The 2022 MLB Season (?)

[miami_fan]

Originally Posted by SirFozzie

Joey Votto just set himself up for a couple million dollars as a TV analyst/commentator after he retires. He did a full interview/commentary throughout the bottom of the fourth inning...

while playing first base.

Especially about asking Albies if he should get a gold or diamond tooth.

If you can find the video on this, DO IT. Watch it the whole way through

I am assuming this came from an ESPN broadcast. They are doing the same with Kike Hernandez and it is not nearly as entertaining.

[Lathum]

Aaron Hicks is hitting .135 in his career with the bases loaded. That is an unbelievably bad average for a pro when you know they have to throw a strike.

[Atocep]

It's incredibly small sample size, but the Mets offense is actually watchable this year. The approaches are massively improved over what I saw last season. Eric Chavez is earning his paycheck.

[Swaggs]

I hate it when we wait all winter for baseball and there are rainouts early on. My soul needs baseball.

[Ksyrup]

I'm in a hotel room and the only channel I'm interested in watching is MLB Network and it is the only one that isn't working due to a "weak signal."

[Ksyrup]

I figured it out. They're showing the Padres game so it's blacked out here. Of course.

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by Swaggs

I hate it when we wait all winter for baseball and there are rainouts early on. My soul needs baseball.

Does your soul need a pitching staff that's given up 27 runs in the last 2 games and 4 pitching prospects lit up? My soul didn't need that.

SI

[Swaggs]

Originally Posted by sterlingice

Does your soul need a pitching staff that's given up 27 runs in the last 2 games and 4 pitching prospects lit up? My soul didn't need that.

SI

Aren't you still in the grace period from the 2015 World Series? If I can keep the faith with no World Series appearances since the '70s, I have faith that you can get through this.


*I actually feel bad saying this because I can't wrap my head around the fact that it has been 7-years since that World Series.

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by Swaggs

Aren't you still in the grace period from the 2015 World Series? If I can keep the faith with no World Series appearances since the '70s, I have faith that you can get through this.


*I actually feel bad saying this because I can't wrap my head around the fact that it has been 7-years since that World Series.

You're totally correct, of course. I was just being day-to-day baseball glib. A couple of bad games aren't bad for the baseball soul - it's just, well, baseball. And listening the game yesterday while working still beat working and not listening to baseball.

Sure, I definitely don't expect them to win another World Series. Realistically, it should be everyone wins one every 30 years. And I'm not really sure if that 7 years seems like so long ago vs barely yesterday - COVID has warped all sense of time. I mean, there was a lot of desert before leading up to the promised land before what with the whole 29 year playoff drought and 1 winning season in the 12 years I lived in KC.

I'm just hoping for a winning season and, really, not even this year - probably next. This is about where the rebuild is supposed to start showing some results after bottoming out with a couple of hundred loss seasons. And any sort of hope of being .500 hinges on a couple of those young SPs developing. So far, the returns are not good. I'm just conditioned to expect another failed rebuild like I saw in the early 2000s and mid 2000s before the one in the early 2010s bore fruit.

SI

[JonInMiddleGA]

Dee Strange-Gordon pitching to D'Arnaud might well turn out to be one of the most memorable highlights of the season.

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

Dee Strange-Gordon pitching to D'Arnaud might well turn out to be one of the most memorable highlights of the season.

That was amazing. It was like watching a cheesy comedy sketch. Hit by a 53-mph pitch, pauses, and then falls over like he was a bowling pin.

I can't link directly to the video but here's the whole game highlights and just scroll to "plays dead after HBP"
404 Not Found: /gameday/nationals-vs-braves/2022/04/12/661571%23game_state=final,lock_state=final,game_tab=videos,game=661571 | MLB.com

SI

[miked]

No talk about Clayton Kershaw getting pulled after 7 with a perfect game and only 80 pitches? Does any pitcher throw a CG anymore?

[Lathum]

Originally Posted by miked

No talk about Clayton Kershaw getting pulled after 7 with a perfect game and only 80 pitches? Does any pitcher throw a CG anymore?

No and why should they? Analytics show it is a bad idea. Starters, especially top line ones are a huge investment. Is it really worth blowing out a guys arm for what amounts to a W regardless? At his age with a shortened spring training 80 pitches is probably the max 2 starts in.

[sterlingice]

Yeah, if Spring Training were normal, maybe we have this conversation. But even then, it's weird to see guys go deep into games in April and that kindof makes a lot of sense

SI

[RainMaker]

He said his slider was shot and that he was gassed. I still wonder if you're up 6-0, why not just have him pump fastballs till they get a hit?

[miami_fan]

Originally Posted by sterlingice

Yeah, if Spring Training were normal, maybe we have this conversation. But even then, it's weird to see guys go deep into games in April and that kindof makes a lot of sense

SI

I don't think you need all the caveats. I feel like perfect games, no hitters and even complete games are barely worthy of a 'meh' in 2022. As silly as we all know it to be, an alert and/or post of "something is brewing in Dodgers v. Twins game" would have at least garnered a cursory look in. I did not give it a second look when the alert popped up yesterday.

[sterlingice]

I think Perfectos are still rare enough to merit notice

SI

[tarcone]

Albert Pujols predicts he would hit a HR and does.

Watch: Albert Pujols predicts, then hits his first Cardinals homer since 2011 - UPI.com

[stevew]

Originally Posted by sterlingice

If we're going to ban or alter pitching changes, I'm for banning pitching changes with 1 or 2 outs and no one on base (except in case of injury - and if a player is "injured", they have to go on the IL for like 10+ days so you can't just fake an injury).

SI

I wonder which team abuses the hell out of the pitching DL turnstile, but complains about trash cans until they're BLUE in the face.

[stevew]

Corey Seager now deserves a bases loaded intentional walk? Let’s put him right next to Bonds in the inner sanctum of the greatest hitters.

[miked]

Originally Posted by miami_fan

I don't think you need all the caveats. I feel like perfect games, no hitters and even complete games are barely worthy of a 'meh' in 2022. As silly as we all know it to be, an alert and/or post of "something is brewing in Dodgers v. Twins game" would have at least garnered a cursory look in. I did not give it a second look when the alert popped up yesterday.

I read a stat that it was only the second or third time in history a pitcher has been pulled from a perfect game after 7. I would say it is not as much of a "meh" but rather history. Not say you should destroy a guy to get there, but 80 pitches is done? There have been like 20 perfect games in history, I kind of think baseball could use some things like that considering how dreadful it has become to watch these days.

[Mota]

Originally Posted by miked

I read a stat that it was only the second or third time in history a pitcher has been pulled from a perfect game after 7. I would say it is not as much of a "meh" but rather history. Not say you should destroy a guy to get there, but 80 pitches is done? There have been like 20 perfect games in history, I kind of think baseball could use some things like that considering how dreadful it has become to watch these days.

I guess because it was Kershaw's first start of the season. The risk in pushing him harder than you should, outweighs the benefit. He has also been injury prone in recent years, so this is a guy that you should treat cautiously. I think it's unfortunate that this happened though.

[BYU 14]

Originally Posted by miked

I read a stat that it was only the second or third time in history a pitcher has been pulled from a perfect game after 7. I would say it is not as much of a "meh" but rather history. Not say you should destroy a guy to get there, but 80 pitches is done? There have been like 20 perfect games in history, I kind of think baseball could use some things like that considering how dreadful it has become to watch these days.

It has happened twice and the other time was Rich Hill, Dodgers, Roberts was the manager.

[Sweed]

Originally Posted by tarcone

Albert Pujols predicts he would hit a HR and does.

Watch: Albert Pujols predicts, then hits his first Cardinals homer since 2011 - UPI.com

I just wonder how many times he may have said this to someone over the years but we never heard about it. Why didn't we hear? Because he didn't hit a HR.

Now if he had walked up to the plate and pointed to LF? Yeah, that's a story.

[stevew]

Japanese pitching phenom Roki Sasaki, 20, extends streak to 17 consecutive perfect innings

Are these games on TV somehow?

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by stevew

Japanese pitching phenom Roki Sasaki, 20, extends streak to 17 consecutive perfect innings

Are these games on TV somehow?

I've watched a few last year on FTF. Last year, they showed a game a day at 5pm ET -they were condensed games that are 2 hours long with English announcers:
https://www.ftfnext.com/PLB

Unfortunately, the website is less than good so trying to figure out schedule and whatnot is... hard. And I think you can get it on Roku, too.

They're actually showing yesterday's game right now, but it's already in the 7th inning.

SI

[Atocep]

I just saw something I've never seen and probably the smartest play from the Mets in my lifetime.

Sac Fly scores Dom Smith. JD Davis remains at first. The Dbacks decide to appeal Smith leaving 3rd early and when Ollie Perez steps off to appeal, JD Davis breaks for 2nd. The Dbacks were confused, but the ball is in play when Perez steps off the rubber and Davis was going to either take 2nd in the confusion (which is what happened) or if Perez had decided to go after Davis and get him out on the steal attempt then Dom Smith's run counts and can no longer be appealed.

[Ksyrup]

Mike Trout got hit on the hand and left the game.

[stevew]

Looks like a 2 month injury. Gruesome.

[Ksyrup]

He turned into it. You never do that. Should have turned and taken it on the hip.

[Atocep]

X-Rays negative. Trout and baseball dodged a bullet there.

We need some 10u kids to teach him how to roll with a pitch.

[Lathum]

Lindor becoming the guy the Mets expected when they traded and signed him.

[miami_fan]

Originally Posted by Atocep

X-Rays negative. Trout and baseball dodged a bullet there.

We need some 10u kids to teach him how to roll with a pitch.

From what I see and hear from the teams around here, he did exactly what he was supposed to do.

HE ATE ONE OF THOSE!

Seriously, that is the one part of baseball culture my son can not get into. I have never heard of the concept of rolling with the pitch and I am sure no one has taught him to do it either.

[Ksyrup]

Seriously? They make jackets that are specifically used to teach this (to allow players to "practice" getting hit without injury). This is a normal part of softball camps that my kids have been to as young as 8.

I can't speak for baseball, so maybe it is the macho thing (kinda like wearing masks which are mandatory for softball in middle and high school from pitcher, 1B and 3B here).

[miami_fan]

Seriously. I was actually trying to look up the concept this afternoon.

Whenever a kid avoids getting hit by a pitch, someone or a few someone's scream from the dugout for the batter to take that, or that we have Tylenol in the dugout or something of that nature. When the batter is hit, the scream is WE EAT THOSE!

It kinda loses its bite when the batter takes 10 minutes to get down to 1st and is still in tears.

[Ksyrup]

Well, in softball that's not absent. Most of the players/coaches/parents will yell to the batter to "WEAR IT" which is the same as "EAT IT." So it's not so much a way to avoid getting hit as it is a way to avoid getting hurt when you can't avoid getting hit.

Also, this differs depending on what organization's rules you are using in softball, but there's generally no requirement that the batter has to make an effort to avoid the pitch. If they are not hanging over the river/plate and they don't move or make an effort to move into the pitch, it's a HBP.

So there's certainly an incentive to "stay in there" in softball, but the technique of rolling away from a ball to avoid injury is taught. Most of the girls wear evoshield and try to get hit on the elbow. But if the ball is coming right at them, they have been taught to roll away from the pitch.

[Atocep]

Originally Posted by Lathum

Lindor becoming the guy the Mets expected when they traded and signed him.

He's fun to watch and this is an actual Mets team that's enjoyable. The Buck Showalter hire is looking fantastic so far.

3 months from now I'm sure the wheels will have fallen off this team and I'll hate everything about it, but I'm going to enjoy it while it lasts.

[Atocep]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

Well, in softball that's not absent. Most of the players/coaches/parents will yell to the batter to "WEAR IT" which is the same as "EAT IT." So it's not so much a way to avoid getting hit as it is a way to avoid getting hurt when you can't avoid getting hit.

Also, this differs depending on what organization's rules you are using in softball, but there's generally no requirement that the batter has to make an effort to avoid the pitch. If they are not hanging over the river/plate and they don't move or make an effort to move into the pitch, it's a HBP.

So there's certainly an incentive to "stay in there" in softball, but the technique of rolling away from a ball to avoid injury is taught. Most of the girls wear evoshield and try to get hit on the elbow. But if the ball is coming right at them, they have been taught to roll away from the pitch.

Yep

Rolling with it accomplishes 2 things. It counts as an attempt to get out of the way and if you do get hit it protects the parts of you that can be injured by serious velo.

The coaches I see that teach it, which is nearly everyone now, teach it not to increase how often players are getting hit but to protect hitters when they do get hit. That plays a big role in removing fear some kids have when they're at the plate.

[miami_fan]

Just as I was typing that something was going on in Houston, Ohtani gave up the Astros' first hit. Just by thinking about it, I jinxed the perfect game

[Atocep]

Joshua Mears, OF, San Diego Padres (High-A Fort Wayne): 3-4, 3 R, 2 2B, HR, 2 RBI, BB.
Blessed with double-plus raw power, Mears has potential to be a future middle-of-the-order masher. His upside is currently being held back by an inability to make consistent contact and a strikeout rate that has flirted with 40% since being drafted. The upside is huge but there’s still a lot of work remaining to be done.

This kid grew up around here and my son played his teams quite a few times over the high school and summer seasons. I've never seen anyone not in the majors hit the ball as hard as he does.

When he was around 14 he was a great athlete playing center and my son's summer coach had watched him play and told me "I think I saw the next Ken Griffey Jr.". Apparently he had made a ridiculous play in center, threw someone out at home, and hit a homer in the span of about 2 innings. By the time he was a senior in HS though he had gotten pretty big and was RF only and at 6'3" 230 it seems he's only gotten bigger.

On a bit of a side note, he's 2 years older than my son and his 18u team was the top ranked travel team in the state and absolutely loaded (2 kids that went top 3 rounds) and numerous D-1 commits. My son's team was 16 playing 18u that year and beat them on a walk off single in their first game that summer.

[stevew]

Sounds intriguing enough to buy some of his 1st Bowman’s.

[Ksyrup]

Baseball in 2022 - Rays have a 7 pitcher no-hitter into the 10th then lose the no-hitter and go down 1-0 because the hit scores the ghost runner.

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

Baseball in 2022 - Rays have a 7 pitcher no-hitter into the 10th then lose the no-hitter and go down 1-0 because the hit scores the ghost runner.

Ugh - that's like Dante's 5th circle of baseball hell

SI

[sterlingice]

Also, I am trying to find a term for stupid fake runner. It's not a ghost runner as that term already exists: it's when someone gets a hit but you're out of players so they have to go back to hit.

Jayson Stark did a whole article on it, but I didn't really like any of his suggestions: https://theathletic.com/2675366/2021...-manfred-mann/

Szymborski has pushed hard for "Zombie Runner"

I kindof like "Unearned Runner".

SI

[stevew]

I thought “Manfred Man” was what people called them.

[Ksyrup]

We are all Kyle Schwarber.

[tarcone]

DeJong is facing the possibility of losing his job (he should). Rumor has Sosa stepping in. But with 2B Nolan Gorman tearing up AAA, I imagine Edman moves to SS and Gorman starts at 2nd.

[tarcone]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

We are all Kyle Schwarber.

Noah Syndergaard disagrees as he tweeted "I'm here for Angel Hernandez strike zone FOREVER.
#AngelsUnite"

[Lathum]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

We are all Kyle Schwarber.

He had clearly had enough....

[Atocep]

This Mets/Cards game has been incredible, but Arenado made one of the worst errors a 3rd baseman can make which resulted in the Mets taking the lead. I have no idea what the hell he was thinking trying to make a throw while off balance after taking 5 steps.