John Michael Bertrand is an under-the-radar pitching prospect with multi-sport bloodlines and a great backstory. Moreover, he’s performing above expectations in his first full skilled season. Drafted within the tenth spherical final 12 months by the San Francisco Giants out of the University of Notre Dame, the 25-year-old left-hander is 10-5 with a 3.17 ERA in 99-and-a-third innings throughout three ranges. Bertrand started the marketing campaign at Low-A San Jose and has since progressed to High-A Eugene and Double-A Richmond.
Growing up in Alpharetta, Georgia, the 6-foot-3, 225-pound hurler aspired to play faculty basketball, however it will definitely grew to become obvious that baseball would offer him with the higher long-term alternative. The resolution proved prudent, however solely after a bumpy starting. Bertrand’s Blessed Trinity School prep days have been adopted by a pair of disappointments which may simply have ended his profession earlier than it even began.
“I went to the University of Dayton for a camp, and they told me that I didn’t throw hard enough,” Bertrand defined. “I was around 82 [mph] and had a loopy curveball, so it was basically, ‘Thank you for your time.’ After that, my guidance counselor suggested Furman [University]. It was closer to home, and purple happened to be my favorite color, so I was like, ‘Perfect, I’ll go.’ I walked on to their baseball team, but ended up getting cut my first fall. The coaches told me that I wasn’t good enough to play Division One baseball.”
Undeterred, and extra decided than ever, Bertrand determined that not solely would he return the next 12 months and make the workforce, he meant to go on to play professionally. As he put it, ‘God kind of called me to go back to that campus and work even harder.’ That began that prepare, began my journey.”
Bertrand did make the workforce the subsequent 12 months, and proceeded to pitch credibly in his first two seasons of faculty eligibility. He then acquired off to an excellent begin in 2020, solely to have COVID shut issues down after he’d logged a 1.50 ERA over 4 appearances. His tutorial progress continued unabated. Bertrand went on to earn a bachelor’s diploma in Philosophy, with furthering his schooling a giant a part of his life’s plan. So was persevering with to play baseball. That led the southpaw to South Bend.
“I’m from an Irish Catholic family, and my dad grew up in Ireland playing rugby, so Notre Dame had always been a dream college of mine,” mentioned Bertrand, who had utilized out of highschool however wasn’t accepted. “I was able to start my master’s program there, and I pitched well enough that I got one call on draft day [in 2021]. I decided that I couldn’t pass up a second year at my dream school, and be there with my little brother [JD Bertrand] who is a starting linebacker on the football team, so I went back hoping that we could win a national championship.”
The Fighting Irish fell in need of that purpose, getting eradicated by Texas A&M within the 2022 College World Series. Despite that disappointment, his Notre Dame tenure was a rousing success. Along with going 18-5 in his two seasons on the mound, Bertrand earned a pair of graduate levels, a grasp’s in Science and Management, and an MBA.
His father had attended highschool in Greystones, Ireland.
“That’s an interesting story,” Bertrand advised me following his final begin with the Eastern League’s Flying Squirrels. “My grandfather truly purchased two desks at Blackrock in order that my father and his brother, my uncle, might play rugby there. It’s an all-boys boarding college, and it’s mentioned that when you may have a child — when you may have a son — the very first thing you do is title him, and the second is that you just signal him up on the wait listing for Blackrock.
“My grandpa moved to Ireland from Dayton, Ohio when they were around middle school age,” continued Bertrand. “That obviously meant they weren’t on the wait list, but he talked to the priest and they let him buy two desks. So, they played at Blackrock and I think my father [Jim Bertrand] is still the only American to captain a team to the [Leinster] Senior Cup and win it. Now, this weekend, my little brother is playing in the same stadium where my dad won the Cup.”
That can be Aviva Stadium, in Dublin, the place JD Bertrand, a fifth-year senior and second-year captain, helped lead Notre Dame to a powerful 42-3 win over Navy yesterday afternoon. As for older brother John Michael, he was following as carefully as his baseball schedule would enable. That the artful lefty with a six-pitch combine and an 89-90-mph heater was doing so two steps under the foremost leagues is not any much less notable. Twice advised that he wasn’t adequate, it seems that he truly is.
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RANDOM HITTER-PITCHER MATCHUPS
Andrew Benintendi is 11 for 21 in opposition to Shane Bieber.
Todd Benzinger went 10 for 21 in opposition to Orel Hershiser.
David Bell went 7 for 10 in opposition to Gary Majewski.
Tim Naehring went 7 for 12 in opposition to Shawn Boskie.
Scooter Gennett went 7 for 12 in opposition to Jon Gray.
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Left on the cutting-room ground from Thursday’s interview with Max Scherzer have been his ideas on lacking bats. That’s one thing he’s lengthy been good at. The 39-year-old right-hander’s 3,344 strikeouts are Eleventh most in MLB historical past.
“Generating swing-and-miss is a critical part of pitching,” Scherzer advised me. “It’s one thing you want, and ideally you’re doing it in-zone. If you may throw pitches within the zone and generate swing-and-misses, it opens up so many different issues. When you’re getting chases, you’re counting on the hitter to make a unfavorable resolution. You can’t all the time throw each pitch out of the zone, you’ve acquired to throw pitches within the zone.
“You’re also trying to get the highest amount of swings-and-misses with two strikes. All swings-and-misses are good, but the ones with two strikes are great. Those are outs. Generating strikeouts is a positive goal on the mound. You’re seeing the at-bat ending the way you want it to end. Strikeouts are the ideal result.”
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A quiz:
Duke Snider (389) and Gil Hodges (361), each of whom performed primarily when the workforce was based mostly in Brooklyn, have essentially the most residence runs in Dodgers franchise historical past. Which Dodger has hit essentially the most residence runs for the reason that workforce relocated to Los Angeles?
The reply will be discovered under.
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NEWS NOTES
The championship sport of this 12 months’s Little League World Series might be held at this time, August 27, at 3:00pm ET and might be aired on ABC. Willemstad, Curaçao will face El Segundo, California.
SABR’s Rocky Mountain chapter will host a Zoom assembly tonight, Sunday August 27, with Joe Posnanski the featured visitor. Registration for the free-to-all 6:00pm MT occasion will be discovered right here.
Aaron Familia, a 24-year-old former Milwaukee Brewers prospect, died after struggling a coronary heart assault throughout an try and cross the United States-Mexico border. The information was reported by Dominican Republic newspaper El Diario Nuevo, and by the UK’s Daily Mail.
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The reply to the quiz is Eric Karros, with 270 residence runs. Ron Cey is subsequent on the listing with 228.
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Brian Snitker was referred to as old-school when he was employed to handle the Atlanta Braves in 2016, initially on an interim foundation and 5 months in a while a full-time foundation. To the extent that the label was correct then, it’s much less so now. Asked by one other reporter how he’s change into extra adaptable to analytics, he mentioned the next when the Braves visited Fenway Park in late July.
“Well, I knew it wasn’t going away,” replied Snitker. “If I started bucking it, or whatever, it was going to be on me. I pick and choose what I use. It’s part of the game, and I think it’s here to stay. It’s good stuff. It’s information. We have a veteran staff, guys with a lot of experience, and [the front office] allows us to incorporate that in. I think it’s a good blend.”
Upon listening to that, I requested the 67-year-old baseball lifer if any of the coaches he’s labored with through the years stand out when it comes to instinct — they’ve nearly a sixth sense of which strikes to make, no matter what knowledge suggests.
“All of the guys I’m working with in this dugout, really,” replied Snitker.” Walt Weiss has seen all of it as a participant, a supervisor, and now as a [bench] coach. I believe Kranny [pitching coach Rick Kranitz] has a terrific really feel. He’s the one I’m closest to over the course of the sport, and I belief his sixth sense, his expertise, his really feel. We’re very blessed to have a man together with his expertise operating issues as our pitching coach.”
Kranitz turns 65 in mid-September. Atlanta’s 39-year-old bullpen coach can be nicely regarded by the supervisor of baseball’s finest workforce.
“We’ve got a young, really bright, new-age guy in our bullpen,” Snitker mentioned of Drew French. “He’s also got a great feel. I think Kranny is going to be a great resource for Drew, because he’s going to be a major league pitching coach someday. Growing up in this game under Kranny is going to bode him well.”
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FOREIGN AFFAIRS
Keio Senior High School gained its first nationwide baseball championship in 107 years earlier this week when it beat defending champion Sendai Ikuei Gakuen High School 8-2 at Koshien Stadium. The last sport of Japan’s most prestigious novice event was attended by 42,100 followers.
Chiba Lotte Marines outfielder/DH Gregory Polanco homered 3 times on Thursday within the NPB membership’s 9-5 loss to the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks. The 31-year-old former Pittsburgh Pirate has 19 residence runs on the season to go together with a .250/.314/.466 slash line in 354 plate appearances.
Yokohama BayStars pitcher Trevor Bauer has one hit in 40 at-bats whereas taking part in in Japan. The erstwhile MLB right-hander went 7-for-105 professionally within the United States, together with 1-for-30 in his last MLB season.
Jung Hoo Lee is slashing .315/.407/.456 with six residence runs in 386 plate appearances for the Kiwoom Heroes. A .340/.407/491 hitter over seven KBO seasons, the 25-year-old outfielder is predicted to be made obtainable to MLB groups this coming winter.
Eui Lee Lee is 10-6 with a 3.87 ERA in 100 innings for the KBO’s Kia Tigers. The 21-year-old left-hander has allowed 78 hits and fanned 123 batters.
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How do the Dodgers-Giants and Red Sox-Yankees rivalries examine? I requested that query to Dave Roberts at Fenway Park on Friday, and his response got here as considerably of a shock. I anticipated compulsory diplomacy. What I acquired as a substitute was forthright honesty.
“It’s hard to beat Red Sox-Yankees,” mentioned the Los Angeles supervisor. “I think that you have to give it a clear nod because of the history. I don’t think you can take two teams that were in New York and made their way westward [while] the initial, original rivalry of Yankees-Red Sox… is entrenched in the blood and the culture of those two fanbases… No disrespect to the Dodgers and the Giants.”
Roberts’s ninth-inning stolen base in opposition to the Yankees in Game 4 of the 2004 ALCS is likely one of the most impactful performs in Red Sox historical past, and the following vanquishing of their arch rival is a momentous second in Boston sports historical past. For these causes alone it could be laborious for Roberts to have answered any in another way than he did.
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FARM NOTES
Pete Hansen is 10-3 with a 3.32 ERA, a 3.96 FIP, and 114 strikeouts in 103 innings for the Low-A Palm Beach Cardinals. The 23-year-old southpaw was drafted within the third spherical final 12 months by the St. Louis Cardinals out of the University of Texas the place he went 22-4 with a 2.67 ERA over three collegiate seasons.
Tyler Cleveland is 13-5 with a 3.49 ERA, a 4.14 FIP, and 104 strikeouts in 126-and-a-third innings for the Low-A Modesto Nuts. A 14th-round decide final 12 months out of Central Arkansas, the 23-year-old submarining right-hander is No. 13 on our Seattle Mariners Top Prospects listing with a 40 FV.
Kenedy Corona is slashing .263/.343/.488 with 22 residence runs and 29 stolen bases in 39 makes an attempt between High-A Asheville and Double-A Corpus Christi. The 23-year-old outfielder from Maracaibo, Venezuela is No. 10 on our Houston Astros Top Prospects listing with a 40+ FV.
Jackson Chourio is slashing .280/.333/.466 with 19 residence runs and 34 stolen bases in 40 makes an attempt for the Double-A Biloxi Shuckers. The 19 year-old outfielder within the Milwaukee Brewers system is No. 4 on The Board with a 60 FV.
Dru Baker is slashing .304/.392/.487 with 14 residence runs and 46 stolen bases in 49 makes an attempt between High-A Bowling Green and Double-A Montgomery. The 23-year-old outfielder was taken within the fourth spherical of the 2021 draft by the Tampa Bay Rays out of Texas Tech.
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Evan Katz didn’t need his profession ERA to stay at infinity, so he made one other pitching look final month at age 67. Starting for the impartial Pecos League’s Austin Weirdos in opposition to the Alpine Cowboys, the right-hander allowed 14 hits and 12 earned runs over 4 innings in a 22-0 loss. In his one earlier skilled outing, which got here in 2017 with the Pecos League’s White Sands Pupfish at age 61, he walked a batter who subsequently scored earlier than he might document an out.
Infinity within the rear-view mirror, Katz now’s within the document books with a 29.25 ERA. As for the 2023 Austin Weirdos, they at the moment have a document of 1-47. The 1899 Cleveland Spiders can be proud.
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LINKS YOU’LL LIKE
At The Los Angeles Times, Sarah Valenzuela wrote about how Angels possession doesn’t ship their radio workforce on the highway — a choice that (in my phrases, not hers) embarrasses the group and is disrespectful to each the broadcasters and the fanbase.
The Las Vegas Review Journal’s Mick Akers interviewed understandably-unpopular Oakland Athletics proprietor John Fisher concerning the workforce’s impending transfer to Nevada.
Brewers pitching prospect Robert Gasser — featured right here at FanGraphs in July of final 12 months — mentioned his arsenal at MLB Pipeline’s Pitching Lab.
Over at Royals Review, Preston Farr wrote about how 20-year-old left-hander Frank Mozzicato, Kansas City’s first-round decide within the 2021 draft, has added a slider to his repertoire.
The KBO’s Kiwoom Heroes introduced Friday that they’ve reached a strategic partnership with the Arizona Diamondbacks. Jee-ho Yoo has the story at Yonhap News Agency.
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RANDOM FACTS AND STATS
Kyle Schwarber has 35 residence runs and a 111 wRC+. Mookie Betts has 34 residence runs and a 171 wRC+.
Pirates rookie Henry Davis is 3-for-3 with two residence runs off of Shohei Ohtani.
Stephen Strasburg went 14-2 with a 2.58 ERA in 27 begins in opposition to the Philadelphia Phillies.
Oakland Athletics pitchers have walked 544 batters this 12 months, essentially the most of any workforce. Seattle Mariners pitchers have walked 321 batters, the fewest of any workforce.
Bob Tewksbury walked 93 batters in 783 innings from 1990-1993. Matt Young walked 259 batters in 459 innings.
The Detroit Tigers swept a doubleheader from the Minnesota Twins on at this time’s date in 1972, profitable each video games on Eleventh-inning residence runs. Willie Horton’s blast sport the Tigers a 5-3 win the opener, and Aurelio Rodriguez went deep within the 1-0 nightcap.
Pete Mackanin capped a four-run backside of the ninth inning with a walk-off single because the Twins beat the Tigers 4-3 on at this time’s date in 1981. It was Minnesota’s solely hit that inning.
Players born on at this time’s date embody Ed Herrmann, a left-handed-hitting catcher who performed for 5 groups in a profession that comprised the 1967-1978 seasons.The grandson of 1918 Brooklyn Robins pitcher Marty Herrmann was all All-Star with the Chicago White Sox in 1974.
Also born on at this time’s date was Dizzy Nutter, an outfielder who logged 11 hits in 52 at-bats whereas showing in 18 video games for the National League’s Boston Braves in 1919. The Roseville, Ohio native’s given title was Everett.
Jim “Coldwater” Hughey went 25-12 for the Western League’s Toledo White Stocking in 1894, and 21-15 for the Toledo Swamp Angels/Terre Haute Hottentots in 1895. He later went 4-30 with the National League’s Cleveland Spiders, who infamously completed with a document of 20-134, in 1899.
Content Source: blogs.fangraphs.com