Welcome to a different installment of my weekly have a look at the performs and gamers that caught my eye. As regular, thanks go to Zach Lowe, who pioneered the idea for ESPN and is certainly one of my favourite sports columnists. This week’s version options fakes galore, a enjoyable underdog story, outfield protection each good and dangerous, and a heaping serving to of the Braves, Dodgers, and Rays. Let’s get to it.
1. Willy Adames, Dekemaster General
Baseball gamers love to drag off enjoyable and strange performs. You can see it of their faces when one thing distinctive occurs. As far as I can inform from my previous couple of years of baseball viewing, there’s nobody that is extra true of than Willy Adames. He’s a nook case ready to occur, and I can’t get sufficient of it.
Here’s an instance from latest reminiscence: Adames is all the time able to deceive the runner at second base after a steal. Tommy Edman stole second base in opposition to the Brewers earlier this month, getting such a clear leap off of Corbin Burnes that the catcher had no likelihood to nab him:
That’s a fantastic play by Adames simply to reel within the throw, which might simply have flown into middle subject. It wasn’t a very impactful time to maintain Edman from reaching third base, what with two outs within the inning and all, however each 90 ft helps. But after making that spectacular play, Adames tried to make an much more spectacular one. He began gesturing in the direction of the outfielder as if to say he’d misplaced the ball:
Watch carefully, and you may see Adames subtly making an attempt to promote it. He places his glove ready the place the ball is much less prone to peek via and retains his eyes on the outfield. You can’t actually inform from this GIF, however he clearly yelled one thing too. He went full-on tacky in pursuit of promoting it, even when Edman was by no means going to fall for it. Want proof? Edman shared fun with him after the play:
“Hey, nice try there,” he might need stated. “I’ve played the middle infield too, you know.” That’s the sort of smile I normally save for once I’m enjoying poker with my buddies and certainly one of them bluffs into my unbeatable hand.
But to cite Michael Scott quoting Wayne Gretzky, you miss 100% of the pictures you don’t take. Adames lives by that quote, and he was again at it mere days later. This time, he bought his man:
That play largely seems unusual at first look. How on this planet do you flip a double play on a popup? But look slightly nearer, and also you’ll see Adames at work. Look at him calling for the ball:
Is {that a} notably nice pretend? I imply, to not me. He regarded over in the direction of third to trace the ball earlier than actually committing to it. But Josh Lowe had his head down on the steal try, and by the point he picked up Adames, he was in “receive double play turn” place. He even bluffed a type of maybe-you’ll-fall-off-the-base tags:
Does that make sense on a drive play? Not to me, and to not the Rays third base coach wildly gesticulating within the background. But baseball occurs quick, and Lowe was lifeless to rights. He regarded appropriately chagrined afterwards:
Watch Adames play, and also you’re sure to see a number of of those bluffs. They’re most enjoyable once they work, however should you ask me, they’re fairly enjoyable both approach.
2. Highs and Lows From Gabriel Arias
There’s virtually no worse org to be part of should you’re a center infield prospect than the Cleveland Guardians. Andrés Giménez and Amed Rosario have had the center infield to themselves for years, and Giménez simply signed a contract extension. The farm system is filled with shortstops and second basemen (Tyler Freeman, Brayan Rocchio, Angel Martinez, the listing goes on), and it’s not like they’ll simply shift to 3rd base; José Ramírez has that lined for the foreseeable future.
Gabriel Arias, our Tenth-ranked prospect on the membership, discovered a approach round that logjam. Cleveland’s outfield is the reverse of the center infield; it’s not Steven Kwan and two cardboard cutouts of Steven Kwan, but it surely’s not a lot higher than that. If you need to discover a spot within the main leagues with the Guardians, it helps to be an outfielder.
Arias, whose calling card is his wonderful protection, doesn’t seem to be an apparent match for proper subject at first look. But with Oscar Gonzalez again within the minors and Will Brennan benched, he’s getting a shot on the market. He’s batting a middling .205/.287/.372, which is one way or the other nonetheless an enormous improve on what Cleveland was getting out of the place earlier than. But if he can preserve his head above water offensively, he’s a lock to stay in proper, as a result of his throwing arm is without doubt one of the finest in baseball.
Arias’ outfield protection first got here to my consideration in his second sport in proper subject. He didn’t throw anybody out, however he made a number of throws that made me press rewind. This one particularly shocked me in a great way:
Oh, you need one other angle? Deal:
I used to be so impressed by Arias’ arm that once I went on Mark Simon’s Sports Info Solutions podcast, I made some extent of mentioning his protection. And this was after solely two video games performed in proper subject within the majors. With a number of extra underneath his belt – he’s as much as 63 innings now – he’s beginning to put collectively some spotlight performs, and a few lowlights too.
On Sunday in opposition to the Mets, Arias’ inexperience paid off when he bobbled a ball proper into an outfield help. This in all probability isn’t the way you draw it up at dwelling, however hey, it nonetheless counts within the scorebook:
Sure, he shouldn’t have bobbled that. Sure, he made a reasonably normal relay throw. Sure, it was Gary Sánchez working. But hey, first outfield help, and he nailed the cutoff man! That was tremendous, and he wasn’t accomplished. If one is sweet, two is best:
This time, he opted for velocity over energy, uncorking a spinning two-hopper that was proper on the cash. That was way more spectacular, though he nonetheless didn’t dial within the throw completely. Running in the direction of the foul line and throwing to second base is a troublesome mixture, and that was a state of affairs the place the ball needed to be out of his arms virtually as quickly as he reached it to have any likelihood.
That’s to not say that it’s all been a hit. As you possibly can see in these two throws, Arias continues to be studying on the job, notably in relation to how outfield footwork differs from infield pivots. He’s notably scattershot when making an attempt to drag off fast turns and throws:
I’m unsure how this experiment will finish simply but, however I would like it to succeed. I’m a giant fan of outfield assists, and I’m hoping that Arias will present his justifiable share within the years to return. Hey, it’s extra doubtless than beating out the 75 different contenders for the second base job.
3. Regular Season Grudge Matches
The sheer size of baseball’s common season makes it distinctive. You should win a ton of video games to make the playoffs, and it doesn’t matter who they’re in opposition to. Four wins on an AL Central swing in August depend the identical as 4 in opposition to the Rays in June, although one set of 4 would presumably be far tougher to accumulate. When everybody has to play so many video games, the way you play is extra necessary than who; the matchups work themselves out over the course of the yr.
That doesn’t imply that I don’t just like the occasional common season conflict between titans, although, and this week’s Braves-Dodgers collection offered simply what I used to be searching for. The Dodgers began sturdy, placing up eight runs on each Monday and Tuesday. They have been hardly beating up on weak pitching, both; Spencer Strider is perhaps the perfect pitcher in baseball proper now, and Charlie Morton is arguably Atlanta’s second-best possibility. It didn’t damage my enjoyment that Jason Heyward bought in on the act in his first sport in Atlanta as a Dodger:
The Braves didn’t take it mendacity down, although. The Dodgers regarded like they have been constructing in the direction of a sweep once they tied Wednesday’s sport 3-3 within the eighth inning. That didn’t final lengthy:
Regular season showdowns don’t all the time work out this manner. Sometimes the pitching matchups don’t cooperate or a star is injured. Sometimes one crew or the opposite is scuffling. But the celebs aligned for playoff-caliber baseball in May. Freddie Freeman, Mookie Betts, and Will Smith gave Atlanta pitching all it might deal with. Ronald Acuña Jr., Sean Murphy, and Austin Riley did the identical on the opposite facet of the ledger. Bobby Miller’s debut was electrical. Strider struck out 11 in a loss. Both groups have been firing on all cylinders all collection lengthy.
Obviously, most matchups received’t be like this. The Braves have been our preseason World Series favorites and the Dodgers are the freaking Dodgers. If you’re anticipating a collection like this earlier than October, you’ll usually be upset. Not this week, although. This felt like an NLCS preview, topic to the whims and uncertainties of playoff baseball.
4. Randy Arozarena, Taking a Walk
You in all probability don’t consider Randy Arozarena as a affected person hitter. That’s as a result of most of his sport feels extraordinarily un-patient. He runs the bases together with his hair on hearth. He has a aptitude for the dramatic within the outfield. He tees off on fastballs. He strikes out loads. The entire bundle simply doesn’t really feel notably affected person, you already know?
Surprise! He’s really all the time been on the affected person facet of issues. He’s by no means swung at an above-average fee. He’s not notably chase-prone. You’ve in all probability observed his energy this yr, however he’s additionally excelling by taking pitches. He’s by no means chased dangerous pitches much less incessantly, and never coincidentally, he’s posting career-best stroll and strikeout charges.
Those are the uncooked numbers, however I don’t assume they inform the entire story. He stands on the plate like he doesn’t need to stroll. He shuffles his ft after misses, preserving himself able to hit:
He seems irritated with himself after he takes one thing within the zone, which simply screams “guy who swings out of his shoes” to me:
Even after he attracts the stroll, I’m left feeling like he needed to get one thing to hit. Look at him toss the bat away:
If it’s a very necessary stroll, he seems a bit much less irritated, although he manages to look cool anyway:
Am I projecting an excessive amount of? It’s solely potential. This is a number of hypothesis. Maybe Arozarena loves taking walks. Maybe he talks about his favourite walks lovingly within the dugout between innings. I like imagining him as a person irritated by his personal talent, although. “Ugh, I like hitting, why must I take these bases for free?” It’s simply one other factor I like about watching the Rays typically, and Arozarena particularly.
5. Mickey Moniak’s Time to Shine
For a primary general draft choose, Mickey Moniak has hardly had a prototypical profession. He made it to the massive leagues in 2020, however just for a short cup of espresso, and his profession appeared to plateau after that. By 2022, he was fully out of the Phillies’ plans, they usually traded him to the Angels for Noah Syndergaard. That didn’t sort things both; he was fairly dangerous in restricted enjoying time with their massive league membership final yr, although he lit up the PCL.
This being the Angels, they wanted some additional outfielders. Taylor Ward has been fairly dangerous this yr; he has 200 plate appearances and precisely zero wins above substitute. Brett Phillips barely performed earlier than he was outrighted to Triple-A and he’s not precisely an offensive spark plug. Moniak was enjoying effectively in Salt Lake; the crew virtually needed to give him a shot.
He took that chance, and now he’s working with it. Really, that is perhaps an understatement. He’s batting .419/.438/.935 in 32 plate appearances. He’s already clubbed 4 dwelling runs, equaling his complete earlier main league complete. He hit a ball 110 mph, practically three miles an hour sooner than his earlier hardest batted ball. He’s already been value 0.8 WAR by our calculations, which brings his profession complete as much as… effectively, as much as zero WAR, as a result of he’d been 0.8 wins under substitute stage within the majors earlier than this yr.
Look, he can’t probably preserve this going. He’s already struck out 11 occasions. He’s solely walked as soon as. He’s working a .563 BABIP, for goodness sake. Statcast thinks he ought to have a batting common within the .200s, not the .400s. There’s nowhere close to sufficient knowledge to say whether or not that is something greater than a scorching streak, however I’m keen to guess it’s simply that. His plate self-discipline is downright terrifying; you possibly can’t chase pitches exterior the strike zone 46.2% of the time and succeed. He’s not even a fearsome energy hitter; even together with his newfound pop, he’s solely barely above the key league common there.
So sure, this streak goes to return to an finish. This will in all probability be the perfect 10-game stretch of his profession. (To be truthful, it will be the perfect 10-game stretch of a number of gamers’ careers; if he performed like this for a full season, he’d accumulate simply over 15 WAR.) Knowing that it’s fleeting simply makes me need to savor it extra, although.
Moniak is enjoying like he feels the identical approach. He tears across the bases at each alternative. He hunts spectacular performs within the outfield. He’s already robbed a house run:
And that’s not even his most spectacular defensive try. That honor belongs to a house run theft try that juuuuust missed:
Moniak’s street to the key leagues has been bumpy. The expectations that include being the primary general choose have been by no means actually truthful to him; the Phillies signed him to an under-slot bonus and used their financial savings to splurge elsewhere within the draft. The cancellation of the 2020 minor league season got here at an terrible time for his growth. He’s caught dangerous break after dangerous break.
That would possibly nonetheless be Moniak’s long-term story: the highest draft choose who by no means made it. But no matter what occurs from right here on out, the previous two weeks have been magical. On a crew with Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani, he’s been the perfect hitter by a mile since becoming a member of the membership. That’s fairly dang cool. I hope he’s having fun with each second of it.
Those are the 5 issues in baseball that the majority caught my eye this week. I hope you loved them as a lot as I did – hey, for as soon as, it’s 5 likes and no dislikes. I’m taking a one-week break from the column subsequent week (I’m touring all weekend and received’t have my regular time to look at baseball for little bizarre issues), however search for one other installment on June 9. See you then.
Content Source: blogs.fangraphs.com