Mining the News and Other Things

• Lance Brozdowski covered some lowly rostered arms, Ryan Gusto, Sean Newcomb, Emerson Hancock, and Tomoyuki Sugano. Here is a bit on Gusto.

Aesthetically, he has an odd “look” on the mound, stepping crossfire with average extension into his release, paired with an average release height. He moved toward the 3B side of the rubber late last season and has stuck with positioning this season. This makes me wonder whether the Astros were trying to optimize something horizontally in terms of his approach, or if his stride direction is connected somehow to his fastball vert increase. I had no idea who Gusto was before today’s outing, and I’m now intrigued. It’s a deep mix, 2 strikeable pitches per handedness, put-away pitches versus righties. The Astros remain good at developing pitchers.

This is just a reminder to follow Lance’s Substack, where he writes about pitcher changes on nearly a daily basis.

American League

Red Sox

• Triston Casas made a swing adjustment, and it seems to have helped.

But Casas noted a small mechanical tweak he made with hitting coach Pete Fatse this week to move the positioning of his hands further away from his body seems to be working.

“An adjustment was necessary,” he said. “I felt like I was getting to a good spot, timing-wise, and still missing the ball. So, might have just been the way my barrel was entering the zone.

“I’ve got really long arms, long levers, so maybe trying to stay so tight to my body isn’t such a good thing,” he said of what he’d done at the start of the year. “I need to work on getting extended and catching the ball a little more out front (with the bat), and it could start with my stance. Me and Pete and the rest of the staff have been working really hard on it, just trying to get it right. The last couple days have been a good indication of hopefully good things to come.”

Tigers

• Beau Brieske pitched through an ankle injury all season.

The Tigers placed right-hander Beau Brieske on the 15-day injured list yesterday, and righty Brenan Hanifee was called up in the corresponding move. Brieske has been sidelined by inflammation in his right ankle, and manager A.J. Hinch told reporters (including Chris McCosky of the Detroit News) that the pitcher had been trying to play through ankle soreness for the last couple of weeks.

The injury went from sore to more severe after Brieske rolled his ankle while fielding a grounder during a relief appearance in Detroit’s 7-6 win over the Twins on April 11. Brieske wasn’t used again until Thursday when he threw 30 pitches over one-plus innings of relief, “and was pretty beat up” physically, Hinch said. The decision was then made for a proper IL stint in order to help the righty fully recover.

National League

Braves

• Grant Holmes was drafted earlier and earlier as the season drew near. I liked the 29-year-old as a late-round dart after he posted a 4.01 ERA (3.30 xFIP), 10.7 K/9, and 1.25 WHIP as a starter over 33 IP. Worse darts were being thrown.

While Holmes’s surface stats are respectable (3.22 ERA, 4.61 xFIP, 1.21 WHIP), two issues might tank his season. The first one is the bloated 5.6 BB/9. Of the 124 pitchers with at least 20 IP this season, it’s the 4th highest.

The second issue is that his curveball is ineffective. Last season, it had a 23% SwStr% and 56% GB%. This year it’s at a 10% SwStr% and 44% GB%.

At some point, his .204 BABIP will regress, and the walks will blow up his ratios.

Cardinals

• On Wednesday, the manager stated that Nolan Gorman will get full-time at-bats.

That begs the question of how the skipper is going to balance playing time with his slew of infielders (Winn, Donovan, Saggese, Gorman and Alec Burleson), especially with Gorman’s playing time taking precedent, at least for now.

The plan: Winn and Donovan will remain everyday players. Winn will play shortstop and Donovan will again resume utility player duties, though he’ll likely see the bulk of the starts at second base for now. Saggese can give either player a day off, and Marmol plans to work him in the lineup accordingly. Burleson, who has been cold to start the year with a .284 slugging percentage and a .585 OPS entering play Tuesday, will be the player who sees playing time cut the most, but he won’t necessarily ride the bench either.

“We’ve scheduled out what we want the lineup to look like from here through all of (the next series),” Marmol said. “They’ll all get time. But at the moment, I’d like to see what Gorman can do.”

“We have to keep our word there, right?” he added. “We said (Gorman would play), and even after the injury, that’s not runway. You have to allow him to go through some of the ups and downs. He’s going to get better. He’s working hard at it and we’re committed to seeing it through.”

Cubs

Diamondbacks

• Alek Thomas was never healthy last season.

The hamstring never did feel right the rest of the year, which was another learning experience for Thomas.

“I didn’t know that it was going to be not normal after that,” Thomas said. “It didn’t feel normal, and it sucked. So, I think every day was like, ‘All right, well, I don’t know how it’s gonna feel today. I don’t know if I’m able to play, I don’t know if I’m able to run.’ So that really hurt, too.”

Marlins

• Eric Wagaman ended the 2024 season as the Angels’ cleanup hitter. So far his season, he is posting a respectable 3 HR, 1 SB, and .274 AVG. He seems to have made a conscious choice to make better swing decisions. His walk rate is up from 3% to 8%, and his strikeout rate from 23% to 14%. He’s made the change by not swinging as much (52% Swing% to 43% Swing%).

More important than the improved plate skills, he started in 11 of the last 12 games. When comparing his Steamer600 projection to others, most of the comps are fantasy-relevant if playing every game. He should also be.

Pirates

• Enmanuel Valdez cleaned up his swing.

Valdez had some intriguing peripherals a year ago with the Red Sox, but nothing to this caliber. It starts up top, cutting down on his hand movements at the plate.

Valdez was optioned to Triple-A Indianapolis with roughly two weeks to go in Spring Training. While working with Indianapolis’ coaches, it was suggested that he cut down on his hand movement. Quieter hands could be a pathway to success. He was quickly recalled on March 28 after Nick Gonzales hit the injured list, and the new approach has paid dividends.

Reds

• I went a little overboard adding Andrew Abbott this past weekend. He was one of the few pitchers I wanted to roster. Before his two 2025 starts, he posted a 3.5 BB/9, leading to a 1.31 ERA. This season, he seemed to have his walks under control with a 2.5 BB/9, and I bought in. It might have been be a major mistake. Over those first two starts, he threw Balls 41% of the time, which should equate to a 5.3 BB/9. The walks are still around.

• Spencer Steer should be playing more at first base.

Steer ramped up his throwing last week and he was finally cleared to play first base over the weekend. After playing there Sunday, he also started at first base on Monday.