Mining the News (3/5/21)

• Whenever I feel ambitious, I’ll continue to collect Spring Training velocity readings.

• MLBTradeRumors published a list of the players who are out of minor league options and will need to stick with their MLB team or be released. Some players I found interesting are Alec Mills, J.B. Wendelken, Adrian Houser, Jake Bauers, Chris Flexen 플렉센, Joe Ross, Austin Voth, Ronald Guzmán, Mike Foltynewicz, and Mike Tauchman.

American League

Angels

• Jared Walsh and Albert Pujols are likely in a first base platoon. When Walsh does play, he’ll hit high in the lineup.

Angels manager Joe Maddon acknowledged that Walsh’s success came in a small sample size, but he liked the way the left-handed hitter controlled the zone and showcased his raw power. He mostly hit Walsh second in the lineup ahead of Mike Trout and Anthony Rendon, and that could again be the case this season, although Maddon is still tinkering with his lineup construction.

But either way, Walsh figures to be in a critical spot in the order and will get most of the starts against right-handed pitching, while Pujols will serve as his backup and likely see most of his time at first base when there’s a lefty on the mound.

While Walsh showed promise (.971 OPS) in his 108 PA last season, his fantasy value gets crushed if he’s in a part-time role.

Blue Jays

• Robbie Ray is trying to improve his command.

Ray threw 24 of his 26 pitches for strikes, so Monday’s mission was accomplished. Using his four-seam fastball, slider and changeup, Ray was very encouraged by his pitch mix after the outing — the slider in particular. Ray’s slider has typically been an out pitch, and there have been times hitters have been able to lay off of it, knowing it would likely finish out of the zone. This time out, Ray spotted a few in the zone, and he feels like that could really unlock some potential in 2021.

His walk rate (7.8 BB/9) must improve or he’s out of the league.

• Thomas Hatch is developing a curveball.

The next step for Hatch is the development of [Hatch’s] curveball, which he’ll continue to tinker with through camp. This is a pitch that the Cubs pushed him to work on prior to his trade to Toronto, and the Blue Jays have done the same, so he understands the importance of that pitch to his long-term development.

Indians

• Aaron Civale has finished revamping his delivery.

“It almost looks like a stretch,” Indians manager Terry Francona said. “He takes that one little step back with his left foot and then he’s raring to go and I agree with him. [Carlos] Carrasco did it completely out of the stretch. Consistency and repeating your delivery is so big and anything that they can do to enhance that is welcome.”

“It’s not only the split-change,” Civale said. “It’s a new slider grip and … more four-seams and working on that. That was another reasoning behind the arm-path change — I was to be able to square up the ball a little bit better and get some better profiles on my pitches. Every outing is going to be a learning curve and seeing where things are at with where my stuff is at right now.”

Civale saw a small uptick in talent (13% K%-BB% to 17% K%-BB%) with the new release point. The 17% value was sandwiched between Kyle Hendricks and Zach Davies among last season’s qualified pitchers. A decent place to be.

Mariners

• Mitch Haniger hit a ball 110 mph.

Haniger crushed a three-run homer off left-hander Phillip Diehl that easily cleared the left-field wall in the third inning, leaving the bat with an exit velocity of 110 mph, according to Trackman data. It was the first home run for Haniger since he took Astros lefty Wade Miley deep on June 4, 2019.

Of all the hitters with at least 50 batted ball events last season, Hanigar would rank ahead of 140 of 351 batter ahead of Freddie Freeman, Anthony Rendon, and DJ LeMahieu.

• Shed Long Jr. has not recovered from a 2020 shin injury.

Shed Long Jr. is still not 100 percent recovered from the season-ending stress fracture to his right shin that he sustained last September, but the Seattle second baseman believes he’s getting close. Long has been held out of Cactus League games, but he has been taking batting practice and working out. However, he has been limited with some of his work at second base.

Long and Dylan Moore were projected for similar production, but with Long’s delay, Moore is the easy favorite to be the Mariners second baseman.

Rangers

• Kyle Gibson has likely added a subpar cutter to his subpar arsenal.

Chris pointed it out in today's zoom, but here's Gibson's pitch arsenal from baseball savant.

Gibson said he's not trying to eliminate any of those pitches, but adapt how he's using them. https://t.co/NToX3SvZHt pic.twitter.com/7hj0VMYTnJ

— kennedi landry (@kennlandry) March 1, 2021

• Ronald Guzman is seeing reps in the outfield.

The Rangers got Lowe with the idea that he would be the starting first baseman. But he and Ronald Guzmán have been formidable competition for each other this spring. Lowe has almost exclusively played first base, while Guzmán has put in work in the outfield to give himself more versatility.

Rangers manager Chris Woodward said that Guzmán playing in the outfield was something that progressed more quickly than expected.

Since Guzman has started trying, he is making waves by hitting .600/.714/1.200 so far this spring. It’ll be a an interesting playing time situation to track.

Rays

• Francisco Mejía will be paired with certain pitchers and opponents.

Cash said the club has been trying to get Mejía acclimated with a new pitching staff by having him catch bullpen sessions and live batting practice sessions. Additionally, Cash said they’ll single out certain pitchers they want Mejía to work with and line him up against specific opponents — like the Red Sox — who the Rays will see more often during the regular season.

With a set grouping, Mejia’s playing time will become obvious possibly in Spring Training but more likely early into the season.

Royals

• Jakob Junis developed a cutter.

It was time to develop a cutter.

The 28-year-old pitcher made it a priority over the winter to work on the pitch that Eldred said he’d be a good candidate for based on his arm path and natural delivery. Junis worked with his brother, Noah, in Arizona over the offseason to develop the new pitch, which didn’t come easy when Junis first threw it. But through tinkering with the grip, he was able to find one that he felt comfortable with. He stuck with that and found consistency across his bullpen sessions, watched the velocity increase and felt his confidence growing.

While Junis has shown great control (2.5 BB/9 for his career), his limited velocity (91 mph) and just two pitches have limited his upside. One concern I have is that the cutter will blend with his slider and he’ll be back to having just two pitches again.

Twins

• Kenta Maeda is working on his curve.

He has changed the grip on the curve a bit since then, he said, and hopes that he can get enough action on the pitch to draw swings and misses even when he throws it in the strike zone.

Yankees

• Aaron Hicks is projected to bat third.

Aaron Hicks is projected to begin the season as the Yankees’ No. 3 hitter, according to Boone, who likes Hicks’ switch-hitting ability, on-base skills and ability to keep the ball off the ground. Hicks has said that he feels fully recovered from the Tommy John surgery that he underwent following the 2019 season, and Boone said that the center fielder appears to be in “great shape.”

While I know the Yankees need some left-handedness in their lineup, it shouldn’t matter where Hicks breaks up the run. With that said, Hicks’s value jumps since the batters before and after are great.

National League

Cubs

• Shelby Miller is adding a slider.

Now with the Cubs, Miller is excited to pick up on a project he started shortly before making that decision last August. The veteran righty began working on a new slider while with the Brewers, and Miller got to test it out in his Cactus League debut on Monday against the Padres.

More surprising than the slider was that teams were willing to give Miller a chance.

• Kris Bryant is getting time in the outfield to play against left-handed pitchers.

The reason Ross is open-minded about using Bryant rests in the fact that all three of Chicago’s starting outfielders lean left. Heyward and Pederson both bat from the left side, while Happ is a switch-hitter. Jake Marisnick was added to the mix as a righty complement, and veteran Cameron Maybin (non-roster invitee) gives the Cubs another bench piece to consider, too.

On days when a left-handed starter is on the mound for the opposition, Ross may look for ways to maximize the offensive production. One avenue used in the past has been playing a righty hitter at third (such as utility man David Bote) and bumping Bryant to an outfield corner.

If only the Cubs had an outfielder who struggles against lefties that Bryant could take the place of?

Dodgers

• Gavin Lux may have gained the inside track to the second base job.

He hit atop of the lineup and jumped on the first fastball he saw from Rockies right-hander Dereck Rodríguez in the first inning, then delivered an RBI single in the fourth. Chris Taylor and Zach McKinstry will all get playing time at second this spring, but Lux appears to have the inside track at the job, especially if he has a strong performance in camp.

This position battle seems very much in flux.

Giants

• Alex Wood is working on a new changeup.

Wood, who joined the Giants on a one-year, $3 million deal this offseason, said he slightly raised his posture to help improve the depth of his slider and has been pleased with the results thus far. He’s also experimenting with a new grip for his changeup, though he doesn’t plan to debut the pitch until he pitches multiple innings in his next Cactus League outing.

Mets

• Marcus Stroman is adding a split change.

Unlike a traditional changeup, Stroman’s split-change relies on pressure from his ring finger, which he places on the outer edge of the seam. Stroman has been working for months to perfect the pitch, but he couldn’t be sure about its effectiveness until he used it in games. Now that he has, Stroman is more confident than ever in his ability to use it this season.

Over the past four years, Stroman has thrown changeups only about 5 percent of the time. Tuesday, he threw his split-change on about one-quarter of his offerings, including one that induced a groundout from Astros outfielder Michael Brantley.

• Brandon Nimmo is trying to improve against left-handed pitching.

Historically, the Mets have removed Nimmo from their lineup versus lefties, or at least slotted him near the bottom of it. The offseason additions of right-handed outfielders Kevin Pillar and Almora would also appear to limit Nimmo’s chances against lefties. But Nimmo, after reading about the practices of his childhood idol Todd Helton, decided to spend significant time this spring taking batting practice off left-handed pitchers. He hopes seeing those sorts of arm angles more regularly will give him the tools necessary to force his way into the lineup versus lefties.

While Nimmo has a career split of about 100 OPS points (.864 vs RHP, .758 vs LHP), a .758 OPS is not worthless doesn’t need to be platooned.

Pirates

• Todd Frazier and Colin Moran will be in a first base platoon.

With Ke’Bryan Hayes set to get everyday reps at third base, it’s likely Frazier will stick at first base and platoon with Colin Moran. But since he’s on a Minor League deal, Frazier said on Saturday that he’s working to make the team and just trying to prove he’s healthy and ready to contribute.

The platoon makes sense. Here are the pair’s career OPS splits.

Name: OPS vs LHP, OPS vs RHP
Frazier: .815, .751
Moran: .636, .779

Reds

• The outfield situation is still a playing time mess.

While it looks like there will be no NL DH rule, how do you see the outfield playing out? Do you think Winker will be an everyday starter or will they run a platoon system with the depth that they have?

I keep asking myself the same thing. David Bell says they’re going to use all the outfielders. You have the two left-handed hitters in Akiyama and Winker, and don’t forget about Aristides Aquino, in addition to Castellanos and Senzel. I think Bell and staff will play a lot of matchups, and that’s not necessarily lefty-lefty, but a lot of matching up based on who hits what type of pitchers better. You could also see the better defenders — Aquino, Akiyama, Senzel — coming in later in games as defensive replacements more often in games where the team has a lead.

If healthy, Senzel seems to be the only full-time outfield lock with Castellanos being replaced late in games for his subpar defense.