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5 Issues I Favored (Or Didn’t Like) This Week, July 11



Kelley L Cox-Imagn Photos

Welcome to a different version of 5 Issues I Favored (Or Didn’t Like) This Week. As we speak that title is a little bit of a misnomer; I acquired again from trip Monday evening, so I noticed little or no baseball earlier than Tuesday. That stated, I didn’t have to see very a lot to have a good time. This week has been superior. Dwelling runs each mammoth and inside-the-park, nice baserunning by sluggish guys, unhealthy baserunning by sluggish guys, reflex performs and dekes; the record goes on and on. We’d want the All-Star break simply to catch our collective breath earlier than a bustling commerce deadline and dash to the end. For now, although, let’s simply marvel on the week – after my customary nod to Zach Lowe of The Ringer, after all.

1. Unconventional Double Performs
Cody Bellinger has been welcome boost to the Yankees after they acquired him for peanuts over the winter. He’s flashing the offensive prowess that has come and gone through the years, and with Trent Grisham manning middle, he’s enjoying the nook outfield greater than he has up to now. His glove isn’t nearly as good because it was at his peak, however placing a middle fielder in left remains to be a plus in your group protection, because the Mets realized on Sunday. This Juan Soto line drive would have been successful in opposition to nearly anybody else:

Statcast gave it a 25% catch likelihood, and I feel it was most likely even more durable than that. Catch likelihood measures how far Bellinger needed to run and the way a lot time he needed to do it, however that ball was completely scalded and had a lot topspin that it was hooking down laborious within the temporary time it was within the air. He caught it by the very finish of the webbing; “baseball is a sport of inches” is normally concerning the bat hitting the ball or a bang-bang play, however on this case, one inch separated a catch from additional bases:

Oh yeah, then this occurred:

That throw is nearly as good of a play because the catch! At full extension, stretched out awkwardly to safe the ball, Bellinger nonetheless managed to seek out first base on the run and unleash an absolute seed that hit Paul Goldschmidt proper within the glove on the fly. Making that catch was laborious sufficient. Making it with out falling was even more durable. Making it with out falling after which throwing a frozen rope on track? Virtually unthinkable.

Even after that catch, even with that throw, you may surprise why Francisco Lindor acquired doubled off. Partially, he couldn’t imagine anybody might catch that line drive. Partially, too, he acquired deked. Goldschmidt no-sold the play, barely transferring his glove till he completely needed to. This isn’t the physique language of a man determined to show a double play:

That’s not the right angle, however you get the thought. The rhythm of this play, to Lindor, didn’t really feel like the sort the place he’d have to dash and dive again to first. When somebody makes a play that good, you flip round and return, however what are they going to do, unleash an off-balance missile whereas the primary baseman you’re looking at barely strikes? Apparently, sure!

2. Irrational Exuberance
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. shouldn’t be an excellent baserunner. That’s not an opinion. He’s been under common in annually of his main league profession. He has 24 profession steals and has been caught stealing 12 instances. He’s sluggish, and he hits into loads of double performs. However regardless of all that, Vlad likes to run. Give him the prospect, and he’ll take off. Take Wednesday, for instance. Guerrero took benefit of an errant pickoff throw to scamper to second:

You’ve seen that play one million instances. Everybody was fairly relaxed about it; within the sport audio, you possibly can really hear Jays first base coach Mark Budzinski calmly telling Vlad “go forward, go forward.” However the play wasn’t over:

Yeah, don’t try this. I’ve already talked about that Guerrero isn’t fleet of foot, but it surely additionally took him without end to get transferring; acceleration isn’t a energy both. Watch his toes – his first step was really backwards, out into proper discipline. Adrian Houser was on the mistaken facet of the mound, however Vlad simply didn’t have sufficient straight line pace to make it matter. To make issues even worse, that was the third out of the inning, at third base, with Addison Barger — one of many groups’ hottest hitters — on the plate. Towards the White Sox! Don’t do that.

Don’t do that both:

Now, to be truthful, it is a more durable play than earlier than. The underlying trigger, although, is comparable: a perception that baserunning is less complicated than it really is. Elite runners could be protected there. That stated, elite runners are rather a lot quicker, and higher at sliding, they usually’d most likely take two steps to their left to higher block the throwing lane. That ought to be a particularly troublesome throw for a right-handed first baseman, as a substitute of the simple pitch-and-catch that it was. And when you’re useless to rights, effectively, hitting the brakes and retreating is a greater possibility than beginning your slide so early. You most likely received’t survive the rundown, however you may keep in it lengthy sufficient to offer the runner on third time to attain earlier than you’re tagged for the ultimate out of the inning.

To Guerrero’s credit score, he did attempt a nifty maneuver at second that just about rescued the entire thing:

Once more, although, depart the high-difficulty baserunning stunts for the high-talent baserunners. Each of those selections could be wonderful if, say, Trea Turner had made them. Understanding what you possibly can accomplish is a key a part of accruing worth on the bases. Watching what occurs when that essential step doesn’t happen positive is enjoyable for a impartial observer, although.

3. One-up-manship
Kyle Schwarber had himself a sport on Tuesday evening. He went 2-for-4 with a double and a house run, and that homer was outrageous. Not solely did he hit it into McCovey Cove, however he did so roughly flat-footed:

He even confirmed off one other aspect of his sport an inning earlier, swiping second base off a distracted Robbie Ray:

That introduced Schwarber to 9 steals on the yr, with just one caught stealing. He’s one of many slowest runners in baseball, however he understands the correct software of that pace, usually stealing bases off pitchers who overlook about him. He’s not a very good baserunner total, however he’s been selecting good spots to go this yr.

One batter later, although, Schwarber tried to double up on his baserunning feat by swiping third. Enter Patrick Bailey:

Schwarber had a terrific learn on Ray; he acquired a superb leap in a terrific spot to steal, with the batter screening the catcher on the plate. Bailey simply did all the things he had to try this a lot better:

Watch his footwork there. He cleared batter Alec Bohm and acquired his lead foot planted behind the batter’s field whereas he was catching the ball. The catch and switch had been each good, letting him throw in rhythm. The throw? A laser beam to Matt Chapman’s glove for a tag that acquired Schwarber by an inch or two. I don’t suppose Schwarber might have accomplished something higher; he simply acquired beat by maybe the very best defensive catcher within the sport.

Bailey is having a depressing season on the plate, however he even outdid Schwarber there, too. The Schwarbomb within the seventh put the Phillies up 3-1, and the rating stayed there till Bailey batted with one out within the ninth. Then, effectively:

It’s laborious to think about a extra thrilling walk-off than that, and it made for the right kicker to this sport. Positive, Schwarber had a stolen base and two-run homer, however Bailey had a caught stealing and a walk-off, three-run, inside-the-park homer. Actual “something you are able to do I can do higher” vibes.

4. Two-Manner Excellence
Oh, you want inside-the-park residence runs? Northern California has your again:

That’s Lawrence Butler main off the house half of the primary for the A’s with an only-in-Sacramento play. It concerned the ball kicking off of a sequence hyperlink fence part of the wall and eluding the whole Braves outfield. That permit Butler rating even with one of the crucial nonchalant begins to an inside-the-parker you’ll ever see:

That’s the stride of somebody who thought he hit the ball out of the park, however the loopy carom and Butler’s pace made all of it work in the long run. That’s been an indicator of his sport this yr, actually. He’s not the very best defender on this planet, however he’s acquired sufficient vary and instincts to make up for a scattershot arm. He has loads of swing-and-miss in his sport, however he has sufficient plate self-discipline to maintain his strikeouts from capsizing his offensive contributions. He’s a savvy baserunner able to hitting high pace quicker than you’d suppose. And he has sufficient energy to make up for any small flaws elsewhere:

Contained in the park? Exterior the park? Butler has the pace/energy mixture to perform each. He seems like a pleasant constructing block of the subsequent good A’s group – not this yr’s group, after all, however perhaps subsequent yr’s. After 1,000 main league plate appearances, it appears fairly clear that he’s a strong all-around participant however not fairly a star. That’s simply nice for each the contract and the prospect pedigree, although – and as an enormous bonus, he’s tremendously enjoyable to observe. Extra residence runs like these, please.

5. Uncooked Energy
Extra residence runs like these, too. Jac Caglianone was enjoying faculty baseball final yr. The sixth decide within the 2024 draft, he appeared extra like a developmental stash than a plug-and-play star. He performed each methods in faculty, although he was clearly rather a lot higher offensively, and the Royals drafted him with that in thoughts. However he was uncooked, with iffy command of the strike zone and a swing-first mentality that led to ugly swings over sliders.

A whirlwind tour of the minors – 158 wRC+ in Double-A, 164 in Triple-A – satisfied Kansas Metropolis to name him up originally of June. By way of simply over a month of play, the outcomes have been disappointing; Caglianone is hitting .151/.205/.286, for a 31 wRC+. However the outcomes are mendacity. He’s been a lot better than I assumed he’d be, to be fairly sincere. He’s working a 22% strikeout fee, far decrease than I might have anticipated on condition that he’s chasing 41% of the pitches he sees outdoors the strike zone, one of many worst marks within the huge leagues. The stats could be tough, however the course of isn’t; by xwOBA, he’s been about a mean hitter, somewhat than 70% under common, because of his prodigious exit velocities.

In different phrases, over the long term. Caglianone goes to hit for lots of energy. He’s already hitting the ball very laborious, actually, he simply hasn’t fairly harnessed that into doubles and dingers. However oh my god, have you ever seen what it seems like when he will get sizzling? Tuesday evening, he did this:

If you wish to know the way scalded that ball was, watch the outfielders. These are courtesy jogs, not “perhaps I can get this one” sprints. That was 114 mph off the bat, the form of residence run that solely the Judges and Stantons of the world can constantly pull off. Once you hit the ball that low (19 levels), it’s laborious to go away the stadium. Caglianone is a part of that group of elite energy hitters already.

One hard-hit ball typically begets one other. His outcomes to date have been poor, however he’s clearly near unlocking one thing. When you depart a pitch over the center of the plate in opposition to Caglianone, it’s going to journey a great distance. Have a look at this nonsense from the subsequent day:

That’s not an inexpensive place to hit a house run. It went 466 toes, some actual Bo Jackson stuff. I had the quantity cranked up on this sport, and the crack of the bat was so thunderous that the whole crowd went “ooooh” in unison. He won’t have hit that ball fairly as laborious because the earlier one, however he acquired it on the good angle and nonetheless tattooed it. His energy binges are park-proof; Kaufmann Stadium is the stingiest stadium in baseball for left-handed energy hitters, however if you happen to hit the ball as laborious as Caglianone does, it doesn’t matter the place the fence is.

I didn’t suppose Caglianone was going to hit the majors this rapidly. I’m nonetheless form of shocked at how effectively he’s tailored to huge league pitching; he’s getting attacked relentlessly on the within a part of the plate and chasing 40% of the time, and but nonetheless working affordable strikeout charges. However I’m by no means shocked at how enjoyable he’s to observe – and I can’t anticipate extra rainmaking residence runs, and extra mob film celebrations within the dugout:



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