Mining the News (9/21/23)

American League

Angels

• Shohei Ohtani did not have the traditional Tommy John surgery.

In chatting quickly with a few people about the description attributed to ElAttrache in the statement, this was not a traditional Tommy John surgery with a reconstruction. It was a repair.

Still won't pitch till 2025, but does speed up the rehab slightly on the hitting side.

— Jeff Fletcher (@JeffFletcherOCR) September 19, 2023

He should be able to return to the team faster since it’s not the full operation.

• Jared Walsh is no longer sick and he’s “found his energy”.

That plan has been complicated. Walsh homered in eight of his past 10 games entering Sunday, six of the blasts coming with Triple-A Salt Lake. He presents an interesting conundrum for the Angels. If he’s close to being his old self, the team would be remiss to non-tender him after the season.
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It’s important to understand that Walsh didn’t stop being good at baseball. But his skills were taken from him by a sickness he couldn’t control. In recent weeks, he has found his energy. He’s seeing the ball. His bat is flying through the zone.

He said, without hesitation, “I have recovered.”

What that means for Walsh is to be determined. What that means for how the Angels or the league views him is impossible to say right now.

Astros

• The Astros are changing the batter’s eye so hitters can see the ball better.

The current batter’s eye has been in place since 2017, when the team removed Tal’s Hill in favor of an ivy batter’s eye with restaurants and bars nearby. This will be the second time since the renovation that the Astros have extended the batter’s eye farther right.

The latest extension is scheduled to be completed prior to the team’s home game on Monday against the Baltimore Orioles, according to a team spokesperson. The Astros are 38-37 at Minute Maid Park this season and are guaranteed to finish with their lowest home winning percentage since 2016 — the last time Houston did not make the postseason.

“The batter’s eye has been something that I’ve heard players talk about in the past. Also, visiting players when they come here to Houston, they have some difficult times seeing the ball here,” Espada told KBME on Monday.

Guardians

• Cal Quantrill is trying to find an arm slot that doesn’t hurt.

Quantrill has yet to give up more than two runs since coming back from the IL with right shoulder inflammation, holding opponents to a 1.90 ERA and limiting batters to a .181 average in that span.

“I think he’s pitching [now] and trying not to find a slot that doesn’t hurt,” manager Terry Francona said pregame of Quantrill. “His velocity is the same, but [now], I think he’s able to pitch. You hear [pitching coach] Carl [Willis] say it all the time, ‘Hey, whatever you have — command [it].’ Well, it’s hard to command when you’re trying to find a slot where it doesn’t hurt. You see guys start to get confident, and they start to do things they weren’t … .”

Before the injury, Quantrill had one start this season where he gave up less than three runs. He’s given up a combined five runs over four starts since his return, which is a number he matched or exceeded in a single start in four of his seven outings before the second IL stint.

Simply put, Quantrill has come back a different pitcher.

• Gabriel Arias should enter Spring Training as the favorite for the shortstop job.

That’s left the door open for guys, such as Tyler Freeman, Brayan Rocchio, or even younger guys, such as Cleveland’s No. 14 prospect, per MLB Pipeline, José Tena or No. 6 prospect Juan Brito (eventually). But just because there’s still an opportunity for others to win the job doesn’t mean Arias won’t enter camp as the favorite, assuming no other candidates get added into the mix. It’s likely that the Guardians will look at Arias as the first option to be the Opening Day shortstop. But if he doesn’t look like he’s made strides offensively and someone else does (overwhelmingly so), then it wouldn’t be surprising to see them take a shot on a different player.

All of this to say: Nothing is set in stone, but Arias is likely the favorite.

• Emmanuel Clase is trying to throw high in the zone. Also, he was bothered by the pitch clock.

Coaches worked with him in the spring to attack the top of the zone more often, both to induce more swing-and-miss with his cutter and to fool hitters when he followed such a pitch with a slider lower in the zone. That seems to be a work in progress. Clase admitted early in the season that he had to make adjustments to coexist with the pitch clock. He had one of the most deliberate tempos in the league last season.

Royals

• Jackson Kowar implemented a four-point plan to get better.

Pitching coach Brian Sweeney and his team gave Kowar a four-point plan, and he implemented changes in his two appearances against the Pirates. In his past eight appearances since coming home from the West Coast, Kowar has allowed two runs in 9 1/3 innings with just two walks and 10 strikeouts.
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The Royals’ plan included a slight move on the rubber to enhance Kowar’s fastball and slider. Originally, he was against moving because he didn’t want to hurt the fade on his changeup, which is his best pitch.
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The move helps Kowar land his slider more in the zone, which led to the next point of the plan: he needed to throw his slider more frequently. Then, he lowered his arm slot and worked on his delivery to hide the ball better.

“He rotates so fast, he throws so hard that his upper body goes toward first base,” Sweeney said. “We want to keep that, but how do we be more compact so he doesn’t lose command? We gave him drills for holding his front side a little longer.”

• James McArthur added a slider.

James McArthur was in a similar situation when the Royals acquired him May 8 from the Phillies, but changes to his arsenal, including adding a nasty slider, have led to greater success recently.

Here are the comps on his slider with several aces on the list.

Tigers

• Riley Greene should be ready for the start of the 2024 season after having Tommy John surgery.

Tigers manager A.J. Hinch told reporters in Los Angeles the team expects Greene to be ready for next season. And that would not be unprecedented. The surgery, performed by Dr. Keith Meister, is on Greene’s non-throwing arm, so he will not have to go through a rigorous throwing program. He will, however, join a growing list of major-league hitters who have had a procedure more commonly associated with pitchers.

Twins

• Louie Varland added a cutter in the minors and increased his fastball velo with a move to the bullpen.

With no vacancies in the Twins’ rotation and his mid-90s fastball fully locked in, Varland spent July and August with the Saints and focused on refining secondary pitches, including a low-90s cutter that now shows signs of being a real weapon. And when MLB rosters expanded on Sept. 1, the Twins called up Varland, not as a starter but as a reliever, believing his stuff could be explosive in short stints.

“I’m a better pitcher than I was a couple months ago,” Varland said.

Varland made his big-league relief debut on Sept. 6. His first fastball clocked in at 97.6 mph and his first cutter produced a swinging strikeout. His stuff, which was already very good as a starter, has indeed been explosive as a reliever.

“He’s going out there with a different array of stuff (in relief),” manager Rocco Baldelli said. “The cutter is becoming a good pitch for him, something he can use against righties and lefties. He can attack hitters and go right at them with everything he’s got. He should feel confident. He looks really good right now.”

National League

Braves

• Max Fried is trying to get back up to game speed.

Max Fried was given four rehab starts before he returned to Atlanta’s rotation in early August after a three-month layoff. As Fried has battled inconsistency over the past six weeks, he has pointed out how along with getting his body back in shape, he has had to reacquaint himself with game speed.

Giants

• Ross Stripling will most likely be back with the team next year.

Stripling also told reporters earlier this week that he would not exercise his right to opt out of a contract that would pay him $12.5 million in 2024.

Mets

• The team doesn’t care if Ronny Mauricio chases pitches.

When Mauricio was at Triple-A Syracuse, the organization seemed generally OK with him chasing pitches up and chasing pitches inside because he had proven he could drive those balls out of the park.

The Mets have seemingly taken a similar stance at the major-league level. Barnes doesn’t want Mauricio to home in on pitches just within the strike zone. He wants him to create his own zone of where he’s likeliest to do damage, strike or not.

“Pete plays by a different set of rules. Mauricio has the ability to play by a different set of rules,” Barnes said. “We want him to be very aware of the balls that he hits hard and can do damage on, and be very aware of the balls that he can’t, and then we want to game plan an approach to stay away from the balls that he can’t.

• After failing to steal more bases Brandon Nimmo this season, he wants to steal more bases next season.

MLB.com: Last year, you talked about stealing more bases. I look at your face right now and I can tell you are disappointed you were not able to reach that particular goal.

Nimmo: Yeah, I’m disappointed. [Stealing bases] is going to require more attention. Three out of six is not very good. It’s something I can get better at. It’s going to take a different approach rather than what I’ve been doing before. There is something else I need to do and I need to figure that out. It will be a journey this offseason and try to pick some brains and be better.

Padres

• Manny Machado will have elbow surgery soon and will hopefully be ready for the start of next season.

Manny Machado appears headed for offseason elbow surgery — or perhaps even in-season elbow surgery, depending on the Padres’ fate down the stretch.

The star third baseman said Monday that he is “going in the direction of having surgery pretty soon,” adding that he’s hopeful to be fully available for the start of the 2024 season.

Machado has dealt with lateral epicondylitis — more commonly known as tennis elbow — in his right elbow for parts of the past two seasons. But that injury worsened recently, and Machado has been serving as designated hitter for the past month. Even with that change, he hasn’t been able to play every day, with the injury barking worse some days than others.

Reds

• Vladimir Gutierrez will have elbow surgery.

Vladimir Gutierrez (right elbow surgery) will have surgery to remove bone spurs in his right elbow on Wednesday.

Ed. note: SPIDER-NECK!!!

 

 

 

 

Rockies

• Manager Bud Black thinks Hunter Goodman is showing potential.

“Nolan is showing power in the Major Leagues,” Black said. “He’s showing growth as a hitter. Brenton’s ball was hit almost up on the concourse, so the raw power is there. Hunter hit [34] homers in the Minors this year, [36] last year. There’s a home run there, and it’s a good swing. So the potential is there.”

Great, I expect Goodman’s playing time to get jacked around next year.