#our leadoff man guys..

[insidethegiftbasket]

Yankees (18-16) at Rays (19-17)

Tuesday – 7:10pm on YES and ESPN: Jordan Montgomery (1-1, 4.41 ERA) vs Luis Patino (1-0, 1.17 ERA)

Wednesday – 7:10 on YES: Gerrit Cole (4-1, 1.61 ERA) vs TBA, most likely Yarbrough for the bulk innings (2-3, 4.58 ERA)

Thursday – 7:10 on YES and MLBN: Jameson Taillon (1-2, 5.02 ERA) vs TBA, most likely Rich Hill (1-1, 5.17 ERA)

Rays Injury Report (since we last played them)

RP Pete Fairbanks – activated off IL on May 5th

RP Collin McHugh – activated off IL on May 5th

1b Ji-Man Choi – finishing rehabbing injured knee, expected to be activated for series vs Yankees

RP Chris Mazza – placed on 10 Day IL due to shoulder inflammation, no timetable for return

SP Michael Wacha – placed on 10 Day IL due to hamstring strain, no timetable for return

RP Diego Castillo – placed on 10 Day IL due to strained groin, no timetable for return

C Francisco Meijia – placed on 10 Day IL due to strained oblique, no timetable for return

OF Kevin Kiermaier – placed on 10 Day IL due to sprained wrist, no timetable for return

Rays Pitching

The good news for this series is that the Yankees avoid Glasnow, who’s still pitching at an All Star level. The bad news? The Rays, despite having seven relievers on the IL right now along with three starting pitchers, are still able to put out multiple elite relievers. Obviously guys like Fairbanks, Strickland, Thompson, and Kittredge have put up nice seasons in the past, but they’ve also started to use some of their top end prospects like Shane McClanahan out of the pen too with a ton of success.

McClanahan, a consensus Top 100 prospect in baseball, is a lefty who made his first career MLB appearance vs the Yankees in the ALDS last season, and mixes a sweeping slider with 33 inches of drop and 4.4 inches of horizontal break (both significantly above average) with a 99mph four seamer with 52% more horizontal break than average.

The slider is legit—in 12 at bats ending with the pitch, opposing batters have struck out eight times and only gotten one hit. The fastball however is a different story—despite having a lot of life to it, he’s leaving it smack dab in the middle of the zone and people are teeing off on it to a tune of a .506 xSLG.

The other main new piece the Rays have been trotting out is Tuesday’s starting pitcher Luis Patino. He was MLB Pipeline’s #23 prospect in 2020 when he was with the San Diego Padres organization, and was one of the main pieces of the Blake Snell deal this past winter. His star started to shine a bit less after a messy 2020 season in San Diego, as he had a real trouble with throwing strikes (16.5% walk rate was in the second percentile) and was miserable when even or behind in the count (opposing batters had a .845 OPS when ahead in the count, a 1.118 OPS when even in the count, and just a .495 OPS when behind.)

I saw him pitch when he was with Single-A Fort Wayne, and you could tell then that he had the potential to be truly special. He was just 18 years old, nearly four years younger than the average Midwest League player, but his stuff is just electric- he has a fastball that sits in the mid 90’s and lasts throughout the whole game, but can touch 100mph. It doesn’t have a ton of movement to it, but it does have a ton of spin (89th percentile in fastball spin rate in 2020, to go along with 94th percentile in fastball velocity.) The go to out pitch however is a disgusting slider- only 27.1 inches of drop (20% less than average) but it gets nearly double the average horizontal break on it. The slider has a 45.5% whiff rate this season and has gotten 8 strikeouts in 14 at bats. More importantly, he’s started throwing strikes more:

Those are his 2020 pitch charts, where he was really all over the place and had to use his change up more often (more on that in a second).

Compared to his 2021 pitch chart, where everything is a lot tighter and he’s thrown the slider for strikes.

He also has a change up, which is 88mph with a low spin rate and low movement, and he uses that almost exclusively against lefties—it’s really the pitch he needs to improve upon if he wants to live up to his billing as a top end starting pitcher, but despite not really having the underlying numbers to back it up, it has been successful so far in his MLB career. In his limited MLB career so far, he actually has reverse splits (righties are slashing .259/.368/.414 and lefties .158/.273/.536), but in his last MILB season righties slashed .163/.259/.220 compared to lefties slashing .262/.308/.443. I’d be willing to bet that his reverse splits right now are nearly purely small sample sizes and that things will go back to normal quickly.

Rays Hitting

Tampa has been improving their offensive numbers, and are up to a 99 OPS+ as a team so far this season (tied for 13th in baseball.) Getting Choi back helps, as it can for Tsutsugo out of the lineup more often as his 38 OPS+ is dragging down the Rays offense drastically—Tampa has the 5th worst OPS out of the DH position. Ideally, they’d be able to play Meadows there more often, but Kiermaier’s injury takes away his Gold Glove level defense and forces Tampa to play Meadows’ Garbage Glove level defense in LF.

Tampa has been getting good production from the majority of their team however—Zunino has doubled his OPS+ from last year so far and Diaz, Wendle, Meadows, and Arozarena are right where you’d expect them to be in the heart of the order. Adames has been the weak link so far of the every day guys, which is not a place you want to be in when Wander Franco, the consensus top prospect in baseball, is currently crushing the ball in AAA.

Yankees Focus On: Starting Pitchers

Because we’ve faced Tampa twice in the last month already, I figured it’d be a little better to spend more time breaking down our own starters for this series.

First up—Jordan Montgomery: if you want to look at some upside with Gumby, you can point to the fact that he has really battled back from some lousy starts and moments that he just didn’t have it this season. If you want some downside with Gumby, there’s been a lot of those moments. Gumby has a 6.00 ERA in the first inning this season, batters are slashing a very high .364/.417/.871 when leading off an inning, and against non-Orioles teams he’s been a mess:

He’s had miserable platoon splits—lefties are slashing .138/.219/.138 with 10 Ks and 1 BB in 32 PA, but righties are slashing .272/.323/.489 with 18 Ks and 7 BBs in 100 PA. His home/road splits are similar:

Now it’s easy to say “oh it’s been a month, give it some time” with Gumby, and with some of the other pitchers on the team I’d agree, but unfortunately all his career numbers are similar—significantly a different pitcher at home, vs lousy teams, and against lefties than he is on the road, vs winning teams, or against righties. One of the biggest issues he’s running into is that he just really struggles against the best of the best:

It’s hard to trust Gumby when he’s on the mound because of all this—he’s reached 90 pitches in a game just twice in the last two seasons and pitched into the 7th just once (he was pulled after letting the leadoff hitter on in the 7th inning this season against Tampa).

His underlying numbers aren’t that great either—he’s still not walking guys (just a 6.1% BB rate) but he doesn’t get strikeouts and allows a lot of hard contact. Last year he was in the 95th percentile in average exit velocity, this year he’s in the 33rd percentile, mainly because his sinker and his cutter suck.

Those are two pitches with not a lot of movement to them and not a lot of speed to them that are being left in very hittable places for hitters—here’s a zone chart for SLG and xSLG for righties against Gumby:

Not great! He’s leaving those cutters and sinkers all over up in the zone and guys are destroying those pitches.

That being said, the curveball has been elite offerings from him this season: curveball has a .071 SLG and .192 xSLG and is actually his most used pitch at 23.7% of the time (although he does throw a variation of his fastball over 50% of the time.) His change up has gotten good results- right now it has a decent .314 wOBA (although it does have a much higher .440 xWOBA, and if it starts to perform like that then he’s really in trouble.)

At this point I’m not writing Gumby off, he did have a really nice 2017 after all, but he’s now three years removed from Tommy John surgery and the results just have not been there.

In much more positive news, Gerrit Cole is really freaking good at baseball.

Those are his numbers in his Yankee career, and he’s been really worth every penny of the contract so far.

Maybe the most insane thing that Cole’s done this year is put up a 40.2 K% and a 1.8 BB%: the only two SP with a higher difference are Jacob deGrom and Corbin Burnes, who both have roughly a 45% difference between their K rate and BB rate. He’s also drastically cut his HR/FB% down, last year 18.7% of his fly balls left the yard, this year it’s down to 7%. He gave up 14 homers in 73 innings last season, this year he’s given up three in 44.2 innings.

Obviously the big change Cole made this season, as YES mentions every time he steps out on the mound, is that he has embraced the Matt Blake Change Up Factory approach, and to good measure. Last season he threw a change up 5.6% of the time, almost entirely against lefties and to the tune of a .268 wOBA. This year that number is up to 15.1% of the time, it’s used against righties and lefties, and it has a .041 wOBA thanks to one hit against it in 31 PA. His change up is the third best change up in baseball in run value so far this year, only behind John Means and Ian Anderson. He also has the 17th best four seam fastball in run value, and those two pitches play off each other perfectly:

That is excellent tunneling for two pitches with similar movement but a 10mph difference to them—Cole’s change up actually drops significantly less than the average change up and has similar horizontal movement to his four seamer, so it’s really hard to tell the difference in the two pitches. Here’s a pitch chart from his start against Detroit, with four seamers in red and change ups in green:

He’s able to keep the fastballs up in the zone and use his change up as essentially a low fastball, but with a 10mph hitters are just really struggling to identify it and do anything with it.

Starting the final game of the series is Jameson Taillon, who’s really been improving his last couple times out. It’s interesting with Jamo that he’s had Gary behind the plate for every one of his starts so far, and also very interesting in that his expected stats are all significantly better than his actual stats: he’s given up seven homers already this season, but if it was park adjusted he’d be expected to give up five homers. His expected ERA is nearly two runs less than his actual ERA. What he’s running into, and why I am not worried about Jamo long term, is this:

To me that screams “this dude hasn’t pitched in two years and is just building up his stamina” more than anything. He’s also been significantly better with an extra day or two of rest, and between him, Kluber, and Severino once he returns from injury, I can definitely see the Yankees try to get them all extra rest when possible.

His slider has easily been his best pitch on the season—.205 wOBA against (.301 xwOBA) with a high spin rate and sitting at 87mph. He’s used mostly that and his four seamer, which has a lot better expected numbers than actual numbers—xSLG of .430 as opposed to actual SLG of .612. That said, when your chart looks like this, it’s easy to see why his SLG is higher than it should be:

High fastballs are good, but he’s allowing too many high fastballs to be way out of the zone, and they are all really high up. Five of his seven homers are off the 4 seamer, which is totally believable when you look at how his pitches are winding up. A little more time and a little more control can fix that problem however, and I don’t think it’s going to be too long before we see Jamo living up to his potential.

[assembledherethevolunteers]

Collisions and Confessions

A/N: Hi! This is my first reader fic and I hope you like it! 

Summary: You and Pat have been dating for some time, but haven’t told anybody outside of Maz.  Today, you’re playing each other in your baseball league.  

Warnings: Cursing

You yawned loudly and poured yourself a cup of coffee in your kitchen on a bright Saturday morning. You felt a pair of large hands grasp your waist.  You smiled as your boyfriend placed a kiss to your neck.  

“Morning,” he muttered against your skin, his voice still rough with sleep.  

“Good morning, love,” you placed a kiss to his ginger hair.  

He hummed and buried his face in the crook of your neck.  You giggled when he peppered your neck and collarbone with feather light kisses.

“You’re touchy-feely this morning.”  

“I just want you to remember this me instead of the one that you’re going to see this afternoon.”  

You smiled and rolled your eyes.  

You’d had this day circled on your calendar all season.  Today you were playing the D’Backs, AKA the team your boyfriend, Pat Murray, played on. Nobody on either team knew that you were dating, except Maz (since that’s how you two met).  Not even your older brother Derek, who was on the Raiders with you.  

“I’m sure you’re not THAT bad.  Plus, we all get upset when we lose,” you joked.  

Pat swatted at your butt and pulling away, got his own cup of coffee.  

“Seriously though, I get…” Pat paused, trying to find the right word.  “Loud.  And some, including me, would say obnoxious.”  

You set your coffee down and cup his face in your hands.  

“Pat, it’ll be fine,” you kissed his nose.  

He sighed.  

“Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

The two of you made and ate breakfast before Pat left so he could get ready for the game.  

“I’ll see you there,” Pat pressed his lips to yours one, two, three more times before he left.  

You sighed against the door after he left your apartment.  You usually didn’t have him stay over the night before game days, but last night you two had been watching a movie and…well, things had ended in the bedroom.  At that point it was so late that it just made more sense for him to stay over.  

You heard your brother honk outside a couple hours later.  He was picking you up for your game.  You grabbed your bag and walked down to get in Derek’s car.  

“Hey, Y/N, ready?”  

“Oh yeah, can’t wait,” you replied as your brother started driving towards the park.  

“This team is actually pretty decent, so we’ll need to be on our A-game.”

“Oh yeah?” You smiled, a pride for your boyfriend’s team swelled in your chest.  That was a high compliment coming from your brother.  

“Yeah, they’ve got John Mazzello, he’s damn good.  And then there’s Ryan Palacco, and if he actually plays, we’ll really be in trouble. And then there’s Ty…”

Your brother kept talking about the players, not knowing that you already knew all these people. Well, of them at least.  You knew their stats almost as well as your own team’s. You and Pat had a tendency to come over to each other’s apartments and cuddle and talk about the games (“I couldn’t BUY a fucking hit!” “I’m sorry, babe”).

You pulled into the parking lot of the field and got out as your brother finished talking about his game plan.  He was the co-captain along with Nick, who was already in the dugout.  

“Hey, Y/N.”

“What’s up, Nick?”

“Ready for some baseball!”

“Hell yeah!”  The two of you high-fived.  Derek rolled his eyes.  

“We’re going to start you off in the one spot and you’ll be playing left,” Nick said with a slight grimace.

You groaned.  You much preferred being in centerfield, but if you were playing left, that meant…

“It’s time for Peaty to pitch again, huh?”  Derek sighed.

“Yup!”

You started to pull your cleats on when you heard a familiar voice.  

“Y/N!”

You looked up and smiled at Maz.  

“Hey, Maz.”

“Whoa! You two know each other?”

“Yeah, we both…”

“Teach at St. James,” you and your brother said at the same time.  

“How did I not put that together?”  Derek shook his head.  It was common knowledge that Maz had turned the baseball program at St. James High School around since he’d become the coach three years ago.  

You and Maz laughed.  

“I just wanted to come over and wish you luck,” Maz winked and then jogged back over to Pat, who was standing outside the dugout, stretching against the fence.  

You and Pat locked eyes and you turned away before you gave anything away.  

“Are you dating him?”

Your head snapped to look at your brother.  

“Who?”

“John Mazzello! You got super blushy and he winked at you!”

You rolled your eyes. Glad your brother was wrong.  

“No, Derek, we’re good friends.  We have the same free period, so we usually hang out in the teacher’s lounge a lot and talk baseball.”

“Sure,” was all your brother said as he glared over at the D’Backs’ dugout.  He was the number one reason that you and Pat hadn’t told people you were dating.  Derek was ridiculously protective of you, especially since you were the only woman in the league.  Most of the guys didn’t care, but some of them would make comments, or try to touch you in some way.  You could handle yourself, but older brothers were older brothers.  

The rest of your team started showing up and a few of you went out to the outfield to stretch.  You saw Pat and who you were pretty sure was Ryan Pollaco playing catch.  

You turned your back to them, spread your legs, and bent down towards the ground to stretch your inner thighs.  

“OW! FUCK!”  You heard a British voice yell.  

“KEEP YOUR EYE ON THE FUCKING BALL, POLLACO!” Pat shouted.

“I got distracted, you lunatic!”  

“Quit checking her out!”

You looked over and saw Pollaco rubbing his chest.  Pat still had his back to you, but you could tell he was fuming.  

“Don’t tell me what to do!” The blonde flipped off Pat and walked into their dugout.  

The rest of the warmups went on without incident, but your brother at Pat wore matching murderous glares, even if they didn’t know it.  

The umpires called for captains and Nick and Derek jogged to the batting boxes.  You saw a tall, bigger guy that you were pretty sure was their power-hitter, Ty Delamonica.  There was another man standing next to him that you weren’t sure who he was.  Maybe Dells, the pitcher?  Lastly, there was a shorter guy that you knew was Garvey, the catcher.  

You watched as they all talked and shook hands.  The umpire clapped his hands together and they all broke apart.  Nick and Derek came back to the dugout.

“Y/N!” Nick yelled. “Get your helmet on!” Nick ran through the lineup quickly as you put on your helmet and batting gloves.  You walked out and timed your practice swings with Dells’ pitches.  

“Ready, Y/N/N?”  Derek asked as he slowly swung his bat.  

“Always,” you gave him a smile and then walked over to the batter’s box.  You looked over at Nick in the coach’s box at third base.  He gave you the sign for bunt.  

You smiled, looking at the infielders playing far back.  Maz must’ve given them a scouting report.  You settled into the box with your routine.  You looked at Dells and smirked. They had no idea what was coming. You watched the ball get released and then squared to bunt.

“FUCK!” you heard from Ty.

You laid it down the first baseline and took off running.  You hit the base and then the ball hit the glove.  Yes!

“WHO BUNTS IN A SUMMER LEAUGE?!” You heard from the DBacks’ dugout.  

“Somebody who listens to their coach, Barone!”  Ty snapped as he ran back to his position.  

“You’re not the coach, Ty!” Barone called back.  

“Nice job,” the first basemen gave you a smile.  He was older than pretty much everybody else on the field.  He must be Fotch.  

“Thanks,” you smiled back. From what Pat had told you, you liked Fotch.  

“Come on, Pads!” You yelled to the next batter.  

He hit a deep fly ball to centerfield.  You lead off the base as much as you dared, hoping both that Pat would drop it and catch it.  He caught it and you went back to first, muttering under your breath.  

“Let’s go, D!” You yelled at your brother.  

Derek took the first two pitches, one ball and one strike.  He connected with the third pitch and, when you saw it was on the ground, you took off running.  You saw Ty bobble the ball for a moment, then decided to throw it to first.  You were safe, but Derek was out.  

You snuck a glance back at Pat in centerfield and saw him give you a small smile.  You smirked and spread your legs, almost straddling the base and stuck your ass out a little bit more.  You knew how great you looked in your baseball pants.  Anybody else looking would think that you were just trying to get a good leadoff, but you knew Pat was looking.  

“STRIKE THREE!” The umpire yelled.  

“Shit,” you said as the DBacks started to run in.  Pat ran past you and quickly pinched your butt where nobody could see.  

You yelped and stared at him for a moment before running back to your dugout.

“Are you okay?” Derek asked, handing you your glove.  

“Yeah! Sorry, I thought there was a spider on my cleat,” you said, the first thing that came to your mind.

Derek didn’t look like he believed it, but you all ran out to your positions.  Peaty took the mound and you sighed.  Peaty was a great guy and to be honest, a decent pitcher, but he didn’t have a lot of speed.  Which is why you were in left field.  You were one of the fastest people on the team and most of the balls that were hit, were hit to the left side of the field.  

The first two batters, Maz and Barone, got on.  Ty was up now and you took a couple steps back, not wanting the ball to get in front of you.  

The ball cracked against the bat and you saw it soar towards you.  You caught it and quickly threw it in, knowing Maz would try to tag up and get to third.  Maz knew you had an arm though and didn’t even try it.  

“Nice catch, Y/N!” Peaty yelled.  

Nobody scored.  

Pat came up in the second inning and struck out, watching the third strike go by.  You thought he seemed calm enough until he screamed and threw his bat against the dugout fence.  You flinched, more for the bat than anything.

As you ran by the DBacks’ dugout, you could’ve sworn you heard Pollaco and Barone arguing about ‘getting her number’.  Last you knew, Barone had a girlfriend.  

“Will you all shut the fuck up?!” Pat yelled.  

“Well somebody isn’t going to win the bench bet,” somebody responded.  

“SHUT THE FUCK UP, DAVID!”

You chuckled to yourself.

“Seems you’re making an impression on them,” Derek’s eyes narrowed as he put his helmet on.  

“Oh stop,” you rolled your eyes.  “You’re not going to do anything.”  

“If any of them lay a hand on you…”

“Alright, Derek.”

The game started moving faster.  You’d never seen Pat play before, but damn, did he yell.  A lot.  It was actually kind of funny because you’d never seen that side of him.  

“Catch the damn ball, Vinnie!” “TY! Cover the FUCKING BASE!”

You couldn’t help but watch him as the game went on (and maybe it had something to do with the way he looked in his uniform).  

You walked your second time up and got to second on a pass ball.  

“So Y/N,” Zapata, the second baseman, said to you as Garvey and Dells were talking on the mound. “Doing anything later?”  

“Actually yeah, I got plans,” you gave him a smile and could practically feel Pat’s eyes boring into both of you.  

“Psh, blow ‘em off. We’re…”

“ZAPATA! PAY ATTENTION TO THE FUCKING GAME!”

Zapata frowned back at Pat but didn’t say anything before looking back at you.  

“Sorry, HE CAN BE SO RUDE!” Zapata called over his shoulder towards center.  

“I’ll show you fucking rude!” Pat started to make his way in, but Maz interfered.  

“Murray! Get your ass back in position! We’re ready to go!” He nodded at Garvey jogging back to home plate.

“This isn’t over, Zapata!” Pat stomped back to place.  

You met Maz’s eyes and you two smirked.

The next pitch was hit to right field, but over Vinnie’s head and you started running.  

“GO GO GO!” Nick waved you home.  

“Up easy, up easy,” The umpire told you as you crossed home plate.  

You turned and watched as Vinnie threw the ball and Pads got thrown out at second.  

“FUCK!” You yelled as the DBacks started running in.  

Garvey chuckled.

“You’d get along with our centerfielder,” he muttered.  

You bit your bottom lip to keep a smile from your face.  

At least you scored.  

The next half inning, the DBacks didn’t score.  

Soon, it was the final inning and your team was winning.  

You watched as your teammates hit one to Zapata (out) and one to Maz (line-drive, caught).  The last person up hit a pop up between right and center field.  You heard both Vinnie and Pat call each other off.  You knew what was going to happen before it did.  

Vinnie caught the ball, but they collided, and Pat bounced to the ground.  

“PATRICK!” You ran out to centerfield.  You heard people yelling at you, but you didn’t care.  You kneeled next to him.  His eyes were open, but he seemed dazed and his eyes weren’t focused. “Pat, baby?  Are you okay?”  You placed your hands on his cheeks, trying to get him to look at you.  

He blinked his hazel eyes a couple times and then focused on you.  He smiled and took a deep breath.  

“Yeah, yeah, I’m okay, just got the wind knocked out of me.”

“Oh, thank God,” You leaned down and kissed him, just happy that he was okay.  

You heard people yell again, including your brother.  You still didn’t care.  

“I’m okay too, by the way!” Vinnie called at both of you.  

“Um…whenever you two are done, we’ve got a game to finish,” Maz’s voice was above the two of you and made you break apart.  You didn’t move your eyes from Pat.  

“Are you sure you’re okay?” You asked.  

Pat nodded and gave you a small smile.  

“Does this mean Murray won the bench bet!?”

“I think, David, this means that Murray won the bench bet before there even was a bench bet.”  

“Babe, I…I need to go in. I’m up first.”  

“Right!” You stood up and helped him up too.  

The DBacks started to run in, but then you saw Derek start stomping over.  

“Shit,” you muttered. You chased after your brother.  

“What the fuck?!” Derek yelled at Pat.  

“Whoa whoa,” Maz got between your brother and Pat.  “Hey, man, calm down.”

“CALM DOWN?! This guy is making out with my sister in center field and you’re telling me to calm down?!”

“Jesus, Derek, stop it!” You stood next to Maz.  “He’s my boyfriend, not just some guy!”  

Derek’s eyes met yours and they softened for a moment.  

“You have a boyfriend and you didn’t tell me?!”

“No! Because you’d act like an idiot!”  

Derek opened his mouth to try and argue, but you cut him off.  

“I’m serious, Derek. You do this every time I try to date somebody.  I’m in my twenties, I can handle myself,” you reached out and took one of your brother’s hands.  

“Um…I hate to interrupt whatever is going on here, but we’ve got another half inning to play,” the umpire came over to see what was going on.  

Derek pointed at Pat with his free hand.  

“This isn’t over, and we will talk after the game.”

You heard Pat’s teeth snap together.  

“Great, can we finish this now?”  The umpire’s tone was annoyed.  

You turned back to Pat and placed a kiss on his cheek.  

“Any advice?” He asked, eyeing Derek as he walked back to the dugout.  

You and Maz replied at the same time.  

“Get a hit.”  

“Thanks.”

You laughed and then jogged over to Derek who was holding your glove.  

“I’m serious,” he started. “You, me, and him are going to have a talk after this game.”  

“Fine, Derek.  Can we finish the game now?”  

“Are we ready?!” The umpire yelled as everybody got into position.  He made a circle with his finger.  “PLAY BALL!”  

Pat came up to the plate, and you still were pretty sure that he was a bit dazed.  His teammates were yelling for him.  You wanted to yell too, but your competitive side was a little too aggressive for that.  

Pat connected with the ball and it actually made it through the gap between first and second base. You had to bite your lip to keep from cheering for him.  

“YES!” You heard Pat yell from first base.  

“Way to go , Murray!”

“NICE JOB, PAT!”

You were beaming.  As much as you wanted to win, you knew how much getting a hit meant to Pat.  

Vinnie struck out, watching the third strike go by, much to Pat’s loud chagrin.

“SHITTY CALL, BLUE!”  

The umpire took his mask off and pointed at Pat.  

“Watch it, son!”  

“Murray! Shut up for once!”  Ty yelled from the coach’s box on third.  

Pat was still grumbling and kicked some dirt when he went back to the base.

Garvey was up next.  He hit a ground ball to Nick at shortstop.  Nick threw the ball the second, getting Pat out, and then Pads at second, threw it to Derek at first, getting Garvey out.  A double play.  The game was over.  

Pat threw his helmet on the ground.  

“FUCK!”  

Your team ran in and as you did, you picked up Pat’s helmet that was still in the base path.  When his eyes met yours, his softened and he sighed.  

“Thank you,” he took his helmet from you.  He looked upset, even though he got a hit.  

You leaned up and kissed his cheek.  It was slightly dirty and sweaty, but it didn’t bother you.  

“Please don’t make out here on the field again,” Maz said behind you.  You turned to look at him.  

“Can I help you, Johnathan?”  

“Oooh, full naming me, huh?  I just wanted to ask you if you and anybody from your team wanted to join us for a drink? We’re going to Sledge’s.”  

Your eyebrows shot up and you looked around him to look at the DBacks’ dugout.  

“Really?  You guys want me to come?”

“Oh, hell yeah!”  Dells smiled. “We all want to hear how in the world you put up…”  

“Y/N!”  Derek’s voice carried across the field.  “Bring your boyfriend over here!”  

You rolled your eyes then looked at Maz.  

“I’ll get you an answer in a minute,” You took Pat’s hand and pulled him towards your dugout.  

“No, Y/N,” Pat muttered.  “Your brother is going to kill me!”  

“He’s not going to kill you,” you paused and thought about it.  “Well, he won’t kill you a lot.”  

Pat gave you a small laugh.  

“How does somebody kill somebody a little?”  

“You’ll see,” was all you said back before you stopped in front of Derek. You gave him a huge smile. “Hello, brother mine.”  

Derek wasn’t looking at you.  He had his eyes locked on Pat.  

“Oh!” You feigned forgetfulness. “This is Pat,” you moved so that Pat could step in front of you.  “My boyfriend.  Pat, this is my brother Derek.”  

Pat hesitantly stepped forward and extended his hand.

“Hi, Y/N has told me a lot about you.”  

Derek took his hand and shook it for a moment before letting it go and crossing his arms.  

“Wish I could say the same,” Derek frowned.  “How long have you been dating my sister?”  

“Um…f…four months.”

Derek’s glare turned to you.  

“Four months?  You’ve been dating this guy for four months and haven’t said anything?”  

“No, because you tend to scare my boyfriends away and I figured that if you knew I was dating somebody on another team it would be even worse.”

“Were you ever going to tell me?”

“Yes, after baseball season.  You also get so worked up…”

Derek scoffed as his eyes flickered to Pat and then back to you.  

“…so I told Pat it would be better if we waited.  He wanted to tell everybody right away.”  

Derek’s eyes softened, then he looked at Pat.  

“You did?”

“Well, yeah.  I mean…who wouldn’t want to shout from the rooftops that they’re dating somebody like Y/N?”  

You felt a rush of affection for Pat.  “You’re in love with him” a voice in your head shouted, and you knew it was true.  

You stepped closer and wrapped your arms around Pat’s waist.  He wrapped one arm around your shoulders, not breaking eye contact with Derek.  

“D, please be happy for me.”  

Derek looked at you and sighed.  

“Of course, I’m happy for you! I just wish you would’ve told me.  Maybe we can go for a drink…”

“Oh!” You looked to your teammates who were watching the whole interaction (not even pretending they weren’t.  In their defense, neither were the DBacks).  “Do you guys want to go to Sledge’s with the DBacks?”  

Some of your teammates said they would go so you yelled over to Maz that some would be going.  

“Great! We’ll see you there!”  You heard one of the DBacks yell back at you.  

“Do you want to ride with us?”  Derek had his arms at his sides now.  His face had lost all of the hardness he’d been wearing since you had run out to centerfield.  

Pat’s nervous look faded from his face and he slowly smiled.  

“Yeah, I um…I’ll just go tell Maz really quick.”  Pat placed a kiss to your forehead, almost subconsciously, before turning and jogging back to his friend.  The two of them started talking in low tones.  

“You know I’m going to tell him the story about you jumping on the bed after lights out and then you fell out of your bed and broke your arm, right?”

You groaned.  Maybe introducing Pat and Derek wasn’t a good idea after all.  

[bestfriendforhire]

Entry 378

 The past week on Earth was interesting.  Raine helped Marco in the kitchen for the first time, attempting to replicate finished dishes with her magic.  Marco took to teaching her even better than I had hoped, tasting each dish she made and telling her if anything was off.  “Fort Raine” had been used in a dozen mock battles after Jarod and the twins attempted to claim it as a joke, which led to Raine getting practice patching it up after a little damage was done.  There’s occasionally a moat around the fort at Ai and Mai’s request, though Emma was not entirely satisfied with Raine’s ability to fix the grass, but she was being extraordinarily picky as per my request.  I knew Raine could get the details perfect.

 “James!  I hope you don’t mind playing against my team first.  Bit of a tradition to test out the new blood.” claimed Grayson with a grin as he held out his hand.

 “I had time to protest since your notice arrived.  Sorry in advance.” I replied, smiling back.

 “Sorry?  For what?”

 “You’ll see.” I promised.  “We’re already warmed up, so feel free to take the field and get prepared.”

 “Been practicing have you?” he asked, seeming amused as he watched Kayla and Aaliyah playfully swing their bats.

 “We’ve managed to do a bit.”

 “I saw you aren’t pitching.  Surprised me.”

 “No, I’m not.  Raine needed to practice her throw, so I made her pitcher.”

 “Is she going pro?” he teased.

 “She could, but no.  She’s going to be hired as a practice partner for some professionals in the near future.”

 He shook his head and laughed.  “I’ll never get used to your business.  Obviously works though!  I did a bit of research after you visited the house.  Surprisingly hard to find anything that’s not available to public record.”

 “As best friends for hire, we like to keep our noses clean.” I assured him.  “Sure you still want us to bat first?  We do have a bit of an advantage in youth.”

 He brushed off my warning and said, “First game for you.  You probably don’t know what you’re getting into yet, unless Iris has been telling you stories.”  He looked a bit hopeful.

 “She’s told me some.  Your daughter seems to be enjoying herself.  I’m looking forward to seeing you pitch for her, so she’ll be our leadoff hitter.”

 He sighed and said, “Can’t go easy on her.  Wouldn’t be fair to my team.”

 “Oh, I’m hoping you give it your best.  Starting the game with a homerun might make your team nervous.” I replied.

 He laughed and said, “She is pretty good, but I’ll show her not to underestimate her old man.  Let me get my guys in order and we’ll get things started!”

 I smiled and nodded.  Heading over to my friends, I called for them to gather around.  “Grayson’s in for a surprise.  Just remember not to be too extreme.  We’re here to practice being exceptional in a more human capacity.”

 “I dunno, James.  I’m feeling rather super today.” teased Jarod.

 I rolled my eyes at his joke and then told the triplets “No cheating.  Got it?”

 Achille and Heloise nodded, but Babette asked “Aren’t our uniforms cheating?”

 “No, since we’ll be wearing something similar all the time.  As I said, this is practice.” I reiterated.  “Oh, Iris… Your father is going to show you what he’s got.  I warned him that you might get a homerun right off, but he laughed.”

 She sighed and said, “Homerun.  Got it.”  Then she shook her head and said, “My poor dad.”

 “Everyone, remember the miss order.  We’re not here to hit every single swing.  I’m certain he can’t pitch quite like Raine.” I reminded them, hoping Noelle didn’t forget again by her turn to bat.  Aaliyah had a complete schedule for when everyone would miss a swing, and Noelle was continuously confused by it.  I was also going to signal people to strike out at times, so we didn’t dominate innings too excessively.

 Around ten minutes later, the game started off with a missed swing followed by a homerun.  As Iris jogged the bases, Grayson stared off to where the ball had crossed the fence.  We only scored five points before Aaliyah, Achille, and Brandon struck out, but I could see how startled Grayson was.

 My amusement only continued when he saw Raine’s pitching.  No one managed to hit a thing.  The innings continued with our carefully planned hits and misses.  Aaliyah’s precise grounder through Grayson’s leg and across second base really caught them by surprise too, but she only ran to first, making the distance seem extreme for her tiny legs.  Dani and Kayla still weren’t as convincing as I would have liked, too enthusiastic about the game, but I planned to get them in line by the end of the season.

 By the end of the game, we had forty-two points, and Grayson’s team had only managed to graze the ball a couple times when they were up to bat.  Grayson and I had agreed to have the winner buy dinner afterward, so I took everyone out to the Intergalactic House of Awesome Sauce as a treat.  The triplets and twins were a bit shocked at first about going inside, but Alma managed to assure them everything would be fine.  We ate together, shared some laughs, and helped Grayson’s team cheer up about the loss.  

 As his team was heading to the door after our meal, Grayson shook my hand and said, “Great game, James.  The meal was worth the loss, but don’t think you’ll beat us by as much next time.”

 “Gave up on winning?” I teased.

 He shrugged and said, “I don’t know what you’re feeding your employees, but Iris never hit a homerun in her life before joining your company.  I know my daughter.  She was holding back this game.”

 I smiled and nodded.  “She’s probably in the best shape of her life.  You have to realize that our athletics program has to be top notch, so we can be hired to help wherever needed.  I hope you’ll let us know if you or your company ever have need of a best friend.  I assure you that we’re equally skilled outside of athletics.”

 “Yes.  Yes, I will.” he replied, smiling now.  Then he called to his daughter.  “Want a ride home?”

 “I left my car at work, so I’ll see you later.” she replied.

 Grayson nodded, shook my hand again, and headed out.  All in all, things went well.

 “Iris, you should invite your family over for dinner sometime.  I feel your father should get a better look at who he invited to his league.  Besides, he has to see that you weren’t overstating Marco’s cooking.”

 She nodded.  “My brothers are going to go nuts.”

 I shrugged and smiled.  All in all, things went well today.

[usabsportdevelopment-blog]

Recruiting Character, Not Characters

FUNdamental Skills

By Darren Fenster / July 20, 2018

Following his team’s punching their ticket to Super Bowl XLVII, in a nationally televised post-game tirade in January of 2014, Richard Sherman of the Seattle Seahawks showed the world the very worst in sportsmanship. So bad, in fact, that in the two weeks leading up to the NFL’s final game, there was as much chatter about Sherman and his antics as there was about the game itself, taking the spotlight off of the team and placing it on a single player.

“I’m the best,” he shouted into the cameras, with Erin Andrews by his side, shocked by what she was witnessing.

“Don’t you ever talk about me,” he warned, as the rest of his team was celebrating an NFC title.

“Try me with a sorry receiver like Crabtree.”

On February 2nd, 2014, Richard Sherman made his first-ever appearance in the Super Bowl - a team’s pinnacle in football - and yet, just moments following the game’s conclusion all he could talk about was how great he was, and how “sorry” Michael Crabtree of the Oakland Raiders was.

Think of some of the most respected athletes of our time, like Derek Jeter, Peyton Manning, and Michael Jordan. Three guys whose careers have represented the best of the best. A huge reason behind their reverence in the sporting world is due to the fact that they all have won humbly and graciously with superior talent, and would have never acted remotely close to what we saw from Sherman.

In what should have been a time to celebrate the team, Richard Sherman taught us how bad it looks to celebrate the “me.” Judging by the mass coverage to his outburst received at the time, he also taught us that character still counts…

——————

From April 2006 to December 2011, prior to joining the Red Sox, I had the pleasure of working on the coaching staff at my alma mater, Rutgers University, under ABCA Hall-of-Famer Fred Hill, the man who is pretty much solely responsible for my joining the coaching fraternity. During that time I was a part of the inner-workings of a college baseball program, learning, understanding, and later, shaping my beliefs as to how and why players would become a part of the team.

Coach Hill had a saying that you could only have one jerk in your program at a time, and if he’s a jerk, he had better be extremely good. What he was talking about was not the kid’s athletic ability, but rather his character and who he was as a person. When one bad seed is surrounded by 34 quality guys, he would have no other choice but to get in line with the high moral standard of Rutgers University Baseball. More than one jerk and there is the potential for cancer to spread throughout the clubhouse like wildfire, which we had a couple examples of as well.

When we went out to recruit a potential student-athlete, not only did he need to be good enough athletically on the field, he needed to fit in with the character of those who make us who we are off the diamond. With limited scholarship money, our decisions as to who we were going to offer often came down to that player’s personality than how far he can hit a baseball. We had instances where we’ve brought kids on because we loved WHO they were as people, and we had times where we backed off others because we knew they weren’t what we were all about.

People in our industry often ask what recruiting was like, and the challenges that come with the territory. Much like professional scouts explain when considering whether or not to draft a player, we can see what is on the outside, but have to dig deep to learn what is on the inside-those character and make-up traits that truly make or break a player. Players and parents would be shocked to learn of what coaches, recruiters, and scouts look for when evaluating a potential prospect. Still to this day, I cannot believe the following three stories of guys we were recruiting heavily, who thankfully crossed themselves off of our list.

Bring Your Mittens and Warm Milk

The first was a front-line pitching prospect with great stuff, and sure-fire professional potential. A big money scholarship candidate, in a sport where big money rarely exists. Over email, we had set up a meeting following one of our games when our staff would lay out our program, show him and his family around campus, and finish by making him an offer.

The game came and went, and he didn’t show.

The next day, I emailed telling him that I was sorry that he and his folks couldn’t make it, and that we were looking forward to having him on campus in the very near future.

His reply solidified his future WITHOUT us.

“Thanks for the note Coach Fenster. I actually did come to the game, but was so cold that I just had my dad take me home after a couple innings. I will try to make it up again soon.”

For those who aren’t familiar with Rutgers, it is the State University of New Jersey. Spring weather isn’t exactly Miami Beach. One of the things we prided ourselves on at Rutgers was our ability to come out of a cold-weather climate to compete at a very high level. We had a chip on our shoulder because of the cold. We were tough because of the cold. This pitcher would never have the privilege of experiencing how we did it.

Hustling is Conditional

The next story is about an offensive second baseman. While I hadn’t had the opportunity to see this kid play, he was the talk of the town, and a headline in the newspaper seemingly after every game. In print, this kid was putting up the type of numbers that we would have loved to have in the middle of our lineup. It was time for me to see the second-coming of Robinson Cano with my own two eyes.

In his first at-bat, he hit a swinging bunt down the third base line, and high-tailed it down the line and gave me an above average running time as he beat the throw for an infield single. I absolutely loved the grit and determination.

Out in the field that next half inning, he ranged far up the middle to make a challenging backhand play that showed me the type of range, footwork, and arm strength that very few have.

His second at-bat came with a runner on, and his team down a run. I am not sure if the ball has landed yet. Yeah, he might have pimped it a bit, but definitely showed plus power and was pumped when he crossed home plate. It looked like he had a passion to play the game, and I was getting ready to call Coach Hill to get his approval to offer this kid who we had heard so much about a scholarship. In the first three innings of the game, he exceeded my expectations.

Then came the second half of the game.

Back out on defense, the pitcher walked the leadoff hitter, and my guy began yelling to “throw strikes,” but not in an encouraging manner. Hmm… that wasn’t fun to see. Next batter hits a tailor-made double play ground ball to the shortstop who boots it, and my guy at second throws his arms up in disgust, completely showing up his teammate. Hmm…it looked like this kid had some warts under that uniform.

On to his third at-bat, with the game close. He skies a pop-up to the left side of the infield, and “ran” to first at a pace that was slower than most people’s walking speed. As he got back to the dugout, I couldn’t figure out if it was his helmet’s fault that he popped up…or his batting gloves fault…or the water cooler’s fault, because he threw or hit them all.

I had seen enough. Instead of staying after to offer this kid a scholarship, I left. Despite being the type of player we wanted (and needed), he clearly wasn’t the type of person we wanted. His character, or lack thereof, won out.

SHUT UP MOM!

When we recruited players, we recruited their parents as well. It was important to us for them to be involved in the process, so they were aware of everything we had to offer to help the kid make a decision. Contrary to what a high school junior tells you, they do not have all the answers, and we made sure the parents knew that.

Our recruiting visits were very informal, where our staff sat on chairs and couches around a coffee table, across from the player and his family. We wanted to just talk about the program and answer whatever questions they had about us. Sometimes the kid did all the talking, and often times, the parents joined in as well.

With this particular recruit, who was a middle infielder we invited in with the sole purpose of offering him a scholarship, the meeting started off on the wrong foot immediately as he walked through the door. His ragged jeans were draped low, literally with his backside hanging out of them, and his hat was on backwards.

While I was more uncomfortable seeing this kid’s underwear creeping out of his pants, Coach Hill was as old-school of a baseball coach as there ever was, and very few things got under his skin more than the backwards hat.

I knew this meeting might not be what we expected when it began by Coach Hill telling the kid to take off his hat, which he clearly didn’t like judging from his body language. As we went through our talking points, this kid couldn’t have been less interested in what we had to say, and his parents were doing all the talking.

At one point, after we asked about his goals, the kid gave us a very short answer. His mother interjected, trying to get her son to elaborate more about what he wanted to accomplish in the game, when the kid asserted:

“SHUT UP MOM, I AM TALKING!”

At that very moment, this recruit sealed his own fate and any possible future with Rutgers Baseball. We figured if this kid had no respect for the two people who have provided him with everything in his life over the past 17 years, there was no way he was ever going to respect our coaches, staff, or players.

——————

All three of these stories have a couple of common themes. First, they were all talented enough to play college baseball at a very high level, yet, because of their character (or lack thereof), they lost out on one potential opportunity to do so. In addition, NONE of their careers panned out in the manner that their ability should have enabled them to be successful. All three players bounced around between a number of different schools over the course of their college careers, where surely each coach realized a bit too late what we saw all early on.

The bottom line is this: Whether it be with a kid earning a college scholarship, making his high school junior varsity team, or getting drafted, one thing should ALWAYS hold true: character DOES count.

For more resources, check out these links: 

Online Education Center USA Baseball Mobile Coach Long Term Athlete Development Plan Sportsmanship

Darren Fenster is a contributor to the USA Baseball Sport Development Blog, and is currently the Manager of the Boston Red Sox Double-A affiliate Portland Sea Dogs. A former player in the Kansas City Royals minor league system, Fenster joined the Red Sox organization in 2012 after filling various roles on the Rutgers University Baseball staff, where he was a two-time All-American for the Scarlet Knights. Fenster is also Founder and CEO of Coaching Your Kids, LLC, and can be found on Twitter @CoachYourKids.

[junker-town]

Dorktown: Send Luis Castillo’s 2000 season to Hollywood

Getty Images

180 hits. SEVENTEEN RBIs. It took a wild chain of events to set this up.

In 2000, the average Major League player drove in about 0.125 runs per plate appearance. Luis Castillo of the Florida Marlins drove in about 0.072 runs per … hit. That’s right — in a year where he broke Jeff Conine’s then-franchise record for single-season hits, Castillo parlayed 180 of ’em into just 13 RBI.

In other words, you can pick out of a hat any of MLB’s 189,635 plate appearances from that season not taken by Castillo, and it would be expected to generate nearly twice as much run production as the average hit by Florida’s second baseman in 2000.

Now, his RBI total was a bit higher than 13, as he did drive in four runs on groundouts, giving him 17 RBI overall for the season.

So. 180 hits. 17 RBI. Trust me when I tell you that that deserves to be broken down and dissected in every way conceivable. Let’s start here:

Castillo’s 180 hits were tied for 28th in MLB, alongside folks you’ll know, like Edgar Martinez and Chipper Jones. His 17 RBI were tied for 371st alongside folks ... you won’t know, like Jorge Fabregas and James Mouton. This amounted to over ten hits for every run he drove in:

None of the other 213 players with at least 400 plate appearances that season had even five times as many hits as RBI. And even dropping the threshold to include the other 228 players with just 100 plate appearances, only Red Sox/Rockies part-time second baseman Jeff Frye topped five hits per RBI.

Nowhere in the annals of time, not even when baseball games featured two umps and spitballs, have we seen anything like this. No one else in MLB history with as many hits as Castillo has ever even had as few as 25 RBI. Here’s every such player’s RBI total since the dawn of the 20th century:

Tip of the cap there though to 1927 Lloyd Waner with his 223 hits against 27 RBI. Speaking of which, you can also see that most of the smaller RBI totals had occurred many, many years earlier:

And, as you might be able to deduce, those double-digit hits for every run driven remains in its own solar system across time:

That Waner season is the only other one even above seven, with good ol’ 1904 Patsy Dougherty getting the bronze.

It’s a rate so astounding, that we don’t even need to limit ourselves to the volume of only those who recorded at least 180 hits. Here are the hit totals and RBI of every individual season with 150+ hits:

We still do not encounter someone that drove in so few runs, with obviously the overwhelming majority of the additional 4,398 dots to the left of Castillo’s (in other words, the hit range of 150-179) racking up far, far, far more RBI. Here are those totals plotted by year:

Again we see many of the lower totals stemming from the dead-ball era over 100 years ago, with 1912 Morrie Rath the only other 150-hit season that was accompanied by an RBI total under 20. Since 1960, Castillo at 17 is the only RBI total under 25, despite allowing players with up to 30 fewer hits to infiltrate our sample. Even the lowered threshold doesn’t unlock anyone new in Castillo’s hits-per-RBI zip code, especially in the last 100 years:

The dead-ball era of this vastly expanded sample contains a few more seasons with over seven hits per RBI, including 1912 Rath who overtakes 1927 Waner for (distant) runner-up. Since that Waner season, though, only the 1959 seasons of Richie Ashburn (exactly 150 hits) and Don Blasingame have produced a mark above seven. And they’re still nowhere remotely close to 2000 Castillo.

So we know none of the player-seasons with at least 150 hits generated so few RBI as Castillo’s 180-hit season. But here’s how low we have to go with hits before we find guys who failed to exceed 17 RBI starting to emerge:

1910 Clyde Milan is our closest ‘challenger’ — but in the live-ball era the drop-off’s even steeper, with 2011 Jamey Carroll’s 131 hits the next-most of anyone with ≤ 17 RBI. A full 49 hits fewer. Awesome.

If you’re curious about how low you have to go hit-wise before finding someone in 2000 Castillo’s hits-per-RBI stratosphere, here ya go:

The runner-up had just 72 hits, done by 1965 Dick Howser (who had six RBI). It is the only one of the other 29,289 all-time individual seasons with even 50+ hits to feature as many hits per RBI (of the 17,329 all-time individual seasons with 100+ hits, the only other one that even came close was 1971 Enzo Hernandez with 122 hits and 12 RBI).

To repeat, Castillo had 180 hits.

Sure 87.8 percent of ’em were singles — ’00 Castillo is one of just three players with a percentage that high on that many hits in the last 50 years, joining ’91 Brett Butler and ’14 Ben Revere. But even ’91 Butler and ’14 Revere’s hits-per-RBI figures (4.79 and 6.57, respectively) weren’t in ’00 Castillo’s ballpark, so you know there’s much more to the story beyond him simply not getting many extra-base hits.

Let’s start with who he hit behind. Like all leadoff hitters, he was guaranteed to have no one on for his first plate appearance of every game. And like all National League leadoff hitters, a lot of his other plate appearances were directly following a pitcher’s trip to the dish, which is certainly unfavorable to RBI production. But how about each of the two batters before that? Well, what the Marlins got out of the 7th spot in their lineup was nothing short of pitiful:

Alex Gonzalez, their primary #7 hitter, was quite literally — and by far — MLB’s worst high-playing time batter that season. His OPS was .548; no one else with at least 400 plate appearances came in under .635. We can even stretch it out to anyone with even 200 plate appearances, and only the not-so-aptly named Homer Bush had a worse OPS (the average player had a .782 OPS that year):

Surely then they at least didn’t also get MLB’s very worst production out of the 8th spot in their lineup:

Welp.

Ok, so Castillo was dealt an unimaginably bad hand when it came to hitting behind the bottom of the 2000 Marlins lineup. But when he was lucky enough to come up with anyone on base, his batting average absolutely plummeted. Took a complete and total nose dive. See, when the bases were empty, it was tremendous:

When there was no one on, his .380 batting average was MLB’s very best. Not quite the same story when one or more bases was occupied (Castillo in green):

Yikes. And if we isolate just those who had at least as many plate appearances with baserunners on, 205 of the other 209 bested Castillo’s batting average of just .217! Again, if the bases happened to be empty, this man had MLB’s very best batting average.

Making this even funnier is that the presence of baserunners is supposed to help batting average. In 2000, the average player’s batting average when runners were on was about 10 points higher than it was when the bases were empty. Castillo’s was, well, not:

Another way to think about it is that if you take a bird’s-eye view of his entire season, he had a batting average of .334 — so his batting average if just isolating when runners were on for him dropped by about 117 points. Baseball-Reference has reliable base-occupied data splits going back to 1973. So reckon we oughta give that some perspective:

Gotta really drop to some awfully small samples before finding players with that sort of discrepancy:

So these were the three primary forces at play here for Luis Castillo in 2000:

• galactically bad luck in terms of who he was hitting behind

• an inexplicably egregious, surely unprecedented drop in batting average/case of the yips the rare times those batting ahead of him got aboard

• when he did get his hits, singles constituted a percentage of them so high (or, if you prefer, extra-base hits constituted a percentage of them so low) that it has only been reached twice in the last half-century among the other 828 individual MLB seasons of at least 180 hits

That, my friends, is what we call the perfect fucking storm. 180 hits. 17 RBI. A flash in the pan that we will never, ever see again.

[nommybites]

Well, it’s apparently taken me a full 7 weeks to process the emotions of this here experience, folks. Apparently that is a thing when one meets one’s idol! 

Here’s the sitch: the folks at BOKA, a hub of fine dining in Chicago and the namesake of the restaurant group to which we owe Goats (Girl and, Duck Duck, and Little) and other gems, partnered with Coolest Man on the Planet Massimo Bottura to craft a meal inspired by Massimo’s life philosophy/mission. You may know Massimo as the guy from the first episode of Chef’s Table -- in addition to being the chef at one of the top 3 restaurants in the world, he has dedicated himself to alleviating food waste and feeding those in need. His organization, Food for Soul, has now operated several ‘refectories;’ local businesses donate food that would otherwise be thrown away, and world-class chef Massimo (and his world-class chef friends) prepare gourmet meals to be served to those in need of a meal. He is, no exaggeration, my idol, so when my dearest sister told me this meal was happening, we had to get in (shoutout to her boyfriend for getting us the last 2 available seats and forfeiting his spot so Sarah and I could go). 

So, the day rolls around, and Sarah and I show up to the restaurant, and I immediately catch a glimpse of Massimo chatting with a table of diners. This initiated a cycle of me borderline hyperventilating and/or crying, and Sarah gently calming me and/or yelling at me to get my shit together (a theme of the night).

When we sat in our spacious corner booth, we were greeted with the first sign that this was a very special night -- the menus were all handmade out of recycled paper and vegetables and handwritten. I am glad the waiter told me they were not edible because I was 100% about to take a bite of the menu. 

Diving into the meal, though -- first up was, as you see on the menu, cod skin and belly. The belly was crafted into a staggeringly light and flavorful dip, and the skin was fried to serve as crackers for the dip. Add on some picked fennel and giardiniera, and this was a leadoff homerun. 

***INTERMISSION BECAUSE THIS IS WHEN MASSIMO CAME TO OUR TABLE***

Massimo came over (he stopped at every table to chat because he is a perfect angel) and I did my best to keep it together, telling him about my interest in food policy and that I lived in Bologna (20 minutes from Modena, where his restaurant is) for a year. He asked how we were enjoying the meal, took a photo with us (then demanded we take it again so the lighting would be better -- the man gets it) and then TOLD ME TO FOLLOW MY DREAMS? It was perfect. I had a nagging fear that he would be an asshole IRL and then I’d have to find a new idol, which would be a pain in the butt, but he was as kind, patient, and charismatic as I could have imagined. GO MASSIMO

***End intermission***

Next was Sarah’s sleeper favorite - carrot panzanella. Roasted carrots met fresh carrots (including both of their greens) in a bowl with crusty stale bread (a staple in anti-food waste meals) and dollops a lowkey majestic sunflower seed yogurt sauce. It was one of those dishes where every time you take a bite you discover another layer to it, and then because you’re discovering all these layers, you feel like you’re really in the know as a diner and like, know your shit. 

Next was what I would have to say was my least favorite dish, although that’s like choosing a ‘least favorite puppy’ or a ‘least favorite Colin Firth film.’ This mushroom risotto was made with freekeh instead of rice and featured mushroom zabaione and fresh shaved maitake mushrooms. Although the flavor was truly to die for -- like Very Real Mushroom Flavor -- the freekeh was crunchy. It was interesting, but a little off-putting for me. But like mushroom risotto in general is one of my favorite foods. So this was still bomb. Let there be no confusion!

Next was a *BONUS COURSE* because we are Very Important. What up, cod! Our Course #1 cod mad a reappearance -- this time it was poached and served with pickled cauliflower and roe. Honestly, the fish was so freaking buttery it was like the best scallop I’d ever had. That is a major glo up for cod, to be honest. A nice transition into the gluttony to follow...

Meatballs AND cheesy black truffle bread boats (the best five words that have ever been strung together maybe?). These meatballs were not for the faint of heart -- I am a terrible blogger and forgot what meats they were made of, but one of them was someone’s belly. Whatever the ingredients were, they were some of the most flavor-packed and rich meatballs I’ve ever had, tempered slightly by the bright crunchy greens they were served with, and the cookie crumbs (I think!) on top. 

Had nearly hit a food wall at this point, but made room for dessert -- banana peel ice cream with beignet and gold leaf. I will say, I totally get how the banana peel thing fits with the no waste theme. I struggle slightly to wrap my head around the idea of, oh, rampant gold waste, but I’ll let it slide because this dessert was fantastic. Bananas are so sweet, they can be cloying, and with a donut you’d think it would be overpowering, but the banana was light and subtle, and the bitter chocolate kept things on track. 

Boka is #extra, so the check came with 3 different kinds of bon bons, if you will -- some meringue-like cookies with cocoa nibs, chocolate bark with candied orange peel, and a lovechild of a pecan cookie and a lemon bar. 

Suffice it to say I left that dinner table much as one might leave a poker table after winning a bazillion dollars and doing a line... or at least that’s how I imagine it. And to top it off, my sister treated me as a birthday-Christmas present. Ain’t she the best? 

Thx, Massimo. Thx, Boka. Thx, Sarah,

[paulbenedictblog]

%news%

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Fox news Live from New York, J.J. Watt tackles 'SNL' - NFL.com

Fox news

Live from New York, J.J. Watt took center stage.

Roughly 1,300 hours away and steady petrified of 24 hours from the Tremendous Bowl, the Texans All-Pro hosted Saturday Evening Live.

After introducing himself and giving somewhat of family historical previous, Watt's opening monologue concluded with him admitting he'd gladly alternate his internet hosting gig for a residing in the Tremendous Bowl.

"I am so inflamed to be right here internet hosting Saturday Evening Live, my title is J.J. Watt and I play defensive give up for the Houston Texans," Watt began. "You see the Texans are a football team; football is the sport with the helmets. I am sorry guys, I didn't drawl I'll presumably presumably presumably need to level to that, however the writers backstage gave the affect wide at a loss for phrases, so there you flow.

"Football is roughly the family business. I really comprise two brothers who're also in the NFL; our names are J.J., T.J. and, for some reason, Derek. I blueprint now not know if that technique my fogeys loved him more or loved him much less, then again it surely technique it be assorted.

Ready for @nbcsnl !!!! pic.twitter.com/aic3lPrdqm

— TJ Watt (@_TJWatt) February 2, 2020

"As successfully all know, the next day is for positive the Tremendous Bowl. Create now not glean too inflamed, I am now not in it. I didn't glean to play. Nonetheless I opt to witness on the shiny side of things, if I was in the Tremendous Bowl, I doubtlessly would possibly presumably presumably presumably now not be right here internet hosting tonight. And would I really alternate internet hosting SNL for the Tremendous Bowl? Certain, I surely would. Positively would. No doubt I restful would, so when you guys need to call me, I will switch away upright now. Nonetheless since that's now not gonna happen, I steady need to articulate to your complete avid gamers in the game, congratulations, you guys comprise really earned it. And I point out this from the backside of my heart, I hope it ends in a tie. Nonetheless I am in New York City tonight! So let's glean collectively!"

Persevering with in the comedic cleat-steps taken on SNL starting up with Hall of Fame quarterback Fran Tarkenton succor in 1977 and continuing alongside with the likes of Walter Payton, Deion Sanders, Tom Brady, Peyton and Eli Manning, and others, Watt solid aside his shoulder pads for an array of costume changes.

Watt, the first skilled athlete since UFC Hall of Famer Ronda Rousey in 2016 to host the iconic sketch comedy and differ show, was in a neighborhood to show his versatility on Saturday night. The Texans flow rusher's differ didn't attain with regards to speeding the passer and stopping the scoot, however a cavalcade of comedic skits.

Watt's leadoff skit noticed him taking part in a faux-Frozen II's Kristoff earlier than his second act noticed him in his familiar football pads.

In a parody of the movie Rudy known as Robbie, Watt, donning a Notre Dame No. 99 jersey, didn't apply suit alongside with his teammates who wanted the underdog Robbie to glean in the game and objected with an expletive-bleeped rant.

That “Robbie” skit �������� @JJWatt @nbcsnl

— Derek Watt (@DerekWatt34) February 2, 2020

Thereafter, Watt took on the job of a birds-and-the-bees talk alongside with his son that went off the rails. He counseled "Olay Undercover agent Sunless" and was later a Bachelor-esque "The Pilot Hunk."

From there, Watt was himself once again, rattling off a bunch of sound bytes for an upcoming "Madden 21" by which his comments had been once in some time that of a successful multi-time Pro Bowler. And in the slay he wrapped all of it up as a sad-tie bigfoot and a extremely grownup pizza-provide man.

As he signed off and thanked all individuals, Watt -- donning a Kobe Bryant jersey -- crumpled up a portion of paper and took a trademark Bryant fadeway shot to log off.

A five-time All-Pro, Watt would possibly presumably presumably presumably now not had been as at home at 30 Rockefeller Plaza as he's on the gridiron, however he delivered some laughs dwell on Saturday night.

[auburnfamilynews]

Game 3– Auburn vs #14 North Carolina

Monday: 14-7 W

Unbelievable. That’s all I can say. It’s absolutely unbelievable. Your Auburn Tigers, our Auburn Tigers are heading back to Omaha as a participant in the 2019 College World Series. HAIL TO THE CHAMPIONS OF THE CHAPEL HILL SUPER REGIONAL! THE AUBURN TIGERS!!

But let’s go through this one because it was over early. The Auburn offense went off in a big way, and sure, 4 walks to start the game wasn’t the best start, but let’s take those away. Auburn would then only have 9 runs on 9 hits and left 1 on base. Unreal. Unprecedented. Impossible if you had said that this would happen a few weeks back against Georgia or LSU. But it definitely happened. The other really impressive thing is that there was only one home run in the inning, and that was off the bat of Judd Ward.

His first hit of a Super Regional... A HOME RUN! Judd Ward keeps it rollin' for @AuburnBaseball#RoadToOmaha pic.twitter.com/qFHFfZL9rj

— NCAA Baseball (@NCAACWS) June 10, 2019

Everything else was strung together and smart base running to allow the Tigers to jump out to a 13-0 lead after a 50 minute top half of the 1st. Tanner Burns would get the nod and would face 7, only allowing 1 walk to the leadoff man. Richard Fitts would then enter and be the guy we have known for most of this season, going 5.1 and throwing strikes, he did give up 6 runs on 7 hits with 3 walks and 4 Ks but that’s what Auburn needed him to do. Get outs and get the game to the Bull, which he did. Auburn would add a run in the 7th for good measure but the outcome was all but official. Greenhill would enter in the bottom of the 8th and go the rest of the way, giving up a solo home run to Sabato in the 9th but it allowed for the sweetest out Auburn has had in 22 years.

"The Tigers are headed to the College World Series!"#WarEagle | #RoadToOmaha pic.twitter.com/HKPE9wawBy

— Auburn Baseball (@AuburnBaseball) June 10, 2019

Unbelievable. Speechless. What a year. What a team. Now let’s step back and look at this as best we can. This close to the impact spot. Butch Thompson took over a squad and a program that had lacked true leadership since 2009 and perhaps before that at the top. A program that was a lost ship in the night that had a proud history but had fallen on hard times. Missed the NCAA Tournament entirely in 2016. Made it to Championship Sunday in 2017 only to be denied by 1 strike from a Super Regional birth. Won the Regional in Raleigh in 2018 only to fall to Florida in the most devastating way possible. Make the tournament again in 2019, win the Georgia Tech Regional and now win the Chapel Hill Super Regional to make it to Omaha for the first time since 1997. Can we lock this man away and give him all the things he needs and wants. Look at Mississippi State (who Auburn will play Sunday). Look at Arkansas (who is also in Omaha). Look at Vanderbilt. You say you want Auburn to compete for championships? Well, You have a basketball coach who took your program to the Final Four. You have a baseball coach who just got you in to the promised land of College Baseball…now it’s time to step up Auburn Athletics Administration.

Ok, I’m off my soap box for a moment. Back to this team and what they just did. They just punched Auburn’s 5th birth to the College World Series and the 1st at TD Ameritrade. I’m crying.

On Deck

Omaha….vs Mississippi State….Next weekend…in the College World Series.

Well, at least the Primer will be easy for me. 3 of the 4 teams in our Pod are from the SEC with the outlier being the Louisville Cardinals. Auburn however, will open with Mississippi State and Ethan Small either Saturday or Sunday (more than likely Sunday) at TD Ameritrade. The Tigers got a rare win in a game that Small started earlier this season in Starkville so there’s a positive. Auburn should counter with Jack Owen who State has ever seen live. Remember back, that was Jack’s first missed start after Beat a Vol Sunday way back when. Other than that, you’re already over thinking it. Find your tickets, book your flight, do yourself a favor and go out to the most amazing place on earth. Omaha in June. Because your Auburn Tigers are playing there. Aaaand I’m crying again…

from College and Magnolia - All Posts https://www.collegeandmagnolia.com/2019/6/10/18660610/super-regional-recap-game-3

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Lattimore was nevertheless still a solid source of tackles and forced enough turnovers to be a viable fantasy option in many leagues;

Trade so-and-so;

According to manager Brad Ausmus, the southpaw will incorporate all of his pitches during Saturday’s session;

Obviously I’m really excited and just trying to soak it all in right now…it was a great call;

The only spot to fill remains at right guard, where sophomore player Alex Cappa will get a chance to fight for during training camp;

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The Maple Leafs will finally beat the Bruins this year, with John Tavares, Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner leading a formidable offensive attack. That’s what you expect and it’s not easy but that’s what your job is. What did we expect? Whether it’s the Red Sox, Bruins or New England Patriots, it’s hard not to have a local team to cheer on.

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[optimistredsox]

BOS @ MIN, 6th May (11-1, win)

Oh man, did we need that game. That filled three huge gaps that had been lacking this season: run support for Rick Porcello, a classic Red Sox ‘big inning’, and double-digit runs on the board. And it all kicked off quite early, with 2 outs in the bottom of the second. 

There is an argument to be made that this joyous performance was due as much to some noodle-armed sliders coming from Twins starter Tepesch as it was from our bats, but that would be a particularly pessimistic argument, and has no place here. There have been a few times this season that the lineup failed to perform against mediocre pitching, so the ability to take proper advantage of it when the opportunity presents itself is a very good thing. And I, for one, had forgotten just how much fun it is to watch the Sox bat around the order and punish the opposing team. It became an art form, seeing how the next run would score. That the inning should’ve been over after just the one run, but for an error on a routine ground ball by Twins shortstop Jorge Polanco, made it all the better.

Was it all down to John Farrell’s lineup change? I dunno. It’s been interesting watching him respond to the bats’ slow start. He’s been far more clinical and willing to experiment with the lineup than he has been in the past. There are a lot of hits and runs to be had in the Sox bats, but getting the best out of them has been difficult. And it wasn’t 100% successful - Mookie went 0-for-5 back in the leadoff spot. How long do you keep a guy that can hit 30 homers a year in the leadoff spot?

That’s a question for another time, I guess. For now, I’m going to bask in yesterday’s success and hope that we can keep the bats going against Ervin Santana, who will offer the Sox no noodle-armed sliders this afternoon.

So many bright sides yesterday:

Rick Porcello did not take his foot off the gas after being spotted 8 runs in the 2nd, going 7 innings and giving up 7 hits and 1 run with no walks and 6 strike outs. Some of those swinging strikes made the Twins look like little leaguers. It was a great performance, though there were a couple of very long outs that left me holding my breath. Please spot him runs, Red Sox, he handles it very well. 

Xander went 3-for-6 and scored a run. He looked totally locked in at the plate, and his last two outs were hit on a line, just sadly straight at outfielders. He was also running the bases well, turning a single into a double by reading the slowness of the Twins outfield. 

Benintendi also looked locked in, also going 3-for-6, knocking in two runs and turning a double into three bases, reading the play from the outfield brilliantly. He’s playing good baseball right now. 

Chris Young went two-for-five with 2 home runs, the first with 2 strikes and 2 outs in the top of the second, kicking off the rally that resulted in 8 runs and a profound sense of joy among Sox fans everywhere. The second might have sealed him a bit more playing time with JBJr struggling at the moment. 

Sandy Leon went 3-for-5 with a solo home run and a smart piece of base running in the second, going for broke for second in spite of an easily fieldable ground ball from Josh Rutledge. With Polanco’s error, he was able to tag safely, but there could have been an out there with a slower jog. He could be hitting one of his hot streaks, which would be exciting.

Mitch Moreland hit another double! And went 2-for-4. 

Pedey’s base-clearing double in the top of the second was a joy to see. It was textbook laser show. I like seeing him in the 2 spot again. 

We won!

It’s Chris Sale day today!

[junker-town]

Europe dominates the USA to win 2018 Ryder Cup title

It’s another embarrassing failure for the United States, favored to win and end a 25-year drought in Europe.

There was an hour window on Sunday when it seemed like it could happen. It felt possible. The United States had a chance, however remote, to win the first six matches of Sunday singles at the Ryder Cup. After that, then all hell could break loose and we were on our way to a redux of the two greatest Ryder Cups of all time. The 1999 American comeback at Brookline and the 2012 European comeback at Medinah. Both of those comebacks were from a 10-6 Saturday night deficit. The USA trailed 10-6 at the start of Sunday’s singles session.

Captain Jim Furyk put his power at the front of the 12-man lineup. That’s the way you do this when you have a sizable deficit to make up. Euro captain Thomas Bjorn countered with his strength up front, which is what you do when you’re sitting on a nice cushion with just one session to go. The last thing Bjorn needed to see was red all over the board early and Americans thinking they were starting something special on the final day. That was the path at Brookline and Medinah.

The power up front strategy delivered a Justin Thomas vs. Rory McIlroy matchup in the leadoff spot. Thomas started with a birdie on the first hole, to go 1-up and it was back-and-forth from there until the 18th green. Thomas called it a “pillow fight” because of some of the poor shots, but it was at least a competitive, interesting match and one that let American fans have some glimmer of hope.

It was just a really quality second shot from JT.#GoUSA pic.twitter.com/QfU2jeVFbk

— Ryder Cup USA (@RyderCupUSA) September 30, 2018

The first point of the day went to the USA, they led in a couple of the others in that first six, and Europe led none of them. A flurry of tweets about how this “suddenly got interesting” rained down but then reality set in at Le Golf National.

Brooks Koepka, who was 1-up with two to play, had to fight to just scratch out a half-point against Paul Casey. That was a disastrous turn for the US side with the two-time major winner and Player of the Year getting caught and clipped by Casey, who was, admittedly, lights-out this week.

Jon Rahm wiped out Tiger Woods, who went a hideous 0-4 this week. Tiger had nothing, looked lethargic and frustrated, and finished the week with a fitting loss to Rahm, who danced around the 17th green with a 2&1 win. Tiger made no putts and couldn’t hit fairways. Just like last week was a throwback to so many victorious Sundays on the PGA Tour, this week was a throwback to so many underwhelming Ryder Cup failures.

Brooks halving his point and Tiger losing weren’t the final nails in the coffin. Dustin Johnson, the No. 1 player in the world, losing to Ian Poulter was. DJ was also terrible all week. He’s the No. 1 player in the rankings and has to play every session. But he won just one point and screwed around with his putting all week, which finished with Poulter thumping and screaming his chest for the point that put the Euros just a halve away from taking the cup back.

This guy. pic.twitter.com/kezepteFzN

— Ryder Cup Europe (@RyderCupEurope) September 30, 2018

The actual point that put Europe over the top came from Francesco Molinari, who went 5-0-0. The Italian dusted Phil Mickleson, now the all-time losses leader in the Ryder Cup. It’s an appropriate end to what will probably be the last Ryder Cup team with Tiger and Phil in Europe. They’ve never won over there and both were shutout this week. Molinari was a total mismatch. He’s been the best player in the Cup on either side and Phil was probably the worst on both sides.

#TEAMEUROPE HAVE WON THE RYDER CUP BACK!!!!! pic.twitter.com/7Pgo7CrxFp

— Ryder Cup Europe (@RyderCupEurope) September 30, 2018

Momentum is not a real thing, but it’s used every two minutes at the Ryder Cup. There were stretches early when it appeared the USA would get blown out one last session at this disastrous weekend in Paris. Then there were stretches when it appeared the path to 14 points and a comeback was relatively passable, or at least not some delusional climb. And then the team that was supposed to win, the one that played better all week, won.

Whatever optimism there was for that hour or so on Sunday was quite misplaced. It appears Europe is not just going to win the Cup, which was likely, but they’re going to win the singles session while doing it. We’re headed for another blowout. Europe has the Ryder Cup back, though, no matter how much the margin ends up being. Here’s your match board as they play out the string in Sunday singles:

Justin Thomas vs. Rory McIlroy — USA wins, 1-up

Brooks Koepka vs. Paul Casey — Halved

Webb Simpson vs. Justin Rose — USA wins, 3&2

Tiger Woods vs. Jon Rahm — EUR wins, 2&1

Tony Finau vs. Tommy Fleetwood — USA wins, 6&4

Dustin Johnson vs. Ian Poulter — EUR wins, 2-up

Jordan Spieth vs. Thorbjorn Olesen — EUR wins, 5&4

Rickie Fowler vs. Sergio Garcia

Phil Mickelson vs. Francesco Molinari — EUR wins, 4&2

Patrick Reed vs. Tyrrell Hatton

Bubba Watson vs. Henrik Stenson — EUR wins, 5&4

Bryson DeChambeau vs. Alex Noren

[yahoo-roto-arcade-blog]

Closing Time: Aaron Altherr in midst of fantasy breakout

The 40-percent ownership area for fantasy pickups is basically Last Call Saloon. Those players are long gone in the more competitive leagues. For a productive player to be standing in this corridor, we’re talking about leagues with low transaction limits, or very modest roster requirements.

Be that as it may, it’s last call on Philadelphia outfielder Aaron Altherr. And if you picked him up weeks ago, you may downshift to victory lap mode.

The Phillies added some ordinary outfield veterans over the winter, but the answer was in their own backyard the entire time. Altherr currently stands as the No. 14 outfielder in the Yahoo game, with a juicy .351-19-7-21-3 line. He ripped two homers in Wednesday’s victory over Seattle, giving him four in three days.

The 26-year-old Altherr cuts an imposing figure at the plate — 6-foot-5, 215 pounds. There’s a broad set of tools in the toolbox. I compared Altherr to Jayson Werth, a former Philly outfielder, in this space a week ago. The real Werth made the same comp a few days later.

It’s convenient to laugh off Spring Training as a meaningless exercise, but sometimes breakout players are morphing — and improving — before our eyes. Consider what Phillies manager Pete Mackanin said about Altherr in late March, as told to David Lauria of Fangraphs.

A guy who jumps out to me is Aaron Altherr. He’s adjusted his setup and his swing path. He’s gone from a long swing to a shorter swing, and he’s getting good results because of it. [Hitting coach] Matt Stairs changed him. You have to give Aaron credit, too. A lot of guys aren’t really receptive to making a change from how they’ve swung the bat their whole life. He was willing to do it, so I tip my hat to Aaron.

“The key is to go directly to the ball from your launch position. Instead of A to B to C, what you’re looking for is A to C. [Altherr] has his bat on his shoulder now. He had been starting with his hands up high, and it looked uncomfortable. I always felt his swing looked a little too long. He made the correction.

If you want Altherr’s breakout validated in the secondary numbers, you’ll have no trouble. He’s trimmed his strikeouts, nudged forward his walks. His hard-hit rate has spiked from 29.5 percent to 43.4 percent. He’s swinging at less pitches out of the strike zone.

[Fantasy Football is open! Sign up now and start winning season early]

If you want help buying high, I can offer some ideas. I’d trade Jose Bautista for Altherr, zero hesitation. The Hunter Pence apologists should make this swap. Ben Zobrist might be starting to show his age, don’t you think? Yasiel Puig has slowed down significantly after a slow start. (If it’s pronunciation help you need: ALL-tair.)

Perhaps some of those trade ideas would be dismissed out of hand. You know your league members better than I do. But Altherr is less owned than everyone in the above paragraph, and it’s time to fix that for good. For once, it’s sunny in the Philadelphia outfield.

• We’ve seen plenty of long-forgotten veterans get back on course in 2017. The Yonder Alonso story is something. Ryan Zimmerman is the NL MVP to this point. Mark Reynolds is crushing in Colorado.

Dropping down a level from those guys, maybe Logan Morrison is another fantasy commodity, back from the dead. Perhaps he’ll turn into the poor-man’s Alonso.

Morrison made the majors at age 22, seen as a promising, pure hitter. He posted an impressive .283/.390/.447 slash in his first 62 games with the Marlins, and clocked 23 homers (in 123 games) the next year. Alas, Morrison took a step back over the next five years; a .239/.314/.398 line doesn’t play in mixed leagues. No one targeted him in March.

Morrison isn’t on a ballistic tear with Tampa this year, but a .250/.344/.528 line is respectable, especially in OBP leagues. He’s cranked nine home runs — four in the last week — and he’s locked in the cleanup spot. A nifty BB/K rate and an increase in fly balls are reasons to believe in this story, on some level.

If you’re a little thin at the corner, Morrison is owned in just 13 percent of Yahoo leagues. And give him a modest bump forward in OBP formats.

• With Zach Britton out indefinitely, the Orioles need some answers in the ninth inning. Maybe Brad Brach is that guy, and maybe he isn’t. Brach has four saves over his last nine appearances, but it’s been a white-knuckle ride: 9 IP, 13 H, 8 ER, 4 BB, 5 K, 2 HR. He had a messy blown save (and loss) Wednesday against the Nationals (small solace to the DC area, soul-crushed over the Capitals Game 7 no-show against the Penguins).

Darren O’Day was terrible to open the year, but he’s turned things around over his last 12 outings (2.31 ERA, 3 BB, 11 K). In leagues where you need to be an early speculator to possible save turnover, O’Day is worth investigating. He’s owned in just 11 percent of Yahoo leagues.

• For one night at least, the Marlins and the Rangers got it right. You want high-OBP hitters at the top of the order, and you want the OBP-drains at the bottom, but sometimes silly things (like short-term samples and age-old strategy considerations) rule the day.

Shin-Soo Choo is Texas’s best on-base man by far, and yet he’s only hit leadoff three times this year.  Contrast that to the 13 starts Choo’s logged in the bottom third of the order. But Choo might be in the leadoff spot for a while, after reaching base four times on Wednesday. He’s slashing .269/.383/.426 for the year. (Don’t get me started on Jeff Banister, International Man of Superstition. His favorite player tends to be any guy who played well yesterday.)

Dee Gordon usually bats first for Miami because he’s fast, not because he fits the job’s other responsibilities. Gordon dropped to ninth two games ago. Perhaps the move sparked him — Gordon had two hits, a walk, and two steals in Wednesday’s loss. He’s now up to 11 bags, and his OBP improved to .326.

If Gordon has to move down, the No. 9 slot is better than the No. 8 spot. You don’t want the pitcher in back of him, where occasional bunting will take away from Gordon’s stolen-base opportunities. I suspect Gordon is going to be back at leadoff soon enough, but at least Don Mattingly was thinking outside the box for a moment.

[joshuazev]

On Stealing:

I used to steal all the time.  You couldn’t stop me from stealing.  And I loved it.  Every minute of it.  The adrenalin rush.  The attention to detail.  How to get a read on people.  When to make my move.  It was practically an art form.  

My dad always used to say that people would get on him for stealing too much when he was young.  Must run in the family.  

I’ve been stealing base since I could walk.  

Whoops.  

I’ve been stealing bases since I could run.  

Somehow my experience playing baseball is directly correlated to being an animal on the basepaths.  

In tee-ball and little league stealing bases was damn near prohibited.  You couldn’t advance until after the ball had reached the catchers glove, so in the first couple years that aspect of the game wasn’t as prominent.  It must have affected the players a little differently, though.  At that young of an age I don’t think our brains had developed enough to think on our feet quickly and take advantage of other teams’ mistakes.  

For others it was different.  My good buddy Julian Lorenzo hit an infield single one time and after a late throw to first decided to just round the bases and head for second.  When the ball finally arrived to second Julian was already headed to third and when it got to third Julian was on auto-pilot and sprinted safely home, the ball arriving shortly after.  It was one of those moments where if Julian got tagged I think he would have still run anyway.  Classic stuff.

When “Majors” rolled around (9-12 year olds) stealing started to take its shape.  Despite the short distance between each base (60 feet) people ran wild.  Granted, you still needed the pitch to cross home plate, but the amount of ways coaches began to use stealing to their advantage and as a form of strategy really began to expand.  It was during this time where you started seeing coaches implementing the double steal (runners on first and second and stealing second and third and runners on first and third stealing second and home).  The first and third situation was always one of the biggest cheat codes because 95 percent of the time it was unbeatable.  No matter how much the defense knew it was coming everything had to work perfectly in order to stop the baserunner from making it home or to second safely.  So, during this time it wasn’t so much getting a read of the pitcher, but more so getting a read on the type of pitch he was throwing and how the ball would bounce or trickle away in the dirt.  I’d pay attention to how it would bounce off the fence or how much the backstop would play a factor on a wild pitch.

Then “Juniors” came next (13-14).  This was basically an introduction to the big leagues.  Catchers with stronger arms.  Major league distance between bases (90 feet).  Now the nuances were more important.  Everything I picked up in the several years prior I had under my belt, but now you didn’t need to wait for the ball to get to the catcher.  You could take leadoffs and get an advantage that way, but you had to be careful because now a pitcher could throw over to first to pick you off.  It had evolved into a cat and mouse game.  How far of a lead could I get?  What was his throw over to first like?  Was he even paying attention to me?  Was the catcher’s arm good?  What did it look like in warm-ups?  It was great fun.  For a while I had to slow down and remember that I needed to get on base to even think about stealing, so I’d do anything I could to get a base hit or walk (take advantage of my small strike zone).  It also made it double discouraging when I got in slumps because I knew how much I was hurting my team if I didn’t get on base.  

I was never the fastest guy in the world, but I was quick.  Believe it or not this was one the few situations where thinking a lot actually helped me.  On the first pitch I liked to take a modest lead, not too crazy.  Other good baserunners liked to stretch their lead big at the beginning to test how far they could be away from the bag and still make it safely on a throw over.  I wasn’t too worried about that, though.  On those first couple of pitches I was always looking to make it seem like I wasn’t even over there, almost as if I could make the pitcher forget about me.  I’d take another step on the second pitch.  1-0 counts.  1-1 counts.  2-0 counts.  2-1 counts.  Prime time.  (I liked stealing on the first pitch too, but that didn’t require much preparation at all).  

Pitchers are usually horrible poker players.  They give away their tells so easily.  Not only do pitchers have pretty weak moves to first, but most of them are incredibly obvious when they’re going to home plate and when they’re going to first.  With lefties it becomes a little more difficult because they’re facing you, but even then so much of a baserunner’s read is dependent on the movement of their lead knee.  If it goes behind their back knee they have to go home or it’s a balk and if it stays in the middle you gotta be on your toes because a throw to first might be coming your way.

In “Juniors” I think I might have stole second a couple hundred times.  If the score was close, I’d steal third, too.  (When the game was out of hand stealing, in general, was kind of a jerk move).  It began to be really, really easy, to the point where I had the green light to steal any time I wanted (thanks Sam Stokes).

Some teams we’d face so much that we’d start to develop intense rivalries.  Like for us, North Central, one of our biggest rivals was North East whose best pitcher was a good dude by the name of Corey Dansereau.  Corey made life difficult because I had to micromanage everything.  I couldn’t look ahead to getting on base because I had to deal with him at the plate.  He got the best of me a good amount of the time.  Struck me out sometimes.  I used to come up to plate and over the years we’d just smile because we knew we were in for a battle.

When I made it to first, the fun began.  That fucking guy knew my tendencies just like I knew his.  I know when I pitched sometimes I would get caught up between the batter and the runner.  Corey didn’t care about the batter at all.  He’d make him wait all night if he had to, as long as my ass didn’t steal the base.  

So, I’d take a baby lead and Corey would throw over.  Same baby lead and he’d throw over, again.  And again.  Then pitch home.  Then pitch home.  It could be 0-2 at this point or 2-0, he’d throw over to first again.  Meanwhile, I’m thinking of what count it’s gonna be when I decide I’m gonna go for second.  Corey picked up on this, so he’d get ready to throw and just wait and wait and wait.  He would throw off my timing.  I’d take a bigger lead.  He’d wait.  Just as I thought I saw his leg move he’d spin around and whip the ball to first, but because my leads were never crazy I’d get there right in time before the snack on my arm to tag me.  I’d get up, dust myself off and return his smile.  Alright, Corey.  Touche.  Same thing on the next pitch.  Almost got me again.  Count 2-1.  I’m gonna get you this time, punk.  One step more.  One little step more.  He’d settle in and try to throw quickly home, but I was on his first move like a cobra and darted to second base.  (Two things coaches always say:  don’t look at the catcher when you’re stealing and slide feet-first because it’s faster).  

*WKKKKKTTTTTT*

*SMACK*

SAFE!!!!

I’d smile over at him and he’d smile back.  I got you this time.  Now to steal third…

In the next couple years it was more of the same.  My last two years with North Central my team was comprised of some of the cockiest baserunners ever, which only made getting thrown out that much more humiliating.  

I remember being on third base one time in a close playoff game and getting thrown out after I misread how far the ball skipped after bouncing wildly off the backstop.  I was called out and took my helmet off and slammed it to the ground and it damn near rolled to first base.  I got thrown out of the game.  I was so embarrassed.  As I I took my first step towards the fence to make my exit i heard a loud “YOU GOT THROWN OUT!!!.”

I didn’t make that mistake again.  It cost me the next playoff game, however.

In high school everything was so much more controlled, so much more regulated.  The signs were more complicated and ultimately, the competition was a lot better.  Still, according to the loose statistics I was provided with at the end of my senior year, I had 47 stolen bases and was thrown out once.  And the crazy thing?  I could have stolen more if I was given the green light like I had for North Central.  

One time we were playing Eastside Catholic over at their place.  We were getting walloped in the first couple innings and were headed for an early trip home.  I got on first and I knew before I even touched the bag that I was gonna steal.  In warm-ups their hulk of a catcher was throwing spears to second.  I didn’t give two fucks if “Pudge” Rodriguez was playing, I was gonna take that base.  I think it was the first pitch and I’m not even sure if I got a lead or got in a crouch, I literally just started running.  I got in there well before the throw.  It didn’t change any outcome, but I earned their respect.  When we shook their hands after the game was over the coach said, “Damn, kid, what’s your 40 time?”  I didn’t know.  Stealing was just stealing to me.  

I didn’t get lost in the sabermetrics of it all.

I miss baseball.  I miss it a lot.  Miss the guys.  Miss North Central.  Miss Ross Park and Lower Woodland.  Miss going to state.  Miss Justin and Kyler.  Miss my coaches.  Miss throwing with my Pops.

And man.  Man oh man, do I miss stealing those bases.    

[ecoorganic]

Ex-White Sox Manager Ozzie Guillen Still Really, Really Hates ‘Fake’ Nick Swisher

“I hate Nick Swisher with my heart.”

Tell us what you really think, Ozzie

Former MLB outfielder Nick Swisher’s personality is, shall we say, an acquired taste. He always seems like he’s been mainlining coffee. The guy is just dialed up to 11 at all times. Check out this video of him at All-Star Game batting practice last year, where he cackles like a hyena every 20 seconds. 

So it shouldn’t be a surprise that there are people out there who don’t vibe with Swish. Ozzie Guillen, who managed Swisher in his one season with the White Sox in 2008, is definitely one of them. 

Guillen is now an analyst for NBC Sports Chicago, working on the network’s White Sox postgame show. On Wednesday night, host Chuck Garfien teed up Guillen with a doozy of a prompt: “Who did you dislike more? Carlos Gomez or Nick Swisher?” And Guillen did not hold back. 

“Oh my god,” Guillen replied. “Nick—nobody can compare that with Nick Swisher. I hate Nick Swisher with my heart.”

Guillen called Swisher “fake” and said his one season in Chicago was “one year too long.”

Swisher’s 2008 season with the Sox was a total mess. He was traded from Oakland to Chicago before the season in exchange for Gio González (then a promising prospect) and Ryan Sweeney (who would go on to be an everyday player for the A’s). He started the season as the White Sox’ leadoff hitter but by the end of May was hitting mostly in the seventh and eighth spots, even as low as ninth, as his batting average hovered around .200. He wasn’t any better in the field. Swisher, who played mostly right field for the A’s, was deployed in center by Guillen, where he was worth a whopping -11 defensive runs saved in just 70 games. 

Off the field, Swisher was just as much of a headache. Guillen benched him for having a poor attitude, telling the Chicago Tribune after the season that he “was not happy with the way [Swisher] was reacting at the end of the season.” 

Swisher was shipped out of town just weeks after the season ended, traded to the Yankees for a packaged headlined by utilityman Wilson Betemit. He was a starter on a World Series–winning team the next year and was an All-Star the year after that. His lousy season in Chicago was a blip on the radar of a very solid career, so you can’t blame Guillen for being frustrated he didn’t get peak Nick Swisher. You just have to wonder what else went down for him to hold such a grudge against him 12 years later. 

The best of SI

If the NFL wants to save this season, here’s how it should shake up the schedule. ... First base is no longer the home of baseball’s biggest stars. ... Former Olympic speedskater Eddy Alvarez (a silver medalist in 2014!) just made his MLB debut with the Marlins. ... Play-by-play broadcasters give their favorite calls of all time.

Around the sports world

Scott Van Pelt says the secret to calling golf tournaments is “mostly just get the score right.” ... A documentary about the downfall of former WFAN host Craig Carton will air in October on HBO. ... Jim Harbaugh used a Big Ten conference call to accuse Ohio State’s Ryan Day of cheating. ... The Blue Jays tried to bring in a pitcher who wasn’t listed on the lineup card.

He said he “blacked out” while scoring this goal

It’s very subtle

Look at the outfielder get stuck in the netting

Beefy Bryson broke a club

Socially distant dogpile

The A’s bench coach made a Nazi salute

Go Boncos!

Amazing

View the original article to see embedded media.

Not sports

A naked man in Berlin was photographed chasing a wild boar that stole his laptop. ... Twin brothers famous for being on TikTok were arrested for staging fake robberies to film. ... Business in Italy are reviving the Plague-era tradition of “wine windows.” ... A24 is making a movie about a viral thread of 148 tweets from 2015. ... Bryan Cranston says he’s open to reprising his role as Walter White for Better Call Saul. ... Keanu Reeves has signed on for a fifth John Wick movie, to be filmed back-to-back with the fourth one.

Their reaction when the drums come in is fantastic

TV is much funnier in New Zealand

Prehistoric deep-sea organisms eat an alligator

Ridley Scott is making a series for HBO

A good song

Email dan.gartland@si.com with any feedback or follow me on Twitter for approximately one half-decent baseball joke per week. Bookmark this page to see previous editions of Hot Clicks and find the newest edition every day. By popular request I’ve made a Spotify playlist of the music featured here. Visit our Extra Mustard page throughout each day for more offbeat sports stories.

from Blogger https://ift.tt/2DDbVRT

[jaycegropp-blog]

She chooses what she likes and what is appropriate for the occasion

You guys are something else. Bill Walsh wouldn win with this team. Grant has had an agenda against KS from jump and now is Ray Ban Reading Glasses stacking his deck. Newsletter subscribers will get holiday inspiration straight to their inbox. You may even find a Lastminute com promo code enclosed. Use our list to find the Lastminute promotion code to book your next holiday.. Mildred tries to dismiss Montag's actions as a tradition fireman do once a year: they find a book from the past and read it as a way to make fun of how silly the past is. Montag proceeds to recite the poem Dover Beach, causing Mrs. Phelps to cry. I have used an earlier model of this jacket in Antarctica and found it worked well in those extreme conditions. I was really impressed with this jacket and it would keep you warm on a summer evening in the Alps when the colder air begins to descend off the mountains, as it would on climbing or walking treks in the Himalayas or on the ski slopes.

It is a great jacket for similar outdoor conditions across Britain and well worth adding to your outdoor wardrobe.. Hotel Schachner Krone was our first base, set in the hilltop village of Maria Taferl, about 10 minutes from Pchlarn, site of the nearest train station. Here the rooms are split between two buildings the Krone and the Kaiserhof linked by a footpath around the back of the main street, with wonderful views out over a curve of the Danube. It's a relaxed sort of place, our rooms comfortable without being luxurious, the standout features being a wonderful outdoor pool set on a quiet garden slope and a restaurant shaded by horse chestnut trees, from which we watched the sun set over the river, the Alps burning orange in the far distance.. Why him: Henderson, the greatest base stealer and leadoff man in baseball history, grew up in Oakland and became a star with the hometown A's.

He played with several other teams, but had three separate stints and several of his most Ray Ban 5154 memorable moments in an Oakland uniform. He won the AL MVP and led the team to the AL pennant in 1990. Say he in the conversation (for the postseason), yes, Boone said. Haven settled on that or anything. Sox: Nunez remained in the game after the brush with Cessa but remained in Ray Ban Liteforce the game until he was pinch run for after a sixth inning walk.. During Tuesday night's preview, the best gag came when Bruce, upon hearing the crowd clapping along to "Dancing in the Dark," stopped playing and said dryly, "I'll handle this one myself." It's billed as a one man show, and clearly, he intends to keep it that way.It wouldn't be accurate to say Bruce has never presented himself in this fashion. Tours in support of 1995's "The Ghost of Tom Joad" and 2005's "Devils Dust" both showcased Springsteen in a more acoustic setting. But those albums largely illuminated the Boss in character..

[truesportsfan]

Angels’ Shohei Ohtani could pull double duty, even in AL parks

TEMPE, Ariz. — Joe Maddon is excited about Shohei Ohtani. And excited means the new Angels manager already is looking at where to bat Ohtani in the lineup when he pitches. And not just in interleague games at NL parks.

Maddon is imagining having Ohtani bat leadoff to maximize the number of at-bats he gets before being removed as a starting pitcher, which in the AL would mean the Angels playing without a DH.

“Once he is well and received medical blessing, I would not run away from that,” Maddon said.

There is a long way from here to the game in which Maddon can ask Ohtani to both pitch and hit. There is still a good distance — even under the best circumstances — in which Ohtani will be allowed to pitch in a major league game. But Ohtani’s talent is such that Maddon cannot restrain his overactive baseball brain from envisioning the possibilities.

“It is not just like he is anybody,” Maddon said. “This could be the best pitcher in the game. This could be the best hitter in the game simultaneously. … It will be a matter of how much his arm can take, which I think it can once he is fully healthy.”

A quick history lesson: The last time a player exceeded 100 innings pitched and 200 plate appearances was Babe Ruth in his final Red Sox season, 1919 (133¹/₃ innings and 543 plate appearances). When Ohtani tried it a century later, as a major league rookie in 2018, he managed 10 starts and 51²/₃ innings before needing Tommy John surgery.

Shohei OhtaniAP

He has not pitched a major league inning since. He served as the primary DH from May through the end of the season in 2019 and will open in that role again in 2020. Major league rules allow Ohtani to stay on the Angels’ active roster as a hitter while doing rehab starts weekly in the minors. The ideal timetable would have him returning to the rotation in mid-May.

In that scenario, there are about 18-20 starts and 350-400 plate appearances plotted for him. But can Ohtani stay sharp at the two disciplines and can he stay healthy?

“From what I have seen, his routines are impeccable; very similar to Ivan Drago from ‘Rocky,’ ” pitching coach Mickey Callaway said. “He has the latest equipment and is prepared to do what he needs to do that day. His challenge is staying as effective as he can because he has to hit one day, pitch the next. But his routines are great. He is a worker. He is incredibly talented. There will be a lack of practice on one skill or another or half the practice other guys get, but he is still going to excel because he is so talented.”

Getting Ohtani back as a regular starter is arguably the most vital issue the Angels face. They do not have anyone else who looks like an ace after trying and failing to sign Gerrit Cole and Zack Wheeler in free agency. They do not really have a No. 2 or 3 starter, either.

Despite what Maddon envisions, however, the Angels’ plan is one of caution. As in 2018, Ohtani will start just once a week and will not hit the day before and after a start. To maximize his bat, though, the Angels will try to have him start as frequently as possible before an off-day, which makes it most likely he will be a Wednesday starter in the first half.

They also plan to start him in NL cities for interleague games as often as possible, easiest done when the Angels play at Atlanta July 3-5 and then open the second half in Philadelphia July 17-19.

“Where we have the ability to, we will have him start in the National League ballpark,” Angels GM Billy Eppler said. “We have a clear competitive advantage in those games by having an .875 OPS guy hit who also is our starting pitcher.”

As for doing it in an AL game and forfeiting the DH, Maddon said if the team is in playoff contention late and Ohtani is healthy, “Why not?” Maddon would lead off Ohtani, believing having a 26th man this year would leave more position players to pinch-hit when the pitcher’s spot came up after Ohtani was removed. And Maddon thinks Ohtani is worth the juggling.

“He is just different,” Maddon said. “Start at the plate, he is deceivingly, exceptionally strong. He has great hands.The ball comes off the bat hot. You want to talk about exit velocity. Pitching wise, he is a tension-free athlete, like he is at the plate. Not a lot of bump and grind. Pitching, the ball comes out easy and it is hot.”

And the subject is hot again: Can one man regularly do two such different jobs in the majors?

source https://truesportsfan.com/sport-today/angels-shohei-ohtani-could-pull-double-duty-even-in-al-parks/