I haven’t read the article, I would have thought Arraez was the most recent. But I don’t remember how close he actually got.
1 Like
Arraez was hitting .401 on June 24th last year. That was his last day over .400
In 2000, Helton’s last day at .400 was June 10th, though he was hitting .390+ all the way up until September 3rd.
2 Likes
At 40 (maybe a bit older), Ted Williams hit .388. With 4-5 more infield hits, he would have .400. At 40.
2 Likes
Looking at Baseball Reference, I think that was his 38 year old season. Still impressive. He still hit .316 as a 41 year old which is impresisive as well.
Everytime I see a stat like that I wonder how do stats of mostly white baseball but fewer teams compare to the post expansion, world wide rosters baseball we have now.
1 Like
Yeah, I should have looked it up, and I suspected I was wrong after I wrote 40. My bad.
Stanton to the IL with a hamstring injury. The only surprise is that he lasted to mid-June. Of course, they’ll probably just plug in Dominguez and have him go wild.
1 Like
Blue Jays top prospect Orelvis Martinez gets called up Friday, and immediately gets popped for PEDs on Saturday. 80-game suspension.
Pretty good throw.
2 Likes
A baseball email from the Athletic was talking about Charlie Condon and how he set a college record for most HR since the bat change. They then listed the Hr leaders from before the bat change and how they did in MLB. It was an interesting list (#HR, Year):
1.Pete Incaviglia (48, 1985) — 10.3 bWAR, 12 big-league seasons
2. Jeff Ledbetter (42, 1982) — never played above Double A
3. Lance Berkman (41, 1997) — 51.9 bWAR, 15 big-league seasons
4. Brandon Larson (40, 1997) — negative-0.9 bWAR, four big-league seasons
5. (tie) Steve Hacker (37, 1995) — never played above Triple A
2 Likes
Interesting video on the new high-tech pitching machines MLB teams are using. Basically, it sounds like they can recreate slider spin in a way that wasn’t possible before, and can be adjusted to closely mimic a given pitcher’s pitch shapes and velocities. They even project an image of the pitcher’s delivery, for whatever that’s worth.
The technological arms race never ends.
2 Likes
Unfortunately, it looks like Julio Rodriguez may be breaking out of his funk.
Saw this tweet by former front office Latin America guru Oz Ocampo the other day. It was interesting and raised a question. I see all of the Astros pitchers on the list and they all signed at older than the typical Latin American prospect. Does age at signing have anything to do with this phenomenom he is talking about?
2 Likes
Not sure it will happen, but there are discussions about a high-speed rail line being built by a private contractor (Brightline) connecting Tampa and Orlando. The engineering firm I work for has been involved in the rest of Brightline’s route connecting Miami and Orlando.
1 Like
I remember reading years ago about this problem… Most Latin American pitchers sign young, so their clock is running out before they’ve fully had time to develop.
If the clock is running out, and you want to get some value out of a guy before he’s gone, what do you do? You move him to the pen.
2 Likes
The quote that always comes to mind—I can’t remember if it was Ocampo or someone else in the org who said it—was something like “if a guy is 21 years old in the Dominican, he’s ancient, you can sign him for $10k. But if at the same age he was throwing like this at LSU, he’d be a third-round draft pick and cost $700k.”
5 Likes
Not sure if it’s just my equipment, but this Roku Channel Yanks/O’s broadcast is a technical disaster. On-field mics work great, but the booth and sideline volume is so low to where it’s not enough to hear what they’re saying but just loud enough to be annoying.
I pulling for Teoscar but think Marcell Ozuna will win.
Unfortunate that someone allowed that kid to butcher the National Anthem. That was painful to watch.
1 Like
The National Anthem is played at sporting events?
Fascinating.
The Home Run Derby is considered a sporting event? Fascinating.
3 Likes