• Desmond Jennings was finally forced to the DL with his hurting knee. He wasn’t even able to DH, so he will now rest for a bit.

“It’s always disappointing to go to the DL, no matter what happens, no matter how close you get [to recovery]. It’s just frustrating,” said Jennings, who hopes that added rest will enable him to return to action in eight days, when he’s eligible.

“Before the game, it was hurting. It’s been hurting, but I thought I could go out and DH and play, but I couldn’t,” said Jennings.

The 28-year-old outfielder has not played since being forced to leave last Saturday’s game vs. the Blue Jays with knee soreness.

I am worried about his stolen bases once he returns.

• Chad Billingsley will come off the DL and start for the Phillies on Tuesday. His current fastball velocity looks to be in line with career average of 91.6 mph.

Billingsley's line today w/ IronPigs: 5.2IP, 5H, 2R, 0ER, BB, 6K. Threw 99 pitches. Fastball sat 90-92, touched 93, according to stadium gun

— Stephen Gross (@Stephen_Gross23) April 30, 2015

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I will continue to implement player grading on the scouting scales of 20-80. I will use Kiley McDaniels scale he discussed in this article.

I will give a value for where I think the pitcher could currently fit in on the average team (CV=current value) and where they could end up (FV=future value). I am sure I will disagree with some grades from others, but I am only looking at one game.

Note: If I say a pitch moves 11-5, it is from the pitcher’s perspective.

Michael Lorenzen (CV: 50/FV: 60)
4/29/15 vs Brewers

Game Thoughts
• This game was the 23-year-old righty’s first MLB start.
• His fastball was 93-95 mph with either no break or just a bit on the release side. It was his only called strike pitch of the night. He nibbled with it around the zone seeing a ton of full counts. Also, he got too much of the plate at times with it thereby giving up three homes.
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• Since my last MASH Report, 11 players have gone on the DL and not one came off. Injuries every-where.

• Masahiro Tanaka will be out until at least the end of May with wrist tendinitis and a forearm strain. His damaged elbow hasn’t gotten any worse since his last MRI.

Tanaka had been scheduled to start Wednesday against the Rays, but instead went on the 15-day disa-bled list a day after he arrived at Yankee Stadium on Tuesday reporting discomfort in his wrist. The Yankees said that the MRI showed no changes to Tanaka’s partially torn elbow ligament.
…
Tanaka will refrain from throwing for seven to 10 days and then will have to rebuild his stamina with a Minor League rehab assignment.

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• Adam Wainwright may be done for the season with an Achilles injury. More information will become available later today.

An official season-ending diagnosis could come on Monday, after Wainwright undergoes an MRI on his ankle. The scan will determine the severity of the injury and give the Cardinals a better idea of the recovery timetable to follow. Most Achilles injuries required several months of rehab.

• Yasiel Puig is headed to the DL to help make his hamstring all better. The injury has been lingering for a couple weeks and the Dodgers decided “that’s long enough”.

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• Not a whole lot of injury news, but I did make quite a few changes to the disabled list return times.

• Sadly, it looks like Joe Nathan’s career may be done with a torn UCL. He will need to have Tommy John surgery to throw again.

Joe Nathan Out For Year With Torn UCL & Tendon http://t.co/O8vSXFspU6

— MLB Trade Rumors (@mlbtraderumors) April 23, 2015

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• Well it looks like a time line exists for a possible return of Josh Hamilton to the Angels.

The Angels have mapped out a comeback regimen for Josh Hamilton, under which the troubled out-fielder could rejoin the team in early June.

Under the tentative plan, Hamilton would report to the Angels’ Arizona training complex for two to three weeks of work with the team’s extended spring program. He would then proceed to a minor league rehabilitation assignment and could rejoin the Angels thereafter.

Hamilton is expected to report to Arizona “sooner rather than later,” according to a person familiar with the plan but unwilling to discuss it publicly until the Angels announce it. The person spoke before the Angels’ 6-3 loss to the Oakland Athletics at Angel Stadium on Monday.

The plan does not guarantee that Hamilton plays again for the Angels, but at the least it buys time for owner Arte Moreno. If Hamilton appears sound enough that his presence on the roster could give the Angels their best chance to win, the players might be discouraged if Moreno lets Hamilton go.

The best case scenario is an early June return. Worst case seems to be a legal nightmare with Hamilton not playing this season. This situation could get really ugly.

• Jonathan Lucroy big toe broke on a foul tip. No information on a return time is available yet.

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Weekly update:

• First release of 2015 data.
• I combined some of the categories and found some stabilization points with the details in this article.

Pitchers’ Approach Attacking Hitters

Robert Arthur at Baseball Prospectus has shown pitchers will change their approach depending on the hitter’s talent level. Here is a complete list of the number of fastballs (including sinkers) thrown to each hitter of the past two years divided into half seasons. Also the number of pitches in the strike by half season is included along with the fastball percentage in the strike zone.

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I will continue to implement player grading on the scouting scales of 20-80. I will use Kiley McDaniels scale he discussed in this article.

I will give a value for where I think the pitcher could currently fit in on the average team (CV=current value) and where they could end up (FV=future value). I am sure I will disagree with some grades from others, but I am only looking at one game.

Note: If I say a pitch moves 11-5, it is from the pitcher’s perspective.

Chris Heston (CV: 55, FV: 60)

4/13 vs Rockies

Game Thoughts
• Man I expected less. The 27-year-old righty was not ranked here at FanGraphs, but in the 2015 Baseball America Handbook says he is “… without any pitch that grades out as even average.” The biggest key from the BA book is the mention of his 86-89 mph fastball in 2013 (45 grade) and 2015 (40 grade). Also it mentions his change and curve. Not much is the same now.
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Mike Podhozer put out the following question the other day asking if is luck or skill that Brandon McCarthy has such a high HR/FB%.

Prove that Brandon McCarthy‘s HR/FB Rate is Not Just Bad Luck

I started looking at the question several ways and came up with a final conclusion that HR/FB is probably not the perfect stat to use when trying to determine if a pitcher has been lucky or unlucky giving up home runs.

Let me start by going off on a tangent. I am of the camp that players with a huge upswing are the reason groundball pitchers, like McCarthy, have a higher than expected home per fly ball rates. All but the most upward swings will get on top of a sinking ball and drive the ball downward into the ground. The hitter with an upswing will be the ones hitting this sinking pitch. In my opinion, each pitcher will have a subset of players who swing in line with his pitch plain and crush those pitches for home runs.

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• David Wright is off to the DL again and this time it is for a strained hamstring.

One day later, an MRI revealed a mild strain of Wright’s right hamstring. He will miss at least two weeks with the injury, though general manager Sandy Alderson called three weeks a more realistic estimate.

• As I predicted on Monday, Henderson Alvarez went on the DL. He is only expected to miss the minimium 15 days.

• Alex Rios is out for at least month with a broken wrist. It may be a while before he is 100%.

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