The Miami Marlins are coming off of a 100-loss season, and an absence of bats had rather a lot to do with that. The NL East membership scored the fewest runs within the senior circuit. The arms weren’t all that significantly better — solely the Colorado Rockies allowed extra runs — however there’s mild on the finish of the tunnel. Sandy Alcantara and Eury Pérez are on observe to return from Tommy John surgical procedure, whereas Jesús Luzardo and Max Meyer must be wholesome following comparably minor accidents. Furthermore, the group’s high pitching prospects have excessive ceilings. Pitching — particularly younger pitching — is the group’s best power.
Miami’s President of Baseball Operations largely agreed with that opinion after I offered it to him ultimately month’s GM Conferences in San Antonio.
“I feel so,” Peter Bendix advised me. “I hope so. We’ve got loads of guys I’m actually enthusiastic about. I feel that subsequent 12 months loads of these guys have issues to show, whether or not that’s well being, bouncing again from a disappointing season, simply establishing themselves, or constructing on what they did final 12 months.”
A pair of pitchers who’re possible a number of years away from reaching the large leagues stand out. One in every of them is is a now-20-year-old southpaw whom the Marlins drafted thirty fifth total in 2023 out of Andover, Massachusetts’s Phillips Academy.
“Thomas White is perhaps one of the best left-handed pitching prospect in baseball,” stated Bendix, whose opinion is under no circumstances singular (Noah Schultz and one or two others are additionally within the dialog). “Should you have a look at left-handed pitchers who have been 19 years previous, missed as many bats as he did, didn’t stroll guys, restricted exhausting contact, throw 95-plus, have a plus breaking ball, and have command, it’s a brief record. Now it’s his job to go on the market construct on that, see what he can he can do with one other full 12 months beneath him.”
White, who was featured right here at FanGraphs again in August, had a 2.81 ERA and a 29.2% strikeout fee over 96 innings between Low-A Jupiter and Excessive-A Beloit. After which there’s the still-19-year-old right-hander whom Miami drafted tenth total in 2023. Noble Meyer wasn’t statistically nearly as good as White between these two ranges — a 4.01 ERA and a 26.8% strikeout fee —however his upside is each bit as excessive.
“Noble Meyer has implausible stuff,” stated Bendix. “He had a little bit little bit of an up and down season, however all the instruments are there for him to be glorious. Now it’s about him making a few of these changes and seeing if he can take that subsequent step.”
As Marlins followers are nicely conscious, remaining wholesome is arguably the most important step of all. Pérez is a good instance, having gone beneath the knife at age 20 as he was rising as top-of-the-line younger pitchers in MLB. And whereas he’s anticipated to return to full type — fingers are crossed — Sixto Sánchez is a scarier instance. No. 17 on our 2019 High 100 Prospects record shortly after Miami acquired him from the Philadelphia Phillies because the centerpiece of the J.T. Realmuto commerce, Sánchez — on the time referred to as “one of the crucial gifted pitching prospects on Earth” — subsequently had a pair of shoulder surgical procedures. Now with no crew at age 26, and with simply 74-and-two-thirds innings of restricted big-league success beneath his belt, his future is in limbo.
Thomas White and Noble Meyer each have an opportunity to develop into elite starters. and if all goes to plan, so do Eury Pérez and 25-year-old Max Meyer. Sandy Alcantara has already confirmed that when wholesome he can entrance any rotation. Pitching is clearly the power of the group, albeit with a caveat: There are not any ensures in terms of arms.
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RANDOM HITTER-PITCHER MATCHUPS
Christian Walker is 9 for 19 towards Zack Wheeler.
Alex Bregman is 7 for 20 towards Yusei Kikuchi.
Tommy Edman is 5 for 30 towards Kyle Hendricks.
Max Muncy is 1 for 18 towards Blake Snell.
Mookie Betts is 1 for 18 towards Max Fried.
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The Tampa Bay Rays entrance workplace has a well-earned fame for making good choices that assist preserve the membership aggressive regardless of perennially-low payrolls. Erik Neander performs a key function. Since becoming a member of the group in 2007, the 41-year-old government has held titles together with Vice President of Baseball Operations, Senior Vice President/Common Supervisor, and, for the previous three years, President of Baseball Operations.
Neander is used to being requested concerning the secret sauce that has allowed for 9 playoff berths within the final 17 seasons, and he acquired that query once more through the GM Conferences.
“We’ve got lots of people who’ve been collectively for a very long time, and we’re simply attempting to do it higher tomorrow than we did right this moment,” replied Neander, whose crew’s payroll has by no means escaped MLB’s backside third throughout his time in Tampa. “We take that crystal ball and attempt to incrementally enhance it, resolution after resolution after resolution… We by no means assume now we have this factor discovered. We’ve saved notes from prior conferences — 5, 10, 15 years in the past — they usually’re horrible. The purpose for 5 years from now, if I’m lucky sufficient to nonetheless be right here doing this, is that we glance again at our ideas on what is smart right this moment, and assume we’re idiots.”
The Virginia Tech graduate elaborated on his witty self-deprecation, explaining that how the sport is known continues to evolve. As he put it, “The best way that we take into consideration baseball, what we predict issues most, how we function our techniques and processes, the know-how we use…. as we go alongside, it’s all-encompassing.”
In accordance with the exec, scouting not solely stays an integral a part of the combo, it as necessary as ever. Neander stated that the variety of boots-on-the-ground scouts the group employs has remained largely static over the previous decade or so. Furthermore, whereas there’s “extra information within the recreation, extra data sources that assist you make higher choices, there are loads of methods scouting views could be added to that… The group’s affect might be as nice now because it has been in my tenure right here.”
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A quiz:
Babe Ruth had 2,214 RBIs, essentially the most in MLB historical past for a left-handed hitter. Which left-handed hitter has the second-most RBIs?
The reply could be discovered beneath.
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NEWS NOTES
Matt Pierpont is becoming a member of the St. Louis Cardinals as their new director of pitching. The 33-year-old erstwhile Mariners farmhand has been serving as Seattle’s minor league pitching coordinator for the previous two seasons.
The Miami Marlins have employed Daniel Moskos as their new pitching coach. The 38-year-old former Pittsburgh Pirates southpaw, who spent the final three seasons as an assistant pitching coach with the Chicago Cubs, was featured right here at FanGraphs in June 2020 as he was transitioning from the enjoying subject to a training function.
John Baker is reportedly being moved from his farm director function — his title has been Director of Teaching and Participant Improvement — into a brand new place with the Pittsburgh Pirates. The 43-year-old former catcher will reportedly oversee areas resembling sports activities science, power and conditioning, and psychological expertise.
Bob Kelly, a right-hander who toed the rubber for 3 golf equipment — the Chicago Cubs, Cincinnati Reds, and Cleveland Indians — from 1951-1958, died earlier this week at age 97. A Cleveland native who attended Case Western Reserve College, Kelly was credited with 12 wins, all however one them with the Cubs.
Rico Carty, a local of San Pedro de Macoris who performed 15 big-league seasons, eight of them with with Milwaukee/Atlanta Braves, died final weekend at age 85. The Nationwide League batting champion in 1970 when he slashed .366/.454/.584 with 25 residence runs for Atlanta, Carty completed his injury-marred profession with 1,677 hits and a 132 wRC+.
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The reply to the quiz is Barry Bonds, with 1,996 RBIs. Should you guessed Lou Gehrig, “The Iron Horse” had 1,995, only one fewer than Bonds. Stan “The Man” Musial is subsequent on the record with 1,951.
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Matt Bowman and Davis Martin broke down the kick change in a bit that ran right here at FanGraphs again in September, with the previous explaining how the pitch is characteristically much like the cut up change. The first function behind the choices was addressed by the latter, who identified that “It’s mainly for supinators. I’ve by no means been a pronator… pronating may be very unnatural for us from a physiological standpoint.”
Left on the cutting-room ground from my dialog with Bowman have been his ideas on what he sees as a pattern.
“I feel supinators are having a second with pitching,” opined Bowman, who completed the season pitching out of the Baltimore Orioles bullpen. “You may in all probability do a number of extra issues with pronators. Supinators, you’re going to must give you a really environment friendly fastball, after which perhaps a Devin Williams-type pitch to pronate. I feel there are much more supinators within the recreation proper now, and due to this fact the cut up change is kind of a pure addition to their arsenals. One, they’re going to be able to doing it, and two, it suits in properly inside their arsenals. Supinators are often going to have glove-side motion, and this enables them to get depth, and generally horizontal to the arm aspect.”
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FOREIGN AFFAIRS
Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks outfielder Kensuke Kondoh was named MVP of NPB’s Pacific League. The 31-year-old former catcher slashed .314/.439/.521 with 19 residence runs. In the meantime, Tomoyuki Sugano, who’s hoping to signal with an MLB crew this winter, was named MVP in NPB’s Central League. The 35-year-old right-hander went 15-3 with a 1.67 ERA.
José Abreu is 16-for-56 with 4 residence runs for the Puerto Rican Winter League’s Senadores de San Juan. The 37-year-old erstwhile Chicago White Sox slugger was launched by the Houston Astros final June.
Hyungchan Um is 15-for-39 with three residence runs for the Australian Baseball League’s Brisbane Bandits. A local of Seoul, South Korea, the 20-year-old catcher within the Kansas Metropolis Royals system had eight residence runs and a 111 wRC+ over 314 plate appearances between the Arizona Advanced League and Low-A Columbia.
Arturo Disla is 15-for-39 with 4 residence runs for the ABL’s Melbourne Aces. A local of La Vega, Dominican Republic, who was signed as a non-drafted free agent out of Wayland Baptist College in 2023, the 24-year-old first baseman within the Texas Rangers group had 19 residence runs and a 135 wRC+ between Low-A Down East and Excessive-A Hickory.
Jack Mahoney has thrown 17 scoreless innings for the ABL’s Canberra Cavalry. A local of Appleton, Wisconsin who hasn’t performed affiliated ball stateside, the 25-year-old left-hander had a 3.45 ERA over 60 innings this summer season with the unbiased Frontier League’s Windy Metropolis ThunderBolts.
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A random obscure former participant snapshot:
All 14 gamers with extra profession triples than Ed Konetchy are within the Corridor of Fame. The La Crosse, Wisconsin native logged 182 three-baggers whereas enjoying for six groups from 1907-1921, with simply over half of them coming with the St. Louis Cardinals. One of many high first basemen within the deadball period, Konetchy by no means led the league in that class, though he did have an NL-best 38 doubles in 1911. All advised, he had 2,150 hits to go together with a .281/.346/.403 slash line, and a 119 wRC+. Greater than only a productive hitter, “Massive Ed” was additionally an elite defender, main all gamers at his place in assists, putouts, and fielding proportion quite a few occasions. His 49.3 WAR are greater than the 48.1 compiled by Corridor of Fame first baseman Frank Likelihood, one among his deadball period contemporaries.
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Followers of the Milwaukee Brewers can be particularly inquisitive about an interview that’s slated to run right here at FanGraphs tomorrow. Within the newest installment of my Talks Hitting collection, Brenton Del Chiaro won’t solely talk about hitting-development philosophies, he’ll deal with a number of of the group’s high place participant prospects. Not too long ago promoted to assistant director of participant improvement, Del Chiaro has served as Milwaukee’s minor league hitting coordinator for the previous three seasons.
As a teaser to tomorrow’s piece, I put aside what Del Chiaro needed to say about highly-regarded catching prospect Jeferson Quero, who had season-ending surgical procedure to restore a torn labrum in his proper shoulder this previous April. As destiny would have it, Quero was injured within the first recreation of the 2024 marketing campaign.
“We missed that bat this 12 months, I’ll let you know that a lot,” Del Chiaro advised me. “It was an unlucky damage. This is among the gamers in our org that has the flexibility to place the barrel on the baseball. And he’s a real competitor. Bear-sized fingers; they’re monumental. The bat is within the zone for a very long time; there’s loads of depth by the zone. His capacity to sq. up a baseball is what units him other than different catchers, or from different gamers usually. We’re hoping that there’s a speedy restoration and we get that bat again on observe.”
In accordance with the assistant director, hitting improvement differs considerably for gamers at Quero’s place. Because of the multitude of defensive obligations, solely a lot time could be dedicated to honing what occurs within the batter’s field.
“Managing the workload might be precedence primary,” stated Del Chiaro. “While you get a premier batsman like Jeferson, who performs a premium place, the tweaks are going to be smaller. It’s going to be dosed rather a lot smaller than it’s going to be for an outfielder or a primary baseman. A catcher’s workload is one thing it’s a must to account for. Should you can’t handle that workload, you’re going to bury that participant.”
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LINKS YOU’LL LIKE
Paul Hoynes has coated Cleveland’s baseball membership for 4 many years, and now he’s a finalist for the BBWAA’s Lifetime Achievement Award. Terry Pluto wrote about the longtime beat author’s [still ongoing] profession, together with the time “Hoynsie” ended up in a brawl with Mel Corridor, at Cleveland.com.
The Nationwide Baseball Corridor of Fame misplaced $1.26 million in 2023, ending a 12 months within the purple for the primary time in a decade. Barry Bloom has the story at Sportico.
The Rating’s Nick Faris wrote about the Border League, which united baseball and hockey icons — Corridor of Fame defenseman Doug Harvey win a batting title with the league’s Ottawa Senators — from 1946-1951.
MLB.com’s Sarah Langs handled us with the seven oddest stat traces for successful pitchers in 2024.
Baseball America’s J.J. Cooper and Geoff Pontes teamed up for a Rule-5 Draft Preview that listed quite a few names to know.
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RANDOM FACTS AND STATS
Joe Glenn caught for the New York Yankees from 1932-1938, then performed one 12 months every with the St. Louis Browns and the Boston Pink Sox. In 1933, he was behind the plate when Babe Ruth made his remaining pitching look. In 1940, he was behind the plate when Ted Williams made his solely pitching look.
In 1947, Edward Submit went 19-8 with a 2.02 ERA for the Ohio State League’s Muncie Reds, whereas his youthful brother teammate, Wally Submit, went 17-7 with a 3.33 ERA. Edward ended up not making it to the large leagues. Wally did, however as an outfielder. Taking part in primarily for the Cincinnati Reds in a profession that spanned the 1949-1964 seasons, Wally Submit popped 210 homers, together with 40 in 1955 and 36 in 1956. He went 6-for-18 with a house run for the Reds within the 1961 World Sequence.
Luis Tiant went 9-0 with a 2.08 ERA over 78 innings in 11 profession begins towards the Toronto Blue Jays.
In 2006, Juan Pierre had 204 hits and a .292 batting common. In 1936, Luke Appling had 204 hits and a .388 batting common,
Juan Soto hit 41 residence runs and scored 128 runs in his one season [so far] with the New York Yankees. He hit 41 residence runs and scored 128 runs in his one-plus seasons with the San Diego Padres.
Houston’s Nationwide League franchise formally modified its title from the Colt .45s to the Astros on right this moment’s date in 1964.
On right this moment’s date in 1970, the Boston Pink Sox acquired 36-year-old shortstop Luis Aparicio from the Chicago White Sox in trade for Mike Andrews and Luis Alvarado. Aparicio went on to play three seasons in Boston and would end his 18-year profession with 2,677 hits and 506 stolen bases (he led the circuit in thefts 9 occasions). Together with incomes AL Rookie of the 12 months honors in 1956, he had 10 All-Star seasons and was awarded 9 Gold Gloves.
Gamers born on right this moment’s date embody Pink Badgro, an outfielder who batted .257 over 422 plate appearances for the St. Louis Browns throughout the 1929-1930 seasons. A member of the Professional Soccer Corridor of Fame who’d been a multi-sport star on the College of Southern California, Badgro performed within the NFL from 1927-1936, primarily for the New York Giants.
Additionally born on right this moment’s date was Junie Barnes, a left-handed pitcher who confronted one batter in every of his two big-league appearances, each with the Cincinnati Reds in 1934. A Linwood, North Carolina native whose given title was Junie Shoaf, Barnes issued a bases-loaded, walk-off stroll in his debut. He induced a bases-loaded, inning-ending groundout in his different outing.
Groups within the 1913 Cotton State League included the Clarksdale Swamp Angels, Columbus Pleasure Riders, and Jackson Lawmakers. Rags Faircloth and Slim Love have been among the many future big-leaguers who performed within the league that season.
