There’s large release height variation here that makes me worried. He’s popping a half-foot above his slider to get to his fastball shape and then popping another half-foot to get to his curveball shape. These are massive differences and he’s not creating outlier shapes in the process like a Ricky Tiedemann, where you can squint and justify it. Rhett Lowder does this a bit too but not nearly as dramatic. Dana looks like a 20-year-old pitcher to me.
Here are Dana’s different release points.
For a comparison, here are Zack Wheeler’s release points from his last start.
The biggest issue with the various release points is he is tipping his pitches so the batters know which pitch is coming. Read the rest of this entry »
Keep a list of articles on late-season options for next season. Teams will eventually look to the same subs and it’s a good idea to have some evaluation of their talent. Here are some articles from Pitcher List on pitching and hitting stashes. Read the rest of this entry »
The sweeper that he’s worked on in bullpen sessions hasn’t been as sharp in game action and is registering as a slider. There’s also some concern he’s showing his grips, potentially tipping pitches. His fastball-changeup usage against lefties has also been viewed as a bit predictable, resulting in an .865 OPS for lefties against him.
So Adell made a major change at the plate against the Rockies on July 30, ditching his leg kick in an attempt to cut down on his strikeout rate and put the ball in play more often. It’s worked so far, as he’s hitting .286/.388/.476 with two homers, two doubles and seven RBIs in 12 games since. He looks much like he did early in the year and he’s struck out just nine times in 49 plate appearances over that stretch after having previously struck out in 29% of his plate appearances.
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“The no leg kick, at times it takes some getting used to, but my contact rate has gone through the roof,” Adell said. “I’ve been really able to make a lot more contact, and that’s something where it’s not always about the big fly. We’ve talked about this before, but being able to put the ball in play hard [going] forward should be my goal every time — and I think it’s given me a better chance to do that.”
Adell, 25, added that he doesn’t believe the change will have a negative impact on his power, and so far, the results have shown that. He hit a two-run homer on Friday into the bullpen in left-center field at Nationals Park that went a Statcast-projected 431 feet. And he has four extra-base hits since making the change.
Canning had trouble with his control, walking four, but made up for it by allowing just three hits and striking out a season-high eight batters. He credited a change in his mechanics for his success, as he felt hitters were seeing what was coming because he separates the ball from his glove early in his delivery.
“It was significantly better today,” Canning said. “Mentally, just, in a good spot. Felt like I had good rhythm, just on the same page with [catcher] Matt [Thaiss]. And obviously I can clean up some of those walks and some deeper counts, but overall, I feel pretty good about it.”
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“I think it was just hiding the ball a little bit better,” Canning said. “I feel like hitters have kind of been telling me, I’m probably just showing the ball for too long, just based on the swings they’re getting off on me. I feel like I was hiding the ball and making them make later decisions.”
• Driveline Baseball published a must-read article for anyone considering using the new bat tracking data.
A higher bat speed opens the door to a multitude of different approaches. With lower bat speed, the options are significantly lower and the margin for error is incredibly small.
The one item they brought up is that batter clustering might be the best way to compare hitters.
1. Connor Norby, 2B/OF, Marlins (No. 5)
Acquired from the Orioles in the Trevor Rogers trade
Norby earns the nod here for basically being a finished product. Baltimore’s crowded position-player group allowed Norby to build basically a second full year at Triple-A in which he slashed .297/.389/.519 with 16 homers in 80 games, and he has the chance to hit for a solid average with selective aggression and at least average power. He could step in quickly and seize Miami’s second-base job with the opportunity he never quite got with Baltimore.
The deal is that no top-end prospects were traded almost all being fantasy irrelevant except in the deepest leagues. Here are the Steamer600 comps for Norby. Not many rostered players on the list.
Of the 14 players acquired, 10 have reached at least Double A or higher (that includes Yarbrough who was DFA’d by the Dodgers and will likely come to Toronto to eat innings as a member of its rotation down the stretch).
Mariners
• Jorge Polanco has been dealing with a knee injury for a while …
Jorge Polanco left today’s game with a knee issue that he’s been dealing with, coupled with the fact that the Mariners had a comfortable lead, Scott Servais just said.
Sounds like it’s not an IL situation, but one that the Mariners have nonetheless been monitoring.
Polanco is hitting the ball harder (a rise in average exit velocity from 86.8 mph to 91.2 mph in this stretch), making more consistent contact (a drop in whiff rate from 31.4% to 20.8%), getting the ball in the air more (a drop in ground-ball rate from 38.1% to 28.9%) and striking out less (a dip in K rate from 33.6% to 20.3%).
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• Polanco says the improvements are more centered on approach rather than mechanics, with help from personal hitting coach Osvaldo Diaz, who also works with Julio Rodríguez and was in Seattle earlier this month.
“Approach is a lot of stuff,” Polanco said. “It’s how you stand at the plate, what you think, what you look for, all of those kinds of things. It’s helping right now, but we’ve got to keep working on it.”
Robles’ 33.8% hard-hit rate this season is by far the highest of his career, yet he says that it’s not a reflection of a tinkered swing, but rather, an adjustment with his lower half — which Mariners director of hitting strategy Jarret DeHart helped install shortly after he signed, because he arrived with an open mind.
“I’ve always been a quick hips type of guy,” Robles said through an interpreter. “And JD made some type of balance in between and helped me with a scissor swing a little bit, so I can have more direction to the ball. I just got close to him and told him that I’m here to do whatever I thought was going to help me out.”
This isn’t the first time Carter has dealt with a back injury either, despite being just 21 years old.
He played only 32 games with Single-A Down East during his professional debut in 2021 due to a stress fracture in his back, though he slashed .236/.438/.387 in that small sample that season.
“It’s the same injury,” Carter said. “Exactly the same thing. … Except instead of fighting through it like an 18-year-old in Single-A vs. a 21-year-old facing All-Star pitchers in the big leagues — you can’t really fly through quite as long.
Rays
• Jeffrey Springs had problems keeping his fastball velocity over 90 mph in his 76-pitch debut.
It was interesting to hear Paxton talk about some of the tweaks he’s been making to get his velocity back up.
“I was trying to squeeze the ball a bit harder to get my flexor involved into throwing the ball, just because my arm’s not snapping through quite as hard as it was,” Paxton said. “So getting the flexor involved by squeezing the ball harder hopefully will create some tension for me to throw the ball a little harder.”
Grissom, the presumptive second baseman heading into the season, has to be activated from the injured list by Aug. 9, but two people in the organization said the team has considered optioning Grissom to Triple-A Worcester after the rehab clock is up. The 23-year-old has been sidelined for much of the year, and the Red Sox aren’t certain he’ll be at his best — or their best option — when his rehab assignment ends.
When the Red Sox traded for right-handed-hitting catcher Danny Jansen over the weekend, manager Alex Cora announced that primary catcher Connor Wong could start seeing some reps at second base, making clear that the Red Sox are preparing for alternatives at the position.
Quatraro said Marsh will scale back his workload in Omaha now, pitching in the 40-60 pitch range, and start some games or pitch behind an opener to get ready for any role he’s needed for in Kansas City in these last two-plus months of the season.
The difference now, Báez said, is a comfort level waiting for the ball a split second longer to let it travel deeper into the zone and give his eyes a little more chance to recognize the pitch.
“It’s at the point where I’ve been wanting for the last three years,” he said. “I’m just feeling really good, seeing the ball well and just letting it get deep in the zone and recognizing it pretty good.”
Just as important, he’s also feeling healthy after battling lower back issues for a good stretch of the season, an issue he addressed during his month on the injured list. He’s doing daily exercises to keep it loose, and he said it’s just about normal.
His coil before the pitch has been less exaggerated. Friday night, he hit two other balls with exit velocities of more than 100 mph, in addition to his 104.1 mph home run. He mentioned studying video and seeing how off-kilter his load had become.
“I was loading too early,” Báez said, “and now I just got another point to start my swing.”
Boone spoke with second baseman Torres about potentially playing some third base in deference to Chisholm, who has played center field the past two seasons but was once considered a high-level defender at second base. Boone said Torres prefers to stay at second base but that the 27-year-old would take grounders at third base just in case. Torres will also be a free agent at the end of the season and likely doesn’t want to hurt his value playing out of position.
Torres didn’t seem happy about the idea late Sunday night, though he said “everything is still on the table.” He said he played third base in the minors — back in 2018 — only because it was a faster way to the majors at the time.
“I don’t like it,” he said about playing third base back then.
“I’m a second baseman, so I’ll play second,” he added.
Entering Friday, he was hitting .308 with three homers, eight RBIs and an .862 OPS in 18 games since manager Aaron Boone benched him for two straight games in late June for a mental reset and to rest a tight right groin.
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During the All-Star break, Torres flew home to Tampa and spent lots of time working on his swing at a baseball facility he co-owns with best friend and former teammate Gio Urshela, a third baseman for the Detroit Tigers. Torres said he worked with someone “who knows me and knows my swing and all my routines” and who wasn’t quite his personal hitting coach.
“I went over there for a restart a little bit,” he said.
Torres added that he feels like he’s finally seeing the ball well at the plate.
The Brewers also have two young arms knocking on the door of the Major League bullpen in left-hander DL Hall, who is once again nearing a return from the IL, and top pitching prospect Jacob Misiorowski, who was promoted to Triple-A Nashville on Tuesday and will transition to the ‘pen.
That move with Misiorowski has two benefits. One, it controls his workload as he approaches what Arnold characterized as a loose innings limit. Two, like Corbin Burnes six years ago, it prepares him for a potential late-season call-up to the Major League bullpen.
“Sometimes things pop up and you have to deal with them,” Yelich said. “[Bad] timing, obviously. We’ll try to figure out a way to get back out there this season, because I like playing with these guys, obviously.
“Right now, I’m not thinking about surgery. I’m trying to figure out, how do we push this as far as we can? We’ll see what happens and see if I can do it. I have hope. That’s a good thing.”
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And asked what kind of surgery he would require, should he go that route, Yelich said, “I don’t want to say what they would do. They would just fix me, hopefully.”
Hoskins is hitting for more power, and he feels like he’s getting to a better spot at the plate.
“Yeah, I do,” Hoskins said. “Still working on swing decisions. I’ve always said that if the swing decisions are good, the results usually tend to follow. I like my chances if you’ve got to beat me in the zone. We’ll just continue working on pitch recognition and being stubborn to what we do well as a team — also as me individually.”
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Lately, Hoskins has been working a lot on his setup at the plate and trying to get his body in better — and more comfortable — position in the box.
“I think with comfort comes a thoughtless mind,” Hoskins said. “And usually, when you’re not thinking much up there, talent tends to come out. Like I said — continue to fight for more comfort in the box and let the eyes tell me swing or no swing.”
Vesia surrendered the home run on an 89.9 mph fastball, by far his slowest of the season. Roberts didn’t shoot down the idea that there might be something ailing Vesia, who has quickly reemerged as one of the Dodgers’ most valuable relievers over the past months.
The Giants recalled Luciano, who hit six home runs and has a .416 on-base percentage for Triple-A Sacramento in July while drawing as many walks as strikeouts. Zaidi and Melvin made it clear that Luciano will get everyday at-bats and most of those opportunities will come in Soler’s place as the DH.
The 25-year-old right-hander had boxes to check before returning to the big leagues, like utilizing his changeup more and getting back on a regular starter’s routine of pitching every five days. Due to starting-pitching injuries and others not performing, Meyer made his long-awaited return in Saturday’s 7-3 comeback victory over the Brewers at American Family Field. He is back without restraints in terms of pitches per start or innings.
“Max was going to make his way up here no matter what, because he’s so good,” manager Skip Schumaker said. “He was going to find his way. I don’t think it was one thing or another, more just protecting, making sure that he’s good to go when he does come up here.”
In his first MLB start since April 13, Meyer went four innings, allowing four hits – three singles – with three strikeouts and two walks. He threw a lot of strikes but wasn’t efficient, as Milwaukee fouled off 27 of his 85 pitches.
Meyer, whose slider and four-seamer combination make him MLB Pipeline’s No. 79 overall prospect, worked on his changeup and a new two-seamer in the Minors. Though he didn’t debut the latter on Saturday, he threw his changeup 14 percent of the time – including on Rhys Hoskins’ three-run homer with two outs in the fourth.
Call batted .222 in 75 games with the Red Wings this season, but recent adjustments saw him averaging .321 in 21 contests this month. Call batted .391 in his last 15 Triple-A games.
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“Just a little bit of an approach change and kind of a target change,” Call said. “That kind of brought out a little bit of a mechanical change, too.”
Before the All-Star break, Cease and Niebla worked to tweak Cease’s delivery, bringing his glove closer to the body. At first, it was meant to disguise his pitches. But as Cease began to throw with his new delivery, he found himself significantly more comfortable and consistent with his release.
“I was like, ‘I think this is a double whammy here,’” Cease said. “I think we’ve really found something.”
Niebla broke down the mechanics of it.
“He’s basically getting more aligned,” Niebla said. “He’s found some velo within that adjustment. His breaking ball has been more consistently getting to lanes, in and out. Just overall, he feels more compact. Really feel that he’s taken the next step with this adjustment.”
“He learned his changeup plays three times in a row to certain guys,” said White Sox manager Pedro Grifol, commending Thorpe for greater fastball command since Arizona put seven earned runs on him on June 16. “Normally, that doesn’t happen because you don’t throw the same pitch three times in a row.
“People make adjustments. He learned today he can with the changeup if he continues to mix the speeds of the changeup. There are some really good learning moments.”
Since Abreu’s departure, Singleton is hitting .301/.374/.411 in 83 plate appearances. Whether the Astros believe this is sustainable may dictate their deadline approach at first base. That the team hasn’t ruled out catcher Yainer Diaz as a possibility at first base is intriguing, too.
Diaz took groundballs at first base during the team’s last homestand before the All-Star break, though that itself isn’t newsworthy. Backup catcher Victor Caratini’s imminent return from a hip flexor strain could free Espada to experiment with Diaz at first base, perhaps putting him in a platoon with Singleton on days he does not catch.
They’re specifically working on Detmers throwing his fastball lower in the zone as a way to make his changeup up in the zone, as well as his other pitches, more deceptive and effective. Detmers said big leaguers were “sitting on fastballs up” and that needs to change.
He added that he’s reverted to his old slider grip. He’d switched to a conventional slider grip before the season but didn’t think it was as effective. The Angels don’t want to call him up until he’s comfortable with all the work he’s done.
• Here is a must-read article from The Athletic on the difference between AAA and the majors. Here is an example of how Jackson Holliday may be performing fine in AAA but the reason he was exposed in the majors has not been addressed so he hasn’t been promoted.
Back in Triple A, Holliday now has an .895 OPS, but the Orioles are not rushing him back to Baltimore. Teams, perhaps more than ever, are having to dig into underlying numbers and trying to determine what is real and what is not.
“There’s so many more details that get exposed in the big leagues that we try to look at a little deeper when we’re looking at Triple-A players,” Hinch said. “It’s not easy, because we don’t want to create the notion that statistics don’t matter or (how) you perform doesn’t matter, because it does. But it’s not always the end-all, be-all.”
Estévez, however, has fixed the problem. On Wednesday, he was named the American League reliever of the month for June. At one point, he retired 26 consecutive batters over more than a month. The 31-year-old has been elite, allowing just two baserunners in June. And just in time for the trade deadline.
He’s credited the improvement to a mechanical fix that makes his fastball and slider have more consistent release points. He’s also had a more consistent feel of his off-speed pitches, and doesn’t feel the need to rely as heavily on his fastball.
Here are some examples (picked because of the number of pitches thrown)
Generally, high-leverage relievers are reserved for leads of three or fewer runs, though forward-thinking franchises and managers are flexible. Houston’s circumstances have forced Espada to be that and more.
“It’s just more trying to make sure we secure that win. We do have some guys in the back end of our bullpen — even our middle relievers — that I feel comfortable giving the ball to at any moment of the game,” Espada said Wednesday.
“For me, it’s not philosophical, it’s just we’re in a position that we need to try to get to .500. We have guys that are rested, so we’re trying to just secure those wins.”
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Scott awoke Sunday as one of just 16 relievers who has already thrown 40 innings this year. He added two more during Houston’s extra-inning win against the Mets, lowering his ERA to 1.49. Factor in how many times Scott has warmed up without entering a game and he’s among the most taxed relievers on the team. Espada is far more prone to double-barreling relievers in his bullpen than Dusty Baker, adding another wrinkle to this quandary.
Warming up two pitchers at once means the club is prepared for any in-game scenario, but how much it affects the arm that isn’t summoned is a legitimate question. Balance is needed. Montero’s pitching more like someone making $11.5 million would help, too.
Schneider has expressed the goal of having the top of Toronto’s order return to Springer, Bo Bichette, Guerrero and Justin Turner, who was placed on the paternity list Wednesday. During the offensive struggles, the Blue Jays manager has reimagined the lineup many times, but he has previously spoken about how, in an ideal world, he would close his eyes and fill out the first four in his batting order.
Of those four, only Bichette continues to slump, though he hit a double in Wednesday’s loss and Schneider has been persistent that he believes the shortstop will turn things around soon. Whether it’s soon enough is another matter. For now, Spencer Horwitz, who has hit .288/.420/.470 in 22 games since he came up on June 7, has occupied the No. 2 spot.
With his desire, I expect anyone else (e.g. Horwitz) currently hitting in the top four to be moved down once one of the four has a hot few games.
Bruce Bochy has said that Smith could get some outfield reps when Jung gets back, and he’s shown himself to be a versatile defender at multiple positions. It’s also likely that Jung will be eased back into it and will receive a lot of DH time, while Smith remains at third base, at least to start.
Twice this year, Massey has been on the injured list with a lower-back injury, a chronic issue that he’s dealt with before and will likely have to manage. On June 24, he returned to the Royals’ active roster with a caveat: He would only serve as the designated hitter in games until he’s ready to play second base. The reason is because Massey’s point of injury was when he bends forward and backward, not when he’s rotating his back side to side.
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“Now, what does it look like coming back?” head athletic trainer Kyle Turner said. “We’re not going to send him out there every single day. It might be go play a day, take a day off to DH. Some of that will be determined by matchup stuff, where he fits and what it does with the other part of the lineup. That’s the complexity of doing it here, whereas in Triple-A or Double-A, we set a schedule and the player just follows that plan.”
“I don’t think it’s a fatigue issue,” Boone said. “I think it’s a little-out-of-sorts issue and having a harder time correcting on the fly.”
The manager added, “He’s having a hard time self-correcting when he gets out of whack, and then the mechanics start to go a little bit. I thought overall the (pitch) profiles were better tonight. But still work to do.”
It’s time to throw the bulls**t flag. Over Gil’s last three starts, he has a 14.90 ERA (8.21 xFIP), 5.6 K/9, and 8.4 BB/9. I’m no rocket scientist but Gil can’t find the strike zone. Here is a graph of his Zone%, K%, and BB%.
His struggles to find the strike zone started before this three-start stretch but now the results match the underlying stats.
The lack of control might be from him dropping his release point.
The only times his four-seamer has averaged under 5.75 ft has been the last four games. His slider and change release points are also down.
On top of that, he’s been struggling to maintain his velocity throughout a start. While he did a better job of maintaining his velocity in his last start, his velocities were tanking in the start before that.
His slider is losing almost 4 mph.
With his velocity dropping, his pitch results degrade quickly.
Luis Gil SwStr% for Different Pitch Types
Pitch type
MPH
SwStr%
Cnt
FF
94
5.7%
35
FF
95
6.8%
88
FF
96
10.3%
194
FF
97
15.4%
214
FF
98
14.9%
161
FF
99
16.7%
30
SL
85
4.8%
21
SL
86
5.7%
53
SL
87
24.1%
54
SL
88
18.2%
44
SL
89
12.5%
24
He’s at his best when his fastball is at 96 mph or higher and his slider is at least 87 mph.
Putting it all together. He can’t throw strikes. His release point is dropping. He can’t maintain his velocity over a start. Threw fewer than 30 IP combined over the past two seasons.
He’s likely fatigued and I would not be surprised if he doesn’t throw until after the All-Star break to give him a refresher.
Nootbaar’s versatility allows for both defensive formations, and we’ll likely see a combination. Where it gets more complicated is when Edman returns. Siani is too valuable of a center fielder to sit every day, but Edman is also a strong option. The Cardinals are mulling a center-field platoon as an option, though it would be a platoon of the position and not of the players. What does that mean? Essentially, Siani can start in center against right-handed starting pitchers and Edman in left, and Edman would still be in the starting lineup on days Siani starts.
“I would, I would,” manager Dave Roberts replied when asked by Mike DiGiovanna of the L.A. Times whether he’d consider keeping Rojas his everyday shortstop when Betts returns. “I don’t think anyone can debate the level of shortstop play from Miguel Rojas. Some of it is contingent on the timeline for Mookie’s return and where Miggy is physically and how things are going. But to your question, would I consider it? Absolutely.”
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Keeping Rojas at shortstop and sliding Betts back over to second base in place of Gavin Lux could deepen the team’s lineup and improve the defense. The Athletic report notes that adding an everyday outfielder would allow the Dodgers to use Betts at second base and go with a platoon of Andy Pages and Jason Heyward in the outfield alongside the new acquisition and Teoscar Hernandez.
So as Rojas hobbled from the training room and past his manager’s office, Roberts stopped the veteran and told him he’d have Sunday off rather than start for the sixth time in seven days and 10th time in 12 games since Betts broke his hand. Rojas agreed.
“I need to recharge my batteries because I’m a player that plays all out, every single day and I feel like I empty the tank,” Rojas said. “I need to refuel.”
Rojas’ production wasn’t the reason the Dodgers bypassed him as their everyday shortstop to open this season. As much as flipping Betts and Gavin Lux in the middle infield boosted their lineup on paper, it also allowed the Dodgers to keep Rojas’ legs under him. The toll of time has taxed him. He missed time with a hamstring strain last April. At different points, Roberts has noted Rojas has been dealing with lower-body ailments — the latest being some lower leg soreness earlier this month that led to another tweak in footwear and pregame and postgame treatment.
Lately, Quintana (4.57 ERA/4.89 FIP) has performed better after making a couple of adjustments. The ability to do so is a hallmark of his career since he does not throw hard. Over his past three starts, Quintana sought more swing-and-miss and has a 1.65 ERA in 16 1/3 innings with 21 strikeouts, though he lasted just four innings in his last start. He said he has leaned more on his secondary pitches, like his curveball, and has challenged batters inside more frequently.
The biggest adjustment is increasing his curveball usage from 25% to 34%.
Speculatively, the Mets could use a couple of starters as relievers, but sometimes teams are reluctant to do that because it takes time to build someone back up. Mendoza said Megill, for instance, would continue to make starts in Triple A.
Which brings us to the approach that helps him bash baseballs. Merrill is looking to drive pitches to all fields, not wanting to sell out and thus “close off one side.” He wants to, in baseball parlance, hit the ball where it’s pitched. Letting the ball travel is also part of his approach; Merrill views going the opposite way as his “gateway to success with two strikes.” While he understands he needs to improve his 4.5% walk rate and 36.0% chase rate, his 16.5% strikeout rate is comfortably better than league average. More often than not, Merrill gets his bat on the ball.
Making better swing decisions is a current focus for him, and not just when the bright lights come on. He works on his plate discipline during his pregame process.
Either way, Bogaerts appears to be on or ahead of schedule. He progressed last week to taking on-field batting practice, a significant test amid his recovery. To protect his shoulder, Bogaerts has been using a two-hand finish on each swing. He expects to continue doing so upon his return.
“It feels good. And obviously it’s a little different; my swing has a different feel,” Bogaerts said last week. “But for the most part, even in practice, I normally swing with two hands. So I’m used to that in practice.”
When Ortiz was a rookie in 2022, his four-seamer was getting 13.3 inches of horizontal movement. That might sound good, but four-seamers generally do better up in the zone when they have the illusion of rise. Cutting movement kills that illusion, so vertical movement is definitely better than horizontal in this case. This year, his four-seamer is down to 10.6 inches of run, while he’s getting more vertical movement (17.7 inches) compared to last year (16.3).
“It’s been hard work making sure that four-seamer has the spin I want it to have, that movement I want,” Ortiz said, via interpreter and coach Stephen Morales. “It’s been work I’ve been doing the last couple years, and I think it’s in a good spot right now.”
