Mining the News (2/3/21)

• Some younger developing talent on the 40-man rosters (e.g. Alec Bohm) won’t get instruction while the prospects not on the 40-man can continue to work with the team.

The Phils hired a new hitting coach (Kevin Long) and infield coach (Bobby Dickerson) in part with the hope that the pair could help Bohm recapture his 2020 form. Bohm was able to meet with Long to discuss his approach at the plate multiple times prior to the lockout, but his access has since been cut off, forcing him to work out on his own.

It’s not a problem that’s unique to the Phillies, of course. Every team has young talent that would benefit from meeting with coaches and player development staff, to say nothing of utilizing team facilities for offseason training.

The non-linear prospect growth will get all messed with some players getting help and others not.

American League

Angels

Matt Thaiss is still slated to be the backup catcher.

As of now, Thaiss is slated to be the backup catcher. He has the bat for it. The question is whether he’s good enough defensively. General manager Perry Minasian has been complimentary of Thaiss, without saying the job is his.

“It’s been a learning process to get back to that,” Minasian said of Thaiss’ catching last season. “But he’s definitely opened our eyes.”

At least he’s projected to hit like a backup catcher. THE BAT X has him with a .225 AVG and 6 HR in 201 PA.

Orioles

Cedric Mullins talks about his struggles with Crohn’s disease over the last couple of offseasons.

Today, Cedric Mullins shares a very personal story for the first time.

Mullins was baseball's only 30-30 player last season, and he did it while battling Crohn's disease.@cedmull30 | @CrohnsColitisFn pic.twitter.com/HoOLgpGXRx

— MLB Players Media (@MLBPlayersMedia) February 2, 2022

I wonder how much the illness was dragging down his production and if he could take another step forward in 2022.

Tigers

Akil Baddoo’s arm wasn’t 100% healed to start last season.

The 2022 season will be about proving he can stick, about hitting left-handers (against which hit only .214 last year) and improving his fielding (he was worth -2 defensive runs saved) and his throwing arm. Last season was his first year back from Tommy John surgery. He says his arm wasn’t always 100 percent. He’s done a lot of stretching and a lot of workouts he thinks will help.

He might also be able to take a major step forward since he’s at 100%.

National League

Brewers

Christian Yelich’s batting average might be taking a hit because teams are shifting him more.

In 2017, teams shifted against Yelich 0.6 percent of the time. Following a steady progression, Yelich saw more shifts than ever in 2021: 53 percent of the time. But neither poor luck nor the shift had much to do with one of the biggest problems for Yelich, and that was his contact on fastballs, particularly ones thrown in the strike zone.

Here are his Shift% and hitting stats over the last few seasons.

In all fairness, shifting isn’t an obvious cause for the decline but it can’t be ruled out.

Dodgers

Lots of players on the team could slot into the DH to keep everyone healthy (e.g. AJ Pollock).

The advent of a universal DH would give Los Angeles more opportunities to get [A.J. Pollock] off his feet and keep him healthy after some hamstring issues in 2022.

It is being assumed that Will Smith will see the biggest jump in playing time with the NL DH, but the team has several health risks. Besides Pollock, Max Muncy and Justin Turner have had issues staying on the field. Here is the team’s DH usage over the past two seasons.

If anyone should get a major playing time boost, it’ll be Justin Turner.