EBJ calls game!!!

"Potential Dude(s)"

And yet here is MLB adopting Stephen Miller’s rhetoric 😂😂

Nothing against the Padres, but I love broadcasters spending 30 minutes at near-climax talking about how a run was just squeezed out by knowing how to win, and then the other takes the team lead away with two swings in a minute.

trying to wrap my head around pinch-hitter bo naylor

Jeb Bush: please

Age 30-31 seasons at $18M AAV? I'd flip this around and ask why the Twins do this? I don't think they have an obvious righty slugger in the pipeline, but RHH 1B/DH is the most disposable / easily replaced position

Luis De Leon didn't have his A command but it didn't matter much 5.1 IP 3 H 1 R 3 BB 8 K 0 HBP 0 HRA 19 whiffs 7 GB 3 LD 1 XBH (oppo groundball) tons of changeups

nice little game by Kiefer Lord, showed some good command for the first time with fastball mostly 94-95 the lone run was a bloop, SB, oppo line drive right on the foul line - they all count, but you could do worse than that 3.2 IP 3 H 1 R 0 BB 6 K 1 HBP 0 HRA 11 whiffs

@harrypav.bsky.social @srbrown70.bsky.social random q - are you guys cooking up / have you tried cooking up ways to measure how catchers call a game? Seems impossible to untangle from pitch execution / outcome, but it seems like a Big Deal to teams and players - thanks! love your work

12/15 batted balls on the ground, really just the one HH ball in the air, slider and change looked real good

when the Mariners win: Hell yeah, let’s go, M’s! when the Mariners lose: I can’t believe all you losers caring about sports ball while democracy dies.

Say it with me - Trey Gibson, Top 100 Prospect

Kyle Bradish apprenticeship candidate (yes every righty with two good breakers and a crummy 4sf and no change gets a pre-sinker bradish comp)

@afkostka.bsky.social @steveonbaseball.bsky.social @jakerill.bsky.social fellas - is there any news on Kiefer Lord? Got tjs a little over a year ago haven't heard a peep, and the complex season is over. Is he rehabbing on backfields? Set back? Other injury?

@seidler.bsky.social on Heat Check you mentioned "high effort" was no longer used to describe delivery - is it a different phrase now or is it no longer considered a meaningful descriptor? if the latter, is that about how pitching dev has changed or was it never meaningful?

from the outfield camera angle

Statcast!

Wellington Aracena, from the Gregory Soto trade last week. up to 97 early and this appeared to be his low-90s cutter

Don't look now!

noice

We're going to draft 6 college outfielders with whiff rates like you've never seen.

there are literally 16 of you guys who care but the Orioles DSL stream now has an outfield camera!!!

And we have a story on one of the prospects who just joined the rankings that you may need to learn about. www.baseballamerica.com/stories/este...

@elibenporat.bsky.social random thought for your excellent Statcast Standouts series - for hitters, could you include performance against velocity (94+ mph)? thank you!!

Me n the boys (Mike Elias) when Gary Sánchez homers and Coby Mayo has a multi-hit game (after feeding me Garmonbozia in the black lodge)

@oriolesontheverge.bsky.social hey guys, any dope on why Levi Wells missed his start this week? We're getting Van Loon again today before Wells - thanks for keeping up with the minor leagues!

extremely rare Yeiber Cartaya w 6.1 IP 2 H 0 R 1 BB 8 K 0 HBP 18 (!) whiffs

I've seen enough

feelin himself

@steveonbaseball.bsky.social hey Steve, have you heard anything about Stiven Martinez down at the complex? HBP a few games ago and now on the 7-day IL - was it on his hands or at his head?

Esteban Mejia went 5.0 IP 2 H 0 R 1 BB 5 K with 7/10 batted balls on the ground it's the FCL so the signal-to-noise ratio is god awful and this level of performance is basically table stakes, but I'll take it

oh yeah, that's the good shit

This is quite sobering, but I wonder if teams consider that ~5% probability of meaningful strikeout improvement to be acceptable?

is this season an absolute disaster? yes - BUT - the shorebirds won a game last night in 11 innings after blowing both a 5-run lead early AND a 3-run lead in the 10th, and they ended it with some rando left fielder throwing out the manfred runner at home

yeah man, me too

Blake Money (brother of Cash Money) appears to have a small celebration playing off his name

you can just tell that Rob Manfred understands what it means to be a fan

new Cameron Weston just dropped

*seeing holmes give up a 3 ball single instead of a walk* Ok that's good for his FIP

I've seen people express: 1. skepticism that the 4/$180M offer was real 2. the 4/$180M may have included deferred money both of these appear to be dunked by this report from Rosenthal obviously still miffed we didn't bag him, but he wanted AZ's offer and that's fine!

SNY has this adorable graphic of a sleeping hamster when the pitch com goes out

Jud Fabian had an unremarkable game (0-4, 2 K, 1 ROE and 1 screaming lineout to 2B), but noticed he's setting up with his hands lower than last year. obvs I don't know if this is going to work, but he has to adjust something. still whiffing on high fastballs last night, if you're curious.

every MLB opening day I like to reflect on some of the lessons baseball teaches us about life, like how it's a miserable grinding slog that almost always ends in meaningless failure, and even your attempt to endeavor it is something most people will never have the time or inclination to care about

If a pitcher is throwing too hard or too slow, an injury is inevitable. The key is to throw at a secret third velocity level that only I know about

Zach Fruit shut down the Yankees across 3.0 IP yesterday with 5 K.. He tossed a quartet of offerings with his most intriguing being his high 90s fastball Fruit has yet to pitch above Hi-A, but given his age and Baltimore’s need for pitching, I could see him rise quickly

The article was on my medium You can generate the summaries via the Apps on my Patreon Here is Well's summary from yesterday medium.com/@thomasjames...

@tjstats.nesti.co you once posted a tutorial for generating those pitcher summaries, but I can't seem to find it on your Substack - any chance you could share? looking to generate a summary for Levi Wells yesterday - thanks!