Another week, one other jam-packed baseball schedule. The largest story of the week, little question, is Shohei Ohtani’s torn UCL, essentially the most profound baseball-related bummer of the 12 months for my part. Ohtani is such a globe-spanning celebrity that information of this magnitude will naturally overshadow the remainder of what’s happening within the sport. But I’m not right here to mope. Like Zach Lowe and his seminal Ten Things basketball column, we’re right here to have fun some little oddities. So let’s get right down to enterprise. This week’s column is crammed with pleasant weirdness, and delightfully odd groups, to offset the Ohtani unhappiness. Do you want bunts? Do you just like the Marlins doing bizarre stuff? Do you want baserunning adventures and underdogs taking over bullies? Then learn on, as a result of this column has all of that and extra.
1. The Marlins Go Inverted
If the Marlins miss the playoffs this 12 months, it will likely be as a result of their offense couldn’t rating sufficient runs. They’re fifth-worst within the league in run scoring, and that’s regardless of the contributions of Jorge Soler and Luis Arraez, who’ve been their finest hitters this 12 months. Adding Jake Burger and Josh Bell on the deadline has labored out – each are raking in Miami – however the offense nonetheless hasn’t produced; they’re twenty fourth in runs scored previously month. So they got here up with a brand new plan: swap the nice gamers round.
In current video games, Soler has been main off and Arraez has batted second. That sounds so bizarre. The large man who smashes homers is hitting with nobody on base, after which the hitter with a .400 OBP and no energy to talk of goes subsequent? Something unusual is afoot.
Old-school baseball followers would most likely let you know that is backwards. New-school varieties would possibly let you know that lineup order doesn’t matter that a lot. I feel there’s an opportunity that the Marlins had been going for a 3rd choice. Think of it this manner: the factor that makes Arraez distinctive is the sheer variety of singles he hits. Singles are much less invaluable when nobody’s on base; individuals yell “a walk is as good as a hit” in particular conditions as a result of it normally isn’t pretty much as good as successful. But main off an inning, Arraez’s singles are not any higher than a stroll as a result of they don’t give runners an opportunity to advance as a lot.
Meanwhile, Soler has a strong batting eye however intermittent swing-and-miss points. If you’re pitching to Soler in entrance of Arraez, are you going to throw him pitches outdoors the strike zone? Probably not – it’ll by no means be much less painful to surrender a house run than main off, and by no means extra painful to stroll him than in entrance of Captain Singles. So you might see this understanding, as unusual because it sounds; Soler will get extra hittable pitches and Arraez will get extra baserunners.
Has it labored? The outcomes are blended. Pitchers are throwing Soler fewer pitches within the coronary heart of the strike zone and fewer strikes general, however they’re throwing him extra fastballs, a pitch he’s traditionally feasted on. His line out of the leadoff spot is weird: .214/.298/.571 with extra homers than singles, and a 31.9% strikeout charge. He’s not getting on base in entrance of Arraez fairly often, however that’s as a result of he’s steadily driving himself in earlier than anybody else can.
Would or not it’s good to hit these homers after Arraez reached? No doubt. But two of the 5 have been two-run photographs, and he’s really cashing in about as many runners per homer as he did earlier than switching to leadoff. Improbably, he’d solely pushed Arraez in with a homer thrice this 12 months regardless of batting instantly after him for almost all of the season.
As for Arraez’s half of the equation, the much less stated the higher: he’s hitting .214/.228/.375 since Soler took over leadoff obligation on August 8, with a 1.8% stroll charge and three.5% strikeout charge that each sound like made up numbers. So it’s not apparent that this batting order inversion has accomplished something in any respect. That doesn’t make me chuckle any much less once I see Miami’s lineup, although. The bopper first, the slap hitter second; it makes extra sense than you’d assume, and but it’s nonetheless understanding about as surprisingly as you may think about.
2. Eury Pérez Is Not Afraid
Last month, the Marlins demoted Eury Pérez to Double-A. It wasn’t for efficiency causes; you don’t demote a man with a 2.36 ERA and three.70 FIP fairly often. It was for upkeep (and probably service time) causes, and he pitched solely 5.2 innings in his month on the farm. I wasn’t a fan of that transfer on the time, and I’m positive the gamers on the group weren’t both. Their odds of reaching the playoffs fell from 64.3% to 26.8% whereas Pérez was out. Perhaps it was inevitable that he’d want some relaxation, on condition that he’s already exceeded his 2022 innings rely regardless of the month off, however the timing could be disappointing to anybody, by no means thoughts an ultra-competitive skilled athlete breaking into the large leagues.
Great information, although: Pérez is again and displaying no indicators of a insecurity. Last weekend, he confronted the red-hot Dodgers in Los Angeles. That isn’t a matchup for the faint of coronary heart, however he was greater than as much as the duty. Playing the primary sport of a hurricane-related double header, he pitched like he had an appointment to get to later that afternoon. After a nine-pitch battle with Mookie Betts to open the sport, he obtained proper right down to enterprise. That enterprise? Strikeouts.
Pérez threw solely 81 extra pitches after that opening duel with Betts. He turned these into 10 strikeouts. He beat Dodgers batters excessive:
He beat Dodgers batters low:
He went proper at them along with his dominant fastball:
Heck, he threw his secondaries within the zone and let the Dodgers do their worst:
There are not any two methods about it; this was a masterclass. Pérez left the Dodgers dispirited. He walked off the mound trying like somebody who knew that what he simply achieved was particular, but additionally considerably anticipated:
His ultimate line was beautiful. Six innings pitched, 10 strikeouts, two hits, no walks, and no runs. It was the perfect begin of his younger profession, and it got here in opposition to one of many hardest lineups in all of baseball. The Marlins wanted each final little little bit of it, too; they might solely muster one run in opposition to Ryan Pepiot. Pérez was downright electrical, and everybody watching the sport knew it.
The Marlins didn’t rating once more. The Dodgers pushed three runs previous David Robertson within the eighth inning to win it. Not each story has a cheerful ending. But in watching Pérez, you may’t assist however assume that there can be many extra alternatives to have fun in his future.
3. Okay, Maybe Joc Isn’t a Baserunning Genius
I obtained very enthusiastic about Joc Pederson’s baserunning prowess final week, and I feel it was with good purpose. That sliding leg-swim transfer was phenomenal, the sort of play that can be on spotlight reels after the season. Look on the athlete in full splendor, turning an out right into a run with sheer bodily brilliance. Yeah, properly, this one received’t go on that spotlight reel. Let’s choose it up as Pederson’s laser beam line drive smacks into the left subject wall:
There are lots of issues to concentrate to on this one, however we’d as properly begin with Kyle Schwarber, one other bat-first lefty who typically moonlights within the subject, displaying off the perfect a part of his protection — or if nothing else, the least unhealthy a part of it. That’d be his cannon arm; Schwarber was a catcher in faculty and it confirmed when he first made it to the bigs. He put up gaudy throwing numbers early in his profession, and he’s been value round 10 runs above common along with his throwing arm alone, relying on which system you take heed to. Now, he’s additionally one thing like 50 runs under common based mostly on the remainder of his protection, and his arm power is right down to the twenty fourth percentile, however nonetheless, it is a good catch and launch:
That’s a strong flip and an correct throw, however for many hitters, the end result would nonetheless be a clear double. But Pederson isn’t notably quick, and he wasn’t notably quick out of the field on that one. The mixture meant that it wasn’t even a bang-bang play. As you may see from the above GIF, he wasn’t even near the bottom when Bryson Stott caught Schwarber’s correct peg.
That simply meant it was time for evasive maneuvers. Again, Pederson’s no stranger to that; he may not be quick, however he’s actually shifty. His plan: are available in sideways (?!) and hope that Stott couldn’t determine the place to tag him:
Amazingly, it nearly labored. Stott went for his legs, however Pederson was really going for a wraparound left-handed tag. If he’d held up only a fraction of an inch sooner, Stott might need discovered air along with his sweep and ended up simply one other sufferer of Joc’s unconventional slide sport. But nobody can cheat loss of life each time, and are available on, he was out by a lot that you simply’d want one thing actually transformational to flee there.
As an additional benefit, we obtained handled to a different post-out tableau I’ll keep in mind for some time. If you don’t give it some thought too arduous, you may think about this as umpire Jacob Metz unleashing a fearsome, anime-esque punch that despatched Pederson flying and knocked Stott to his knees within the course of:
4. Ha-Seong Kim’s Bunt Bluffs
I’ve had this matter in my pocket book for practically a 12 months now, and whereas nothing particularly occurred this week to make me revisit it, it’s simply been on my thoughts too lengthy to not say one thing. Ha-Seong Kim pulls off a few of the silliest bunt bluffs within the majors, and I adore it. Look at this exaggerated pretend 3-0 bunt, with nobody on base, in freaking Coors Field:
He’s clearly not bunting there. He’s by no means bunted a ball in play in a 3-0 rely in his profession. He’s by no means hit a foul bunt in a 3-0 rely in his profession. It’s fully for present, simply to mess with the pitcher and possibly change his strike zone somewhat bit. But he loves doing it! Here’s one other one from the previous month:
And one other from July:
And why not, a montage of his different three bluffs this 12 months:
This little idiosyncrasy first got here to my consideration in final 12 months’s playoffs. He reached a 3-0 rely 4 instances that postseason. Here are three of them:
I suppose the thought right here is that in case you’re taking all the best way anyway, you would possibly as properly give the pitcher somewhat little bit of eye sweet. Kim actually doesn’t swing on 3-0. He’s accomplished so precisely as soon as in 67 alternatives throughout his main league profession. It was hardly a ferocious minimize:
Maybe it’s all a part of some grand plan. He’s reaching 3-0 counts way more steadily this 12 months than ever earlier than, due to a new strategy on the plate. At some level, pitchers will assume “oh, that’s the guy who bluffs bunts and never swings” and begin grooving him meatballs. Hey, it labored for teammate Matt Carpenter earlier than.
Mostly, although, I identical to watching it. “I’m bunting!” Kim says. “Yeah sure buddy, I bet,” say the pitchers’ actions. But hey, in case you’re taking anyway, why not give the followers somewhat present when you’re at it. Given how properly this season has gone for Kim, I don’t assume he’s more likely to change his plans an excessive amount of, they usually’ll absolutely contain extra pretend bunts.
5. High Stakes in Pittsburgh
After an thrilling early-season run, the Pirates have regressed arduous. They had been in first place within the NL Central on June 15, no fooling. Since then, they’ve gone 23-37 and gotten outscored by 68 runs within the course of. It’s been grim; their finest hitter in that prolonged stretch is the since-traded Carlos Santana, and their finest starter has most likely been Johan Oviedo, proprietor of a 4.74 ERA and 4.84 FIP over that span. It’s unhealthy, is my level.
But there’s nonetheless one thing to play for in Pittsburgh. As I discussed final week on Effectively Wild, the Pirates have completed behind the Cardinals within the NL Central for 23 straight years. The final time they beat out the Redbirds was in 1999, when their 78-83 report clipped St. Louis’s 75-86 mark. Since then, the Cardinals have been the category of the division, with a competing solid of groups jockeying with them for the primary spot. All the opposite groups have had a style of divisional glory, however not Pittsburgh.
Despite their current slide, they’ve an opportunity at ending this ignominious streak this 12 months, and for beleaguered Bucs followers, it could be a significant silver lining in what’s been a disappointing season. The Cardinals visited Pittsburgh earlier this week with a scant half sport separating them. St. Louis has entered the “just throw some kids out there” part of its season, which is basically what Pittsburgh’s existence has been for the previous 5 years. It’s a battle on even footing, or no less than as even because the footing seems more likely to get any time quickly in western Ohio.
The Cardinals outspend the Pirates. They out-develop them. Their team-building technique appears to focus notably on minimizing down years, which makes it tougher for the Pirates to tug a quick one on them. “If not now, then when” sounds hyperbolic, nevertheless it would possibly really apply right here. The deck is stacked in opposition to the Pirates, however that is their 12 months to beat the home.
They began this current sequence off sturdy, walloping the Cardinals in two straight video games by a mixed 17-4 rating. But the Cardinals scraped out the final sport of the set, which pulled them again inside 1.5 video games. The two groups solely meet as soon as extra this season, for 3 video games from September 1-3 in St. Louis, and that may go a good distance in the direction of figuring out whether or not this surprising streak, the longest of its variety in any main North American sport within the fashionable period, continues.
The Pirates have already clinched the season sequence over the Cardinals. A number of extra head-to-head wins would possibly put St. Louis too far behind to get well. And that might result in one other main streak being damaged: the Cards haven’t completed in final place of their division since 1990, once they performed in a six-team NL East. The Pirates received 95 video games that 12 months, by the way; issues regarded rather a lot totally different again then.
The method issues are going, the longer term feels considerably ordained; St. Louis will spend rather a lot and compete for playoff spots yearly, and the Pirates will attempt to scrape their method above .500 on a shoestring price range. But this 12 months, and maybe this 12 months solely, the underdogs have an important shot at taking down the longest-standing bully in baseball.
Content Source: blogs.fangraphs.com