• 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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Recently, I made an initial push to get a deeper look at hitters. I felt people have enough information on pitchers, especially with the Pitchf/x data available. I finally had some time to dig into the information a little more and have come up with a couple updates.

Nine batted ball categories is too many

Inside Edge makes avaialble nine non-bunt categories for batted balls. Here are the original nine with the xBABIP and wOBAcon:

Batted Ball Type: xBABIP, wOBAcon, % of batted balls
Groundball – Weak: .151, .112, 31.4%
Groundball – Medium: .461, .416, 9.5%
Groundball – Well-Hit: .647, .610, 3.8%
Line Drive – Weak: .622, .579, 2.3%
Line Drive – Medium: .650, .638, 7.3%
Line Drive – Well-Hit: .719, .815, 11.1%
Flyball – Weak: .078, .074, 18.5%
Flyball – Medium: .069, .081, 8.2%
Flyball – Well-Hit: .641, 1.168, 7.8%

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• The Yan Gomes injury is devastating for him, the Indians and his owners. The time he is supposed to miss is around 6-8 weeks.

Cleveland placed Gomes on the 15-day disabled list on Sunday with a right knee injury and is expecting him to be sidelined for six to eight weeks.

Reading a little too much into that comment, I could see him not even be moving in six weeks, yet alone ready to catch in the majors. I would not be surprised if he returned at the All-Star break.

• It doesn’t look good for Henderson Alvarez who will have an MRI on his shoulder and elbow today. His velocity is down almost 3 mph compared to last season which isn’t good for a pitcher who has a career K/9 under five.

• Mike Minor’s shoulder isn’t feeling any better and the next step may be surgery.

Minor also had shoulder soreness last spring that delayed the start of his season. He finished 6-12 with a 4.77 ERA, a significant decline from his 2013 performance, when he was 13-9 with a 3.21 ERA.

Tests have shown no structural damage. Hart said exploratory surgery could be an option if the dis-comfort remains, but ”we are not there yet.”

I think he may be droppable if a person doesn’t have a bunch of DL slots.

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• The Tigers have put both Justin Verlander and Joe Nathan on the DL. Verlander’s trip is not a surprise since he was dealing with the strained tricep during spring training. Nathan’s strained elbow was unexpected though. Right now his status is a little vague and hopefully more information will be available soon.

• James Loney went on the DL with a strained oblique. The team expects him to only miss the required 15-days.

• Matt Cain is on the DL with a strained flexor tendon. Sounds like more information on the extent of the injury will be coming soon.

• Jenrry Mejia went on the DL with a strained elbow.

An MRI exam taken Tuesday on closer Jenrry Mejia’s right elbow revealed inflammation but no structural damage, the club announced. The Mets placed the right-hander on the 15-day DL, retroactive to Sunday, and recalled Erik Goeddel from Triple-A Las Vegas to take his place. Mejia received a cortisone shot in New York, and he’ll rest for at least 10 days to ease the inflammation.

To find his replacement and other bullpen issues, check out our daily Bullpen Report.

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• Well, the initial 2015 disabled list is getting finalized. In the table below are the players who have started the season on the DL according to MLB.com’s transactions. I expect the number to increase as more players are added. I will have a complete list on Thursday.

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• No velocity reports again today. Instead, I will go over the past two weeks of available Pitchf/x data and report them in my Quick Takes slot tomorrow afternoon.

• Early this offseason, I notice the Orioles have seen a huge drop in elbow and shoulder related injuries since 2009. Brittany Ghirolli at MLB.com just wrote a nice article on the subject. One key for the Orioles is more rest between starts.

The Orioles, who haven’t had a player on the 25-man roster undergo Tommy John ligament-replacement surgery since manager Buck Showalter took the helm in late 2010, aren’t on to anything new. But perhaps what sets them apart from other organizations is that they are unrelenting in keeping their guys out of harm’s way. The biggest complaint Showalter heard while serving as an ESPN analyst was about the way bullpen guys were managed. To that end, every pitch an O’s reliever throws — be it in warmups or in the game — is tracked by the team, their workouts and exercises adjusted by the trainers based off of that.

• I am a guest on today’s Effectively Wild podcast by Baseball-Prospectus doing an anti-Tommy John surgery draft. Good stuff all around except maybe Sam’s picks.

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• With everyone focusing on the increase in Tommy John operations, it is nice to see Rob Arthur look at how shoulder surgeries are on the decline (great graph).

• Well, a couple of players we expect to get hurt sometime during the season couldn’t even make it to Opening Day healthy. Carlos Gonzalez’s surgically repaired knee was feeling pain. He is supposed to be back today, but who knows how often his bum knee will keep flaring up.

• Jaime Garcia is another player which can be counted on for a DL stint or four. Right now his arm is feeling sore and fatigued. He is out of the Cardinals rotation until he starts to feel better.

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A couple of changes for Spring Training. I am going to be doing more players, but with less information. Some pitchers I watch will only throw an inning or two. Also, some broadcasts don’t have radar readings. Finally, the camera angles are horrible.

Another change I will be implementing is grading the players on the scouting scales of 20-80. I will 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.

3/16/15 Orioles vs Phillies

Dylan Bundy (30 CV/55 FV)
• He was horrible. No control and or any decent pitches. He is not close at all to the majors. I based the 55 FV on just this start and I think that I may have been generous. He may have a ton of upside, but he needs to find the strikezone first.
• His fastball was 88-94 mph was generally straight with some possible sink. At 93-94 mph, he had no control of the pitch. He was finally able to throw strikes in the 88-91 mph range.
• He had a loopy 72-73 mph 12-6 curveball.
• He has walked quite a few batters during spring training (13 BB vs 9 K in 15 IP). If you are wondering if it is time to buy in with him, check his MiLB walk rate and see if it has improved.

Hunter Harvey (50 CV/60 FV)
• His fastball is 93-95 mph with some release side run. The pitch movement makes it a plus pitch.
• His 12-6 curve was 78-81 mph
• He may have a 2-seamer with a bit of sink.
• He just seemed afraid/cautious of LHH and issued two walks to them.
• He didn’t show a second breaking ball and the lack of it is why I am not higher on him. Too bad he got hurt, or I think he could have made an impact early this season. Read the rest of this entry »

• Chris Sale expects to start on April 12th.

• Nick Franklin will at least miss a couple of weeks to start the season. It may not be until late May when he returns.

Nick Franklin (left-oblique strain) is “in that gray area,” according to Cash when asked if the infielder could be back by four to six weeks or six to eight

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• It is nice to see the American Journal of Sports Medicine was able to verify my concussion work with zero reference to my four-year-old study.

• Last week, I noticed Jon Lester (-1.5 mph) and Hyun Ryu (-2 mph) lost velocity compared to last season. Both are now dealing with arm issues.

Lester is dealing with a dead arm and it happens regularly with him.

“You can ask every pitcher; it’s an every-year thing for everybody. It’s nothing out of the ordinary.”

There is no pain or discomfort, according to Lester.

“It’s one of those things that you have to go through to understand,” he said. “It doesn’t feel like anything. It’s more total body deadness, and everybody puts a label on it as far as ‘dead arm.’ It’s nothing to be alarmed about. There’s no point in trying to grind through it right now. These games don’t mean anything. If it was April 15, it wouldn’t be an issue.”

Ryu is dealing with soreness in his throwing shoulder which will cause him to start the season on the DL.

Dodgers starting pitcher Hyun-Jin Ryu was sent to Los Angeles on Sunday to have his injured left shoulder examined by Dr. Neal ElAttrache, and manager Don Mattingly conceded that the left-hander will start the season on the disabled list.

Ryu attempted to play catch Sunday, four days after receiving a cortisone injection for the type of shoulder stiffness that sidelined him twice last year, but the discomfort returned.

Mattingly said Ryu reported immediate improvement from the injection but was barely able to lob the ball during a brief session of catch.

Just a reminder that pitchers don’t intentually throw slower without a reason.

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