Jared Jones had made only one big-league look when my colleague Ben Clemens wrote on April 2 that we must always all get irresponsibly excited concerning the rookie right-hander. Little has occurred to vary that opinion. When Jones takes the mound this afternoon for the sixth time in a Pittsburgh Pirates uniform, he’ll achieve this with a 2.79 ERA, a 3.19 FIP, and 34.8% strikeout charge. Moreover, his fastball has averaged 97.3 mph, sometimes reaching triple digits.
Following his second begin, I caught as much as the flame-throwing 22-year-old at PNC Park to get a first-hand account of his arsenal and growth path. Among the issues I discovered is that he was particularly uncooked when the Pirates drafted him Forty fourth-overall in 2020 out of La Mirada (CA) High School.
“I didn’t know how to pitch when I signed,” Jones advised me. “I just threw fastballs, and throwing hard in high school is a lot different than throwing hard in pro ball. Guys in pro ball can hit the hard fastball, especially if you don’t have anything else.”
Jones did have secondary pitches previous to getting drafted, initially a curveball “that wasn’t very good,” after which a slider that went from “just okay” as a younger prep to “pretty good” by the point he’d graduated. Even so, he was admittedly extra thrower than pitcher — somebody whose elite arm energy allowed him to “just throw fastballs by guys.”
Velocity got here naturally to the now-6-foot-1, 180-pound righty. It additionally got here early. “I was in my sophomore year of high school when I hit 97 [mph] for the first time,” defined Jones. “I’ve been a hard thrower for a long time.”
His understanding of pitching metrics is one other story.
“To be completely honest, I don’t know what my pitches did in high school,” stated Jones, who at present depends closely on his heater-slider combo, mixing within the occasional curveball or changeup. “I simply threw them. I didn’t know what vertical break or horizontal break was till my first yr of professional ball. They confirmed me issues like [TrackMan data] and I had no thought what it was till I began asking questions. I had no thought what the analytics have been, or what they meant.
“I don’t think too much about them now,” added Jones. “I’m a competitor when I’m out there pitching, I don’t really think, ‘Is my fastball moving this way? Is my slider doing that?’ I just go out there and compete. That’s just who I am. I’m a fiery competitor.”
Make {that a} fiery competitor persevering with to take pleasure in success on the big-league degree. With each begin, the extent of pleasure Jones elicits is changing into much less and fewer irresponsible.
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RANDOM HITTER-PITCHER MATCHUPS
Victor Martinez went 22 for 52 in opposition to Chris Sale.
Vic Power went 14 for 29 in opposition to Bob Grim.
Vic Wertz went 7 for 11 in opposition to Satchel Paige.
Vic Davalillo went 9 for 11 in opposition to Bennie Daniels.
Vic Roznovsky went 6 for 9 in opposition to Mel Stottlemyre.
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Jerry Narron wasn’t afraid of going in opposition to the grain when he managed the Cincinnati Reds from 2005-2007. Now a coach for the Los Angeles Angels, the 68-year-old former big-league backstop — a lot to the consternation of the day’s talk-radio wags — would sometimes put a basher in a table-setter spot within the batting order. OBP was the tactic behind the insanity.
“When I started managing, in the minors in 1989, I tried to make out my batting order by on-base percentage,” defined Narron. “Then, when I managed the Reds, I’d sometimes put Adam Dunn in the two-hole. Everybody said, ‘What in the world are you doing, putting Adam Dunn in the two hole?’ I’d say, ‘Well, he’s a power guy and he’s going to get on base for us.’ With Dunn, I knew that it was going to be a base on balls, a strikeout, or a home run. I caught some heat on the Cincinnati talk shows, but it worked out okay.”
Dunn logged a team-best OBP within the three-year span whereas slashing .248/.379/.527 with 120 residence runs and a 129 wRC+. His 327 walks have been second-most within the majors throughout that span, whereas his 527 strikeouts led all gamers, That was general. When batting second within the order, which he did 188 instances, Dunn’s on-base proportion was a lofty .441.
Dan O’Brien was Cincinnati’s GM in 2005, and Wayne Krivsky held the position in 2006-2007. As for the entrance workplace member whose enter helped immediate the atypical transfer, his identify may come as a shock.
“The guy I talked to about doing it was doing some analytics stuff and video scouting for us at the time,” defined Narron. “It was [current Reds GM] Nick Krall. I loved talking with Nick before he was the big dog. I mean, there was the manager getting some information from one of the lowest guys on the totem pole. I think the talk shows probably would have died if I told them who I was getting information from.”
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A quiz:
Fergie Jenkins has essentially the most pitcher WAR (53.6) in Chicago Cubs franchise historical past. Which underrated former Cub has the second-most pitcher WAR in franchise historical past?
The reply might be discovered under.
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NEWS NOTES
The Atlantic League season bought underway on Thursday, and the outcomes included a mixed no-hitter. Parker Markel and a pair of relievers mixed to permit only one baserunner — that on a stroll — because the Hagerstown Flying Boxcars topped the York Revolution 4-0.
SABR’s Oral History Committee can be internet hosting a stay Zoom interview with Dave Righetti on Thursday May 9 at 8pm EST. More info might be discovered right here.
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The reply to the quiz is Rick Reuschel, who was value 47.0 WAR pitching for the Cubs from 1972-1981, and once more in 1983-1984. All advised, the non-Hall of Fame right-hander amassed 68.2 WAR over his 19 seasons.
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Left on the cutting-room ground from my recently-published interview with Chicago Cubs right-hander Kyle Hendricks was his reply to this query: When in your profession do you’re feeling you have been at your finest?
“I felt like I was at the top of my game in 2016,” Hendricks advised me. “My stuff was playing the best — how it was grading out — and my command was very good. From day one of that season it seemed like I was able to put every pitch where I wanted it. I also feel that I was able to read swings really well. It was just a special year. We played such unbelievable defense, which is a huge part of the game for me. Everything kind of came together, both for me and the team.”
Hendricks went 16-8 with an NL-best 2.16 ERA over 190 regular-season innings in 2016. He subsequently began Game 7 of the World Series and allowed two runs, one in every of them earned, in four-and-two thirds innings in a contest the Cubs went on to win 8-7 in 10 innings.
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FOREIGN AFFAIRS
James Naile is 4-0 with a 1.47 ERA over six begins with the KBO’s Kia Tigers. The 31-year-old former St. Louis Cardinals right-hander has fanned 38 batters and issued three free passes in 36-and-two-thirds innings.
Seong Ho Cheon is slashing .357/.396/.450 in 139 plate appearances with the KT Wiz. The 26-year-old second baseman leads the KBO in hits (46) and triples (3).
Yuki Yanagita is slashing .342/.495/.456 in 105 plate appearances for the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks. The 35-year-old outfielder is a nine-time All-Star who has hit .313/.410/.539 over 13-plus NPB seasons.
Tatsuya Imai is 2-0 with a 0.77 ERA and 40 strikeouts in 35 innings for NPB’s Seibu Lions. The 25-year-old right-hander went 10-5 with a 2.30 ERA and 130 strikeouts in 133 innings a yr in the past.
Bo Takahashi recorded his first NPB win on Thursday as Seibu beat the Orix Buffaloes 3-1. The 27-year-old right-hander from Presidente Prudente, Brazil pitched within the Arizona Diamondbacks system from 2014-2019 and within the Cincinnati Reds system in 2021.
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Which third baseman is/was higher, José Ramírez or Scott Rolen? I requested that query in a Twitter ballot a number of days in the past, and the outcomes counsel that Ramírez isn’t almost as underrated as he as soon as was. Cleveland’s present hot-corner stalwart garnered 55% of the votes forged, whereas the Hall of Fame acquired 45%.
Recency bias, or is Ramírez really worthy of his slight polling benefit? Let’s take a look at some numbers, factoring in age. Ramírez turned 31 in mid-September final yr, and Rolen has an early-April birthday, so we’ll examine them via their age-30 seasons.
SR: 1,300 hits, 231 HRs, 2,359 TB, 92 SB, 129 wRC+, 48.9 WAR.
JR: 1,327 hits, 216 HRs, 2,376 TB, 202 SB, 128 wRC+, 45.2 WAR.
From age 31 to to the tip of his profession, Rolen hit 85 residence runs and logged a 110 wRC+ and 21 WAR. What Ramírez goes on to do is clearly unknown, so how they’ll stack up when it comes to profession numbers is anybody’s guess. As for the through-age-30 comparability, Rolen has the sting — albeit a slender one.
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A random obscure former participant snapshot:
Joe Kmak smacked a single off of Mark Langston in his first MLB plate look, which got here on April 6, 1993 as a member of the Milwaukee Brewers. On August 27, 1995, Kmak singled in opposition to Greg Maddux whereas taking part in in his penultimate big-league sport with the Chicago Cubs. In between, there have been simply 35 base knocks for the right-handed-hitting catcher from Napa, California. His lone residence run got here at Wrigley Field on July 29, 1995, this in a sport the place the Cubs walked off the Philadelphia Phillies 8-7 on a three-run homer by Shawon Dunston that adopted a two-out error and a success by pitch.
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FARM NOTES
Chandler Simpson has stolen 18 bases in 22 makes an attempt whereas slashing .383/.493/.383 over 16 video games for the High-A Bowling Green Hot Rods. The 23-year-old outfielder within the Tampa Bay Rays group pilfered 94 luggage within the low minors final yr.
Creed Willems is slashing .300/.344/.667 with six residence runs in 64 plate appearances for the High-A Aberdeen IronBirds. The 21-year-old catcher within the Baltimore Orioles group has a 13.0% floor ball charge, the bottom amongst minor-league hitters.
Tayden Hall is slashing .377/.500/.492 with 5 doubles and a triple in 76 plate appearances for the Low-A Carolina Mudcats. The 21-year-old first baseman within the Milwaukee Brewers group batted .296 for the Australian Baseball League’s Brisbane Bandits this previous winter.
Drew Thorpe is 4-0 with a 0.75 ERA and 21 strikeouts in 24 innings for the Double-A Birmingham Barons. The 23-year-old right-hander was acquired by the Chicago White Sox from the San Diego Padres this previous winter as a part of the five-player Dylan Cease deal.
Owen Murphy is 3-1 with a 1.13 ERA and 37 strikeouts in 24 innings for the High-A Rome Emperors. The 20-year-old right-hander was drafted twentieth general in 2022 by the Atlanta Braves out of Illinois’s Riverside-Brookfield High School.
Emmett Olson has logged 19 strikeouts, and allowed simply eight hits, over 16 scoreless innings for the Low-A Jupiter Hammerheads. The 21-year-old southpaw was drafted out of the University of Nebraska by the Miami Marlins final yr within the fourth spherical.
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To say that Shota Imanaga’s transition from NPB to MLB has gone easily could be an understatement. In 5 begins for the Chicago Cubs, the 30-year-old former Yokohama BayStars southpaw is 4-0 with a 0.98 ERA and a 2.36 FIP over 27-and-two-thirds innings. Moreover, he has 28 strikeouts to go along with simply three walks and 19 hits allowed.
Prior to his pitching at Fenway Park on Friday, a reporter requested Cubs supervisor Craig Counsell how Imanaga has been in a position to make the transition as seamlessly as he has.
“That’s a good question; I don’t know if I have enough experience with other pitchers and how they transitioned,” replied Counsell. “But one of Shota’s best traits is that he’s very curious, and he’s very open. I think he takes in information very well. He watches very well. That leads to someone who is very good at making adjustments. When you combine that with [his] being a good pitcher — he’s very good at what he does — there are probably less adjustments that he’s had to make so far that maybe we would have anticipated. His stuff is playing really well with the hitters right now. As he keeps facing hitters, I’m sure those adjustments will come. But he’s doing a really good job with the things that he’s good at.”
What are the issues that Imanaga is nice at? I requested that query to Cubs broadcaster, and former big-league left-hander, Jim Deshaies.
“He’s got a riding fastball that he throws up in the zone, that major league hitters just haven’t been able to get on top of, and also have a tendency to chase,” Deshaies advised me on Saturday. “He plays that north-south game really well: four-seamers up, split-fingers down. He’ll sprinkle in an occasional breaking ball — curveballs to righties that are a more a get-ahead pitch — and there’s a pretty good slider as well, which he’ll throw to lefties. I don’t know if the fact that he’s 5-10 creates a different look to hitters, but I think there’s some deception there. And there is life on that fastball, because it’s not 95 [mph], it’s 92. He also doesn’t walk people. He has great command. That was his reputation when he came here from Japan, and that’s what we’ve see here, in spring training and now through five major-league starts.”
A clean transition certainly.
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APRIL STAT NOTABLES
The Chicago White Sox got here into this weekend’s collection in opposition to Tampa Bay not having performed in opposition to an AL East or AL West opponent. They have been 2-15 in opposition to the AL Central and 1-7 in opposition to NL groups.
The Milwaukee Brewers are 7-1 in one-run video games and 2-0 in extra-inning video games. The Houston Astros are 0-7 in one-run video games and 0-3 in extra-inning video games.
The Astros are the one crew and not using a triple this season. The Chicago Cubs have hit eight triples, essentially the most within the majors.
Seattle’s Luis Urias has 5 hits — three doubles, two residence runs, and no singles. Washington’s Joey Gallo has 9 hits — 5 doubles, three residence runs, and one single.
Atlanta’s Marcell Ozuna went into final evening with a .344 batting common and an NL-best 31 RBIs. Kansas City’s Salvador Perez went into final evening with a .344 batting common and an AL-best 25 RBIs.
San Francisco’s Logan Webb has allowed three runs and issued three walks over 29 innings in his final 4 begins.
Detroit’s Reese Olson is 0-4 with a 3.18 ERA and a 2.79 FIP.
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LINKS YOU’LL LIKE
A former minor-league umpire has sued MLB, claiming that he was harassed by a feminine ump, and fired for being a bisexual man. Ronald Blum has the story at AP News.
MLB.com’s Anthony Castrovince wrote about how the median age of MLB ticket patrons has dropped by a number of years in current seasons.
The Athletic’s Tyler Kepner addressed the pitcher win standards — a topic I opined on right here at Sunday Notes two weeks in the past — as a part of his glorious “Sliders” column (subscription required).
San Francisco Giants prospect Reggie Crawford misses hitting baseballs over fences. John O’Connor wrote about the two-way-player-turned-pitcher-only for The Richmond Times-Dispatch.
MiLB.com’s Rob Terranova profiled St. Louis Cardinals prospect Sem Robberse, a 22-year-old native of Zeist, Netherlands who’s excelling on the mound with the Triple-A Memphis Redbirds.
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RANDOM FACTS AND STATS
Jackson Holliday, whom the Orioles demoted to Triple-A on Friday, began his MLB profession 2-for-34. Willie Mays, who was 19 days faraway from his twentieth birthday when he debuted with the New York Giants in 1951, began out his MLB profession 1-for-26. Holliday was 20 years and 144 days when he debuted.
Pete Rose hit 30 triples for the Florida State League’s Tampa Tarpons in 1961. Three different gamers tied for second-most within the circuit with a dozen apiece.
Cleveland Indians third baseman Al Rosen slashed .336/.422/.613 with 43 residence runs, 145 RBIs, and a 178 wRC+ in his 1953 AL MVP season. He had 9.1 WAR.
St. Louis Cardinals shortstop Marty Marion slashed .267/.324/.382 with six residence runs, 63 RBIs, and a 92 wRC+ in his 1944 NL MVP season. He had 4.6 WAR.
Babe Ruth performed in 10 World Series, seven with the Yankees and three with the Red Sox. New York gained 4 titles with Ruth on the roster, Boston gained three.
The Oakland Athletics beat the Detroit Tigers 6-3 on as we speak’s date in 1996, with round-trippers accounting for all 9 runs. The groups mixed to go deep seven instances, with Scott Brosius hitting two of Oakland’s 5 residence runs within the Sunday matinee at Tiger Stadium. Greg Gohr surrendered 4 of the gophers.
Dick Sipek made his MLB debut for the Cincinnati Reds on as we speak’s date in 1945, strolling as a pinch-hitter in a 1-0 win over the St. Louis Cardinals. An outfielder who appeared in 82 video games and batted .244 in his lone big-league season, Sipek attended the Illinois School for the Deaf, the place he was mentored by Luther Taylor, who had attended the Kansas School for the Deaf earlier than pitching for the New York Giants (and briefly the Cleveland Blues) from 1900-1908.
Bock Baker made the primary of his two big-league appearances on as we speak’s date in 1901 and allowed 23 hits and 13 runs in eight innings because the Cleveland Blues misplaced to the Chicago White Sox 13-1. The southpaw, who was referred to as Smiling Bock, subsequently allowed six hits and 11 runs in six innings whereas pitching for the Philadelphia Athletics in a 14-5 loss to the Baltimore Orioles.
Players born on as we speak’s date embrace Cuddles Marshall, who on May 28, 1946 was New York’s beginning pitcher within the first evening sport ever performed at Yankee Stadium. Marshall’s modest profession noticed him go 7-7 with a 5.98 ERA over 185 innings from 1946-1950.
Also born on as we speak’s date was Fred Schemanske, who completed his transient and statistically-unique profession with a 1.000 batting common and a 27.00 ERA. Just 20 years previous when he performed in two video games for the Washington Senators in 1923, Schemanske allowed three runs in his lone inning on the mound, and went 2-for-2 with a stroll in three plate appearances.
Content Source: blogs.fangraphs.com