Colton Cowser is a number one contender for American League Rookie of the 12 months honors, and his energy numbers are among the many the explanation why. The 24-year-old Baltimore Orioles outfielder has 20 dwelling runs to go along with a .240/.321/.431 slash line and a 115 wRC+. San Diego’s Jackson Merrill (23) is the one rookie in both league to have left the yard extra occasions.
That Cowser is clearing fences with some regularity is in some ways unsurprising. At a listed 6-foot-2, 220 kilos, his construct is that of a basher. That mentioned, his profile going ahead wasn’t totally clear when he was first featured right here at FanGraphs in February 2022. Drafted fifth general the earlier summer season out of Sam Houston State College, Cowser had propelled only a pair of baseballs over outfield limitations in 149 low-level plate appearances. Furthermore, as I associated to him in our offseason dialog, Baseball America had not too long ago cited his “spectacular walk-to-strikeout ratio,” including that his swing path is “presently extra geared towards contact versus energy.”
The numbers counsel that Cowser is now not the identical model of hitter. After having extra free passes than Ks in faculty and in his first style {of professional} motion, the left-handed-swinging slugger has fanned a team-worst 157 occasions this season with a 30.5% strikeout fee and a 9.5% stroll fee. He’s additionally hitting extra balls within the air, as evidenced by his 38.2 FB%. That quantity was simply 26.9 in his two-plus years down on the farm.
Cowser’s ideas on making much less contact as he settles in to what guarantees to be a productive MLB profession?
“I’d wish to nonetheless be bat-to-ball,” Cowser instructed me final week when the Orioles visited Fenway Park. “However I additionally wish to take my probabilities each as soon as in awhile. I don’t assume I’ve essentially tried to alter something, it’s extra that some changes have occurred right here and there.”
Requested to elaborate, Cowser defined that he’s entering into his legs higher — “that permits for extra adjustability” — and isn’t as tall in his stance. One other significant tweak, which came to visit the offseason, has been the place he positions his palms.
“They’d sort of get caught again right here,” mentioned Cowser, imaginarily gripping a bat along with his palms towards the again of his left shoulder. “We made it some extent to attempt to preserve them in entrance of me. I assume technically that was a swing change, however I didn’t actually really feel prefer it was. However yeah, I believe the large factor was protecting my palms in a constant place. That’s helped permit me to sync up my legs and my higher physique.”
Which brings us again to his elevated strikeout numbers. Elevated energy is an apparent plus, however is he involved with the Ks?
“They’re the identical as ground-outs, however I do hope to dial them again,” mentioned Cowser. “I’m additionally nonetheless studying quite a bit at this degree. Typically after I’m shifting actually effectively I believe that I can hit each pitch. In actuality, that’s not the case. Dialing them again can be an offseason mission for me. Proper now I’m simply attempting to complete robust and get by the yr.”
For Cowser and the Orioles, the yr may very properly final till the top of October. His contributions are one of many causes they’re the place they’re.
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RANDOM HITTER-PITCHER MATCHUPS
Craig Biggio went 2 for 15 in opposition to Brandon Duckworth.
Norm Siebern went 2 for 15 in opposition to Jim Duckworth.
Duke Kenworthy went 2 for 4 in opposition to Ducky Yount.
Ducky Detweiler went 2 for 7 in opposition to Carl Hubbell.
Ducky Holmes went 2 for 26 in opposition to Addie Joss.
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Tarik Skubal is 16-4 with a 2.53 ERA and a 2.54 FIP over 174 innings. Emmanuel Clase has 43 saves to go along with a 0.68 ERA and a 2.27 FIP over 66 innings. Which ones would get your AL Cy Younger Award vote?
I requested that query in a Twitter ballot earlier this week (each hurlers have since taken the mound) and the end result was a landslide. The Detroit Tigers starter garnered a hefty 83.1% of the votes forged, whereas the Guardians nearer obtained a paltry 16.9%.
How do their respective numbers examine with these of 2003 NL Cy Younger Award winner Eric Gagne and runner-up Jason Schmidt? Glad you requested.
Gagne, who obtained 28 of the 32 first-place votes that yr, had 55 saves to go along with a 1.20 ERA and a 0.86 FIP over 82-and-a-third innings. Schmidt went 17-5 with a 2.34 ERA and a 2.64 FIP over 207-and-two-thirds innings.
Under no circumstances am I suggesting that 2003’s NL voting ought to have any bearing on this yr’s AL voting. It’s also value noting that two weeks stay within the present marketing campaign. These issues mentioned, I discover the comparability fascinating.
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A.J. Hinch fielded questions on Jim Leyland when the Corridor of Fame supervisor was feted at Comerica Park final month, and whereas doing so he introduced up how he enjoys discussing, after the actual fact, in-game strikes with the erstwhile skipper. I requested Hinch how that dynamic usually performs out.
“A part of the fraternity of managers and ex-managers is realizing that we now have extra info [than they do] on the time we make choices,” he replied. “Now we have to clarify these choices primarily based on the outcomes. That might be the dilemma final night time of sending Tarik again out at 90 pitches. There are pre-scenarios. If I take Tarik out and an implosion occurs, the questions are going to be, ‘Why didn’t I ship Tarik out?’ You ship Tarik out, he will get into hassle, then I take him out… that’s the query I bought final night time. You ship Tarik again out and he punches out three, the stadium erupts, and we come again and win that sport, the questions are totally different.
“It’s a must to sit on this chair to actually recognize the dilemmas that go into choices that influence the sport, that influence the gamers. The followup conversations are far more fascinating than the questions that I’ve to reply from [the media]. And the conversations with Tarik go to an entire different degree.”
Being a fly on the wall for Hinch’s conversations with Skubal and Leyland alike could be certainly be fascinating.
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A quiz:
Which participant holds the Montreal Expos/Washington Nationals franchise file for stolen bases in a single season? (A touch: he led the Detroit Tigers in steals six occasions.)
The reply may be discovered beneath.
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NEWS NOTES
Ed Kranepool, a member of the New York Mets for the group’s first 18 seasons (1962-1979) died final Sunday at age 79. A primary baseman/outfielder who logged 1,419 hits, together with 119 dwelling runs, Kranepool performed in 1,853 video games, essentially the most in franchise historical past.
Worcester Purple Sox broadcaster Tyler Murray has been employed as the brand new radio play-by-play voice of the NBA’s New York Knicks. The 34-year-old Murray is the most recent in what was as soon as the Pawtucket pipeline, with Boston’s former Triple-A affiliate having graduated a baker’s dozen broadcasters — Gary Cohen, Andy Freed, and Don Orsillo are among the many notables — to MLB and the NFL The affiliate was relocated following the 2019 season.
SABR will host a reside oral historical past interview, by way of Zoom, with Ken Singleton this coming Wednesday, September 18, at 7:30 EST. Extra info may be discovered right here.
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The reply to the quiz is Ron LeFlore, who swiped 97 bases with the Expos in 1980, his solely season with Montreal. The speedy outfielder led Detroit in steals annually from 1974-1979.
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Yan Gomes was launched by the Chicago Cubs in late June and hasn’t since caught on with one other group. At age 37, his 13-year MLB profession may properly be over. If that’s the case, Gomes has quite a bit to be pleased with. Not solely has the veteran backstop performed in 1,118 big-league video games and received a World Collection ring with the Washington Nationals in 2019, he by no means had expectations of reaching the head of his career. When the Toronto Blue Jays chosen him within the Tenth spherical of the 2009 draft out of Miami, Florida’s Barry College, the native of São Paulo, Brazil had scant thought of what the long run would possibly maintain.
“It wasn’t till in all probability a yr earlier than that that I even thought I’d play professional baseball,” Gomes instructed me earlier this season. “I grew up in a unique nation and didn’t even know what that regarded like. I got here [to the United States] after I was 12 and baseball was a sport I simply performed. I didn’t know quite a bit about it. I didn’t know what the trajectory was speculated to appear to be after I bought drafted. My first yr was within the New York-Penn League and I had no concept that’s what the stepping stones have been speculated to be like.”
All these years later, is he in any respect stunned to nonetheless be enjoying?
“No,” Gomes mentioned in our late-April dialog. “It’s one thing the place you be taught to hold round and benefit from the sport, being grateful for the alternatives to be right here. You simply preserve working laborious. I’m pleased with successful a World Collection, catching some guys who received Cy Younger awards. Taking part in a very long time isn’t one thing I imagined being within the image, however doing so, and with the ability to present for my household, has been nice. This sport has handled me properly. I’m going to maintain enjoying for so long as the sport retains calling me again.”
Whether or not one other name comes stays to be seen. Both approach, Gomes is by far one of the best of the 5 Brazilian-born gamers in MLB historical past.
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FOREIGN AFFAIRS
Taylor Hearn has made 29 reduction appearances for Hiroshima Carp and has allowed 14 hits and 4 runs over 29 innings. The 30-year-old left-hander is in his first NPB season after pitching for the Texas Rangers and, briefly, the Atlanta Braves and Kansas Metropolis Royals.
Hiroto Takahashi has allowed only one dwelling run this season, that to Yakult Swallows slugger Munetaka Murakami. The 22-year-old Chunichi Dragons right-hander is 12-3 with a 1.14 ERA and 125 strikeouts in 134-and-two-thirds innings.
Tokyo-based baseball scribe Jim Allen not too long ago wrote the next in his e-newsletter about 23-year-old Orix Buffaloes southpaw Hiroya Miyagi: “Miyagi’s four-seamer on Sunday was a carbon copy of Shota Imanaga’s. Coming from a lefty with a very good splitter, changeup and curve, that fastball was a factor of magnificence.”
Norichika Aoki will reportedly retire on the finish of the season. The 42-year-old Yakult Swallows outfielder has 2,765 skilled hits, together with 1,949 in NPB and 774 in MLB.
Chris Carter has slashed .260/.399/.537 with 17 dwelling runs for a pair of Mexican League groups this season. The 37-year-old former A’s, Astros, Brewers, and Yankees first baseman has 488 skilled dwelling runs, together with 158 in MLB.
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A random obscure participant snapshot:
Miguel Diloné was a speedster who had one huge season. A switch-hitting outfielder who performed in 800 video games and had 2,000 at-bats from 1974-1985, he logged 180 of his 530 profession hits for the Cleveland Indians in 1980 whereas slashing .341/.375/.432. He additionally gathered 61 of his 267 stolen bases that yr, third-most within the junior circuit behind Rickey Henderson (100) and Willie Wilson (79). Counting his minor league numbers — Diloné had 399 thefts down on the farm — he completed his skilled profession with 666 stolen bases.
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A Dwight Evans autobiography got here out this summer season, and never surprisingly Dewey: Behind the Gold Glove (co-written by Erik Sherman) is an effective learn. An early tidbit within the ebook tells how the erstwhile Boston Purple Sox stalwart bought his nickname. It was given to him within the minor leagues by Don Lock, a former outfielder who was his supervisor within the Carolina League.
“He began calling me Dewey as a result of we had a pitcher named Don Newhauser whom he already known as Newey,” defined Evans, who has a very good Corridor of Fame argument. “And we had a Latin participant whom he nicknamed Louie. So, it was Newey, Louie, and Dewey.”
As readers of a sure age know, Huey, Dewey, and Louie have been the cartoon character nephews of Donald Duck.
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FARM NOTES
Daniel Flames slashed .329/.529/.400 with a 171 wRC+ over 245 plate appearances within the Dominican Summer time League. The 17-year-old shortstop was signed by the Texas Rangers out of Venezuela in February.
Nick Morabito led all New York Mets farmhands in batting common (.312), OBP (.403), wRC+ (135), and stolen bases (59). A second-round decide within the 2022 draft out of a Washington DC highschool, the 21-year-old outfielder homered 4 occasions over 528 PAs between Low-A St. Lucie and Excessive-A Brooklyn.
Rikuu Nishida is slashing .304/.418/.362 with one dwelling run over 587 plate appearances throughout Low-A Kannapolis, Excessive-A Winston Salem, and most not too long ago Double-A Birmingham (six video games). An Eleventh-round decide final yr out of the College of Oregon, the 23-year-old native of Osaka, Japan has swiped 49 bases.
Edgardo Henriquez has a 39.3% strikeout fee to go along with a 2.77 ERA and a 2.69 FIP over 52 innings throughout 4 ranges within the Los Angeles Dodgers system. At the moment in Triple-A. the 22-year-old right-hander missed final season after present process Tommy John surgical procedure.
Isaac Coffey is 11-4 with a 3.17 ERA, a 3.82 FIP, and a 30.0% strikeout fee over 113-and-two-thirds innings for the Double-A Portland Sea Canines. The 24-year-old right-hander within the Boston Purple Sox system has 23 HBPs, second-most within the minors.
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Matt Hicks shared a very good story right here in Sunday Notes a handful of weeks in the past. Wanting again at his days as a minor league broadcaster, the now radio voice of the Texas Rangers instructed of how in 1991 a Carolina League pitcher threw a no-hitter, then gave up dwelling runs to the primary 4 batters he confronted in his subsequent outing.
As we speak we’ll hear from Hicks on two different video games he was behind the mic for.
“I used to be broadcasting in El Paso and we performed a sport in Midland at their outdated ballpark, which was an outdated facility,” recalled Hicks. “I don’t bear in mind the precise yr — it was 1996 or 1997, or perhaps 1998 — however we have been beating Midland 16-4 once they got here as much as bat within the backside of the eighth. They scored 13 runs to take a 17-16 lead., then we scored twice within the ninth to go up 18-17. We held on to win by that rating. Giving up 13 runs within the eighth and nonetheless successful the sport was insane.”
“One other time I known as a sport in Corpus Christi that went 20 innings. It was 2-2 after 9 and it stayed 2-2 all the best way to the twentieth inning. I believe the opposite group was Wichita. They scored 5 runs within the prime of the twentieth and we misplaced 7-2. By the top we had place gamers pitching. The pitcher for Wichita was their first baseman, who tossed two shutout innings.”
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LINKS YOU’LL LIKE
David Neft performed a main function within the creation of The Baseball Encyclopedia. John Thorn has the story in his Pioneers Collection at Our Recreation.
The Athletic’s Tyler Kepner wrote about MLB’s unlucky and embarrassing determination to position an advert on batting helmets through the forthcoming postseason (subscription required)
MLB.com’s Michael Claire launched us to Pittsburgh Pirates pitching prospect Alessandro Ercolani, who hails from San Marino, one of many smallest nations on this planet.
The quantity 18 is important to Japanese pitchers. Travis Sawchik defined why at The Rating.
Kiwoom Heroes nearer Seung Woo Ju is flourishing in opposition to NPB hitters due to added confidence and a brand new pitch. Jeeho Yoo wrote about the 24-year-old right-hander for the Yonhap Information Company.
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RANDOM FACTS AND STATS
Luis Arraez and Matt Olson have 627 and 625 plate appearances respectively. Arraez has 158 singles, 32 extra-base hits, and 26 strikeouts. Olson has 70 singles, 62 extra-base hits, and 159 strikeouts.
The Washington Nationals have had 23 totally different gamers steal a base this season. That’s the most for a group because the 1917 Pittsburgh Pirates.
Manny Machado hit his 164th dwelling run as a San Diego Padre earlier this week, passing Nate Colbert for essentially the most in franchise historical past. An unique Padre — the enlargement membership joined the NL in 1969 — Colbert performed six seasons in San Diego and made three All-Star groups.
Not together with the franchise’s inaugural 1969 season because the Seattle Pilots, the Milwaukee Brewers have received 2,136 video games as an American League group and a couple of,101 video games as a Nationwide League group. That is is the membership’s twenty seventh season within the senior circuit. They performed 28 seasons (because the Brewers) within the junior circuit.
The Cleveland Spiders infamously went 20-134 in 1899. That they had successful information in every of the seven earlier seasons.
In 1968, Bob Gibson had a 1.12 ERA over 304-and-two-thirds innings, and eight.6 WAR. In 1970, he had a 3.12 ERA over 294 innings, and 9.8 WAR.
On right this moment’s date in 1969, Steve Carlton fanned a career-best 19 batters however took the loss because the St. Louis Cardinals fell to the New York Mets by a depend of 4-3. Ron Swoboda’s two-run homer within the eighth inning was the distinction.
On right this moment’s date in 1977, the Kansas Metropolis Royals stretched their successful streak to a franchise file 16 sport with a double-header sweep of the Oakland Athletics. Al Cowens’s Tenth-inning, walk-off dwelling run settled the nightcap.
Gamers born on right this moment’s date embody Frank Linzy, a right-hander who appeared in 516 video games and was credited with 62 wins and 110 saves whereas pitching for 4 groups, primarily the San Francisco Giants, from 1963-1974. Notable among the many Fort Gibson, Oklahoma native’s wins was a five-inning effort in reduction of one other pitcher who was born on right this moment’s date. Gaylord Perry labored the primary 16 innings because the Giants beat the Cincinnati Reds 1-0 on September 1, 1967.
Additionally born on right this moment’s date was Henry Peploski, a local of Garlin, Poland whose profession comprised six video games and two hits in 10 at-bats for the Boston Braves in 1929. The second of six Polish-born gamers in MLB historical past — Moe Drabowsky, who pitched from 1956-1972, is the latest — Peploski singled off of Pittsburgh’s Burleigh Grimes in his first-ever plate look.
