Boxscore Bits – April 8th, 2022

A few thoughts on the games from Opening Day, April 7th.

Added after this went live: I’m going to play with some different formats over the next few days until I land on exactly what I want. I greatly appreciate the feedback already in the comments and would love more especially once you see the different formats that I try out!

MIL 4, CHC 5

  • Corbin Burnes wasn’t terribly sharp (5 IP-4 H-3 ER-1-HR-3 BB-4 K with the cutter just not looking like the 2021 iteration. It has just a 53% strike rate and 6% swinging strike rate, down from 72% and 17% last year.
  • Kyle Hendricks meanwhile was excellent (5.3 IP-5 H-1 ER-0 HR-3 BB-7 K) and his 17 swinging strikes (21%) was higher than anything he did in 2021 and highest of the day by 5 (Ohtani).
  • David Robertson (1 IP-1 H-0 ER-1 K) looked sharp while notching a save as the knuckle curve was in vintage form.
  • Rowan Wick (0.7 IP-2 H-1 ER)
  • Of course, Nico Hoerner hit the 1st homer of the 2022 season, his first since September 21st, 2019 (324 PA).
  • Ian Happ got off to a fast start, going 3-4 with 2 2B and 2 RBI.
  • Seiya Suzuki got on base three times in his MLB debut including a base hit (1-2, 2 BB, R, K).
  • Willy Adames, Andrew McCutchen, and Rowdy Tellez had 2 hits apiece.

CLE 1, KCR 3

  • Shane Bieber’s velo was down to just 90.9 mph (92.8 last yr; 93.2 career), but he still kept KC off balance with 4.7 IP-3 H-1 ER-0 BB-4 K. It was cold and windy in KC, but it was worth keeping an eye on.
  • Zack Greinke was remarkably efficient early on with just 30 pitches thru 3 facing the minimum thanks to a double play, but then nearly doubled his pitch count in the 4th (24) and was out before the sixth inning finished (5.7 IP-5 H-1 ER-1 BB-1 K).
  • Triston McKenzie struggled in a planned long relief outing (3 IP-2 H-2 ER-2 BB-1 K) sitting just 91.8 mph and notching just 1 swinging strike in 47 pitches.
  • Just 12 total hits in the game and Myles Straw was the only to notch 2 hits (2-4, R, BB, K, SB).
  • Bobby Witt Jr.’s first MLB hit was a big one as he had a go-ahead RBI 2B (1-4, R, RBI) in the 8th!
  • Steven Kwan notched his first MLB hit and walked twice.
  • Mike Matheny gave fantasy folks a heart attack when he brought Scott Barlow out for the 8th, but he let his closer throw two innings and he wound up with the win (2 IP-2 H-0 ER-3 K).

PIT 0, STL 9

  • Adam Wainwright decimated the Pirates (6 IP-5 H-0 ER-6 K), dotting them up with 22 called strikes (27% Called Strike rate – league average was 16% last year & Waino led the league at 22%).
  • JT Brubaker was diced up (3 IP-4 H-4 ER-3 BB-2 K-1 HR). His 12% SwStr is about the only positive to take from the outing.
  • Tyler O’Neill did the big damage off Brubaker with a 2nd inning 3-run HR and wound up with 5 RBIs in all (2-3, 5 RBI, HR, R, BB, K).
  • Nolan Arenado (1-4, R, 2 RBI, HR, BB, K) and Tommy Edman (1-4, R, RBI, HR, K) joined the HR party, too.
  • They didn’t want that Paul Goldschmidt smoke as he walked FOUR times (1-1, 2 R, 4 BB, SB).
  • Harrison Bader ripped a pair of hits including a double (2-4, 2 R).
  • Yoshi Tsutsugo was the lone 2-hit guy for Pittsburgh (2-3, 2 1B).
  • Tsutsugo is one to watch and could be a key waiver pickup this year after posting a 134 wRC+ in 144 PA with PIT last year.

NYM 5, WAS 1

  • Tylor Megill was brilliant in Jacob deGrom’s stead (5 IP-3 H-0 ER-6 K), posting a 15% SwStr with a 96.2 mph fastball (+1.5 from last yr).
  • Patrick Corbin wasn’t great, but only allowed a couple runs (4 IP-5 H-2 ER-2 BB-4 K).
  • The Mets peppered 10 singles and 12 hits altogether with Pete Alonso, Robinson Cano, Mark Canha, and Jeff McNeil each collecting 2 hits.
  • Alonso was also hit in the face by a fastball, but seems to have escaped with just a busted lip.
  • Francisco Lindor got a hit, but also fanned thrice (1-5, RBI, 3 K).
  • Juan Soto – unsurprisingly – was the lone damage for Washington with a 6th inning homer (1-3, R, RBI, HR, BB, K).
  • Keibert Ruiz ripped a 2B and 1B (2-4).

CIN 6, ATL 3

  • Tyler Mahle continued to be a stud on the road (5 IP-3 H-1 UER-2 BB-7 K) and handled the World Champs.
  • Max Fried was roughed up (5.7 IP-8 H-5 ER-1 BB-5 K), but a Brandon Drury 3-run homer off Collin McHugh did some of the damage. Dansby Swanson just missed a play that would’ve been the 3rd out and instead extended the inning and eventually led to the big damage.
  • Drury got the nod against a lefty and delivered (2-4, HR, 3 RBI, R, K).
  • Tony Santillan locked down the SV in a wide open bullpen (1 clean IP w/2 Ks) while Luis Cessa (1 IP-0 H-0 ER-2 BB-0 K) and Justin Wilson (1 clean IP w/2 Ks, too) – two other potential SV candidates – pitches the 6th and 7th, respectively.
  • Spencer Strider had the first “Who was THAT guy?” middle relief appearance of the year, dominating with 2 perfect innings that included 5 Ks, averaging 99.6 mph and netting a 33% swinging strike rate.
  • Austin Riley (3-4, HR, 2 RBI, R) was the offense for Atlanta with 3 of their 4 total hits.
  • Jonathan India (2-5, R, K) and Kyle Farmer (2-4, R, RBI, K) joined Drury as 2-hit guys for Cincy.

HOU 3, LAA 1

  • Framber Valdez (6.7 IP-2 H-0 ER-1 BB-6 K) stole the show from Shohei Ohtani despite a 9-K effort from the phenom (4.7 IP-4 H-1 ER-1 BB-9 K).
  • Matt Duffy was a shocking installment in the cleanup role and of course he got 2 of their 4 hits all night (2-3).
  • Ohtani (0-4, K), Mike Trout (1-3, BB, K), and Anthony Rendon (0-4) were just 1-for-11.
  • Jo Adell went 0-for-3 with 3 Ks and some rough defense, a day to forget for sure.
  • Alex Bregman (2-4, HR, R, 2 RBI) and Yordan Alvarez (1-3, HR, R, RBI, BB) hit back-to-back homers off Ryan Tepera which proved to be the difference.
  • Jose Altuve swiped his first base of the season to salvage his night (0-3, SB, BB, 3 K).
  • Chas McCormick (2-4, 2 2B, K) and Michael Brantley (2-5, 2B, R) were the other 2-hit guys for Houston.

SDP 2, ARI 4

  • Yu Darvish fired 6 no-hit innings on 92 pitches (6 IP-0 H-0 ER-4 BB-3 K) but San Diego obviously wasn’t going to push him for a no-no on Opening Day.
  • Madison Bumgarner was out quickly with 4 BB doing a lot of the damage to his pitch count (3 IP-1 H-1 ER-4 BB-2 K) which reached 68 in just three innings.
  • The Padres traded for Taylor Rogers and announced he would be their go-to guy in the ninth, but obviously he wasn’t there just yet so they turned to Robert Suarez who had a rough debut (3 ER on 2 BB and a HBP while not getting an out).
  • Jake Cronenworth (0-2, 2 BB) and Luke Voit (0-2, RBI, 2 BB) had a couple walks apiece.
  • Ha-Seong Kim 김하성 went hitless but still made an impact scoring both of their runs (0-3, 2 R, BB, K, SB).
  • There were 14 BB in all during this game with David Peralta (0-2, 2 BB, K) and Pavin Smith (1-2, 2 BB) also getting two each.
  • Seth Beer (2-4, HR, 3 RBI, R) was the hero with a 3-run game-winning homer off Craig Stammen.

What stood out to you on the Opening Day slate? I actually did this last Opening Day and then didn’t do it anymore for no reason in particular. Would you want to see this regularly?





Paul is the Editor of Rotographs and Content Director for OOTP Perfect Team. Follow Paul on Twitter @sporer and on Twitch at sporer.

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jzlimember
1 year ago

something like this would be awesome on a regular basis. opening day takeaways: worried about bieber (and maybe mckenzie), excited about megill