central Pennsylvania product, who might have the most upside of any player in the draft. The hit tool has drawn questions from scouts, but he’s one of the fastest players in the draft, offers tons of raw power and can play above-average defense in center field. 

14. Giants — Jordan Wicks, LHP, Kansas State

After Cowser and Frelick are off the board, San Francisco will probably be looking at Wicks as their pick. Far and away the best left-handed college pitcher in the draft, Wicks has perhaps the class’ best changeup and above-average command. He could be a quick riser in the minors given his advanced feel for pitching and well-rounded repertoire. 

15. Brewers — Harry Ford, C, North Cobb High (Kennesaw, Ga.)

Ford is one of the most interesting players in the draft as a catcher with an above-average run tool and the ability to play any position on the field, including center field. The Brewers have been linked to Ford and would love to add the athletic backstop with the lightning fast bat to their farm system should he fall to them at No. 15. 

16.  Marlins — Will Taylor, OF, Dutch Fork High (Irmo, S.C.)

Reports have indicated it will take a lot to pry Taylor from a dual commitment to play football and baseball at Clemson in the 2021-22 school year, but here, Miami is going to count on being able to sign him away from the Tigers. He’s one of the most athletic players in this year’s draft with one of the best run tools and the ability to develop some more power with more development. 

17. Reds — Bubba Chandler, RHP/SS, North Oconee High (Bogart, Ga.)

The Reds have loved picking dual-threat talents in previous years, with Michael Lorenzen showing off his prowess with the bat as a bonus to his pitching skills and Hunter Greene getting the chance to bat before focusing full-time on pitching. Cincinnati will try the experiment out again with Chandler here, looking to see if the tooled-out shortstop makes more of a statement with the bat or if his lights-out fastball/curveball combo forces the team to look more at his arm. 

18. Cardinals — Will Bednar, RHP, Mississippi State

After a dazzling outing in the final game of the College World Series to help deliver his team the win, Bednar is certainly going to be continuing his rise up prospect rankings. The Cardinals have been linked to several college arms and Bednar with his plus command and standout array of pitches would fit the team’s desire in this draft nicely. 

19. Blue Jays — Sam Bachman, RHP, Miami (Ohio)

Bachman’s slide down the board stops here. The Blue Jays have found success with hard-throwing college arms in the past like Nate Pearson and Alec Manoah, and they’ll jump on Bachman if he’s available in this spot. The Miami (Ohio) product already hits triple-digits and has one of the hardest fastballs in the draft. On top of that, he offers a wipeout slider and above-average changeup to give him a well-rounded repertoire. 

20. Yankees — Gunnar Hoglund, RHP, Mississippi

Before he went down with Tommy John surgery, Hoglund was viewed as a possible front half of the first round talent. If the Yankees are willing to wait on him to come back from surgery, as they did with South Carolina hurler Clarke Schmidt back in 2017, who also underwent surgery before the draft, they could be getting a steal. His control is among the best in the draft and his repertoire is deep with a plus fastball and slider. 

21. Cubs — Michael McGreevy, RHP, UC Santa Barbara

Chicago has also been linked with Florida outfielder Jud Fabian, a risky gamble on a player with upside, but here the Cubs are going the safe route with a pitcher that has drawn comps to fellow Gaucho Shane Bieber. McGreevy draws positive marks for his well above-average control and his fastball/slider combination that could see an increase in velocity with some more development in his 6-foot-4 frame. 

22. White Sox — Colson Montgomery, 3B, Southridge High (Huntingburg, Ind.)

Some rumors have had Montgomery going higher in the draft as a chance for a team to cut a deal and save money for later, but he’s falling down to No. 22 here to the White Sox. Chicago has been linked to the 19-year-old slugging third baseman, who would give the farm system a big upside play as a potential middle-of-the-order bat. 

23. Indians — Jud Fabian, OF, Florida

The Indians have shown a willingness in previous drafts to gamble on upside early over the higher floor players, and that’s what Fabian offers them. A tough 2021 dropped Fabian in rankings from potentially being the first college bat taken to possibly even a second-rounder, but he has tons of raw power and offers the speed needed to play all three outfield positions. If Cleveland can get him to click, it could be getting a steal late in the first. 

24. Braves — Ky Bush, LHP, Saint Mary’s

Atlanta is seemingly linked to arms every year in the draft and have done well with several recent high picks like Mike Soroka and Max Fried having positive impacts on the team. Here, they’re taking the hard-throwing lefty from Saint Mary’s, Ky Bush. If the Braves want to speed him to the big leagues, he could be a weapon out of the bullpen quickly with his fastball/slider combination, or they could work him as a starter over time. 

25. Athletics — Alex Mooney, SS, St. Mary’s Prep (Orchard Lake Village, Mich.)

Mooney has made quite a rise up prospect rankings with his quick swing and a well-rounded game at shortstop. Oakland has been linked to a number of different bats and Mooney could fit what the A’s are looking for as a player that offers some upside at an up-the-middle position while also providing a high enough floor as a player already displaying impressive tools. 

26. Minnesota Twins — Adrian Del Castillo, C, Miami

Del Castillo was an early favorite among evaluators as a catcher with an exciting hit tool and some pop with the potential to stay behind the plate. Struggles in the 2021 campaign have taken him out of the conversation as the first catcher taken, but the Twins have been linked to him with the belief they could still tap into that potential and have a bat-first backstop. 

27. San Diego Padres — Andrew Painter, RHP, Calvary Christian (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.)

The Padres have not shied away from taking tooled-out players early in the draft in the past, and they’ll nab one of the highest-upside pitchers in the class with Andrew Painter falling to them at No. 27. Painter has an explosive arm with three plus pitches and above-average control, and at 6-foot-7, there could be room for adding more velo. He could go much earlier than this spot when draft day comes. 

28. Tampa Bay Rays — Trey Sweeney, SS, Eastern Illinois

In a short amount of time, Sweeney has improved his draft stock by showing off one of the best hit tools in college and some pop that could grow to be an average or better tool for him. The Rays have shown in the past they can do a lot with high floor batters and Sweeney fits that mold well. His defense at short isn’t great, but the bat would play in the outfield or at third base if needed. 

29. Dodgers — Chase Petty, RHP, Mainland (Linwood, N.J.)

Few teams have the track record of successfully developing high upside prospects like the Dodgers, and they’re banking on getting the most out of Petty in this year’s class. Perhaps the owner of the best raw stuff of any high school pitcher, Petty throws in the upper-90s with a fastball in the triple-digits and can spin a plus slider and average to above-average changeup. Some teams have concerns over reliever risk, but here, Los Angeles sees front-of-the-rotation potential.

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[behindthedish]

Full 162!

Folks we have a baseball season!! Not some weird sixty some game season like we had last year but a full season. Last year I was lucky enough to get to see one of the final spring training games before the Pandemic really took hold, and although Spring training is an awesome experience, it probably was not a very good trade in hindsight. But thankfully, this year, the players association took none of that shit to the bank, we have a full season babe. Lets go!! 

The first weekend of the season was wild, there was a little bit of a scuffle, props to Castellanos for having the balls to piss off Yadi Molina, dude is the youngest of three brothers that played the toughest position in baseball at the highest level, I am going to guess the dude can scrap.... I agree tho, Yadi, if you ever read this, which you probably won’t, I will take a right hook to the face for a signed jersey... or some Jordan catchers equipment, without the signature, either or. 

Now, onto the real baseball talk. I am going to concentrate on three teams majorly, The Pirates, the Yankees, Indians, Padres and the Blue Jays. Those last two teams are the most fun teams in baseball in my opinion, yesterday I was lucky enough to catch the Padres game on MLB network, and MAN they are an electric baseball team. Good luck against the Dodgers, because whoever wins that NLDS, is going to the World Series. 

There are also going to be random things I touch on, like above with Catellanos... On that fact, Did y’all see what Otani did last night? I happened to be scrolling twitter and listening to the game when he made contact with that ball, the sound of him connecting with that baseball was just different, I looked up with the speed of Billy Hamilton to see how far that ball went. Oh, did you know he was pitching too? It may be early in the year but the big fella had the hardest hit homerun of the year as well as the fastest pitch by a starter, IN THE SAME DAMN GAME. That’s special, and for my east coast I get up for work at Five AM ass, I hope he gets some primetime ball games. We are literally witnessing history. 

On to the team coverage, lets start with the Buccos, the (lack of) PRIDE and JOY of Pittsburgh, RAISE IT! Or don’t, the Owner sure as fuck doesn’t care. The Pirates have already placed their young star power on the Injured list, which what probably is a hamate issue, poor fella can’t catch a break, Ke’Bryan, I hope you didn’t snap your hamate, but at least you are going to get to reap the major benefit of a baseball player in this city, Great healthcare. The Pirates started the season against the Cubs, and in a promising way, they were above .500 at one point, and for the sake of Buck night, I hope its not the only time that they are above that mark. I am guessing the Pirates win between 55-60 games, at most, unfortunately, most of the division got stronger while the Pirates signed, Todd Frazier, WHO WASN’T even on the opening Day roster, after hitting a mere .640 something in the spring with multiple homeruns and doubles in spring training. As long as Bob is at the helm, this team will be more or less mediocre. Bob saw in the mid 2010s that winning doesn’t mean your team will be more profitable, and since then, why spend the money, Right Bob? I imagine somewhere that king of all jackasses is nodding in a agreement, and he doesn’t even know this blog exists. Small large side note, RIP to all you can eat seats, I guess the only thing that is going to bring fans out to the ballpark is the desperate need to get out of the house after a year of pandemic. If you want to watch some baseball in Pittsburgh, and see some teams given some support by more than just fans, go watch some NABA, DNL, or take the trip dahn to WASHPA and watch the Wildthings. 

The Yankees and Blue Jays traded blows in the first weekend of the season. In my humble, not humble opinion, those are the two heavy hitting teams in the American League. The only problem, at least for the Jays is the lack of pitching, it might and probably will bite them in the ass, but I sure hope not. The Blue Jays are a fun team to watch, lots of young talent, who got a taste of the league in the shortened pandemic season. If their bats hold up, lookout for a wild card clinching performance, and as long as they don’t run into a team with a better starting staff, make some noise in October. Honestly, I could watch that team play baseball every day, young, fast, fundamentally sound, and lots of heart. That’s a tough thing to beat. Their adversaries in Pinstripes are going to be quite dangerous this year, as long as they stay healthy. Unfortunately, the injury bug already bit Luke Voit, who is a dark horse candidate for MVP as long as he gets back quickly. With all of the talent in that lineup, they’re going to have to find someone to throw to, and LUUUUKE just might be that guy. With the signings that the Yankees made, I find it hard that they will fall off this year. Starting pitching is strong, and so is the bullpen. I look for the Yankees to be the one or Two seed with a strong Potential to get to the World Series. Gerrit looked a little rough in the opener, and eventually calmed down.... although if you asked his glove, they had a really bad day. A big apology to my Indian’s fans reading this.... I think Kluber is going to have an awesome year as well, even though that’s what fans come to expect, I still hate to see it. 

I forgot to tell y’all, the Blue Jays took the series, my god can those boys hit. They are probably going to end up playing at least the first half of the season in minor league or loaned ballparks, but I cannot wait for the electricity that is the Rogers Center in October. 

See y’all tomorrow. I got your Indians and Padres first weekend breakdown coming. 

Cheers 

PS - the baseball GIF selection on here blows harder than Bob Nutting blows up a 98 win team 

[imissgrantland]

The Pitcher/Slugger Upending a Century of Baseball Wisdom

The Pitcher/Slugger Upending a Century of Baseball Wisdom

The same guy just hit the hardest home run and threw the fastest pitch of the young 2021 season. Source: The Pitcher/Slugger Upending a Century of Baseball Wisdom

[fidel-castrated]

As a baceball guy i can say that the wooden bat’s the most dangerous out of the group, it hits the baseball the fastest and hardest.

Rate different bats.

…i will do it for 4 dollars

[darkness-envelops-me1-blog]

A collection of the finest dark humor

What was hitler's favorite meal? fried juice and mustard

What do you call the jewish pokemon trainer? ash

What is the differance between usain bolt and hitler? usain blot can finish a race

Why was hitler banned from bbq's? he kept burning the franks

What did hitler say to the black jew? get to the back of the oven

What are the pros and cons of being a black jew? pro they think you have already been in the oven, con you have to be at the back of the oven

How do you find a jewish girls number? look at her forearm

What was the best camp in history? auzhwitz, it had over a mllion stars

Why do shower heads have 11 holes? because jews have 10 fingers

How was copper wire made? 2 jews fighting over a penny

How do you fit 100 jews into a mini coupe? 4 in the seats and 96 in the ash tray

A mexican and a black guy are in a car who is driving? the police

A leaf and an emo fall off a tree what hits the ground first? the leaf because the rope stopped the emo from falling

What does a child with cancer get for his 13th birthday? A funeral

Toast is like parents... if they are black then you have nothing to eat.

What has 5 legs, 12 arms, and 3 feet? The finish line at the Boston Marathon Why did sally fall off the swing?

Because sally had no arms Knock knock! Who's there? Not Sally

What is the similarities between a black person and a bicycle? They both need a chain to work

What's the difference between an ISIS training ground and a Syrian primary school? I don't know, I just fly the drone

Why do Muslims read the Quran before a suicide bombing? Instruction manual

What do you call a jew whos sick of being bullied A shooting star

I felt sorry for the gay guys at the Orlando nightclub. When they were told that they were getting free shots, they were probably expecting vodka

What did armless hilly get for his birthday? Gloves Just kidding he didn't open his present yet.

How many potatoes does it take to kill an Irishman? Zero.

Who are the worlds fastest readers? Well, 9/11 victims go through 50 stories in 5 seconds!

Why cant the U.S keep their cool? Cause they don't know where the Isis

Jew jokes are sick ... Anne Frankley quite offensive ...

What is the most confusing day in the ghetto? Father's day

What did the kid with down syndrom say? i may be retarded but at least im not a nigger

How long does it take for a black woman to take a shit? 9 months

Why dont jews eat pussy? its too close to the gas chamber

What is the hardest part of eating a vegetable? the wheelchair

Trump is the latest in the long line of white people to kick a black family from their home

Why do women get yeast infections? so they know what it's like to live with an irritating cunt

If the indians had given the pilgrams a donkey instead of a turkey we'd be having a peice of ass for thanksgiving

What is osama bin ladens favorite football team? the new york jets

What do you call a flying jew? smoke

Why should you always give up you seat for a muslim? the seat is not worth getting bombed over

What do you call a black kid in school? Gifted

What do black men do after sex? 15 years to life

3 black guys are in the backseat of a car. Who's driving? A cop

Why have policemen started arresting black people again? Because bullets are becoming expensive

What happens when you stick your hand in a jar of black jelly beans? Tadaaa!!! Your rings and your watch disappear

Did you here the one about the black dad? Nope, Exactly Hitler never commited suicide he just went to fight the king of the jews

What is worse that 10 babies in a trashcan? one baby in 10 trashcans

What is the similarities between a jew and a stiff nipple? both go away after a hot shower

A blond, a jew, and a black guy jump from a bridge at the same time, who wins? Society

How do you starve a black guy? put his food stamps under his workboots

What did the black kid get for christmas? your bike

How do make a nigerian break off his teeth? draw a doughnut on a rock

Why doesn't mexico have an olympic team? all the ones that can run, jump, and swim have already crossed the border

What do you do after you rape a deaf mute? break her fingers so she cant tell anyone

What is better than winning gold at the paralympics? being able to walk

Why did the black girl pregnant with tripplets get arrested? gang formation

Dark jokes are like kids with cancer they never get old

Why cant the orphans play baseball? they dont know where home is

What did the boy without hands get for his birthday? gloves... just kidding he hasn't opened the box yet

What is the fastest animal in the world? a chicken in ethiopia

What is the difference between jesus christ and a painting of jesus christ? it only takes one nail to hang the painting

What do you call a party of 100 midgets? a little get together

Why are african kids the luckiest? they can play minesweepre without a computer

Spelling bee Judge: Tyrone can you spell father? Tyrone: G-O-N-E

What sound did the train to aushwitz make? chuck-a chuck-a chuck-a jew jew

[junker-town]

Can a team of 25 Ichiros win the World Series?

If you were to build a team with nothing but clones of a single player, which player would you choose? The correct answer is Ichiro Suzuki, and Kofie Yeboah is going to prove it.

When people talk about MVP Baseball 2005, two words always come out of their mouths.

“Jon Dowd.”

Yes, the EA Sports counter to Barry Bonds turned into a cult icon for many years after the series ended. The character became something people can talk about at networking events and water coolers to prove that they, in fact, also had a childhood. The reason why the 40-year-old wasn’t in the game was due to the fact that Bonds decided to individually license his likeness, rather than work with the MLBPA. So instead of getting dude with an iconic cross earring and a batting stance that oozes swagger, we got a guy that you can’t pick out of an Imagine Dragons lineup with the most generic batting stance.

Seriously, it literally says generic.

I used to do this anyway.

If you ask me, the best player in the game was not Jon Dowd, but Ichiro Suzuki.

While there aren’t official overall rating numbers in this game, Ichiro is listed as the 13th best player in the game behind Jon Dowd, Vladimir Guerrero, Albert Pujols, Todd Helton, Manny Ramirez, Ivan “Pudge” Rodriguez, Scott Rolen, Pedro Martinez, Johan Santana, Adrian Beltre, Randy Johnson and David Ortiz.

It makes sense when you look at this on screen, but when you actually play the video game it’s clear that Ichiro is even better than his already high overall ranking.

To showcase Ichiro’s talents and abilities, I’ve decided to make a team comprised of Ichiro clones to see if they can win the World Series.

But before I do that, let’s take a closer look at the elements that make Ichiro an absolute nightmare for the other team.

Hitting

First, I want to address the hitting mechanics in MVP Baseball 2005. As is the case with many of today’s video games, hitting is separated into contact and power. A hitter with good contact and bad power can theoretically launch the ball into orbit if the pitch is juicy enough. A big power hitter with bad contact can launch many balls into space, but have a higher risk of pop ups and long fly ball outs.

This isn’t the case with Ichiro.

Ichiro is so good at contact hitting that he could also in turn hit for power. Against left-handed pitching, he was given a power rating of 69 and a contact rating of 99. Against right-handed pitching, he was given a power rating of 58 and a contact rating of 97.

The power rating doesn’t seem that impressive until you look at some of the other players in the game. Miguel Cabrera, a player with 33 home runs in 2004, was given a 74 power rating against lefties.

Adrian Beltre — who hit 48 home runs in 2004, but only six against left-handed pitching — was given a 71 overall power rating against lefties. This decent power rating paired with godlike contact skill allowed Ichiro to have a different play style in the video game. According to Baseball-Reference.com, Ichiro had a home run to fly ball ratio of 3.8%. Let’s compare that to Barry Bo … I mean Jon Dowd, whose ratio was 24.5% in that same season.

Ratings aside, you could hit many home runs with Ichiro if you wanted. Of all the hot and cold zone displays in the game, Ichiro is one of the few players with more than 9 total hot zones out of the 18 possible.

Of those few, most are all-stars or legends who have to be unlocked in the game, so that puts Ichiro in elite company. If you gave Ichiro a high 2-seam or 4-seam fastball, there was a good chance he would tag it out of the park.

Ichiro’s power potential isn’t far-fetched either. His longest homer in the Statcast era is 432 feet. There’s even a dope video from the YouTube channel Foolish Baseball that investigates Ichiro’s power-hitting potential.

However, doing so would be disrespectful to real life Ichiro, a player who once said, “chicks who dig home runs aren’t the ones who appeal to me. I think there’s sexiness in infield hits because they require technique.”

With this newfound power, Ichiro could also hit the ball over the outfielders, who would play shallow against him on certain occasions. This allowed for normal fly balls to drop in for a hit, and gave Ichiro another chance to showcase his speed. In his case, if a ball hit the wall, it was almost always a guaranteed triple. Depending on the dimensions of the ballpark, it could be an instant home run.

My favorite part of the game was choosing a retro ballpark with absolutely wonky dimensions and watching Ichiro just go to town with his speed. It was amazing to watch. Let’s look at the Polo Grounds as an example. You see how the center field fence is 483 feet away from home plate? Trust me, this will come up later.

To test Ichiro’s power potential, I put him against Albert Pujols in the home run showdown. Even thought he lost most of the showdowns, Ichiro would often hit the same number of home runs as Albert Pujols. Here is one of the attempts. Yes, Albert won, but it shouldn’t be this close. At all.

This result had me convinced that Ichiro could actually win.

So close.

19 POINTS?! OH COME ON!

It took over 20+ tries, but Ichiro finally beat Albert in a Home Run Showdown.

Even if you didn’t want to go for the long ball, you could still wreck all kinds of havoc on the diamond. Because at the end of the day ...

Ichiro is still fast as hell.

Ichiro’s speed rating is a 97, which is a freaking nightmare for catchers, pitchers and the entire defense at the same time. The only players faster than Ichiro in this game are:

Lou Brock, and that’s it. Power didn’t dominate MVP Baseball 2005. Speed did.

If you started a fantasy dynasty of fast players, such as Scott Podsednik, Rafael Furcal, Chone Figgins, Carl Crawford and Juan Pierre, you could construct the most irritating lineup of all time.

With players like these, you were damn near guaranteed to make it to second after bunting, making it to first and then stealing. If the catcher wasn’t a top-tier thrower, they were screwed. If the pitcher took a long time delivering the ball out of the stretch, they were out of luck.

To put his speed to the test, we had Ichiro attempt to steal 100 bases against the best-throwing catcher in the game, Ivan Rodriguez (Henry Blanco was also an option). Here’s what we found whenever Ichiro tried to steal second base against the best.

If you didn’t throw your hardest fastball or pitch out, you weren’t likely to catch Ichiro. Now, a 57% steal success rate seems pretty pedestrian. Ichiro’s career steal success rate was 81%, including a whopping 85% of his attempts of third base. However, keep in mind that all of this data involves the fastest, most accurate catchers arm in the game.

Imagine if I’d used Mike Piazza.

Let’s not forget about bunting, either

The MVP Baseball drag bunt animation was quick and came out of nowhere, so there really wasn’t any tip-off to what the speedster was up to. When you give that quick of an animation to a player with a bunting rating of 99 and a speed rating of 97, you’re going to see some serious shit. Just look at this.

When you pair Ichiro’s speed with his insane hitting power, he could make some incredible plays. He could bunt for a hit and get down the line so fast that the defender wouldn’t even bother making the throw. They just gave up.

Let’s talk defense.

When you have all that speed, that’s one thing. When you have speed and an arm chiseled personally by God, there’s nothing that can stop you. On April 11th, 2001, Ichiro threw a perfect strike from right field to put the entire league on notice.

Anyone who has seen this clip should know better than to challenge Ichiro, but for some reason people kept testing this man.

Here are Ichiro’s fielding stats.

Remember when I said the Polo Grounds center field fence was 483 feet away from home plate? Here’s Ichiro throwing to home from that exact spot like it’s no big deal.

I think this speaks for itself.

Now, I had the idea to make a team full of Ichiros and see how far I could take them. (The first initials are there because the game forced me to enter a first name, and I wanted to tell them apart for statistical purposes.)

This leaves one unanswered question.

What about pitching?

Can Ichiro pitch? He was a pitcher in high school, but what about the professional level? The answer is yes! Luckily I had two frames of reference.

There is the time he pitched in 2015.

And the time he pitched in the 1996 Japanese All-Star Game.

Ichiro mainly sticks with the simple fastball-changeup combination, but the occasional breaking ball shows up.

So we have a three-pitch arsenal that we’re going to have to stick with for 162+ games. While it’s serviceable, I’m not expecting any Barry Zito-level performances.

Are we ready? I’m ready. Let’s do this.

Dynasty Time!

These are our team goals. I think we’re going to win more than 2 Silver Slugger awards and score the most runs in baseball.

April 2005: 16-8 (first in A.L. West)

After one month of play, the Seattle Ichiros are 16-8. In 24 games, three Ichiro clones are hitting .400 or higher, and seven are batting over .300.

SEVEN OF THE TOP 11 players in the stolen base category are Ichiros. Another Ichiro is leading the team with six wins and two saves already. He’s also 7th in the league in strikeouts. WHAT.

The team has combined for 72 stolen bases and has been caught stealing only 6 times. GOOD LORD. As expected, the pitching staff is marginally mediocre.

For this team however, that’s more than good enough.

May: 19-8 (35-16 for the season, first in the A.L. West)

For some reason, the Seattle Ichiros have regressed into the 29th-best pitching team in the league, but thanks to incredible hitting and fielding, we are tied for the best record in baseball. Nine Ichiros are in the top 10 for stolen bases. Everything is going well, except for R. Ichiro. We also had a trade offer for Ray Durham. Do we make a deal?

Hell no. We’re the Seattle Ichiros. All or nothing.

June: 17-9 (52-25 for the season, first in the A.L. West)

The Seattle Ichiros have the best record in baseball at 52-25. Seven Ichiros are hitting over .300, and eight have over 20 stolen bases. The only other players in the league with more than 20 are Carl Crawford and Bobby Abreu.

The pitching has not produced a single shutout win the entire season so far, but it looks like what’s working is working. Score a lot of runs, tank pitching, win, repeat. My manager grade is also an A- which is weird because I’m not even watching the games. Maybe I should watch a game.

*The Ichiros won 11-5*

This is a baseball game unlike any I’ve seen before. I’ve never seen such aggressive baserunning spread all throughout the roster. The Ichiros stole 6 bases and never got caught. It’s like watching all the racers in Mario Kart with endless speed mushrooms. I wish real baseball was like this. Watching this team field is similar to watching superheroes do pedestrian tasks with their powers like it’s no big deal.

This is definitely a championship team. Can the Ichiros really bring Seattle their first World Series title ever?

July: 15-11 (67-36 for the season, second in the A.L. West and 1st in the Wild Card race)

So. Apparently the Angels are really freakin’ good. See what happens when you have good pitching? Wow.

Even still, the Ichiro collective is doing their best to rectify this with some solid hitting. By the way, nine Ichiros made the All-Star Team, which if I had to guess would be the first time that’s ever happened? Nine All-Stars and they’re not even leading the division. Incredible.

Meanwhile, don’t look now but Jon Dowd is going for a Triple Crown.

August: 17-11 (85-47 for the season, first in the A.L. West)

Jesus Christ, what happened to the Angels?

Even though the Ichiros didn’t have a weird surge, the Angels seem to be going through it. Seattle has opened up a seven-game lead on the Angels. Luckily, the Angels have a chance to make up ground in September, as they have six games against the Ichiros.

The Ichiros have scored 931 runs this season; the next closest team has 767. That’s wild. They also have six players with at least 15 home runs or more, which is of note because Ichiro’s season high in the real world is 15 home runs.

We have 30 games left.

(I’m very impressed with the fact that none of the Ichiros have sustained an injury yet. I’m lying I turned injuries off.)

September-October: 16-12 (102-60 for the season, first in the A.L. West)

Thanks to four head-to-head wins over the Angels, the Ichiros were able to clinch the division and finish with 102 wins and 1,135 runs scored — 4th-most in baseball history, and most since 1894. Did they win the most games this season? Nope, the Boston Red Sox netted 106 Ws thanks to a solid lineup and *cough* good pitching *cough*

Despite being walked 139 times. Jon Dowd hit for the Triple Crown. Thanks for putting a potential hole in my argument, EA.

One of the Ichiro clones finished with a whopping 70 stolen bases. The team as a whole combined for 452 stolen bases while being caught 101 times. That’s a whopping 82% success rate as a TEAM. These were the next teams that came close.

Two Ichiros had more 200 hits while everyone in the starting lineup hit more than 170. We also achieved two of the five team goals. The two realistic goals!

ONE OF THEM ALSO WON AMERICAN LEAGUE MVP!

PLAYOFFS, BABY! My only rule going into this is that all the elimination games will be a live gameplay sim.

ALDS: Ichiros vs. Yankees

Off-screen computer simulations:

Game 1: Yankees 13, Ichiros 11

Game 2: Yankees 14, Ichiros 11

On-screen simulations:

Game 3: Ichiros 14, Yankees 5

Game 4: Ichiros 12, Yankees 3

Game 5: Ichiros 11, Yankees 3

So, something of importance that I should note: there are two types of simulations in this game. There is the quick sim that doesn’t show any gameplay, and then there is the longer simulation that showcases gameplay. Now, the quick sim was for most of the regular season and held true to the ratings and what each player would theoretically do. However, the gameplay sims showcase a different element of all of these things. You get to see just how much chaos this team can cause. I also think this sim does a better job of highlighting just how many runs a team full of Ichiros can score on offense and prevent on defense. This is the main difference between the two types of simulations.

ALDS: Ichiros vs. Red Sox

This is going to be the toughest challenge yet for the Ichiros. Not only will they have to face the best-pitching team in the league, they also have to go up against some fearsome left-handed hitters. Since all the Ichiros throw right-handed, there is no way to neutralize David Ortiz, Johnny Damon or Trot Nixon.

Game 1: Ichiros 12, Red Sox 6

The Ichiros went to town on Curt Schilling in spurts and it got so bad that Bronson Arroyo had to relieve him in the 3rd inning. You hate to see it.

Game 2: Ichiros 18, Red Sox 2

Going up against David Wells was easy pickings for the Ichiros, who absolutely destroy left-handed pitching. The dimensions of Fenway are also advantageous to the Ichiros. Normal flyouts in other parks turn into off the wall doubles/triples.

David Wells only lasted 5 outs. These Ichiros do a great job getting out on these hot starts and then jumping all over the relief pitching. It’s a magical strategy.

Game 3: Ichiros 6, Red Sox 5

After the Sox take a 5-0 lead by the 3rd inning, the Ichiros face their first test of adversity in the series, but answer back with three runs in the 3rd and three more in the 6th. The Ichiros leaned on their mediocre pitching and great defense to move one win away from the World Series.

Game 4: Ichiros 13, Red Sox 8

After scoring EIGHT runs in the third inning, the Red Sox give up 13 unanswered runs thanks to Ichiro, Ichiro and Ichiro. The Ichiros hit three home runs and six triples to keep putting pressure on the Red Sox pitching staff. Honestly, if Boston hadn’t won the World Series in 2004, I would think this was some part of a curse or something.

This was an unreal fight from the Ichiros. It’s a shame we never got to see them face off against knuckleball god Tim Wakefield. But now the Ichiros are heading to the World Series to face off against. Jon Dowd and the Giants. THIS IS OCTOBER!

World Series: Ichiros vs. Giants

Here we go. A team full of Ichiros vs. Jon Dowd and friends. Statistically speaking, the Yankees and Red Sox were both better opponents, but the Giants are still ranked higher than the Mariners because of our team’s lack of pitching. However, the Giants are one of the slowest teams in the league. It’ll be interesting to see how this dynamic plays out.

Game 1: Ichiros 6, Giants 2

Jon Dowd went 0-4. YOU LOVE TO SEE IT.

Game 2: Ichiros 17, Giants 6

A Jon Dowd grand slam couldn’t stop the Ichiro task force, which hit 5 home runs.

Game 3: Ichiros 12, Giants 1

A Jon Dowd solo home run was nowhere close to enough to stop the flurry. I never thought I would say this, but get Jon Dowd some help!

Game 4: Ichiros 9, Giants 3

GO CRAZY SEATTLE! THE ICHIRO CLONES HAVE TAKEN HOME THE WORLD SERIES TITLE!

ABSOLUTE PLAYOFF DOMINATION!

Offseason

Because we won the World Series, I have been rewarded with a team budget increase of 3.6 million dollars. However, since I put every create-a-player on a one-year contract, nearly the entire team is asking for a new deal.

I really didn’t think this through. Let’s see if I can re-sign them all.

DYNASTY TIME BABY! We made it to spring training with all of the Ichiros intact. On that note, we will end our simulation. We’ve had a hell of a run, but now it’s time to conclude and debrief.

Conclusion

When we used the non-gameplay simulation, the game stayed true to the stats that Ichiro was capable of producing. Those stats added up and allowed us to win dependently. Now, the hitting side sounds believable to a sense. When you duplicate someone that possessed a league-leading .372 batting average, you’re in for a lot of baserunners and scoring opportunities.

The shakiest part of the non-gameplay simulation has to be the pitching. A team of Ichiros giving up only five runs a game doesn’t sound that believable to me, especially when other teams full of actual pitchers in the game gave up more runs. It’s hard to tell whether the defensive prowess of the Ichiros was accounted for in these simulations.

The gameplay simulations were a different story, however, as you can see just how dominant the Ichiro squad was on offense and defense. On offense, the Ichiros barely struck out and every single ball put in play looked like it could be a hit. The Ichiros preyed on slow outfielders like Jon Dowd and middle-tier arms like Johnny Damon. Using these two advantages, the Ichiro squad could turn doubles into triples whenever they wanted. Every time an Ichiro walked, a steal seemed imminent and there was little you could do to stop it.

Now, watching Ichiro pitch in real-time made me nervous, but he does just enough to mitigate the damage. When the pitchers were in a jam, they would often get bailed out by the amazing speed and glove of an Ichiro. It’s nice to have someone with 10 career gold gloves at every position on the field.

The gameplay sims took everything that Ichiro was good at on paper and amplified them to a point where they looked absolutely unbeatable. When they faced elimination against the Yankees, I switched gameplay simulations to “document the end” but I realized that these sims make the Ichiros seem like gods. I do wish that I had done gameplay simulations of the entire playoffs so that those two Yankees losses wouldn’t be there, but at least I switched over before it was too late.

If I had done real gameplay simulations for all 162 games in the regular season, I think that the Ichiros could have won 140+ games easily. There was no way I was going to do that because that would be way too much time put into this project. I barely watch real baseball right now, you think I was going to watch weeks of virtual baseball? Hell no.

The regular season simulation allowed us to make the playoffs and that’s all that mattered to me at the end of the day. The chance to have a chance.

Ichiro is one of the greatest players in baseball history, but he’s overshadowed by most video games he’s featured in. In MVP Baseball there’s Jon Dowd, in Backyard Baseball there’s Pablo Sanchez and Pete Wheeler. In The Bigs, it was basically every power hitter in the game.

He never was a cover athlete for MVP Baseball, Triple Play Baseball, MLB 2K, The Bigs, or MLB: The Show. He never got the recognition he deserved for being OP in multiple video games. So the next time you hear MVP Baseball 2005 and someone mentioning Jon Dowd, bring up Ichiro. Bring up this article that I spent way too much on to show a video game legend the respect he deserves.

Finally, as a reward for making it through this article, here is a wholesome picture of Ichiro smiling.

Getty Images

You’re welcome.

[satyr-syd]

Passing the Baton

Fandom: Haikyuu!! Rating: G Characters: Kyoutani Kentarou, Yahaba Shigeru, Watari Shinji, Iwaizumi Hajime,  Word Count: 4150

Summary: Kyoutani has lost to Iwaizumi again and again, but the other second years aren't about to let him give up.A Seijoh relay race: third years vs. second years

Also on AO3

Kyoutani collapses to the ground, knees banging into the dirt, curling in on himself. He knows he shouldn’t sit down after sprinting, but the frustration and the shame of losing to Iwaizumi– yet again– weighs him down. It wasn’t even a close race. He pants and he pants and sweat rolls off his face and drips onto the dirt. Fists clenched, he pounds the ground.

He glares next to him, where Iwaizumi still stands, hands on his thighs, the smirk of a winner on his face.

“Well?” Iwaizumi goads. “Is that all you got?”

Kyoutani drags himself to his feet. Arm wrestling and baseball and now this race– every single time, he’s been thoroughly beaten. Kyoutani never thought that challenging Iwaizumi would lead to this series of trials, the whole team watching him fail again and again. He’s not sure what else he has to give, and he doesn’t want to embarrass himself any more than he already has–  

“Hell no!”

They both swivel around to see Yahaba, arms crossed across his chest in defiance. He leads the small crowd that had been watching from the sidelines onto the track. “He’s not finished with you yet!”

Kyoutani wants to protest, wants to yell at Yahaba for speaking in his place, but his lungs are still heaving and he can barely keep himself upright, let alone talk.

“In fact, neither am I,” Yahaba says. “Neither are we.”

The rest of the third years approach and surround Iwaizumi. “We?” Oikawa says, raising an eyebrow.

“Yeah! Us second years!” Watari puts in. They both step closer and surround Kyoutani, mirroring the third years.

Kyoutani doesn’t like where this is going.

“We challenge you and the rest of the third years to a relay!” Yahaba boasts.

Nope. He definitely does not like where this is going.

Hanamaki and Matsukawa burst out in giggles. “You think–” Hanamaki snorts, “-you could beat us?”

“After Iwaizumi just slaughtered Mad Dog?”

Yahaba sneers. “Too afraid to take us on?”

“Now, we didn’t say that,” Oikawa purrs. His lips curl into a devious smirk, and he wraps his arms around Iwaizumi’s. “Iwa-chan would love for the chance to crush Mad Dog again, wouldn’t he?”

Iwaizumi shrugs out of Oikawa’s hold and steps in front of Kyoutani. Kyoutani stares at his feet. He can’t look him in the eye after losing so badly. “Is that a challenge?” Iwaizumi asks.

Kyoutani’s tired of losing. He’s tired of this challenge.

Smack!

Yahaba hits his shoulder with enough force to send him stumbling forward, nearly chest to chest with Iwaizumi. “Hey!” he shouts of Yahaba. “What the hell was that?”

He stops when he sees the determined grin on his face. It’s his game face, the one he puts on when Aoba Johsai’s ready to crush their opponent. “You’re not going to back down from a challenge, are you?”

Next to him, Watari nods vigorously. “We’ve got your back,” Watari assures. “We won’t lose to them.”

Kyoutani turns back around to face Iwaizumi. He’s not to sure about this, but with the weight of everyone’s stares, he feels pressured to agree. Plus, he can’t let Yahaba make him look weak.

His legs still shaking from exhaustion, he offers his hand to Iwaizumi. He forces himself to look him in the eye, and says, “It’s a challenge.”

Iwaizumi smiles and shakes his hand firmly.

Behind them, the entire team cheers.

He regrets the decision as soon as he makes it. But he can’t back out now. All he can do is train his hardest and hope it’s enough. He’ll work on his cardio, strengthen his legs, and hope the other second years do their individual preparation, too.

But, of course, Yahaba has other plans.

“Meet Watari and me at the track after school,” Yahaba tells him the next day during morning practice.

“The hell? Why should I?”

Yahaba rolls his eyes. “We’re going to train. Dumbass.”

“Why do we have to do it together?”

“Cause we’re a team, aren’t we?”

A team? Three guys running in succession doesn’t sound like much of a team to him. But he isn’t about to correct Yahaba.

“...Yeah, sure, whatever.”

After school, Kyoutani goes to the track. If he doesn’t show up now, Yahaba’s going to make a big deal about it and annoy him, so really, it’s easier to just show up.

Yahaba and Watari are already there, stretching. Yahaba sees him and stands up, hands on his hips.

“So, the Mad Dog showed up,” he teases.

Leaving is pretty easy, too.

But before Kyoutani has the chance to turn around and make his exit, Watari slaps Yahaba’s leg and says, “To translate: I’m so happy you came on a last minute notice! Thank you so much, Kyou-chan!”

“That’s not–”

“So now that you’re here,” Watari says, standing up and shuffling between Kyoutani and Yahaba, “we need to decide on an order. To run in. For our team relay.”

Kyoutani supposes he can stick around a little longer. At least long enough to decide an order.

Yahaba huffs. “Fine. I think–”

“I’m running last. Against Iwaizumi,” Kyoutani says. The whole reason for this mess is so Kyoutani can beat Iwaizumi, and Iwaizumi will definitely be the other team’s anchor. What’s the point of all this if Kyoutani doesn’t even run against him?

“Hold on,” Yahaba demands. “Shouldn’t we compare times first, or something?”

“The anchor should be the fastest. And I’m the fastest.”

“We don’t know that. All we know is you lost to Iwaizumi.”

Leave it to Yahaba to push all the wrong buttons. He steps closer to Yahaba, but Yahaba doesn’t flinch. “You wanna go right now, then?” he snarls.

Before Yahaba can respond, Watari steps in the middle and pushes them apart, snapping the threads of tension forming between them.

“Stop it, you two. We’re not going to get anywhere with you acting like five year olds. Anyways, aren’t we missing something? There are three of us. And four of them. Do we need to get another person…?”

Yahaba shakes his head. “I already talked to the third years about it. Oikawa-san’s not going to run. To quote our captain, ‘My strong, gorgeous legs would give Team Third Years too much of an advantage. It would be unfair to your team if I ran~!’”

Kyoutani smirks, despite himself. Yahaba’s whiney Oikawa impression is spot-on.

“I bet Iwaizumi forced him to sit it out,” Watari says. “Because of his knee.”

Kyoutani cocks his head. “His knee?”

“Yeah, you know.” Yahaba must see the confusion on his face because he elaborates, “Since...he damaged his knee from overworking it last year...he wears a knee brace, after all….”

It’s not something Kyoutani’s ever paid attention to. Now that he thinks about it, one of Oikawa’s kneepads was white. Apparently that was a brace, not a regular pad.

“...Oh my gosh, you don’t know,” Yahaba says, his tone turned icy cold. “How could you not know that? He’s your captain!”

“I–”

“He’s your teammate!” Yahaba shouts. “Don’t you care about your teammates at all!?”

“Shut up!” Kyoutani yells. The yelling is overwhelming– he doesn’t understand why Yahaba’s upset over such a stupid thing. What does it matter if he doesn’t care about his teammates? All they had to do was stand on the court together for an hour, and they didn’t need to be best friends for that. It’s not like the team ever cared about him anyway.

“I can’t believe you. I mean, he’s our captain–”

“So what? That guy can deal with his own injuries, it’s not like it affects me.”

“What the hell, yes it does? He’s part of your team! I know you don’t give a shit about us but can’t you at least try and pretend? Teamwork is impossible if you don’t know anything about your teammates!”

“Bullshit,” Kyoutani spits. “We’re teammates, but you don’t know the first thing about me. How can you say teamwork is so important when you don’t even want to get along with me?!”

Yahaba steps back, eyes wide. “I– you– you’re the one who doesn’t want to get along with anyone!”

“Only because you all make it impossible!”

He doesn’t have to take this. He turns and stalks off the track so he doesn’t have to listen to Yahaba another second.

“Wait– Kyoutani– ”

He ignores Watari’s calls. He’s had enough of trying to be a team.

He successfully avoids Yahaba for the next few days, only acknowledging him in practice, and even then, never looking him in the eye.

However, he doesn’t escape from Watari.

The libero confronts him at lunch. Kyoutani usually eats alone, tucked behind the gym, so he’s surprised when Watari comes and sits next to him without a word and starts eating. He’s never had a huge problem with Watari, other than the company he keeps. He’s never called Kyoutani ‘Mad Dog,’ he isn’t afraid to talk with him. That’s probably why he gives Watari a chance to say what he wants.

“Hey, Kyoutani?” Watari asks. “Why do you wanna beat Iwaizumi so bad?”

He doesn’t need to tell Watari anything, but there’s something about him that compels him to talk anyways. “I need to be better. Stronger. So I can win. Iwaizumi is the strongest, so I have to beat him.”

Watari sighs sympathetically. “I get that. Wanting to be stronger.”

Kyoutani watches as he picks at the boiled eggs in his bento. “You shoulder a lot of the strength on your own,” Watari says eventually. “But you know...physical strength isn’t the only strength you have. Your bond with your teammates is a strength, too. Oikawa-san knows that, and he takes advantage of it– that’s where Seijoh’s strength comes from. That’s why we’ve made it as far as we have. That’s why we’re going to win the Spring Tournament.”

Kyoutani’s tired of all the ‘team’ talk. He’s heard it a hundred times before, knows the monologue by heart, and in theory, he gets it. But when he gets on the court, working with others whose actions and motives he can’t understand, can’t read, it’s a whole other story. It’s like shoving together a bunch of parts from different clocks, trying to fit the mismatched cogs together. Aligning them to fit together never works, so instead he uses sheer force to keep the gears spinning.

“...I don’t work well on a team,” Kyoutani grumbles.

“Just because you don’t get along with Yahaba doesn’t mean you don’t work well on a team,” Watari says. “But Yahaba’s probably going to be captain next year. He really admires Oikawa and his philosophy. He’s trying to embrace it, but, if you ask me–”

“I’m not.”

“If you ask me, he struggles with teamwork just as much as you. He hasn’t had as much time on the court as us, he’s afraid he’s going to mess up when he does. He thinks the game rests on his shoulders– just like you.”

“I’m nothing like him.”

“You’re more alike than you think. For example, you both want to beat Iwaizumi.”

“...That doesn’t count.”

Watari smirks at him knowingly, like he just proved his point, even though Kyoutani’s definitely in disagreement. Yahaba’s prissy and pompous and a big damn hypocrite. With nice hair. Which doesn’t count because he’s a dick.

“Hey, Kyoutani?”

He looks up.

“I’m trying to get stronger, too,” Watari says. “I’m not that tall, so I want to make up for my height with muscle. Let me know if you ever want to hit the gym together.” Kyoutani nods. He thinks he might actually take Watari up on that offer one day.

After practice, Yahaba pulls him aside. Despite trying to avoid him, Kyoutani lets him.

“Hey, um...I’m sorry about the other day. I was...out of line.”

Kyoutani bites his lip, to keep him from saying something stupid like, You got that right.

Instead, he says, “I’m...sorry, too.” He isn’t really, but he thinks it’ll make Yahaba happy if he says it.

“You don’t need to apologize...but thanks,” Yahaba says gratefully. “I know we haven’t been treating you right, like a real team member, and I’m sorry for that. You’re right– it’s really hypocritical. That’s why...I want to get to know you better now. And I think practicing together for this relay will be a great way to do it. So, are you still up for it?”

He thinks about what Watari said, about teammates making you stronger. About how he and Yahaba are alike. He still doesn’t believe it, but maybe they aren’t as different as he thought, either.

Maybe...it wouldn’t be horrible to give Yahaba another chance.

“...I guess so.”

Yahaba’s face splits into a grin, a genuine smile. Kyoutani’s heart skips a beat; he’s never seen anyone smile like that before. He never would have thought Yahaba was capable of smiling at him like that.

Yahaba places a hand on Kyoutani’s shoulder. Kyoutani nearly shies away from his touch, but Yahaba’s hand is almost comforting. “Perfect. So, I’ll see you at the track today?”

Kyoutani nods.

Yahaba smiles again and lets his hand slide off Kyoutani’s shoulder. He steps back and mutters. “Um...thanks for giving me another chance.”

“...Yeah.”

With that, Yahaba walks away, and Kyoutani feels lighter than he has in a long time.

It turns out there’s a lot more to relays than Kyoutani thought. Namely, it’s more than just running. The hardest part of it is passing the baton.

Figuring out how to pass a baton is much more difficult than Kyoutani ever could have imagined. He’s almost glad they’re practicing together, because if they’d tried this on the day of the match, they would have made fools of themselves.

Kyoutani doesn’t even understand why they’re using a baton, when they could just slap in. Watari explains that Iwaizumi had demanded it. Just to make their lives harder. Passing zones and handoffs don’t measure true strength, but Kyoutani will respect the baton since Iwaizumi is the one who asked for it.

Since Yahaba claimed that, as the tallest (Kyoutani thinks he’s being ridiculous; Yahaba isn’t even that much taller than him), only his legs could hope to keep up with Matsukawa’s giant ones, so he will be their middleman. That means he will be passing the baton to Kyoutani.

Kyoutani doesn’t like it. He doesn’t like not being able to see behind him. It means he has to trust Yahaba not only to keep up with him, but to safely transfer the baton into his hand. Apparently, it’s called a handoff. And he and Yahaba are absolutely awful at it.

“You can’t look behind you!” Yahaba yells at him after they fumble the pass yet again.

“I wouldn’t have to if you would just keep up with me!” Kyoutani rebuttals.

“I can keep up with you! I’m only slowing down because you’re looking behind you and it’s throwing me off!”

“Guys! Calm down!” Watari shouts. They both quiet down. “Kyoutani, how about you watch Yahaba and I do it?”

Kyoutani grunts an affirmative.

He watches their demonstration. It’s not perfect, but they make it look so much easier. Once Watari reaches the passing zone, Yahaba never once glances behind him. Nor does he slow down. His faith in Watari is obvious.

Can Kyoutani have that kind of faith in Yahaba? He doesn’t know.

But, to make this work, he needs to try.

On the third day of practicing together, Kyoutani’s about ready to give up. They’ve made a hundred attempts but none of them are smooth and fast enough to win.

Watari makes them take a break, and asks they listen to him.

“Not like we have a choice anyway…” Yahaba grumbles.

Watari glares at him, and Yahaba shuts up. Kyoutani doesn’t understand why people think Yahaba’s the responsible one, when it’s obviously Watari who’s keeping the second years in line.

He turns to Kyoutani. “Think of it like this. You’ve spiked Yahaba’s sets before, right?”

“Yeah.”

“This is just like that. Yahaba’s setting to you, only the ball is a baton.”

Yahaba smirks. “And I’m not going to throw the baton at you. Unless you wanna try that–”

Watari shoves him away.

“Hey!”

“You trust him to get the ball to you on the court, so you can trust him to get the baton to you on the track, right?”

The truth is, Kyoutani can barely trust him on the court. He has more faith in his own ability to spike any set than Yahaba’s ability to set to any spiker. Out here, on the track, he doesn’t have the same ability. Now, he has to rely on Yahaba’s strength, whether he likes it or not.

“Let’s try again. I’m going to time you,” Watari says, and takes his position at the finish line.

“Hey.” Yahaba touches his shoulder, light enough that Kyoutani’s not sure he even touched him at all. “I know it’s hard for you, but. Just try and trust me, okay? I’m going to get the ball– um, the baton– to you. I promise.”

The tips of his ears burn.  

“...Fine,” he says. “Let’s just get this over with.”

This time is different. Yahaba nears the passing zone and Kyoutani starts jogging ahead. He keeps his eyes locked ahead, his hand outstretched behind him, and starts going faster.

He feels Yahaba getting closer and opens his hand even more. Suddenly the baton hits his palm, and Kyoutani grabs it tight, right as Yahaba lets go.

They finally did it. A rush of joyous energy spurs him faster. Kyoutani hasn’t felt this accomplished since his days at Minamisan.

He races past the finish line in record timing, baton gripped tight in his hand.

Practice is much easier after that. The second year trio practices for an hour on the track after volleyball practice every day for the next two weeks.

One day, after a long hour of practicing passing, when they’re doing their cool down stretches, Yahaba says to him, “We’re going to get food after this.”

“Oh...” Kyoutani doesn’t know why he’s telling him this. It’s not like he cares what Yahaba and Watari do in their free time.

“So?” Yahaba nudges him. “Are you gonna come?”

Oh. They were inviting him to come along.

It makes him feel weird. He knows it would be awkward if he went with them, they know that it would be awkward, but they were inviting him anyway. Maybe it’s because they pity him for always being alone. Kyoutani doesn’t want their pity. “I can’t. I’m...busy,” he lies.

“It won’t take that long,” Watari says. “Promise.”

Or maybe this is their effort to get to know to him, like Yahaba wanted. Maybe it’s not pity, but camaraderie.

“...Fine. But only if Yahaba pays.”

“Wha–”

“Deal!”

“I bet I’m faster than Kyoutani anyway,” Yahaba says offhandedly after one practice.

“No way,” Kyoutani tells him.

“I’d definitely win a race between us.”

“You wanna go right now, then?”

Even though they’re saying the exact same words as last time, Kyoutani senses a lightness and friendless between them that definitely wasn’t there before.

“Hell yeah. First one to the locker room?”

“Sure.”

“Okay. Ready, Set–”

Yahaba takes off before he says go, leaving Kyoutani in the dust.

That bastard.

Kyoutani races after him, hoping to make up the gap as soon as he can. Yahaba sprints ahead, laughing as he goes. “Catch me if you can, Kyou-chan!”

Kyoutani growls at the nickname and sprints even faster, feet pounding against the grass, slowly making up ground. Yahaba gets closer and closer. He glances behind him, sees how close Kyoutani is, and picks up his pace even more. But Kyoutani’s already made up most of the gap, and he’s not about to give up now.

Right when he’s inches away from him, Kyoutani launches himself at Yahaba. Yahaba shrieks and they tumble to the ground, Yahaba pinned beneath him.

“Hey, you guys done flirting?” Watari says.

Yahaba jumps to his feet in an instant, inching away from Kyoutani. His face is red as he tries to explain, “Wha– I– that wasn’t flirting–”

“Okay, whatever you say,” Watari says.

The days pass by in a blur of practice and sweat, and the day of the race is upon them before he knows it.  

Kyoutani bounces impatiently on his heels, nervous for what’s to come. It’s only been a few weeks, not a lot of time for him to improve. Definitely not enough time to beat Iwaizumi. He was going to be defeated again, and–  

A hand slaps him on the shoulder, hard. “Hey!”

“What, want me to be gentler~?” Yahaba says with a smirk.

For some reason, the words make him blush. “...Shut up.”

“You ready to win?” Yahaba asks.

He looks back and forth at Yahaba and Watari. He’s talked with them more in the past two weeks than in the past two years. And honestly, it wasn’t as bad as he thought it’d be. Looking at them now is almost comforting. Is this what Watari meant, when he said teammates give you strength?

“...Yeah. I’m ready.”

They take their spots in the line up. The first years sit in the bleachers. Across the track, he can see Watari stretching next to Hanamaki. Oikawa stands near them, ready with the batons and a stopwatch. Further down the track, Yahaba and Matsukawa appear to be staring each other down. Kyoutani glances next to him, where Iwaizumi bounces on his heels, warming up his muscles.

“You ready to lose again?” Iwaizumi teases.

“Not this time,” Kyoutani grunts.

The shrill chirp of a whistle catches their attention. “ARE. YOU. READY!?” Oikawa shouts. Kyoutani rolls his eyes. Only Oikawa’s annoying voice could be heard across the entire damn track.  

A few half-hearted cheers come from the bleachers.

“LAME. ALRIGHT, LET’S GET STARTED!” Oikawa turns to the starters, stopwatch ready. They crouch down, balancing on the balls of their feet.

The whistle blows, and they’re off.

For a few seconds, Watari and Hanamaki are neck and neck. They move down the track as a single unit, until they near the passing zone and Hanamaki begins to overtake Watari.

Go, go, go!

The third years’ handoff is flawless. But so is the second years’. Yahaba keeps running, and starts to catch up to Matsukawa.

Yahaba’s only a few paces behind Matsukawa. They can still win this.

Yahaba gets closer and closer, and when he reaches the line Kyoutani takes off, still glancing behind him.

But this is a relay, and if he’s looking behind him he’ll never be able to go forward.

He looks ahead and holds his arm out behind him. Yahaba’s footfalls get closer and closer, and Kyoutani picks up his pace.

Trust me, trust me, those steps seem to be saying.

So Kyoutani does.

The cold metal of the baton slaps into his palm and Kyoutani immediately wraps his fingers around it. He pulls into a sprint. They’d finally done the handoff, and they’d done it perfectly.

So had Matsukawa and Iwaizumi. The ace is an arm’s distance ahead, almost within reach. Kyoutani grips the baton tighter and forces his legs to move faster, faster. This is as close as he’s ever gotten to beating Iwaizumi, he needs to win—

“Go, Kyoutani, go!” a voice shouts behind him.

A burst of energy rushes through him and Kyoutani finds the strength to catch up to Iwaizumi. Iwaizumi grunts loudly and tries to pull ahead.

His legs shout and his lungs burn, but he keeps up with his opponent.

The finish line gets closer and closer and all of a sudden, they’ve crossed it– together.

Kyoutani immediately collapses on the ground. He pants and he pants and sweat rolls off his face and drips onto the dirt. He forces himself to look up at Oikawa, stopwatch in his hand.

“It’s a tie!” he announces.

A tie. Not the win he wanted, but not a loss either.

Kyoutani’s pleased to see Iwaizumi’s panting just as hard as he is. “...Good game,” Iwaizumi tells him.

“Good...game.”

A hand pats his back. He looks up to see Yahaba smiling at him, the brilliant and genuine smile he’d seen that one time before. Yahaba, who had cheered him on despite his own exhaustion.

“We’re going to be unstoppable,” he says, offering Kyoutani a hand to help him up. Kyoutani takes it.

Kyoutani nods. “The Spring High Tournament better watch out for us.”

********

The high stakes of Spring High grate on his nerves, upsetting his game sense, and he forgets what he’s learned over the past few months. But when Yahaba yells at him during their match with Karasuno, Kyoutani recalls the relay race. And he knows what Yahaba’s really trying to say.

Trust in your teammates, like you trusted in me.

When he’s ready to go back on the court, he does exactly that.

[larrygoldsteinwrites]

The Drive

I’ve pitched one inning of baseball in my entire life. And before that lone inning had even started, I had already hit two different people with wild pitches. One of them was simply there to watch the game.

Let me back up just a bit before getting to the not-funny-at-the-time details. My kids are starting to play sports. Well, not really play, more like take lessons. My son is learning to ice skate and play hockey. My daughter is getting into golf. And they’re both taking tennis lessons at my request, since that was my best sport growing up.

So now of course I’m starting to wonder if they’ll have natural athletic ability. If they’re like me, they’ll be okay, but nothing will come easy. They’ll have to work pretty damn hard just to be decent. If they’re like my wife… well, she regularly says she hopes they get my athletic ability, so we may be in a bit of trouble there.

Jan likes to say that when it came to sports, she would regularly be recognized for three things: “hardest worker”, “best attitude” and “most improved”. Now that’s admirable stuff of course, but it doesn’t necessarily bode well for the chances of ESPN someday doing a highlight package of Shane’s record-breaking hockey career, or Delilah’s 18 major golf championships, including being the first woman to win The Masters®TM.

So although our expectations may be tempered a bit, it’s still cool to imagine them having success at whatever sport they enjoy the most. We’re not looking forward to the world of travel teams with their Griswold family road trips, or the telenovela-style youth sports politics/drama, but for right now it’s all good. But it also brings me back to my history in youth sports, a history that ain’t always pretty. And that makes me a little bit nervous for them.

So back to the pitching “incident”.  I was in little league, playing 1st base for Salamanca Trust, or maybe it was Century Carpet that year. All I know is I wish I still had those sweet mesh caps with the big block felt letters on them.

 My hipster trucker hat posing with Buffalo Sabre Ric Seiling’s afro.

I wanted to pitch so damn bad. I practiced at home with my dad, who would usually be stuck fetching wild pitches as I tried unsuccessfully to imitate Kent Tekulve. But I eventually became halfway decent, and my buddy’s dad, who was our coach, agreed to let me give it a go in an actual game.

That day finally came, and I took the mound. I was of course allowed to throw some warm up pitches before the inning began. At that exact moment, the coach’s daughter decided she really needed to walk to the other side of the field for some reason, and took a short cut behind the catcher.  What did she need so bad that she had to walk right in the path of someone who had never pitched in a game before? Didn’t she know how damn nervous I was? Of course my first warmup pitch sailed wildly out of my hand, and headed right for her. At the last second she turned away from me and the pitch caught her squarely in the back. Awesome. Super loud thud.

She immediately started to cry, and her dad told her she shouldn’t have been walking behind the catcher during a game. So there’s my first ever pitch. Good times.

This apparently was not enough of a signal that I should just stop this whole charade. I threw a few more warmups, and the lead-off batter was over to the side, taking practice swings and chewing his Big League Chew® until I was ready. So of course I nailed him too. Right in the leg. He wasn’t even looking in my direction. Buckle your seat belts kids, it’s gonna’ be a bumpy ride.

The only other thing I remember about that inning was that I settled down, and actually didn’t allow any runs. But it was all a blur. And I never pitched again. God help my kids, since Jan hopes they get my athletic ability.

I somehow thought this was a good idea.

Delilah asked me the other day if we could get an actual tee time and go play golf. Real golf. 9 holes. It was tough to hear her over the sound of angels singing. I already have the whole thing planned out, down to the snacks, it’s gonna’ be fantastic. She of course thinks I’m the greatest golfer who ever lived.  My childhood friends know this to be laughable, but I did have my moments. Okay, one moment. But it was a big one. Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you, my crowning achievement in golf:

Not sure if you noticed, but even in my finest hour, the moment of my ultimate junior sports triumph, I still get a little jab thrown my way. Let’s take a closer look.

Right there! see that? “Crist missed a short putt on the last hole to give the title to Goldstein”. GIVE. I did not earn it, I was given it.  So yeah, thanks for that. But still, I was there, and I know I crushed them all like Tiger in his prime, dammit.

My award-winning golf career wasn’t always so illustrious, however. Before the prestige, accolades and women that came with being the Elkdale Junior Champion, there was an incident known simply as “The Drive”.

A couple of years earlier, I was in a junior golf league where kids from 5 or 6 courses all got together each week and played at a different one of the group’s home courses. The adults who ran it would have the really good kids go first, since they were the fastest and this way they wouldn’t be held up waiting on the slower kids. Well it was week one, so they randomly decided who would go when since they had no previous scores to go by. So of course I am put in the very first group.

Now this really sucks, as there was a gallery of kids there watching those first groups tee off. It was my first time in this league, and I got to go first. It was at my home course too, so let’s up the stakes a bit, shall we?

Now the first tee box sits right in front of the pool, separated by a chain-link fence and some small hedges. And the pro shop is off to the side about 10 yards. This is important information as you’ll see in just a minute. So I walk up to the little wooden white tee markers. The women’s tee markers, which were red, were only about 5 yards in front of the white ones. Again, important information people.

There were about 1,500 kids in the gallery watching me, maybe hundreds more. Definitely thousands more. I took a deep breath, prayed that I could just get the ball airborne and in the right direction, and took a mighty swing.  I practiced a lot, I tried really hard, I would be fine I told myself.

Next thing I know something really strange was happening. The ball – my ball, the one that I had just hit milliseconds earlier – was coming right at me at a high rate of speed. It missed me, but flew directly into the pool bushes right behind me. My drive had careened directly into the women’s tee marker, and ricoched right back at me. First drive: negative yardage. Needless to say I wasn’t in the first group the following week.

My favorite text in the history of all texts.

But all in all I was a decent golfer and soccer player (see above awesome text), and not too shabby on the tennis court, ski slopes and alleys of Central Lanes, so there may be hope for my kids after all. And if they don’t have the same wild success I had, well that’s fine too. As long as they’re not miserable while they’re out there. And I’ll be there to watch each and every pressure-filled putt and 3-set battle, possibly with a flask to calm my nerves. And hey, since they have Jan as their mom, we’re pretty much guaranteed that at the very least they’ll be the “hardest workers”.

[philmax2018]

Giancarlo Stanton, Yankees overpower Rangers 7-3

Giancarlo Stanton hit the hardest homer ever measured by Major League Baseball's Statcast system, Neil Walker hit two more home runs and the New York Yankees beat the Texas Rangers 7-3 on Thursday night. Stanton's 28th homer was measured at 121.7 mph, the fastest long ball tracked by Statcast since the system was introduced in 2015. Miguel Andujar and Aaron Hicks also went deep, helping the Yankees win their fourth straight since a five-game skid that included a four-game sweep at AL East-leading Boston. from The Korea Times News https://ift.tt/2vXDGhk via IFTTTDiigo Blogger Tumblr Evernote

[flauntpage]

Five Things to Know About the First-Place Phillies as August Begins

The Phillies stopped their four-game skid last night with an important 3-1 victory over the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park behind an outstanding pitching performance from Jake Arrieta.

They open the month of August clinging to a half-game lead in the National League East.  Can they stay in front of the upstart Braves and underachieving Nationals? Let’s take a look at some things you need to know as the Phillies gear up for a late-summer postseason push.

1. The Phillies added All-Star catcher Wilson Ramos ahead of yesterday’s trade deadline

Matt Klentak told reporters yesterday that Ramos won’t return from his left hamstring injury that has kept him sidelined since July 14 until at least mid-August. Even when he does return, there’s no guarantee that Ramos will return to his pre-injury form after more than a month on the shelf.

Still, taking a low-cost chance on the 30 year old for his offense seems worth it.

Consider this: Phillies catchers have combined for a .312 OBP and .702 OPS this season with 11 homers. They’ve also struck out in 35.9% percent of their 449 plate appearances. Ramos, meanwhile, has a .346 OBP and .834 OPS with 14 homers while striking out in only 19.4% of his 315 plate appearance. He gets on base more frequently, hits for more power, and strikes out less.

Defensively, the 13 passed balls allowed by Phillies catchers are more than any other team in the National League. The 58 wild pitches they have been on the receiving end of are the second-most. Ramos, meanwhile, has allowed six passed balls and has been on the receiving end of 23 wild pitches this season. That’s not a marked improvement.

In terms of limiting damage on the base paths, Phillies catchers have thrown out 24 of 92 base stealers (26.1%), which is a bit below the MLB average of 28%. Unsurprisingly, Jorge Alfaro has been better than league average on this front, stopping 18 of 57 attempts (31.6%):

Jorge Alfaro vs. Trea Turner is a dream matchup of arm vs. legs.

Tonight, @_JorgeAlfaro11 won the battle with this 92.5 mph throw and 1.77-second pop time!

That is: – The hardest CS throw by a catcher in #statcast history – The 2nd-fastest pop time on a CS throw since 2015 pic.twitter.com/iM8YwWXjOa

— #Statcast (@statcast) July 1, 2018

It’s also unsurprising that Andrew Knapp has struggled, as he’s thrown out only six of 35 base stealers (17.1%).  This throw didn’t come on one of those attempts – because it was ball four:

kevinmcguire: Andrew Knapp throwing to second on ball four is indefensible, although Tom McCarthy tried. Comcast Sports Network Philadelphia MLB Baseball: Los Angeles Dodgers at Philadelphia Phillies https://t.co/WsUZy4LlRA pic.twitter.com/9HXTkMYz6M

— FanSportsClips (@FanSportsClips) July 25, 2018

Ramos, meanwhile, has eliminated seven of 32 base runners (21.9%). While he’s more experienced and perhaps “more smooth” behind the plate than Alfaro, and most certainly a defensive upgrade over Knapp, Ramos is not a classic “defensive minded” catcher. This acquisition was about adding experience and solidifying the position, but more than anything, it’s a low-risk flyer that could provide a big offensive payoff come September.

Oh, and one thing more thing on Knapp. Despite assumptions to the contrary,  he may not be destined for Lehigh Valley after all. He’s hitting only .233 with a .689 OPS this season, but he’s shown significant improvement in recent weeks. Since June 20, Knapp has hit .283 with a .918 OPS that’s driven by a .550 slugging percentage. While I don’t expect him to log many innings behind the dish over the season’s final month, if he can maintain his recent production, his bat can be valuable to Gabe Kapler late in games down the stretch. Bet you didn’t think you would be reading that take this season.

2. How about Maikel Franco?

The Phillies once-forgotten third baseman reached base four times last night and leads the team with a .278 batting average after a blistering month of July in which he slashed .330/.378/.593. His K% dropped to a season-best 11.2% in 98 July plate appearances, and his hard-hit % has incrementally increased every month this season:

Crushed it.

Maikel Franco hammers a pitch up in the zone to give the Phillies a 3-0 lead! pic.twitter.com/LU6GFu6FRe

— NBC Sports Philadelphia (@NBCSPhilly) July 10, 2018

Franco is doing more damage against fastballs, cutters, and sinkers this season, and I think a lot of that has to do with his increased commitment to hitting the ball the other way. He’s hitting .345 on balls raked to the opposite field this season, which is a 59-point increase over his .286 average on such balls a season ago. He’s also hitting .262 on grounders, which is a 98-point increase from his .164 average in 2017 on such balls. His improved offensive performance has been absolutely critical to the Phillies’ ability to ascend and hold on to first-place.

3. I don’t think anybody would argue that the Phillies’ defense has been consistently tough to watch this season

The latest example came Monday night on this play that directly contributed to wrecking a virtuoso performance by Aaron Nola:

It’s not too late… #BeBold #OdubelHerrera pic.twitter.com/7TOiNQhuH6

— Mr. Matt (@matt_m19) July 31, 2018

The analytics support what your eyes have probably been telling you. Perhaps you saw this tweet on Monday from Sports Info Solutions:

Most Defensive Runs Saved – Teams Brewers 98 Diamondbacks 95 Cubs 51 Braves 50 Yankees 42

Fewest Defensive Runs Saved- Teams Phillies -88 Orioles -68 Mets -58 Pirates -53

— Sports Info Solutions (@SportsInfo_SIS) July 30, 2018

According to FanGraphs, which also tracks defensive runs saved, the Phillies have graded negatively at every single position. The numbers are egregiously poor in left field (-18), at shortstop (-11), third base (-11), and catcher (-10).

Mark Simon (@markasimonsays) of Sports Info Solutions told me through a series of messages yesterday that the primary issues include:

The team has struggled getting outs on groundballs and line drives when they shift.

Throwing has been an issue, as no individual players throw the ball well to first relative to the rest of the league.

Rhys Hoskins rates poorly on balls hit to the deepest and shallowest parts of the field, and runners often take extra bases on balls hit to him.

Andrew Knapp struggles to block and get called strikes.

It’s worth mentioning the addition of Asdrubal Cabrera most certainly won’t help. He’s accounted for a brutal -18 DRS at second base this season and will likely spend some time playing short stop, which is obviously a more difficult position to field. That’s a tough assignment for an aging and well below average defensive infielder.

If the defense doesn’t improve, and it’s hard to imagine it will, the Phillies will desperately need more consistency from an offense that has some individual productive players, but often feels disjointed as it shuts down for prolonged stretches.

And now for two more additional quick notes:

4. Seranthony Dominguez has held the opposition scoreless in four of his first five appearances since the All-Star break

His lone blemish came last Monday when he earned the loss against the Dodgers after a shaky ninth inning in which he was tagged for two runs while recording only one out.

But I do have one concern with Dominguez – he’s been wild.  In those five appearances, Dominguez allowed seven walks and also hit a batter, which is a drastic jump when you consider he issued only one walk over his first 16 appearances to start the season. Obviously, he is pure electricity and has the stuff to overcome his control issues as we saw during both of his appearances against the Red Sox, but this is something to keep an eye on moving forward.

5. And, finally, there is Rhys Hoskins

The dude is unreal. Since participating in the home run derby, Hoskins has been out of his mind. He’s hitting .327 with a 1.309 OPS, 7 HR, 6 2B, 9 BB, and 14 RBI in 49 plate appearances to start the second half. He’s not there yet, but he’s turning into a star before our eyes.

Be sure to check out Crossed Up: A Phillies Podcast for more on the Red Sox series, the team’s trade deadline acquisitions, and more.

The post Five Things to Know About the First-Place Phillies as August Begins appeared first on Crossing Broad.

Five Things to Know About the First-Place Phillies as August Begins published first on https://footballhighlightseurope.tumblr.com/

[buddyrabrahams]

Max Scherzer threw his hardest pitches of season during All-Star Game

Max Scherzer had the adrenaline flowing during his outing in this year’s Major League Baseball All-Star Game on Tuesday.

Scherzer was selected by National League manager Dave Roberts to start the game, which was held in Scherzer’s home ballpark. The three-time Cy Young Award winner recorded strikeouts of Mookie Betts and Jose Altuve in the first inning. During the top half of the frame, Scherzer actually threw his four fastest pitches of the 2018 season.

Scherzer threw his four fastest pitches of 2018 in the first inning tonight. Think he's pumped up to start the #AllStarGame at Nationals Park?

— Mark Feinsand (@Feinsand) July 18, 2018

Those pitches were clocked at 98 mph.

Scherzer was his usual dominant self in the first inning. However, in the second inning, Aaron Judge got the best of him by hitting a solo home run to left field.

ALL RISE IN THE ALL STAR GAME.

Aaron Judge goes YARD off Max Scherzer. pic.twitter.com/O7KsG13Tx4

— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) July 18, 2018

Some people think players don’t take the All-Star Game seriously, but the velocity recorded by Scherzer on his pitches say otherwise.

from Larry Brown Sports https://ift.tt/2Lu5PCi

[yahoo-big-league-stew-blog]

Cardinals pitcher may have overtaken Aroldis Chapman as MLB's hardest thrower

If you’re not familiar with St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Jordan Hicks, now might be a good time to brush up. The rookie right-hander has come out of the gate this season throwing nothing but blazing fastballs, and so far anyway it appears he’s prepared to take the crown as Major League Baseball’s hardest throwing pitcher.

[Still not too late to join a Yahoo Fantasy Baseball league]

According to MLB’s Statcast leaderboard, Hicks enters play on Saturday with the eight fastest pitches recorded this season. Those pitches all ranged from 100.8 mph to 101.6.

Fastest pitches of the MLB season after tonight: 1. Jordan Hicks: 101.6 2. Jordan Hicks: 101.4 3. Jordan Hicks: 101.3 4. Jordan Hicks: 101.0 5-T. Jordan Hicks: 100.9 5-T. Jordan Hicks: 100.9 5-T. Jordan Hicks: 100.9 8-T. Jordan Hicks: 100.8 8-T. Aroldis Chapman: 100.8#STLCards

— David Adler (@_dadler) April 6, 2018

We’re used to seeing Aroldis Chapman’s name dominate the top spots on that list. The New York Yankees closer is the next name we see with a 100.8 mph fastball of his own. But right now it’s Hicks who’s dominating with his variety of two-seam fastballs, four-seam fastballs and sinkers. All three pitches have been clocked at 100 mph.

It’s worth noting that Chapman was dialing up 102 mph as recently as October. He’s routinely hit that number during his career, and at times has gone even higher. In other words, it might only be a matter of time before he challenges Hicks. That night wasn’t Friday though as Chapman never topped 100 mph in his one inning against the Orioles.

Cardinals rookie pitcher Jordan Hicks (left) is threatening to take Yankees’ closer Aroldis Chapman’s crown as MLB’s hardest thrower. (AP Photos)

Chapman, of course, is among the game’s most successful closers currently. Hicks is still carving out his role. Right now St. Louis has him in the bullpen. He’s appeared in four games and thrown 4.1 scoreless innings. He’s struck out three, walked one and allowed two hits.

Hicks was drafted in the third round of the 2015 MLB Draft. He’s appeared in 34 minor league games, with 31 coming as a starter. It’s expected that will be his role eventually in the major leagues, but the Cardinals are just happy to have his dynamic arm available.

– – – – – –

Mark Townsend is a writer for Yahoo Sports Have a tip? Email him at bigleaguestew@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!

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