Jazz Chisholm and Jean Segura caught my consideration whereas they have been enjoying catch previous to a latest Miami Marlins highway sport at Fenway Park. Unlike their teammates, the duo was buying and selling tosses underhand, windmilling their throws like fastpitch softball pitchers. Moreover, they appeared good doing it. Their motions have been easy and straightforward, their deliveries agency and correct. Having by no means seen skilled baseball gamers do that, I used to be very a lot intrigued.
Standing close by was Jennifer Brann. Now an analyst with the Marlins, Brann had excelled on the mound on the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Maryland previous to being employed by Miami two years in the past. I requested her if she had seen them achieve this beforehand.
“I’ve seen Segura mess around a little bit, but I’d never seen Jazz pitch underhand like that,” Brann advised me. “It was cool to watch. They knew what they were doing, especially Segura; he threw a rise ball and a changeup. But Jazz looked pretty good, too.”
The following day, I made it a degree to strategy each gamers within the clubhouse to search out out if that they had any softball expertise. It seems that they did.
“My grandma was a professional [fastpitch] softball player,” mentioned Chisholm, who grew up in Nassau. “She played for the Bahamas National Team. That’s what really got me into baseball — I learned a lot of my baseball skills from softball — and she played until she was 60, too. She was just superhuman.”
Chisholm performed fastpitch rising up, partly as a result of the game is performed in Bahamian excessive colleges, whereas baseball will not be. (He did play Little League baseball.). Having attended a Ok-12, he started competing towards upperclassmen as a sixth grader, each as a shortstop and a pitcher. Chisholm subsequently moved to the United States at age 12, thus ending his aggressive softball days,
Segura, who hails from San Juan de la Maguana, performed “a lot of softball in the Dominican.” The 33-year-old infielder defined that whereas fastpitch isn’t notably fashionable on the island, it’s within the space the place he grew up. His major place was third base.
Much as Chisholm credit fastpitch for serving to him hone his baseball abilities, Segura sees the game as having helped hone his swing.
“The hitting is different,” mentioned Segura. “In fastpitch you have to use your hands, and in baseball you have to use your body, with everything connected. In fastpitch, you’re too close to go back and then move forward; you have to just see the ball and throw your hands at it. That’s why I play that type of game; my swing carried to baseball. It’s why I’ve got quick hands.”
Because of their backgrounds, each Segura and Chisholm might step right into a batter’s field and maintain their very own towards a high-quality fastball hurler. As for almost all of their teammates…. that’s one other story.
“There are probably only three guys in this locker room could square up a ball before they got used to it,” opined Segura. “I don’t think they know how hard it is to hit that type of pitching.”
“Not many of them could do it initially,” agreed Brann. “They’d probably swing and miss, because they wouldn’t be used to the different motion and being closer, although they could come around to it after seeing a few pitches.”
The pitcher-turned-analyst did make a couple of exceptions. Asked if Marlins gamers might hit her choices — her response got here with a smile — Brann mentioned that Luis Arraez “definitely could,” and Segura “probably could, because he’s played fast pitch before.” Unaware that Chisholm had additionally performed fastpitch, she added that “Jazz would come around, but he’d probably struggle at first.”
Told what Brann had mentioned, Chisholm responded with a smile of his personal. “I know how to hit a softball,” he mentioned. “I’d hit bombs!”
Could any of his Marlins teammates — Segura being a attainable exception — hit him?
“I can throw a riser, a changeup, and a little slider,” mentioned Chisholm. “Plus, I’d be bringing it and throwing strikes. So no, I don’t think too many of them would be getting hits off of me. They have no idea hard it is.”
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RANDOM HITTER-PITCHER MATCHUPS
Vladimir Guerrero went 16 for 27 towards John Thomson.
Felipe Alou went 14 for 22 towards Tracy Stallard.
Moises Alou went 11 for 23 towards Brandon Webb.
Earl Webb went 9 for 16 towards Rollie Stiles.
Bob Horner went 9 for 15 towards Rollie Fingers.
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The Colorado Rockies didn’t purchase an particularly notable prospect after they traded Mike Moustakas to the Los Angeles Angels final weekend. Connor Van Scoyoc — all six-foot-six inches of him — is a 23-year-old right-hander whom the Halos drafted within the eleventh spherical out of a Cedar Rapids, Iowa highschool 5 years in the past. Relying totally on a sinker/cutter/curveball mixture, he has a 2.63 ERA to go together with 63 strikeouts in 68-and-a-third innings this 12 months between a pair of High-A stops. By all accounts, his ceiling is pretty low.
His blood strains are extra notable than his perceived potential. Older brother Spencer — the household pronounces its final title “Van Scoy” — pitches within the Philadelphia Phillies system, their father, Aaron, performed three years within the New York Yankees system, and grandfather, Jim, was a scout, minor-league pitching coach for the Detroit Tigers, and a legendary highschool coach in Norway, Iowa. And then there’s the member of the family who received 134 big-league video games whereas logging a 3.80 ERA for 4 groups from 1980-1993.
“Mike Boddicker is my great uncle,” Connor Van Scoyoc advised me final October throughout his stint within the Arizona Fall League. “He had a huge hook, but his biggest thing was sinkers early in the count. If you can get hitters out in the first two pitches, it saves you in the long run. I’m trying to be like that.”
Van Scoyoc, who by his personal admission isn’t overpowering, allowed 9 hits and two runs over six-and-a-third innings in his first outing since becoming a member of the Rockies group. He walked one and fanned seven.
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A quiz:
The identical participant ranks second in Toronto Blue Jays historical past for hits, doubles, and whole bases. Who is it?
The reply will be discovered under.
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NEWS NOTES
A touring exhibit sponsored by the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum is at present in Boston, the place it would stay by means of August 4. Free of cost and open from 10am to 5pm, seven days per week (aside from July 3 and 4, when it is going to be closed) at Emerson College, 118 Boylston Street alongside Boston Common, Barrier Breakers tells the story of African American and Latin gamers that broke the colour barrier in Major League Baseball.
Ulysses Hollimon, who pitched within the Negro American League from 1948-1956, died earlier this week at age 92. The Amory, Mississippi native performed for the Baltimore Elite Giants and the Birmingham Black Barons.
A reminder that this 12 months’s nationwide SABR conference is being held in Chicago from July 5-9. More data, together with the complete schedule, will be discovered right here.
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The reply to the quiz is Vernon Wells, who ranks second to Tony Fernandez in hits, and second to Carlos Delgado in each doubles and whole bases.
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As a baseball historical past buff who noticed Henry Aaron play on the tail finish of his profession, I’ve lengthy had an appreciation for the Braves franchise. From Boston to Milwaukee to Atlanta, the checklist of iconic gamers consists of the likes of Aaron, Eddie Mathews, Warren Spahn, Greg Maddux, Phil Niekro, and Chipper Jones. The present membership has stars as effectively, most notably Ronald Acuña Jr. and Spencer Strider. By most measures — however solely most — the group and its wealthy historical past ought to be embraced.
The tomahawk chop, and the mantra that goes with it, is offensive to a large number of folks, each inside and out of doors of “Braves country.” And for good cause. Frankly, that it nonetheless persists is more and more laborious to fathom. Would the widespread recognition of the group not be enhanced by a squelching of the irritating-to-many custom? I’ve to imagine it will. Embracing the Atlanta Braves could be far simpler have been it not for the chop and chant.
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On a associated be aware, Charlie Culberson returned to the Braves roster on Friday — he’d beforehand performed for Atlanta from 2018-2020 — and that jogged my memory of a still-uncorrected factual error. Both his B-Ref and MLB.com pages state that the 33-year-old infielder is the grandson of former big-league outfielder Leon Culberson, who performed for the Boston Red Sox and the Washington Senators within the Nineteen Forties.
“Leon was from Rome, Georgia, which is where I grew up, but he was actually my grandfather’s first cousin,” Culberson advised me in a dialog I shared in my September 2, 2018 Sunday Notes column. “We’ve tried to correct everyone on that for years now, but they never seem to change anything online.”
I took the freedom of passing this alongside to B-Ref after the column ran, and was advised that what Culberson mentioned of his household was inadequate proof to make the change. I stay perplexed as to why that’s.
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FOREIGN AFFAIRS
Shunpeita Yamashita continues to be the most effective younger pitchers in NPB. The 20-year-old right-hander is 7-1 with a 1.36 ERA and 66 strikeouts in 59-and-two-thirds innings for the Orix Buffaloes.
Tsuyoshi Wada is 5-3 with a 3.04 ERA in 47-and-a-third innings with the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks. A veteran of 16 NPB seasons, the 42-year-old left-hander pitched for the Chicago Cubs in 2014 and 2015.
J.B. Wendelken is 1-1 with a 1.82 ERA in 24-and-two-thirds aid innings for the Yokohama Bay Stars. The 30-year-old right-hander is in his first NPB season after beforehand pitching for the Oakland Athletics and the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Ricardo Sánchez is 4-0 with a 1.48 ERA in 42-and-two-thirds innings for the KBO’s Hanwha Eagles. Released by the Chicago White Sox in April, he 26-year-old left-hander appeared in three video games for the St. Louis Cardinals in 2020.
Yeong Hyun Park is 2-2 with a 2.09 ERA for the KBO’s KT Wiz. The 19-year-old right-hander has 42 strikeouts in 38-and-two-thirds innings.
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Johan Rojas has a vivid future in Philadelphia. No. 4 on our Phillies Top Prospects checklist, the 22-year-old outfielder is, within the phrases of Eric Longenhagen, “an unbelievable athlete with blazing speed [and] ridiculous range in center field.” Our lead prospect analyst does have some issues together with his swing, however the San Francisco de Macoris native has been doing his greatest to dispel them. Over 317 plate appearances with Double-A Reading, Rojas is slashing .308/.365/.455 with 16 doubles, 4 triples, and half a dozen dwelling runs. He’s swiped 26 baggage in 34 makes an attempt.
Asked how he profiles, his supervisor accentuated his defensive sport.
“For me, he’s a big-league player,” mentioned Al Pedrique, who performed 174 MLB video games from 1987-1989 earlier than occurring to handle the Arizona Diamondbacks for the second half of the 2004 season. “He’s a pure, true centerfielder. Defensively he’s excellent. He will get good reads and jumps, his routes are excellent. Defensively, he might play within the huge league proper now.
“With the bat, he’s getting so much better,” Pedrique replied once I adopted up by asking about his offensive sport. “And not just because he’s hitting .320. He’s more more aggressive, attacking the fastball, and his plate discipline is improving. He’s not afraid to get deep in the count. From what I see, he’s maturing pretty good for someone at a young age.”
Asked about comps, Pedrique named a handful of centerfielders he’s seen a whole lot of through the years. One specifically struck me as apt.
“Michael Bourn was outstanding,” mentioned Pedrique. “His instincts in center were great. Rojas does the same thing. He anticipates, and when the ball is hit in the gap, he runs to the spot. That’s hard to teach. The natural things he does in center field are amazing.”
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FARM NOTES
Abimelec Ortiz is slashing .333/.409/.677 with 18 dwelling runs in 238 plate appearances between Low-A Down East and High-A Hickory. The 21-year-old first baseman was signed as a non-drafted free agent out of Florida SouthWestern State College by the Texas Rangers in 2021.
Jordan Beck is slashing .291/.384/.562 with 18 dwelling runs and a 147 wRC+ in 310 plate appearances for the High-A Spokane Indians. No. 10 on our recently-released Colorado Rockies Top Prospects checklist, the 22-year-old outfielder was drafted thirty eighth total final 12 months out of the University of Tennessee.
Tsung-Che Cheng leads the minors with 9 triples. Signed by the Pittsburgh Pirates as a world free agent out of Taiwan in 2019, the 21-year-old center infielder is slashing .285/.379/.523 with 9 dwelling runs between High-A Greensboro and Double-A Altoona.
Thomas Harrington is 4-2 with a 3.32 ERA and 66 strikeouts in 59-and-two-thirds innings between Low-A Bradenton and High-A Greensboro. The 21-year-old right-hander was drafted thirty sixth total final 12 months by the Pirates out of Campbell University.
Payton Martin is 2-0 with a 1.65 ERA and 40 strikeouts in 32-and-two thirds innings for the Low-A Rancho Cucamonga Quakes. The 19-year-old right-hander was drafted within the seventeenth spherical final 12 months out of Cumming, Georgia’s West Forsyth High School by the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Ryan January is slashing .281/.488/.449 with three dwelling runs in 125 plate appearances for the unbiased Atlantic League’s York Revolution. The 26-year-old catcher/outfielder was within the Arizona Diamondbacks group from 2016-2019, and the Los Angeles Dodgers group in 2021 and 2022.
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MLB error totals are decrease than one would possibly fairly count on, and never as a result of a plethora of defenders have morphed into Omar Vizquel. Rather, it has turn into more and more widespread for balls in play to be dominated hits. This isn’t merely my observational opinion; I’ve heard a number of broadcasters specific disbelief after an infielder botched what appeared like a positive out, solely to have the official scorer award the hitter a single. In a nutshell, “ordinary effort” ain’t what it was once.
Why is that this occurring? Many (together with yours really) are of the idea that the MLB workplace has been pushing official scorers on this course, with declining batting averages factoring into their efforts. To the detriment of pitchers and their earned-run averages, the powers that be seemingly wish to see extra hits within the field scores, and better numbers on the entrance finish of hitters’ slash strains.
As affordable as that will appear on the floor, a few of the rulings being made are questionable at greatest. In a latest three-game sequence, Miami’s Joey Wendle was awarded hits on 4 floor balls that had an anticipated batting common of .170 or decrease. Just a few weeks in the past, I used to be watching a sport the place Kansas City’s slow-footed Salvador Perez was awarded a success on a routine chopper to 3rd base that had an .080 anticipated batting common. That’s not a typo; the xBA was really .080.
MLB has an official scoring downside. Moreover, it’s unlikely that the women and men performing the duty in press containers are at fault. They are merely doing what they’re being requested to do, the absurdity of some rulings be damned.
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LINKS YOU’LL LIKE
The St. Louis Dispatch’s Derrick Goold wrote about the protection final week’s London Series between the Cardinals and Cubs obtained from UK newspapers.
Andscape’s Clinton Yates wrote about how former big-league outfielder Dwayne Hosey has carved out an all-star popularity as a youth baseball teacher in Omaha.
Mental Floss’s Ellen Gutoskey offered us with a short historical past of baseball on the Fourth of July.
Jen Pawol is the primary feminine umpire to succeed in Triple-A in over three many years. Brittany Ghiroli wrote about her for The Athletic (subscription required).
The common time of an MLB sport has been 2:37 this season, down from 3:06 final 12 months. The Athletic’s Jen McCaffrey wrote about the nameless discipline timing coordinators who’re accountable for frequently resetting the pitch clock in every sport (subscription required).
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RANDOM FACTS AND STATS
The Boston Red Sox are 2-13 in inter-league dwelling video games. The San Diego Padres are 0-7 in extra-inning video games.
Andrew McCutchen has 2,018 hits and 1,600 strikeouts.
Bill Madlock had 2,008 hits and 510 strikeouts.
Rickey Henderson had 3,055 hits, together with 297 dwelling runs.
Chris Davis had 1,160 hits, together with 295 dwelling runs.
The Los Angeles Dodgers received the National League pennant in 1959 whereas scoring 705 runs and permitting 670 runs. The third place San Francisco Giants scored 705 runs and allowed 613 runs.
The Minnesota Twins received the American League West in 1987 whereas scoring 786 runs and permitting 806 runs. The third place Oakland Athletics scored 806 runs and allowed 789 runs. The Twins went on to win the World Series, simply because the Dodgers had in 1959.
On in the present day’s date in 1973, Boots Day hit a Tenth-inning walk-off dwelling run to offer the Montreal Expos a 2-1 win over the New York Mets at Parc Jarry. Buzz Capra took the loss; Steve Renko went the space for the win.
Willie Mays hit a Sixteenth-inning walk-off dwelling run to offer the San Francisco Giants a 1-0 win over the Milwaukee Braves on in the present day’s date in 1963. Juan Marichal and Warren Spahn went the space for his or her respective groups in what’s broadly thought to be the best pitching duel of all-time.
Players born on in the present day’s date embody Chuck Stobbs, who in 1953 surrendered a house run to Mickey Mantle that reportedly traveled a big-league file 565 toes. Pitching for the Washington Senators on the time, the southpaw took the mound for 4 groups from 1947-1961.
Also born on in the present day’s date was Steve Sparks, a knuckleball pitcher from 1995-2004 who has spent the final 11 years as a radio broadcaster for the Houston Astros. His greatest season on the mound was 2001 when he went 14-9 with a 3.65 ERA and a league-best eight full video games for the Detroit Tigers.
Bob Addy was the primary Canada-born participant in MLB historical past. A local of Port Hope, Ontario who broke in with the National Association’s Rockford Forest Citys in 1871, Addy later performed for the National League’s Chicago White Stocking and Cincinnati Reds.
Content Source: blogs.fangraphs.com