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May 08, 2013

What nobody is talking about

There are plenty of hot topics in baseball today, a sampling of which includes:

{exp:list_maker}Justin Upton is killing the ball while his brother, B.J., is getting killed.
The Red Sox and Yankees are 1-2 in the American League East, just as God—or at least ESPN—intended it, while the Blue Jays absorbed the Marlins' big payroll obligations yet continue to absorb loss after loss.
Those same Yankees have compiled one of baseball's better records while nearly $100 million in payroll sits on the disabled list.
Roy Halladay has looked, at best, mortal, at worst, mostly dead, and now he's on the DL.
Los Angeles' two franchises are scuffling along with sub-.500 records despite adding making major salary outlays over the winter.
Strikeouts, strikeouts, strikeouts! Oh, the humanity, strikeouts everywhere!!!{/exp:list_maker}
While all of these stories and many others are quite deserving of the coverage they've received, there's one story that seems to have all but evaporated in terms of the attention it's getting now compared to before the season started.
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Posted by: Greg Simons

March 29, 2013

Mark Appel: What the heck happened?

In my last year's article about Stanford right-hander Mark Appel, I said:

...I kept thinking to myself, "If you have a 96-98 mph heater but can't reliably command it, do you really have it at all?" It's to his credit that he has the intelligence and humbleness to understand when he can't throw his best bolt where he needs it, but that's a trait you want to see from the fringe guys who have to maximize their stuff, not necessarily big-time prospects.

Well, take a look at his 2012 stats vs. his 2013 stats so far:

2012: 2.56 ERA, 0.22 HR/9, 2.2 BB/9, 9.51 K/9
2013: 1.18 ERA, 0.24 HR/9, 1.66 BB/9, 12.79 K/9

Though Pac-12 play is still in the early stages, Stanford's schedule has not been a cakewalk. As of March 29, it ranks 78th in all of Division-I.

What changed?

I've been watching Stanford games on the Internet, and the only mechanical difference between 2013 and 2012 is that Appel is a little faster to the plate and has a bit better rhythm. That would dovetail nicely with the reports I hear from pro scouts about his average velocity being up a tick, more like 94-96 rather than 92-94 with your occasional bolt. I've heard that he's been throwing his four-seam fastball on a more downward plane instead of relying on his two-seam/sinker to get groundball outs, and that could be a big reason that his strikeout rate has jumped.

He still has fastball command issues: When he unleashes his best at 97-98, it is likely to miss up and to the arm side. He doesn't command his best bolt very well and doesn't seem to be able to reliably throw it for strikes, which was the case when I saw him against Washington in 2012. The big difference is that he won't abandon this pitch anymore; he'll just shave off a bit and still aggressively attack the zone with it.

Prior to 2013, I wasn't buying the first pick, first round hype on Appel. But now that I've seen his changed approach and the increasingly ridiculous statistics (remember, he got shelled in his first start against Rice), I've got one leg solidly on the bandwagon of Mark Appel going 1-1 in the draft to the Houston Astros.
Posted by: Kyle Boddy

April 23, 2012

Ivan Rodriguez career highlights

It was recently announced that veteran catcher and current unsigned free agent Ivan Rodriguez intends to officially retire in Texas on Monday.

When a great player like Rodriguez retires, it’s nice to look back over his career, what his highs and lows were, his career milestones, and the best (and oddest) games he ever participated in where. That’s what’s listed below, the career highlights of Ivan "Pudge" Rodriguez.

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Posted by: Chris Jaffe

November 04, 2011

Bob Forsch career highlights

It’s been a rough week for former baseball players. First Matty Alou dies and then the next day news that Bob Forsch passes on at the far too young age of 61.

When this happens, it’s time to reflect on the man and his career. Others can do a better job than I on the former, but I can provide something for the latter.

Below are a list of his career highlights: his most important games, greatest (and worst) moments, and some of the stranger and more memorable events he took part in or for which he was merely an on-hand observer.

Here it is for the former Cardinals and Astros pitcher, with the events listed in chronological order:
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Posted by: Chris Jaffe

September 29, 2011

Oh, my!

Was that the most stunning night of baseball ever, or what?

A two-hit shutout by Chris Carpenter was the boring part as the Cards won, 8-0, and put the pressure on the Braves.

Atlanta was looking good for six innings, building a 3-1 lead. But Philly crept within one in the seventh and plated the tying run in the ninth.

After both pitching staffs held serve through the 12th, the Phils eked a run across on a Hunter Pence infield single, and David Herndon slammed the door on the Braves' season, sending St. Louis to the playoffs.

Things were even more absurd in the American League. As Boston took a 3-2 lead into a seventh-inning rain delay, Tampa Bay was getting blitzed, 7-0, in their rain delay-proof dome. Then the bottom of the eighth happened.

In an inning bookended by Johnny Damon at-bats, the Rays exploded while the Yankees pitchers imploded, and six runs were scored. That still left Tampa Bay a run short, though.

No problem, as Dan Johnson came in to pinch-hit in the bottom of the ninth with two outs. Down to his last strike, he launched a ball over the fence and knotted things up at seven runs apiece.

In the bottom of the twelfth, Evan Longoria—who had a three-run homer in that crucial eighth frame—ended things with a walkoff shot.

Meanwhile in Baltimore, Boston's Jonathan Papelbon came on in the ninth to finish off the Orioles. Things looked good as the first two batters went down swinging. But then Chris Davis doubled, and so did Nolan Reimold to tie the score, 3-3. Robert Andino—he of the inside-the-park homer the night before—singled in Reimond to put an end to the Red Sox's season.

A shutout, three comebacks, two extra-inning games and two walk-off hits. That last sentence oozes excitement, but it doesn't come close to capturing the sheer magnificent insanity of the evening. If the postseason offers anything close to Wednesday night's action, baseball fans the world over are in for quite a treat.
Posted by: Greg Simons


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