Mining the News (6/13/23)

American League

Angels

• Shohei Ohtani, the pitcher, might start getting more rest.

Angels manager Phil Nevin was asked on Saturday about what he’s seen from Ohtani regarding fatigue this season, saying he believes the current plan will help give him a bit of a breather heading into the second half. The Halos still haven’t decided how they’ll use their prized two-way player after the All-Star break just yet. They’re likely to keep Ohtani pitching every sixth day, but they could also give him an extra day when needed.

“We’ll map it out,” Nevin said. “I think he just meant he was fatigued in the game. Sometimes that happens. The amount of pitches he had to throw to get some outs fatigued him a little bit. I think it just had to do with the game, not necessarily where he’s at in the season.”

Astros

• The team’s management would like to see Yainer Diaz start more but the call is up to the manager.

“I like when he’s in the lineup. I like what he brings to the table. I like that he has power, his OPS is climbing. Ultimately, I’d like to see him in the lineup more,” Brown said before Tuesday’s game at Rogers Centre. “But Dusty is running the team, he’s the manager, and it’s his job ultimately to find a place for him to get in the lineup. I think he will do that. I think it’s a matter of the dog days of August, the middle of July, he could get a little bit more time.”

In 92 PA, Diaz is hitting .274/.293/.464 with 3 HR. He has started in five of the last eight games and might be a nice deep-league catcher option.

Blue Jays

• Team plans on using the tandem of Trevor Richards and Bowden Francis as their fifth starter.

But back to the pitching. Barring a free-agent signing or trade, the Blue Jays will look within when this spot comes up again in six days (they have an off day Monday). Schneider said they “have two pretty good options” in turning to Richards and Francis again. Whether that limits how they use both pitchers in between remains to be seen. The situation appears fluid, but in the case of Richards, who threw a season-high 53 pitches, he’s been one of their best relievers, so though there might be temptation to stretch him out a little — he was a starter earlier in his career — that comes at the expense of strikeouts from their bullpen. “It’s definitely a conversation to see what’s best for him, what’s best for us,” Schneider said. “He’s been really valuable, I think, this entire year, whether it’s one- or two-innings spurts.”

Depending on how long and well this tandem works, it might be worth adding Francis, the second pitcher, for some possible Wins.

Guardians

• The cheapskates might be ensuring Bo Naylor is past the Super Two call-up date before promoting him.

The Super Two rule allows a group of players with two-plus years of service time to earn an extra year of arbitration eligibility (and, therefore, more money). Of those players with two-plus years, the top 22 percent of service-time accruers gain the extra year. That’s why you see some top prospects stowed in Triple A until late May or early June every season.

Now, as it pertains to Naylor, he has already banked six days of service time (five last year, plus a day as the 27th man for a doubleheader last month). So, for instance, if he were called up Tuesday, he could end the season with 117 days of service time (111 plus six).

The big question, then: When’s the Super Two cutoff? It’s hard to know for sure because it’s based on a percentage of players and you’re projecting two years into the future. Last season, a player needed two years plus 128 days of service time to qualify for Super Two status. The year before, it was two years plus 116 days. Over the course of the past dozen years, the number has ranged from 115 to 146, with an average of 128.5.

In short, the Guardians are probably at or past the cutoff point for Naylor. They certainly should be in the next week or so. As for Naylor, to even sniff Super Two status, he’d also have to avoid a demotion to the minors for the next two-plus years.

Mariners

• Cal Raleigh is giving up some power with two strikes in order to make more contact.

“Yeah, it’s choke up. It’s just trying to put it in play, as cliché as that sounds,” Raleigh said. “Free outs are strikeouts. When you put the ball in play, good things happen. Just choking up helps me handle the bat a little more. It gives me more control of the barrel.”

Raleigh’s .724 OPS in May was actually lower than his .801 clip in March/April. But his strikeout rate dropped to 19.1% in May, which ranked 110th among that same group of hitters. It’s a promising trend for a club that had MLB’s third-highest strikeout rate in May, at 25.6%.

…

“I used to just want to hit a home run every time, if I’m being honest,” Raleigh said. “Everybody wants to be the guy. You want to hit the home run. But you’ve got to take what the game is giving you, and you’ve got to understand that the game might not call for a home run. It might just call for moving a runner.”

His results are trending with the narrative.

It’s tough to know at this point how the adjustments will change his overall fantasy production.

Orioles

• DL Hall is going on a mid-season strength program in order to regain his fastball velocity.

That often can mean an arm injury. But Hall felt great physically — his shoulder, his arm, his elbow, his back all felt fine. He just didn’t possess his usual strength at this time of year.

So, the organization approached Hall with a plan: Switch to three-inning starts once a week on Tuesdays. Spend the rest of the week with a more intensive lifting program, something players usually don’t do in-season.

Red Sox

• Trevor Story could come back as the DH but it would impact others on the team.

Story said he could return to play shortstop by August. His return to the field would shore up a defense that’s left a lot to be desired this season, but what the Red Sox will look like by August remains to be seen. By then, they might have fallen out of contention entirely.

So with that in mind, would it make more sense for Story to come back sooner and serve as designated hitter as he continues his rehab? Story might be able to return in that capacity in July.

“It’s still definitely a possibility. I’m getting ready for that,” he said. “That’s something that I really want to do, but there’s a lot of stuff that goes into it. It’s not as simple as it seems. We’ll make that decision here in the coming weeks.”

It might seem on its face that an earlier return, even solely as a hitter, would be preferable, but part of the complication stems from how the Red Sox use the DH role. Justin Turner (43 games) and Masataka Yoshida (21 games) have largely shared the role with Rafael Devers, Triston Casas and Rob Refsnyder each getting one game at DH to rest their legs. But with Adam Duvall still working his way back to a full-time schedule in center, he, too, will likely be in the DH mix soon. There’s not a lot of regular playing time for one person in the role without jeopardizing the schedules of everyone else, so adding Story to the mix might not make sense. It also means Story would take up a valuable spot on the bench, further limiting Red Sox options in the field.

Twins

• Ryan Jeffers is getting more starts after he retooled his swing to handle right-handed pitching.

However, his offense has been an unexpectedly large weakness. Vázquez, who batted .271 with a .734 OPS the previous four seasons, has hit just .224 with a .561 OPS for the Twins, failing to homer in 42 games. After a strong first two weeks, he’s hit .181 with a putrid .450 OPS in his past 33 games. Vázquez has the team’s lowest Win Probability Added, hitting .091 in high-leverage spots.

Not surprisingly, the Twins have begun to increase Jeffers’ share of the playing time in search of more offensive production. Vázquez started 68 percent of the Twins’ games through May 10, but just 55 percent since. Jeffers has essentially added one extra start per week, and of late they’ve often alternated starts. This is why the Twins hung onto Jeffers after signing Vázquez, and it’s paying off.

…
After following a strong rookie year in 2020 with back-to-back disappointing seasons, Jeffers has shown substantial improvement in two key areas that were previously his most glaring weaknesses: hitting right-handed pitching and throwing out runners.

Jeffers worked with hitting coach David Popkins to retool his swing mechanics, eliminating unnecessary movement with a goal of more consistent hard contact against different types of pitchers.

National League

Braves

• AJ Smith-Shawver’s fastball velocity has been bouncing around.

His fastball topped out at 95.8 mph, 2-3 mph below what he threw in the minors and Sunday at Arizona. Manager Brian Snitker said that was understandable, that he just needs to relax and that “it’s in there. I don’t know that he trusts it right now.”

Smith-Shawver acknowledged as much: “I mean, I’m just trying to fill it up (throw strikes). If I don’t fill it up, we don’t have a chance to win, if I’m just walking batters. So I think the main focus tonight was just to try to get ahead of hitters.”

I’m sure there were some pitches incorrectly labeled but his max velocity was down over 1 mph.

Looking at the Savant Feed for the game, his fastball maxed out at 95.8 mph but dropped down to 90.7 mph.

Cardinals

• Tyler O’Neill is supposed to take it easy with his workouts but he wants to return to the team with a 10-pack.

O’Neill stopped and started several attempts to return to the Cardinals only to have intense pain return in his lower back each time. O’Neill said he was in so much pain recently that even carrying his nearly 1-year-old daughter around has been troublesome.

…

The muscular O’Neill, who has a long history of weightlifting and body building in his family history, said he’s been limited to sit-ups, glute bridges and stretching in recent days, noting that he hopes to “come back with a 10-pack” of abdomen muscles. He said he already has a great sense of relief because he no longer feels intense pain from an injury that has always been diagnosed simply as a back strain.

• The team might stick with Tommy Edman in centerfield.

Edman — the team’s emergency center fielder — thoroughly impressed the organization with his play over the past week, so much so that when Carlson was activated off the IL before Friday’s series opener against Cincinnati, Marmol slotted him in right field, opting to leave Edman in center.

Diamondbacks

• Ryne Nelson is trying to change his pitch mix.

“He had a good mixture of pitches,” Lovullo said. “He wasn’t just relying on the fastball that we’ve seen at times. He still had it, but he was pitching today and he was around the zone with all of his pitches. And that’s why he pitched into the sixth inning.”

Lovullo emphasized the third point on Strom’s pregame checklist: having the confidence to not only mix pitches over the course of a game, but also to mix pitches in key situations, and throw any pitch in any scenario.

“We talk about, in Spring Training, not just execution,” he said. “It’s execution at the most critical point in the game. ‘How am I going to stand up there and do it and win this edge when my back is against the wall?’”

First off, here is Nelson’s pitch arsenal.

He doesn’t really even have an average pitch. The key for him is to stay away from the fastball (48% usage in the start mentioned above), ditch the curve, and try to throw the change and slider as much as possible.

Dodgers

• Bobby Miller has reshaped his slider.

“(And) [Miller has] made pitches,” Prior added, noting the level of execution that has had to marry successfully with the staff’s game planning.

They have reshaped his slider on the fly, making the pitch tighter with more late movement to better play off his fastball. “(It’s) just hard to see for the hitters,” Smith said. The pitch has become Miller’s go-to weapon for swing-and-miss. The Dodgers took their prized young pitching prospect to “finishing school,” Prior said. He’s passed with flying colors.

• Noah Syndergaard has been dealing with his blister since early May.

It’s notable, for a couple of reasons, that the blister made its first appearance back on May 9:

The fact he’s been pitching with it for a month is probably an indication that this IL stint is as much an opportunity to reset mentally than it is for health purposes. The quotes from Syndergaard in that story were borderline-bleak as they pertained to his confidence. Maybe a chance to clear his head is the first step toward improvement.

On the other hand … Syndergaard has had a 8.25 ERA and 6.66 FIP since that May 9 start. Granted, the six starts before the blister weren’t that great either (6.32 ERA, 4.69 FIP), but it’s been worse since. Getting the blister completely healthy won’t bring back 10 mph of velo, but — combined with a mental reset — maybe it can at least get him closer to the 3.94 ERA and 3.83 FIP he accrued last year between the Angels and Phillies.

Phillies

• Taijuan Walker has added over 1 mph in fastball velocity …

Take Tuesday night’s 1-0 victory over the Tigers at Citizens Bank Park. Walker allowed two hits in seven scoreless innings, striking out eight and walking three to help the Phillies win their fourth consecutive game. His four-seam fastball averaged 94.7 mph, up 1.6 mph from his season average. He had his best splitter of the year, generating a season-high 10 swings and misses. He did not allow a hit until one out in the fifth, the second consecutive night the Phillies carried a no-hitter at least into the fifth.

… by moving his body.

Essentially, Walker said, the turnaround came down to this: moving his body.

“Just moving around a little bit more in the outfield, simulating some ground balls and stuff, just kind of getting my body moving more with sprints and stuff,” he said. “Just trying to be more athletic, really. I’ve felt like this the last couple years, yeah. Getting older. I’ve been doing it for a while now. I’ve just got to really make sure I’m moving around a lot out there.”

Rockies

• Ryan McMahon’s hitting took off when he refined his swing sequence.

“I sat down with Bam-Bam [hitting coach Hensley Meulens] and other coaches and watched some video,” McMahon said. “They noticed that my hands were kind of traveling with my hips, some basic sequencing stuff.”

Sequencing is crucial to success at the plate, and other hitters have also credited the right sequencing with an offensive renaissance — first the front foot comes down, then the hips start coming through before the hands finally complete the process by setting the swing in motion.

• Kris Bryant’s plantar fasciitis continues to flare up.

Foot issues have plagued Bryant off and on since he signed a seven-year free agent deal over the 2021-22 offseason. Plantar fasciitis in his left foot cost him a good chunk of the ’22 season, cutting his year short by the end of July. Bryant acknowledged he’s not entirely past that issue, telling reporters yesterday the plantar fasciitis still “comes and goes” (link via Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post).