Jose Berrios‘ 2017 debut couldn’t have gone any better Saturday. He allowed just one run on two hits over 7.2 innings and struck out four in the win over Cleveland.
And he needed it. Last year he struggled at the beginning of his major league debut but managed to dominate in Triple-A. Looks like the transition for him went well. So far. Read the rest of this entry »
Matt Harvey returned after, you know, the usual supermodel drama we all deal with. After coming back from his suspension, Harvey allowed five runs and three balls were hit over the fence in five innings. He had a high K/9 rating during the outing, but that just left him at a 5.85 K/9 rating on the season.
He mentioned to ESPN following the game he got behind in the count and “left the ball in the middle of the plate.” He’s also not throwing a lot of first-pitch strikes which was very apparent Friday night in the loss to the Brewers. Read the rest of this entry »
Zack Greinke had an almost no-hitter Thursday night. He struck out 11 in eight innings after giving up a solo home run to Gregory Polanco. Following the game, he said he was throwing harder, but as he was “trying to throw it down the middle, it kind of goes down and away.” He also credited his slider that was feeling better since spring training. Read the rest of this entry »
Another day goes by and Cody Bellinger is still hitting bombs. After taking over for Adrian Gonzalez who landed on the disabled list Friday, the 21-year-old posted his first major league grand slam and he’s only played in ten games this season.
Take advantage of him in the daily game before he becomes too expensive and highly owned. (Scratch that last part, he will be highly owned).
If you’re still waking up, the Orioles just gave some pretty bad news from their bullpen. Zach Britton landed on the 10-day disabled list with a left forearm strain.
Dodgers first baseman Adrian Gonzalez also landed on the disabled list Friday for the first time in his 14-year career. Cody Bellinger took over responsibilities and went 3-for-5 with two home runs and four RBI in the win over the Padres.
He hit two bombs last week and Manager Dave Roberts went on record to say that wouldn’t impact his decision to send Bellinger back to Triple-A. Things are a little different now, obviously. So we get to witness the excellence of Bellinger. Read the rest of this entry »
Things are tense in the Baltimore-Washington corridor these days.
The Nationals’ closer carousel keeps turning, as they placed Shawn Kelley on the 10-day disabled list Friday with a lower back strain. As it was, we hadn’t seen Kelley in a game since April 29 due to being sick, and just as he was healthy enough to return, he started feeling tightness in his back Friday afternoon.
I haven’t seen any of you since April. Either way, this is one of my favorite times of the season.
Major League Baseball put out the All-Star voting two months prior to the game because that makes sense, our favorite prospects are getting called up, and the disabled list possesses some of the best players in baseball. What a time.
It’s a well-established fact that AT&T Park is one of the worst ballparks in the major leagues for offense. That’s why, despite putting up a 132 wRC+ over his last 1,500 or so plate appearances, Brandon Belt is not a very valuable fantasy first baseman. It’s also why Buster Posey, a catcher with a career 136 wRC+, has never really been worthy of a top-10 pick on fantasy draft day.
In recent years, however, a new and troubling trend has emerged for the Giants offense. While the league has been on an historic home run tear the last year and a half or so, the Giants have not kept up. In fact, they’ve done the opposite: they’re hitting more ground balls (and fewer fly balls) than just about any other team in baseball.
Ground balls are almost always worse than fly balls, even for a team that plays in a cavernous ballpark like the Giants. Since 2014, Giants hitters have a .245 AVG, .263 SLG, .223 wOBA, and 45 wRC+ on ground balls at home. On their fly balls at home, however, they have a .226 AVG, .598 SLG, .332 wOBA, and 119 wRC+ since 2014.
While the team batting average is actually higher on ground balls, the slugging percentage, wOBA, and wRC+ are so, so much worse. This is strong evidence to the effect that even a team that plays in an extreme pitcher’s park is not better off hitting ground balls — flies seem to be indisputably better no matter what. Read the rest of this entry »
Cody Bellinger hit his first major-league home run Saturday night against the Phillies. He then followed that with his second major-league home run.
The thing that I like the most about Bellinger is the fact that he’s so athletic for a first baseman. He has a lot of power and when he was pitching in high school that power paralleled to his arm. He also evens himself out defensively and obviously shows he can play anywhere. Read the rest of this entry »
Sometimes we aren’t lucky and we jinx people. I wrote in the Riteup Friday, I was obsessed with Adam Eaton. I still am, but Friday night, he left the game with a leg injury in the ninth inning. It looked pretty scary. He collapsed once he reached first and was carried off the field. It looked like it was his left ankle that was in distress and he will undergo an MRI Saturday so we will keep you updated with that.
Still, it doesn’t look good, so anticipate your team being M.I.A without him for a while. Read the rest of this entry »