Spencer Strider got here up in a dialog I had with Max Scherzer previous to Friday night time’s sport at Fenway Park. We have been speaking in regards to the veteran right-hander’s evolution as a pitcher — I’d first interviewed Scherzer in 2010 — and velocity and strikeout charges have been predictably among the many matters that popped up. Hence the point out of the 24-year-old Atlanta Braves hurler with the high-octane heater and eye-popping 39.7% strikeout fee.

“He’s got a heck of a fastball, for sure,” Scherzer mentioned once I talked about Strider. “And he’s nonetheless creating. One of the issues Flash Gordon advised me once I was a rookie arising with the Diamondbacks is that you just don’t stroll into this league as an ace. His feedback have been, ‘Guess what? When Pedro and Roger first got in the league, they threw five innings. They were five-and-dive guys. Then they learned how to pitch; they learned how to get guys out multiple times through the order.’ It takes time to be taught to be constant at this stage.

“Applying that logic — the wisdom that I heard many, many years ago — Spencer Strider is continuing to get better,” continued Scherzer. “He’s continuing to add stuff to his game while pitching great and striking out a lot of guys out in the process. As long as he stays healthy, he’s got a lot of upside with what he’s going to be able to do with the baseball.”

Strider is 23-8 with a 3.20 ERA, a 2.88 FIP, and 391 strikeouts in 250-and-two-thirds innings. He’s surrendered simply 180 hits. The concept that he might develop into even higher is a scary proposition for hitters. My staying as a lot elicited a powerful opinion from the previous Cy Young Award winner and seven-time All-Star.

“As long as he stays healthy, he will,” mentioned Scherzer, who has been an influential, and at instances outspoken, participant rep with the New York Mets. “One of the most important negatives throughout the sport is what number of pitching accidents there are. There are a complete host of causes, and it must be a complete three-hour podcast to undergo that, however beginning pitchers are getting damage at alarming charges. Guys aren’t capable of keep sturdy.

“For a starter to stay healthy his first five years… I feel like we’re seeing fewer and fewer of those guys do it without significant time on the IL. That’s a problem, in part because you’re evolving in those five years. You’re learning how to play that cat-and-mouse game with hitters, and maybe you need another pitch, but you’re only evolving if you’re actually out there pitching. From my vantage point, guys are just trying to see how hard they can throw, see which breaking pitch they can execute, and the rest is, ‘So be it. If I get hurt, I get hurt. That’s a problem.”

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RANDOM HITTER-PITCHER MATCHUPS

Johnny Mize went 23 for 51 towards Peaches Davis.

Elmer Smith went 18 for 35 towards Dixie Davis.

Mike Easler went 10 for 18 towards Storm Davis.

Beals Becker went 6 for 16 towards Iron Davis.

Spud Davis went 11 for 25 towards Boom-Boom Beck.

Kiddo Davis went 16 for 26 towards Larry Benton.

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Last Sunday’s column included Trevor May saying that dealing with Miguel Cabrera in his 2014 rookie season was his “Oh wow, I’m in The Show’ moment.” With that in thoughts, I requested New York Mets rookie right-hander Grant Hartwig what most stands out from his first 10 big-league outings (Hartwig subsequently made his eleventh look yesterday afternoon, incomes a win to run his document to 3-1 with a 2.87 ERA).

“Coming in with the bases loaded to face Fernando Tatis Jr.” mentioned Hartwig, who did so within the second of his back-to-back outings in San Diego on July 8 and July 9. “That was my first big moment. Facing him with one out and getting a ground-ball double-play was kind of an ‘OK, here we go’ for me.”

The 25-year-old Detroit native acquired Tatis Jr. to roll over a sinker, the identical pitch with which he’d retired him the earlier night time. Expecting that the Padres star can be attempting to ambush that pitch, he began him off with a cutter that was fouled off. He then threw him a slider within the filth, “trying to get him off my sinker,” earlier than going to his ground-ball-go-to for the inning-ending DP.

All advised, Hartwig confronted seven hitters within the back-to-back outings and retired all of them. That they included not solely Tatis Jr., but in addition Xander Bogaerts, Manny Machado, and Juan Soto made the expertise all of the extra significant.

“I watched those guys in college just a couple of years ago,” mentioned Hartwig, who signed with the Mets as a non-drafted free agent in 2021 after incomes a level in microbiology and premedical research from Oxford, Ohio’s Miami University. “ It was like, ‘Oh, god, these guys are unbelievable.’ Being capable of face them and get them out is a bit wild.“

His first strikeout, which got here in Philadelphia, was one other spotlight. Making his third profession look, he fanned former Tiger Nick Castellanos.

“He’s a guy I watched growing up in Detroit,” defined Hartwig. “I’d also been waiting for that first one, and to get the ball. After the strikeout, it got thrown down to third [to end the inning], and then [Brett Baty] threw it up into the stands. He didn’t realize. It was funny, because immediately after he threw it, everyone was like, ‘Nooo!’ He had his hands on his head, like, ‘Oh crap.’ But we got the ball back, so it was cool.”

Hartwig was first featured right here at FanGraphs in March of final 12 months.

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A quiz:

The New York Yankees (27) and St. Louis Cardinals (11) are the franchises with probably the most World Series titles. Which two franchises are tied for the third-most World Series titles?

The reply will be discovered under.

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NEWS NOTES

Congrats to Pat Hughes and John Lowe, who yesterday have been formally honored by the Baseball Hall of Fame with the Ford C. Frick Award, and the BBWAA Career Excellence Award, respectively. Hughes is in his twenty seventh season broadcasting for the Chicago Cubs after a dozen with the Milwaukee Brewers. Lowe coated baseball from 1979-2014, the final 29 of these years for the Detroit Free Press.

Eddie Bressoud, an infielder who performed for 4 groups, primarily the Red Sox and Giants, from 1956-1967, died final week at age 91. An American League All-Star with Boston in 1964, he received a World Series ring with the St. Louis Cardinals in his remaining big-league season.

Larry Yellen, a Brooklyn native who pitched for the Houston Colt .45s in 1963 and 1964, died final week at age 80 (per Baseball Player Passings). The right-hander had a 6.23 ERA in 26 innings.

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The reply to the quiz is the Boston Red Sox and Oakland Athletics with 9 championships every. The A’s had 5 of their titles whereas the franchise was primarily based in Philadelphia, and have added 4 since shifting to the Bay Area.

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Mike Aldrete hit his most-memorable house run on the penultimate day of the 1996 season. It was additionally his final. A journeyman outfielder/first baseman who went deep 41 instances whereas seeing motion with seven groups over 10 big-league seasons, Aldrete hung up his spikes after spending the next 12 months in Triple-A.

“I was with the Yankees, and I hit it off Roger Clemens,” recalled Aldrete, who's now a coach for the Oakland Athletics. “It was in his last game in a Red Sox uniform, and it was to dead centerfield. I’ve been telling everybody for years that it was my last career hit, but apparently I pinch-hit the next day and got a hit. I should not have gotten it. I should have just struck out, so I could say that my last hit was a home run off ‘The Rocket.’”

Aldrete is right that Clemens was pitching his remaining sport in a Boston uniform. He was misinformed in regards to the house run not truly being his final hit. Per Retrosheet sport logs, Aldrete certainly got here off the bench the following day, however he walked and grounded out in his two plate appearances. He subsequently went hitless in a single post-season at-bat. Aldrete’s previous story has been proper all alongside.

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FOREIGN AFFAIRS

The Nanum All-Star topped the Dream All-Stars 8-4 within the KBO’s All-Star sport, which was held on July 15. Hanwha Eagles first baseman Eun-seong Chae wa sthe hitting star, going 2-for-3 with a house run and 5 RBIs.

The KBO’s Lotte Giants launched Dan Straily this week. The 34-year-old former big-league right-hander was 3-5 with a 4.37 ERA in 16 begins this season.

The Pacific League received every of NPB’s All-Star video games this week, beating the Central League by scores of 8-1 and 6-1. Nippon Ham Fighters outfielder Chusei Mannami homered in each contests for the profitable aspect.

Shota Imanaga is 6-1 with a 2.07 ERA and 95 strikeouts in 87 innings for NPB’s Yokohama BayStars. Japan’s starter on this previous spring’s World Cup remaining versus the United States, the 29-year-old left-hander is reportedly being scouted closely by MLB groups.

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Red Sox media relations stalwart Justin Long tweeted out an important stat-fact throughout a rain delay on Friday night time. That it got here with a wanted caveat doesn’t make it any much less enjoyable.

Through their first 81 MLB video games, Masataka Yoshida was 100-for-315 for a .317 batting common, whereas Ted Williams was 101-for-319 for a .317 common.

The caveat: Williams had a 1.002 OPS and was 20 years previous. Yoshida has an .883 OPS and turned 30 every week in the past Saturday.

Those issues mentioned, chew on this for a second:

Yoshida’s .319/.381/.502 slash line as of this morning is accompanied by a 140 wRC+. When Ichiro Suzuki received the AL Rookie of the Year and MVP awards in 2001, he slashed .350/.381/.457 with a 124 wRC+. In Hideki Matsui’s first MLB season, he slashed .287/.353/.435 with a 109 wRC+.

If Yoshida can primarily match his to-date efficiency within the remaining two-plus months, will he have had the second-best offensive season for a first-year Japanese hitter in MLB historical past? Or even one of the best?

Shohei Ohtani’s .285/.361/.564 with a 149 wRC+ in 2018 was arguably higher, though that comes with a caveat of its personal: he had simply 367 plate appearances. Yoshida has 370 plate appearances and is on tempo for over 500.

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FARM NOTES

Curtis Mead is 25-for-58 with Triple-A Durham since getting back from a two-month stint on the injured record and is now slashing .306/.370/.493 on the season (not counting his 4 rehab video games within the Florida Complex League). The 22-year-old native of Adelaide, Australia is No. 1 on our Tampa Bay Rays Top Prospects list and No. 28 on The Board.

Eduardo Quintero is slashing .382/.486/.655 in 138 plate appearances for the Dominican Summer League’s Dodgers Bautista. The 17-year-old outfielder/catcher was signed out of Venezuela by Los Angeles this previous January.

Yoeilin Cespedes is slashing .328/.371/.522 in 143 plate appearances for Boston’s Dominican Summer League entry. No. 22 on our Red Sox Top Prospects record, the 17-year-old center infielder was signed out of the Dominican Republic in January.

Patrick Monteverde is 8-2 with a 2.42 ERA and 90 strikeouts in 84-and-two-thirds innings for the Double-A Pensacola Blue Wahoos. No. 15 on our Miami Marlins Top Prospects record, the the 25-year-old left-hander was chosen within the eighth spherical of the 2021 draft out of Texas Tech.

Nick Avila is 12-0 with one save and a 3.86 ERA in 36 reduction appearances comprising 46-and-two-thirds innings for the Triple-A Sacramento River Cats. The 25-year-old right-hander was chosen within the twenty sixth spherical of the 2019 draft out of Long Beach State by the San Francisco Giants.

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Chad Dallas is having fun with a stellar first full skilled season within the Toronto Blue Jays system. A fourth-round choose in 2021 out of the University of Tennessee, the 23-year-old right-hander has gone 5-1 with a 3.68 ERA and 85 strikeouts in 73-and-a-third innings between High-A Vancouver and Double-A New Hampshire. He’s surrendered eight gophers, and one in all them got here to thoughts once I requested him which hitter has most earned his respect this 12 months.

“There’s a guy from Hartford,” mentioned Dallas. “He’s a lefty who has over 20 home runs this year. I knew that going into the game, and how he could make you pay for a mistake. I also knew where his hot zone was, and on which pitches, but I still gave him exactly what he wanted. I did pay for my mistake. He might have even put it out of the stadium. He got me good.”

How did the righty find yourself throwing the improper pitch, within the improper location, to a hitter with plus energy?

“His hot zone was kind of soft, low, inside, but my hard stuff, the heater and the cutter, weren’t exactly on their A-Day,” defined Dallas. “I couldn’t put those exactly where I wanted to, so I had to go with my strength, which is my slider. He was ready for it.”

The hitter who took Dallas deep was Yanquiel Fernandez, a 20-year-old outfielder who's No. 5 on our Colorado Rockies Top Prospects record. The Havana, Cuba native is slashing .299/.347/.566 with 22 house runs and a 134 wRC+ this 12 months amongst three ranges.

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LINKS YOU’LL LIKE

The New York Times’s Tyler Kepner talked to 96-year-old Carl Erskine, the final residing member of the 1955 Brooklyn Dodgers “Boys of Summer.”

The KBO has imposed prolonged bans on three minor league gamers for the bodily abuse of their teammates. Jee-ho Yoo has the story on the Yonhap News Agency.

MiLB.com’s Benjamin Hill wrote about Milwaukee Brewers pitching prospect Kaleb Bowman, whose path to professional ball included stops in Australia, Canada, and Germany.

How does Walker Jenkins examine to different latest Minnesota Twins high draft picks? Nick Nelson addressed that query at Twins Daily.

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RANDOM FACTS AND STATS

At plus-36, the Cubs are the one group within the National League Central with a constructive run differential. Chicago’s North Side membership is in third place, seven-and-a-half video games behind the first-place Milwaukee Brewers who've a minus-four run differential.

Fred McGriff had 2,490 hits, 4,458 TB, a 134 wRC+, and 56.9 WAR.Dwight Evans had 2,446 hits, 4,230 TB, a 129 wRC+, and 65.1 WAR.

Scott Rolen had 2,077 hits, 3,628 TB, a 122 wRC+, and 69.9 WAR.Lou Whitaker had 2,369 hits, 3,651 TB, a 118 wRC+, and 68.1 WAR.

Bullet Rogan went 15-2 with a 1.74 ERA for the Negro National League’s Kansas City Monarchs in 1925. He additionally slashed .360/.424/.592 in 139 plate appearances.

On right now’s date in 2002, Nomar Garciaparra celebrated his twenty ninth birthday by homering thrice, together with twice in a 10-run third inning, because the Boston Red Sox routed the Tampa Bay Devil Rays 22-4 at Fenway Park. Garciaparra’s fourth-inning grand slam gave him 5 house runs in his final seven plate appearances, as he’d gone deep twice the day gone by at Yankee Stadium.

The Pittsburgh Pirates swept a doubleheader from the Philadelphia Phillies on right now’s date in 1930. The visiting Pirates received the primary sport 2-1 on a ninth-inning solo house run by Pie Traynor, then captured the nightcap 16-15 courtesy of Traynor’s three-run homer within the high of the thirteenth inning.

Players born on right now’s date embody Dean Look, a local of Lansing, Michigan who went hitless in six at-bats throughout a September cup of espresso with the Chicago White Sox in 1961. The older brother of Bruce Look, who caught for the Minnesota Twins in 1968, Dean Look appeared in a single sport as quarterback for the AFL’s New York Titans in 1962 earlier than changing into a longtime NFL official.

Also born on right now’s date was King Brockett, who pitched for the New York Yankees in 1907, 1909, and 1911. A right-hander from Brownsville, Illinois, Brockett logged 10 of his 13 big-league wins in the midst of his three seasons.

Content Source: blogs.fangraphs.com