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The last twenty comments in true blog fasion, with the links to their authors and the player commented upon.
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After wins in his first two starts in the tournament, Kershaw's postseason record drops back below .500. His ERA bumps to 4.31.
Dodgers are on the brink of joining the 2001 Mariners.
Check the Correa bat flip as well. I don't mind them (other than I hope the Astros lose convincingly).
It's an obvious E3 ... the ball ticked off his glove ... how is that not "dropped the ball"?
And ... fantastic hustle by ARoz!
Yikes ... the home run trot to end all home run trots? Or are there no bounds?
Enjoy this clip of Arozarena's Double-A triple on a pop fly.
https://twitter.com/QuinnSTLCards/status/1314768560439341056?s=20
Some part of the play was ruled an error, but nobody dropped the ball or threw it away.
All the Bryse Wilson owners wondering where that start came from.
From Baseball America on Oct. 9:
As with most instructional league rosters, the Red Sox's group features a good portion of the team's top prospects. The most notable exceptions are Jarren Duran and Jeter Downs, but both players spent considerable time at the team's alternate site in Pawtucket.
No. 1 prospect Triston Casas headlines the position players, and the pitchers are led by righty Bryan Mata and lefty Jay Groome. All four of Boston's 2020 draft picks, led by infielder Nick Yorke, are included, as are top international prospects Chih-Jung Liu and Juan Chacon.
The prospects the Red Sox acquired this summer—including Jeisson Rosario and Hudson Potts(Padres) and Jacob Wallace (Rockies)—will also participate.
From Baseball America on Sept. 22:
The D-backs have released their instructional league roster for this fall, and it includes most of their top prospects.
The top-ranked prospect on the roster is shortstop Geraldo Perdomo, who ranked as the D-backs No. 2 prospect at midseason. He will be joined by outfielders Kristian Robinson (No. 3), Alek Thomas (No. 4) and Corbin Carroll (5).
Lefthander Blake Walston, the D-backs top-ranked pitching prospect at No. 6, will also be coming to camp. He will be joined by 2020 first-round pick Bryce Jarvis and trade deadline acquisition Humberto Mejia among many other notable prospects on the pitching staff.
The D-backs are scheduled to play their first instructional league game Oct. 6.
https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories/2020-arizona-diamondbacks-instructional-league-roster/
From Baseball America:
The Orioles included 55 players in their instructional league, which began Oct. 5 in Sarasota, Fla. The roster was highlighted by 15 of the team’s Top 30 Prospects. Among the group who made the cut was catcher Adley Rutschman (No. 1), righthander Grayson Rodriguez (No. 2) and lefthander DL Hall (No. 3).
Baltimore also included five of its six draftees from the 2020 draft—shortstops Jordan Westburg and Anthony Servideo, outfielder Hudson Haskin, third baseman Coby Mayo and righthander Carter Baumler.
The majority of the players on the roster did not spend time at the alternate site, excluding Rutschman, Hall, Rodriguez and shortstops Gunnar Henderson and Terrin Vavra—all of whom were late additions at the site.
The only surprising omission was outfielder Heston Kjerstad, the No. 2 selection in the June draft. Orioles general manager Mike Elias told the Baltimore Sun Kjerstad is absent because of an "undisclosed medical, non-sports related reason."
Baseball is far from over for some minor league prospects. The lucky few.
https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories/2020-atlanta-braves-instructional-league-roster/
The Braves' roster is different from most other teams. They put together a much smaller group and held their games at the team's alternate site in Gwinnett, where they got some reps for a variety of the team's younger and newer prospects.
All four of Atlanta's 2020 draft picks are here, as are Antonio Barranca and Cam Shepherd, whom the club signed as free agents after the draft.
Apart from this year's draftees, the only members of Atlanta's midseason Top 30 prospects invited to instructs are outfielder Michael Harris, shortstop Beau Philip and righthanders Victor Vodnik and Daysbel Hernandez.
Toward the end of article in the Times about the five players (so far) who played their first game in the majors during the postseason:
Although Mondesi has become the Royals’ everyday shortstop, Oakland’s Kiger never played in the big leagues again. Kiger — whose first bit of fame came in the 2003 book “Moneyball,” in which he appeared on a list of eight players that the A’s executive Billy Beane was determined to draft — entered as a defensive replacement in two 2006 A.L.C.S. games. He recorded a putout while playing second base, but never batted. He completed three more minor league seasons, but never returned to the majors.
In 2015, the photographer Tabitha Soren published “Fantasy Life,” a collection of portraits from that famed A’s draft class. (Soren’s husband is Michael Lewis, who wrote “Moneyball.”) In that book, Kiger called himself “the modern-day Moonlight Graham,” referring to the old ballplayer whose similar career cameo was memorialized in the 1989 movie “Field of Dreams.”
LynchMob's link takes you to his minor league career.
The third player to make his MLB debut this year in the playoffs.
Joe Lemire of the Times asked him if he was nervous about playing in the second game against the Astros.
“I didn’t find out until after I got to the field that I was going to start, so there wasn’t really much time to think about it,” Kirilloff said in a telephone interview. “I just said a prayer for peace and focus and all that before the game, and once I got out there I felt pretty OK, to be honest.”
None of the three had played a meaningful game in roughly 13 months, since their 2019 minor league seasons ended. Weathers moved back to his family home in Tennessee, working out and playing long toss with his sister and father to stay in shape. At the alternate sites, each tried to create a degree of normalcy during intrasquad scrimmages.
Kirilloff took to keeping his own statistics despite many of his at-bats coming during live batting sessions or with an incomplete fielding alignment. (One event with scorekeeping: a Twins home run derby during which Kirilloff lost in the final round to LaMonte Wade Jr.)
“It was more for me just to have an idea of how over all I was doing and to just hold myself accountable,” Kirilloff said. “I would jot down notes of what happened that day in the game, how many balls I hit hard.”
At least McClanahan (unlike Weathers) had pitched a little bit in the high minors before making his major league debut in the playoffs. But he didn't feel like he was treading water this year at the alternate site, not at all. "It was a bunch of guys who are starters anywhere else. Good clubhouse guys, great staff. That was a very good atmosphere. Every single person there got better."
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/14/sports/baseball/mlb-postseason-rookies.html
High heat that was not high enough.
Yesterday's Biggest Play
Batter: George Springer (HOU)
Pitcher: Tyler Glasnow (TBR)
Situation: Bottom 5th, 1 out, 2-1 count, Runner On 1st
Score: HOU 2, TBR 2
Home Run (Fly Ball to Deep LF Line)
2 runs scored on the play, and HOU's win probability increased 23% points, to 80%
HOU went on to win the game, 4-3
This time Juilo gets his picture in the paper.
Kyle Wright doesn't.
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Yesterday's Top Performers
Pitchers:
Zack Greinke* (HOU): 6.0 IP, 2 ER, 5 H, 1 BB, 7 K, 60 GmSc
Julio Urias* (LAD): 5.0 IP, 1 ER, 3 H, 2 BB, 5 K, 60 GmSc
* - pictured above
'Twas a hart-stopping first inning (for Dodger fans).
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Yesterday's Top Performers
Batters:
Corey Seager* (LAD): 3-4, 1 HR, 3 RBI, 3 R
Max Muncy* (LAD): 2-4, 1 HR, 4 RBI, 2 R
Joc Pederson* (LAD): 4-6, 1 HR, 3 RBI, 1 R
Cody Bellinger (LAD): 2-4, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 2 R
George Springer (HOU): 3-4, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 1 R
Jose Altuve (HOU): 2-4, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 1 R
* - pictured above
Here's how it happened, according to Joe Lemire in the Times.
A 20-year-old left-hander, Weathers was standing next to the club’s general manager, A.J. Preller, in the team’s hotel while waiting to grab a swab for the team’s daily Covid-19 tests when Preller posed a question: Which test was for the minor leaguers and which was for the big leaguers? Weathers said he didn’t know there was a difference, to which Preller replied, “Grab one from the big-league side today because you’re on the roster” for the playoffs.
Now, before you read Joe's story, name the four other players who made their major league debut in the postseason (two of them this year).
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/14/sports/baseball/mlb-postseason-rookies.html
I had Melancon in 2019 ... that 1.40 WHIP with the Giants with only 1 save was a major disappointment ... to the point where I simply did not believe the 1.14 WHIP he had with the Braves, rather I was focused on the 3.86 ERA! So I traded him ... felt like I had found a sucker to pay for a guy who would produce little, if not negative, value in 2020 ... well ... that didn't pan out ... good for Melancon and good for the winner of PCL :-)
Interesting that in yesterday's Save, he threw 7 pitches ... all for strikes! I like that ...
205 Saves with 2.78 ERA and 1.12 WIP is a good career!
And ... he's pretty good at catching HRs! Uber-casual ... and ... end-zone tap-dance! :-)
Click on the name of a player (or thread) to go directly to that page and see the comment in context with the other comments.
Some pretty big names here. None of them pitchers.
Yesterday's Top Performers
Batters:
Marcell Ozuna* (ATL): 4-5, 2 HR, 4 RBI, 3 R
Ji-Man Choi* (TBR): 2-2, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 1 R
Edwin Rios* (LAD): 1-3, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 1 R
Carlos Correa* (HOU): 1-4, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 1 R
Freddie Freeman (ATL): 2-5, 2 RBI, 1 R
George Springer (HOU): 1-4, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 1 R
Pitchers:
Bryse Wilson* (ATL): 6.0 IP, 1 ER, 1 H, 1 BB, 5 K, 70 GmSc
Aaron Slegers (TBR): 2.2 IP, 0 ER, 1 H, 1 BB, 2 K, 57 GmSc
Luis Garcia (HOU): 2.0 IP, 0 ER, 0 H, 2 BB, 1 K, 55 GmSc
Brooks Raley (HOU): 1.0 IP, 0 ER, 0 H, 0 BB, 2 K, 55 GmSc
* - pictured above