Game 37, Mariners at Dodgers – Last Day of the Old M’s
Justin Dunn vs. Julio Urias, 7:10pm
The M’s lost late last night, thanks to a Rafael Montero implosion, but M’s fans are pretty happy today. A day after learning that Jarred Kelenic would arrive in Seattle on Thursday, today brought the somewhat surprising news of who’d be the M’s starting pitcher that day: Logan Gilbert. Ryan Divish had an article at the Times speculating about a promotion for Gilbert, as the M’s didn’t have a starter named for *Friday’s* game, and neither did the Rainiers. Friday would’ve been Gilbert’s turn in Tacoma’s rotation, but it sounds like the M’s will move him up a day and have him start on Thursday.
As such, tonight’s game is the last one we’ll see with the transitional roster. We’ll have to see what the corresponding moves will be – if Taylor Trammell might be sent down, for example. The M’s were clearly stretched at pitcher, with Paxton out for a year plus, and then with Nick Margevicius, Marco Gonzales, and now Ljay Newsome injured. Gilbert gives the M’s rotation a real boost. He’s polished for a guy making his debut, and has the velocity to pitch out of jams. He really should be a mainstay in the group for years, but the M’s will want to carefully manage his workload this year. In a normal year, he could end up heading back to Tacoma at times, but I think a combination of need and effectiveness will tie the M’s hands there.
Tonight’s game features Justin Dunn, attempting to maintain his ridiculous BABIP, against Julio Urias, who authored the best start of his career against Seattle in April. The M’s could use some HRs, and Dodger stadium is clearly no longer a huge HR-suppressing park. But Seattle’s struggling a bit against lefties like Urias – their K rate is approaching 30% against southpaws, as a couple of their big righties (France and White) somewhat strangely hit worse against lefties.
1: Crawford, SS
2: Haniger, RF
3: Lewis, CF
4: Seager, 3B
5: France, 2B
6: Murphy, C
7: Moore, LF
8: White, 1B
9: Dunn, SP
The Rainiers are off today, but they lost the final game of their opening series last night 8-2 in 10 innings. Yes, the R’s and Chihuahuas saw three of their first six games go to extras. Last night saw El Paso put up 7 in the 10th to put it out of reach. It was a bullpen day again yesterday, as the R’s have had an influx of new free agent relievers, and really don’t have as much of a rotation. Brady Lail started, but the best line was turned in by former A’s reliever Ryan Dull, who’s now pitched 4 IP without allowing a run, and striking out 6. Jarred Kelenic went 1-5 in his last game with the team, and C Jose Godoy homered.
Mentioned Arkansas’ win over Springfield yesterday, and today, Adam Hill takes the mound for Arkansas tonight.
Everett demolished the Tri-City Dust Devils 13-3 behind a three-hit night from Julio Rodriguez. Julio notched his first HR in the win. That was impressive, but the line of the night might be Matt Brash’s, who went the final 4 innings, giving up no runs on one hit, 3 walks, and 10 strikeouts. Tonight, Levi Stoudt’s on the mound for the Frogs.
Rancho Cucamongo beat Modesto 6-2. Noelvi Marte got a hit. Connor Phillips starts for the Nuts tonight.
Game 36, Mariners at Dodgers – M’s Soon To Be Kelenecized
Yusei Kikuchi vs. Walker Buehler, 7:10pm
Yes, the M’s and Dodgers enter play tonight with identical 18-17 records, just as we assumed when the season started. That the M’s are in this position is nothing short of miraculous, given the fact that half of their everyday line-up is hitting below .160 and their rotation’s been hit by both opposing batters and injuries. For the Dodgers, this record is perhaps even more miraculous, given the talk about the club taking aim at the all-time wins-in-a-season record. The M’s are at 18-17 despite having the 21st-ranked pitching staff and the 27th-best position players. The Dodgers are at 18-17 despite having the best position players by WAR in MLB and the 5th-best staff. Baseball!
Despite racking up hits in Texas at a heretofore unfathomable clip (32 in 3 days!), the M’s lost the series. Apparently that was the trigger to do something they probably should’ve done before: finally decide to call up Jarred Kelenic. Now, he’s not up yet, but he’ll apparently play by this Thursday, meaning after this two-game set in LA. The M’s wanted to wait on Kelenic, they said, so that they could see him in the minors, and of course the MiLB season didn’t start until May, and they said they wanted to see him against left-handed pitching, and he destroyed the lefties AAA-West set before him. *Every* ridiculous statement about “development” was kind of insulting to hear, given that we all know he would’ve been up with the team last year if he’d signed a long-term deal. It was worse when the M’s decided the best developmental environment for Evan White, say, was MLB despite his bat looking…well, like it could use some exposure to AAA lefties. It’s all just kind of ridiculous.
Kelenic made it look too easy in his week in AAA (he’s starting tonight, so if you’re in the South Sound, go catch the Rainiers tonight, as it’s probably the last chance you’ve got to see him), and forced the team’s hand. He hit in every game, getting two hits in four games, and of course that season-opening 2 HR game. You can’t look at that, and then look at the bottom of the M’s line-up and say that you care about winning OR development. It is true that very few HS-drafted players have made the majors with so few minor league at-bats, but it is equally true that very few MLB teams have ever hit .210 *after a hot streak pulled them up from .201.* Also, there was a pandemic! We’re all dealing with some unprecedented stuff here. Bringing in a great hitter to a team that struggles with hitting doesn’t seem like it’s all that crazy.
So we’ll get Kelenic in a few days, but for now, the M’s have to deal with Walker Buehler. The hard-throwing righty always looks like a threat to become a 4-Cy Youngs in 6 years kind of ace, but it hasn’t quite happened yet. He’s had one of the better fastballs in the game, sitting around 96 with lots of spin, and he’s able to locate it, which has helped him post very low walk rates. In 2019, he gave up some HRs on the pitch, but had great results overall – kind of a Gerrit Cole situation. But last year, he didn’t yield a single one on his heater. That’s changed a bit this year, as hitters are all of the sudden hitting that heater quite well.
Part of it must be related to a velo drop: Buehler sat at nearly 97 last year, but is down to about 95 now. But part of it may be due to lefties figuring out how to attack him. Buehler’s been dominant against lefties since he came in the league, running reverse splits in fact. This year, they’ve snapped back hard, and lefties are hitting him well (while righties still struggle). He’s never had much of a change up, and targets lefties with the four-seam, a cutter at 91-92, and his big 12-6 curve. This year, lefties are hitting that fastball well. That’s meant a bit of a reversion in the other thing that’s made Buehler so tough: his career BABIP-against is .270, and he had a BABIP under .200 last year; that’s Justin Dunn-esque. But it was always driven in part by the fact that people put the ball in play comparatively weakly against him, but this year, all of his quality-of-contact measures have plummeted. He’s getting hit hard, and while BABIP is down overall and he plays in a decent park for pitchers, it’s something to keep an eye on as the season progresses.
1: Crawford, SS
2: Haniger, RF
3: Lewis, CF
4: Seager, 3B
5: France, 2B
6: Torrens, C
7: Moore, LF
8: White, 1B
9: Kikuchi, SP
Tacoma walked off El Paso 3-2 last night on a single from Jack Reinheimer. It was a bullpen day for the R’s, so Jimmy Yacabonis started it, and Justin Grimm pitched the 9th/10th for the win. Kelenic had just one hit on the day, the slacker. Brady Lail’s on the hill for Tacoma tonight in the last game of the 6-game set.
Arkansas, like everyone not in the AAA-West, was off yesterday, but have already won today: they beat the Springfield Cardinals 9-2 behind two hits from four different Travs, including Jordan Cowan, who doubled and walked.
Everett starts a series with the Tri-City Dust Devils tonight – it’s opening night in Everett! 2019 draftee Tim Elliot starts, coming off a great relief outing that saw him go 3 2/3 IP, giving up just one run on one hit (a dinger) and striking out 8. That’s how to get noticed on an already-loaded staff.
Modesto starts a series at Rancho Cucamonga tonight with opening day starter Josias de los Santos on the hill.
Game 35, Mariners at Rangers
Justus Sheffield vs. Dane Dunning, 11:35am
Yesterday’s game was, in one sense, a painful loss – a series of blown leads, the bullpen surrendering critical runs, a potential tying run thrown out at the plate – but, perhaps, an encouraging one. The stirrings of life from the bottom of the order are growing, and now even Evan White looks a bit better. Dylan Moore isn’t an automatic out. JP Crawford is officially “hot,” and has been rewarded with his old spot in the line-up: leading off. I’ve been critical of this line-up’s construction, and have my doubts about the long-term viability of several of its members’ futures. But I have to say: this team has been really fun to watch. They keep delivering more entertaining games than I think they “should” or whatever, and at some point, I just have to admit that it’s a part of their make-up. Does it herald better things than projections would indicate? I dunno, but who cares? In a season in which no one – not even the front office – really expects to or is attempting to contend, the *best* outcome here is a team that’s fun to watch compete and develop. Perhaps it helps when they’re away from T-Mobile, where offense goes to die, but they’re doing just that.
Today’s opposing starter, Dane Dunning, was the primary return in the Lance Lynn deal. The former White Sox prospect doesn’t have eye-popping stuff; he sits at 90mph with his sinker, and mixes in a slider, a cutter, and a change. He has a rarely-used curve, but he’s primarily a four-pitch righty. Texas appears to have made some minor tweaks, because his slider’s movement is a bit different this year – more vertical, more drop, as well as more glove-side break. The differences aren’t major, and may be influenced by a tiny drop in velo (he’s throwing a bit slower with all of his pitches this year, which is probably just due to the fact that it’s April/May).
They also told him to ditch his four-seam, a pitch he threw around 10% of the time last year. As a guy who throws a sinker/slider combo most of the time, you’d figure Dunning would have poor splits – especially without top-shelf velocity to overpower lefties. But it’s not so: Dunning’s been excellent against lefties this year, and while his career splits show lefties hitting a tiny bit better than righties, they’ve posted a sub-.300 wOBA. The key is Dunning’s effective change-up, a pitch at around 84 that mimics the movement of his sinker. Again, if I was designing a pitch on a computer, I’m not sure I’d *want* a cambio with similar vertical movement to your fastball, and I’d probably increase the velocity gap between the two. But Dunning’s change works just fine for him, and it’s helped him post similar K rates to lefties and righties alike. Yes, a lot of this is similar to what I mentioned when the M’s faced John Means, and that’s…worrying, but in this case I don’t think they’re all that similar to batters, just given how different both pitchers fastballs are. Still, the M’s haven’t been great against change-ups of any kind.
Similar to Kohei Arihara, Dunning has had a great stretch of performance in April, and then a bit of a skid in his last three games. Nothing brutal like Arihara’s, but noticeable after a brilliant start to the year.
1: Crawford, SS
2: Haniger, DH
3: Lewis, CF
4: Seager, 3B
5: Moore, 2B
6: Marmolejos, RF
7: Murphy, C
8: White, 1B
9: Trammell, LF
SP: Sheffield
Tacoma beat up on El Paso, 9-4. New Rainier/new-to-the-M’s-org Hector Santiago started and went 4 scoreless with 7 Ks. He’s a great depth pick-up, and could have some value to the big club later on. As a pitcher who had some success, but was undone by HR trouble, he might be playable again in a league/park without a supercharged baseball. Another recent pick up, 29 year old Jaime Schultz, got the win in relief. Dillon Thomas homered for the R’s.
The Arkansas Travelers lost a pitchers duel yesterday to NW Arkansas. Devin Sweet was effectively wild, mixing in 6 walks with 7 Ks in 3 2/3 scoreless. The game was scoreless into the bottom of the 7th, when the Travs scored 3. But the Naturals scored 3 in the top of the 8th, and then 3 more in the 9th to win it. Adam Hall, a Mets draft pick who was traded to Milwaukee, and then traded to Seattle for Omar Narvaez, makes his season debut today.
Everett blanked Hillsboro 3-0, behind a dominant start from Brandon Williamson. The 2019 2nd round lefty struck out 9 in 4 innings, giving up just 2 hits, no walks, and no runs. The Frogs’ pen racked up another 9 K’s in the remaining 5 innings. Juan Then should start today; yes, I said that yesterday, too.
Modesto beat Stockton 5-2, as Sam Carlson pitched well – he struck out 7, giving up an unearned run on 2 hits and a walk. Noelvi Marte has 2 hits at the top of the line-up. Damon Casetta-Stubbs starts for the Nuts today.
Game 34, Mariners at Rangers
Erik Swanson vs. Kohei Arihara, 4:05pm
The M’s picked up a big win yesterday in perhaps the most unlikeliest of ways. No, the whole bullpen-being-a-fortress thing wasn’t new, but it was appreciated, especially after Chris Flexen didn’t have his best stuff. No, the M’s won a one-run game in large part due to a home run from JP Crawford. It was his first of the year, and I had said on twitter a few weeks ago that I simply couldn’t envision it anymore. You can go back and look at HRs he hit in his first few months with the M’s, and look at some long HRs he hit with the Phillies, but his approach has altered dramatically since then. It’s great to know he can still get into a pitch, and it’s more signs of life from the lower part of the order. The same could be said for Dylan Moore’s wall-scraping two-run shot.
Of course, the more the M’s look like a middle-of-the-road team on the road, the more it makes you wonder how much of their offensive woes are caused by T-Mobile park. The M’s focus on high fastballs, and look, they’re not great on high fastballs. But they rank 19th in the game – just the wrong side of average. If they hit them the way Toronto or even Baltimore (?) does, they’d be scoring more runs, but high fastballs are hard to hit. The big problem is bendy stuff. And because we’ve learned so much about how location and weather conditions impact not only the ball’s flight off the bat, but it’s flight on the way to the bat, I wonder if there’s something either meteorologically or visually off with T-Mobile.
The M’s looked completely lost against John Means the other day, but they’ve still hit him harder than anyone else has – I’d be the first to admit Means had better stuff in Seattle, but that’s not the only variable at play, and it may not even be the most important. This’ll be interesting to watch, and as I said the other day, it makes you not only wonder if we’ve missed some of the key components of what gets lumped into a “park factor.” Or maybe another way of saying it is: the changes to the ball itself and how the ball gets stored have shown us that there’s so much more to the venues that host MLB games. There’s so many factors swirling around that get averaged into a declaration that this place is a hitter’s haven, and this one isn’t. It also makes me wonder why MLB has gone to humidors in phases. Starting in Colorado may have made sense, but it seems like it may be having a marked impact in places like Seattle, Boston, and Citi Field in New York. Not only through the direct effects, but in how they interact with a slightly deadened ball. That seems like something you’d want to try to apply equally. I often wonder if you tweaked enough of these tiny dials, from the batter’s eye to the ball to the game time temperature, if you could make Evan White a legitimately good hitter. Forget park factors, how much of player development is the salubrious setting of these various environmental and site-specific dials?
Today, the M’s get a look at Kohei Arihara, the Japanese hurler who’s in his first season in MLB. He came over with a small fraction of the fanfare of Yu Darvish’s arrival in Texas, and to be fair, has had kind of a rough introduction. But like Darvish, he’s giving opposing hitters a *lot* to think about. According to his BrooksBaseball page (now updated for 2021, woooo), he’s throwing *seven* pitches this year. The kind of freak-outs we had about Darvish’s broad arsenal don’t happen as much nowadays (we get used to superhuman stuff too quickly, I think), but Arihara’s approach is very Darvish-like. He’s got a four-seam and sinker at 90-92, a cutter/slider/curve that walk down the velo scale from 88 to 82 to 74, and two change-ups – a traditional change with armside run, and a splitter with more vertical movement.
He started the season fairly well, and had a two-game stretch in mid-April in which he threw 11+ innings with no runs allowed, 2 walks, and 11 Ks. But since then, he’s lost it, throwing only 4 2/3 IP in two games, giving up 11 runs on 10 hits, 6 walks and 1 strikeout. We’ll see which version of Arihara we see today.
Erik Swanson gets the start today in what seems like it’ll be a bullpen day. There was a rumor that Robert Dugger may get the bulk of the innings when Swanson’s done. Swanson’s start has been a bit better than last year, when he simply couldn’t get anyone out or keep the ball in the park. All of this is small sample size, but he was so *consistently* bad last year, it made you wonder if he was tipping pitches. Hopefully, the M’s have that straightened out, and a reliever capable of multiple innings throwing 95-96 with a good slider should still have some success in this league.
1: Haniger, RF
2: Lewis, CF
3: Seager, 3B
4: France, DH
5: Crawford, SS
6: Torrens, C
7: Moore, 2B
8: White, 1B
9: Haggerty, LF
SP: Swanson
I caught the Rainiers/Chihuahua prospect-topia game last night at Cheney. Logan Gilbert outdueled MacKenzie Gore in what turned out to be an 8-2 R’s win. Gilbert was perfect through 2, but gave up a couple of singles to start the third, and El Paso pushed a run past on a safety squeeze when Cal Raleigh couldn’t quite hold the throw from Jantzen Witte at 3B. The R’s were patient against Gore, who went to a ton of 3 ball counts, and walked a few, including Jarred Kelenic. This pushed his pitch count up, but through 3, he had the lead. It all kind of fell apart for Gore in the 5th, when he followed the walk to Kelenic by hitting Braden Bishop, and then giving up a 2R double to Donovan Walton. He was charged with another run after a sac fly brought Walton home.
Gore sat in the low 90s, but touched 95 multiple times in the early going. He was more consistently 91-93 in the 4th/5th, and ultimately threw 94 pitches through 4+ innings. Gilbert hit 96 in the early going, but settled in around 94, and was ruthlessly efficient. He threw 5 IP with just the one run, using 67 pitches to get 5 Ks and no walks. He allowed contact, but almost none of it was all that hard. Gore nearly allowed a HR to Cal Raleigh, who hit the very top of the wall in left-center, and had baserunners on all the time, but to his credit, was able to work around it. Gore isn’t overpowering, but there’s something tricky about has fastball – it looked considerably faster than the gun. Still, you couldn’t ask for more: Gilbert looked like a polished, veteran pro against a good El Paso team. Jarred Kelenic faced perhaps the toughest lefty in the minors, and singled twice and walked. The R’s were patient, and Cal Raleigh worked well with Gilbert.
Logan Gilbert
MacKenzie Gore’s Mark-Langston-ish wind-up. [/caption]
Cal Raleigh
The R’s are back at it tonight in Tacoma, and you can get a vaccine in the R-Bar. Game starts at 5:05.
Arkansas posted a rain-shorted 4-0 win in 5 IP. Penn Murfee started and went 3 2/3 with 6 Ks, and Reid Morgan went the rest of the way. Devin Sweet starts for Arkansas tonight.
Everett lost to Hillsboro 7-2 after an off game from George Kirby. He gave up 3 runs on 6 hits, no walks and 4 Ks through 3 2/3. Juan Then makes his 2021 debut tonight for the Frogs in Hillsboro.
Modesto beat Stockton 2-1, as Taylor Dollard’s M’s debut couldn’t have gone better. The Cal Poly product struck out 10 in 4 scoreless, walkless innings; he gave up just 2 hits. The Ports’ Jake Walkinshaw was also scoreless through 5, but the Nuts scored a run in the 6th and another in the 8th to win it. Sam Carlson makes his long-awaited low-A debut tonight. The former 2nd round pick in 2017 threw 3 IP in the AZL after being drafted, and hasn’t thrown a pitch since, sidelined with TJ and other ailments. Hopefully, that’s all in the past.
Game 33, Mariners at Rangers – Let’s Get Some Hits
Chris Flexen vs. Mike Foltynewicz, 5:05pm
After being no-hit/near-perfecto’d by John Means, the Mariners head to Arlington to visit Globe Life Field and the Rangers. The M’s team batting average now stands at .201, lowest in the game. Even the lowly, rebuilding Rangers – whose best player is average-challenged Joey Gallo – are up at .236, which in 2021 makes them above average. Texas is no one’s idea of a *good* offense, but with a decent BABIP countering their strikeout-prone ways, they’re avoiding the trap that the M’s, Indians, and Tigers find themselves in.
Part of the reason that Texas has been able to out-hit what I would’ve expected include a rebound from Willie Calhoun, a former top prospect who nearly washed out after following up a hopeful 2019 season by cratering in 2020. New 1B Nate Lowe shook off a slow start and is hitting well, as is Nick Solak. Glove first 3B/SS/C/Whatever you need Isiah Kiner-Falefa is hitting pretty well, too. Sure, their park is a bit better for offense than T-Mobile, but a big part of this is the guys the Rangers counted on stepping up, and that includes Gallo, whose production faltered nearly as much as Calhoun’s last year.
Those awful years from Gallo, Calhoun, and Solak last year may have made the Rangers look a bit more hapless than they actually are. With each of them bouncing back, they’re a middle-of-the-road offense that just needs their pitching to come around. That hasn’t happened yet, as they traded their big stars, Lance Lynn and Mike Minor, and scooped up another batch of veteran underachievers to see if they can’t work the same magic again. Mike Foltynewicz is just such a buy-low bet. Folty was oriignally a first-round pick of the Astros back in 2010, and rose quickly thanks to serious velocity and a slider/change/curve mix. Sitting 97 at times, he still couldn’t quite put it all together, and was traded to the Braves in 2015. He pitched in Atlanta for years after the deal, underachieving a bit in 2015-17, but putting together a brilliant 2018 campaign that looked like a real breakout. As a fly-ball guy, he’s always had issues with HRs, but his best velocity coupled with a reduction in HR/FB (thanks in part to the deadened baseball) and an increase in GB% all helped to produce an ERA of 2.85 and a FIP of 3.20 in 183 IP. Sadly for Folty, it couldn’t last. Injuries and the re-juiced baseball sunk his 2019, and a dead arm and no control meant he threw less than 4 IP last year before the Braves cut him loose.
The velo’s back to 94-95 on his four-seam and sinker, and he’s still got a change/slider pair that break in different directions, but share an 85-86mph velo. His curve, which he’s using more of in the early going, is 79-80. The bouts of wildness that occasionally marred his early years haven’t shown up this year, but the old trouble with the long ball definitely has. He’s already yielded 9 in 33 1/3 IP. Lefties fare pretty well against the right-handed Foltynewicz, so this is a better match-up for Kyle Seager.
The buy-low plan seems to be working ok for Folty, but it’s doing quite well with Kyle Gibson, who came to Texas last year after seven years in Minnesota. Their other big acquisition is former White Sox prospect Dane Dunning, whom they got for Lance Lynn. The common thread of nearly everyone we’ve talked about here? They were developed elsewhere. Calhoun was a Dodger farmhand, Solak and Lowe were with the Rays. Their pitchers are often vets from other orgs who’ve hit free agency at just the wrong time. Their closer is Ian Kennedy..yes, THAT Ian Kennedy, the 36 year old former Yankee/Padre/Royal starter who switched to the pen in 2019. A team that rose to prominence with a home-grown core and relentless work in international free agency is now the team of veteran pitchers and poached prospects from other teams. Perhaps that’s why Jon Daniels turned over day-to-day management of the club to new GM Chris Young, the former M’s and Royals starter.
1: Haniger, RF
2: Lewis, CF
3: Seager, 3B
4: France, DH
5: Crawford, SS
6: Moore, 2B
7: Murphy, C
8: White, 1B
9: Trammell, LF
SP: Flexen
The story in the minors yesterday was Jarred Kelenic’s electrifying Tacoma debut in which he hit two HRs, re-igniting the debate over when he’ll be promoted. It’s never really been a question of his status as one of the best hitters on the club, a bar that’s a bit low at the moment. He would’ve been up a year ago had he signed the long-term contract the M’s put in front of him. But if the M’s average stays around .200, and if Kelenic continues this start, he’ll be up very, very quickly. One of his HRs came off of a lefty, and one off of a righty last night. Tacoma lost the game in extras, but not before Cal Raleigh hit his first AAA HR with the team down 2 and with 2 outs in the 11th.
Tonight, the Rainiers start Logan Gilbert against El Paso, and I’m going to go check him out, along with Kelenic, of course. The R’s face MacKenzie Gore, MLB’s #6 overall prospect – that’s the top pitching prospect in the game. The game starts at 7:05, and if you’re in the South Sound, this is one to catch.
Arkansas got their first win with a late comeback off of NW Arkansas. Jake Scheiner hit his second dinger of the year. Penn Murfee takes the hill for the Travs tonight against Stephen Woods Jr. of the Naturals.
High-A Everett won in a laugher yesterday, beating Hillsboro 12-1. Julio Rodriguez had two hits and two walks, Austin Shenton hit two doubles, and Zach deLoach continued his hot start with two hits as well. Emerson Hancock was untouchable for 2 IP, striking out 3, and Evan Johnson struck out 6 in 2 2/3 IP. George Kirby starts tonight for the AquaSox.
Low-A Modesto squeaked past Stockton 2-1, with 2019 draft pick Adam Macko going 4 scoreless with 7 Ks. Noelvi Marte got both RBIs. 2020 draft pick Taylor Dollard (5th round) starts tonight for the Nuts.
Tacoma Rainiers Opening Night, 2021: Welcome Back to R Town
Paul Sewald vs. TBD, 7:05pm
One of my favorite days of the year is back, after skipping 2020 (wish I could’ve done that) – it’s Opening Night for the Tacoma Rainiers. After an odd two-day delay due to AAA West’s scheduled off day, the R’s are ready to kick off 2021 tonight from Cheney Stadium. JY’s given you a run-down on the club, so I’ll get to the line-up and talk about potential series to come catch a game and which prospects might be playing.
Typically, we talk about prospects who might move UP from lower levels, but this year especially, we might need to spend some time talking about prospects moving back down. I know John Means was on fire yesterday, and would’ve no-hit (or close to it) some of the better line-ups in MLB. But an image I’ll remember was Evan White’s obvious frustration after his third strikeout. Means utterly befuddled White, striking him out all three times, and while he’s been remarkably even-keeled throughout his struggles, White looked pretty frustrated on the last one. He’s now 0 for his last 23 with 8 Ks and no walks, and his stats have tumbled below the low bar he set in 2020. The AAA season couldn’t get here fast enough: the M’s *need* a local, high-level, development focused place to send someone like White, and potentially Taylor Trammell, who’s striking out a ton and, even worse, not playing much right now.
The pandemic has put everyone in a tough spot, but not having a minor league season last year has had some important knock-on effects. I suspect even White would’ve appreciated the opportunity to work on things in the high-minors, and you have to think the M’s would’ve wanted that too. I don’t really think “rushing” a prospect really does lasting damage; I’d still argue that Mike Zunino’s problems both here and in Tampa weren’t the result of calling him up initially, but just how the league adjusted to him. I don’t think the M’s were wrong to start White in the league last year, and it’s hard to blame them when there was really nowhere to send him for meaningful ABs. But now that they DO have the opportunity, they absolutely need to use it. I’ve said before that the Jon Singleton comps are almost too on-the-nose, and well, Singleton followed up his poor rookie year with a disastrous second campaign, and never pulled out of that tailspin. The M’s know White’s better than he’s shown, but absolutely have to help him now.
The focus in Tacoma is rightly on the two uber-prospects who will soon be joining the big club: Jarred Kelenic and Logan Gilbert. I wondered if the M’s would bring up Kelenic before AAA started, as the club isn’t hitting at all, and because they’ve safely moved past the date that would give the team another year of club control. At this point, though, the team may see how he looks and might avoid Kelenic qualifying for Super 2 status. To be clear: all of this is gross, and the sort of thing they swore they wouldn’t do after Kevin Mather’s “you’re not recording this, right?” zoom breakfast. Gilbert’s timeline may have accelerated too following injuries to James Paxton and Nick Margevicius.
So if you’d like to catch those two, get to Tacoma quickly. Gilbert will start tomorrow, in a game that could feature two of the better SP prospects in the game, if MacKenzie Gore starts for the Chihuahuas. Gore’s a lefty, and would give Kelenic one of the tougher match-ups he’ll see at this level. Both Gilbert and Kelenic can get some coaching from brand new manager, and member of the 2019 Rainiers, Kris Negron. Another former Rainier, Eric Young Jr., is also on the staff, helping out hitting coach Roy Howell (who managed the R’s back in 2014). The pitching coach is Rob Marcello, who’s been in the org for only a few years, and did great work with Modesto (where he coached Logan Gilbert) in 2019. It’s nice to see the M’s easing Gilbert’s transition by bringing his High-A pitching coach *and* catcher in Cal Raleigh. The mix of the still-young Marcello and the baseball lifer Howell seems like a good one. Now that Tacoma’s up and running, they could be called upon to help White and Trammell and help some of the older guys like Braden Bishop get over the AAA-MLB hump.
The R’s open up tonight against the San Diego Padres affiliate, El Paso. Gore is obviously the biggest prospect name of what’s a very deep system even after the flurry of trades that dominated the last hot stove league. The Chihuahuas also boast catcher Luis Campusano, the #3 prospect, and OF Tucupita Marcano, #6 in SD’s system. They’ve got ex-Rainiers in OF John Andreoli and RP Parker Markel, and though he’s hurt to start the year, one of the two Brady Feigl‘s.
The Round Rock Express, the Rangers’ AAA affiliate, hit Tacoma on May 20th for a six-game set. This is probably a good time to mention that the AAA West schedule features six-game series with off days on Wednesday, so series start on Thursdays and end on Tuesdays. Texas has recently called up some of their big prospects, including C Jonah Heim, after losing #2 prospect Sam Huff to injury. That said, former #1 prospect, CF Leody Taveras, is back with Round Rock after a brutal start to the season in Arlington. The big pitching prospects aren’t quite at AAA yet, but they have familiar faces in Nick Vincent and Sam Gaviglio.
In early June, the R’s welcome the Salt Lake Bees, the long-time affiliate of the LA Angels. The club has one of the better prospects around in Jo Adell, but the shine is off of him a bit after perhaps a worse MLB debut than White’s last year. He’s still a hyper-talented guy I saw homer twice in a rained-out game at Cheney in 2019, but he’s got to work on making more contact. The Angels top pitching prospect, Reid Detmers, could be with the club by June, but they begin the year with a collection of veterans M’s fans will remember like Jaime Barria, Noe Ramirez, and reliever James Hoyt. They also have Torii Hunter, Jr. if you like feeling old, and Jon Jay, who is presumably also feeling old, whose career overlapped for many years with Hunter’s dad.
The Sacramento RiverCats, the Giants’ affiliate, come through next, beginning on June 10th. They’re headlined by the Giants’ #2 prospect, and former Georgia Tech catcher, Joey Bart. One of the best stories in MiLB, RF Drew Robinson, starts the year with the club, too. The former Rangers OF survived a suicide attempt in 2020 that resulted in Robinson losing an eye, but he’s trained hard and is excited to get back on the field. If you haven’t yet, please read about Robinson in this jaw-dropping story from Jeff Passan. The familiar face to R’s/M’s fans is RP Dominic Leone, and wonderfully-named C Chadwick Tromp backs up Bart.
July begins with a visit from the Reno Aces, the Diamondbacks’ affiliate. The Aces have #7 D-backs prospect in SP Corbin Martin, and slugging 1B Seth Beer (rated #13, but I’d bump him up; the ex-Clemson Tiger can really, really hit). M’s history buffs will remember Zach Lee, the one-time Rainier exchanged for Chris Taylor, and plain old history buffs will nod in appreciation at the name of C Ramses Malave. Longtime A’s and Astros OF Josh Reddick is also with the club.
July closes out with return visits from Salt Lake and then Sacramento, but August brings the first visit of the Las Vegas Aviators, the Oakland A’s affiliate. Predicting their roster months out is a fool’s errand, but they start the year with James Kaprelian, their #10 prospect and a guy with big-time talent who’s struggled to stay healthy. They’ve got OF Luis Barrera (#7) and could have SS Logan Davidson (#5) and P Daulton Jefferies (#4, who’s on the injured list at the moment). OF Buddy Reed is a great defender, and had a highlight reel Spring Training; he could rise up the rankings with a good start in 2021. Long-haired SP Grant Holmes (#15) is also on the Aviators; he’s got very good stuff, and put up good numbers back in 2019.
The R’s finish off the home season beginning Sept. 9th with the Sacramento RiverCats. The entire schedule is here. We won’t get to see the newest member of AAA, the Sugarland Skeeters. Long a big club in the independent leagues, MLB pulled the Skeeters and several other of the biggest IL teams into affiliated ball this year – the St. Paul Saints are also in AAA, and the Somerset Patriots are now in AA. We’ll probably see them in Cheney next year, but for now, the M’s will visit Sugarland to face the Astros’ new affiliate.
Here’s tonight’s line-up:
1: Jarred Kelenic, LF
2: Braden Bishop, CF
3: Donovan Walton, SS
4: Cal Raleigh, C
5: Eric Filia, RF
6: Sam Travis, 1B
7: Jose Godoy, DH
8: Travis Witte, 3B
9: Jack Reinheimer, 2B
SP: Paul Sewald
The R’s face El Paso starter Daniel Camarena, a 28-year old Californian who went to HS in San Diego and now hopes to get back to San Diego as a Padre.
2021 Tacoma Rainiers Preview
It is opening day in Tacoma! I think it might also be the first time I’ve had a preview align with a player’s birthday? I was initially thinking about framing it in terms of “wow, you could either see a lot of further off prospects in Everett or some elite near-term contributors in Tacoma!,” but it would be naïve to suggest that you could plan on the best Rainiers being there for anything longer than a month. Besides, does freeway construction ever end in that stretch of I-5?
Thanks for sticking with me through more than ten thousand, madness-inducing previews cobbled together over five days. We have a largely speculative rotation from my end (sometimes I guess right, mostly not), the player I conceive of as least wanting to arm wrestle, an opportunity to casually reference cryptids, imported double play partners, and less poetry than one might think given the name of one outfielder, but few egregious puns (some of them multilingual) nonetheless.
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2021 Arkansas Travelers Preview
The Travelers have come… Again! Okay outside of a Gozer the Gozerian reference, this team is probably the least star-studded roster in the system. That’s fine because mid-season promotions from Everett seem likely. Although dealing with a smaller roster, I somewhat dreaded this write-up and grew to appreciate the team as I went on. I worried minor league contraction would lead to streamlining and remove some of the weird stories and personalities I’ve long admired. That definitely is not the case here. I don’t know if they’ll compete, but they’re fun and interesting in their own way.
In addition to profiles, talk of a predominantly Irish rotation, astronomy comparisons, rogue baseball leagues, unnecessary math, and Hollywood connections. Let’s roll.
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Game 32, Orioles at Mariners
Yusei Kikuchi vs. John Means, 12:40pm
An early game will decide this three-game series, as Yusei Kikuchi takes on Baltimore’s ace, John Means. Means is off to a great start, but the M’s got to him back in Baltimore in the first game of a double-header. The three runs in 5 IP are the most he’s given up in a game thus far. Like a lot of pitchers, Means has been extremely stingy with base hits; he’s given up 21 in his 37 innings on the year, including 5 dingers. HRs have been a lingering issue for him, as we saw when the M’s touched him for two of them, but he continues to be a quietly effective pitcher overall.
As I mentioned last time, his best pitch is a pretty odd change-up that doesn’t sink much at all, and actually mimics the movement of his rising fastball. Gravity pulls it down a bit, but it has backspin that keeps it from falling too far. As with his fastball, that rise helps generate fly ball contact, so he makes the familiar trade-off of a low BABIP in exchange for some dingers. When more fly balls find the seats, he can struggle, and that change-up won’t look all that great. This year, with the slightly dampened baseball and by taking a tick or two off of that change-up’s velocity, it’s again a great pitch. By run value, it’s been one of the better secondary pitches in baseball thus far, and the best change-up overall.
1: Haniger, RF
2: France, DH
3: Seager, 3B
4: Lewis, CF
5: Murphy, C
6: White, 1B
7: Moore, 2B
8: Haggerty, LF
9: Crawford, SS
SP: Kikuchi
The return of Kyle Lewis and the slow, gentle awakening of some of the bottom-of-the-order batters has helped the M’s offense, but now they have to deal with the top of the line-up – ie. the only part that was working for the first three weeks – is slumping. Ty France now has just one hit and five walks in his last 34 PAs.
Game 31, Orioles at Mariners – The Minor League Season is Here
Justin Dunn vs. Jorge López, 7:10pm
Old heads may remember that the Orioles once had a highly-touted, flame-throwing righty named Daniel Cabrera. At times, he was even compared to the M’s young phenom, Felix Hernandez (or maybe, Felix was at one pointed ineptly comp’d to Cabrera, who debuted a year before the King in 2004). Cabrera threw 96, quite impressive for a starter at the time, and had a big, hard slider that flashed plus. If you saw him on the right day, you understood the hype. But such days were few and far between, as persistent control problems and an inability to hold runners left him a marginal MLB player. He got a lot of chances due to his talent, but struggled until injuries got to him, and then he didn’t even have raw velocity anymore. He was done by 2009.
Was that inevitable? Were player development strategies still in the (relative) dark ages only 15 years ago? What would Cabrera do if he came up now? It’s a weird counterfactual, if only because the number of people for whom the name “Daniel Cabrera” rings familiar is, by this point, pretty small. But in looking at tonight’s starter, Jorge López, I was reminded of Cabrera. So here the O’s are, with yet another starter sitting 95 and a track record of big league mediocrity. Is this another chance to get it right with a talented but underachieving talent? Or is Lopez what the back of his baseball card looks like – a journeyman without a real outpitch? Is this story about the Orioles, or about the fact that the entire league has moved so quickly that you can be a journeyman with a career ERA over 6 and still average 95 with your fastball?
Not every struggling player is a redemption story waiting to happen, and not every struggling player is a microcosm of player development challenges in an org or in a league. I can’t quite tell if López is doomed to be the guy he’s been thus far, but it’s getting a little late for a transformation of his results. Of course, that’s what people said about Brandon McCarthy or, reaching back further, Jamie Moyer.
Lopez pitches off of a 95 mph sinker, but also throws a high four-seamer to give batters a different look. He doesn’t use one or the other based on the handedness of the batter; he’ll throw both to anyone. It’s more about where in the zone he wants the ball to end up – four seamers up, sinkers down. His breaking ball is a curve at 82, and he also has a change-up in the high 80s that’s reserved mostly for lefties. Each of these pitches has, at one point, had decent results. But he’s never been able to have consistent success, undone by an inability to put batters away, HR troubles, and, like Cabrera, real problems stranding runners. His career slash line against with men on base is .319/.381/.506.
Justin Dunn had perhaps the best outing of his young career against this club a few weeks back. Yesterday’s post about the M’s low BABIP is, of course, exemplified in Dunn, the odd BABIP savant. I’m now kind of fascinated to see if he’s able to keep this up, and to see a bit more about *how* he can. Statcast’s expected stats have consistently portended doom for Dunn, but here he is, control-troubled yet effective-ish. That’s a lot of caveats packed into a summary, but I seriously have never seen anyone like this.
One reason I think I’ve been wary of Dunn (and Justus Sheffield, too) has been his lack of a change-up. He toyed with one last year, but seems to have shelved it this year. That leaves him to face lefties with only a fastball, slider, and, increasingly, his slurvy curve ball. A 12-6 curve might have minimal platoon splits, but sliders often graded out (along with sinkers) as extremely platoon-y pitches – this all goes back to the brilliant work of Max Marchi 10-15 years ago or so, and which I’ve talked about a lot in my time here. That’s why people always talk about starters needing a third pitch – if you come up with a fastball and slider and are not named Randy Johnson, opposite-handed hitters may figure you out. Dunn’s curve has little vertical movement, but sweeps across the zone, much like a slider, but he hasn’t been hurt by that, just as Sheffield has fared much better against righties than I would’ve thought.
It seems like that old wisdom about how batters hit sliders may be changing. This shouldn’t be surprising, given how much about pitching we’ve learned in the last decade, and how different batters and pitchers train. In a twitter convo today, Driveline/Cincinatti Reds Kyle Boddy said this:
https://publish.twitter.com/?query=https%3A%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2Fdrivelinebases%2Fstatus%2F1389653394420166656&widget=Tweet
Makes me a bit more optimistic about Dunn.
1: Haniger, DH
2: France, 2B
3: Seager, 3B
4: Lewis, CF
5: Torrens, C
6: White, 1B
7: Crawford, SS
8: Moore, RF
9: Haggerty, LF
SP: Dunn
Hope you’re enjoying the great JY’s Minor League Previews. I sure am; it’s an annual tradition, and something I look forward to each year. I’ll write my usual nonsense about the Rainiers for their opening day tomorrow (AAA-West’s scheduled off day is Wednesday, whereas every other league will take Monday off). They’re the perfect intro for today, one of my favorite days of the year: Minor League baseball’s opening night. Except AAA-West. Let’s take a look at the games in the M’s org tonight:
The Modesto Nuts face the Stockton Ports, the low-A affiliate of the Oakland A’s. Noelvi Marte – a young SS prospect – is the big name to watch for on the Nuts, but in this series, he’s got company. A’s #6 prospect and one of the top talents in the 2019-20 J2 signing period Robert Puason will play SS for the Ports. Only 18, Puason is a year younger than Marte, and is slightly taller, though he lacks Marte’s power.
There’s no starting pitcher listed yet, but the game begins at 7:05. The top pitching prospect on the team is Connor Phillips, a righty, but Slovak-Canadian Adam Macko, and former 2nd rounder Sam Carlson looks to finally make an impact in full-season ball now that he’s finally healthy. [EDIT] The pitching probables are up now: it’ll be Josias De Los Santos, a 21-year old righty, for the Nuts, against Osvaldo Berrios of the Ports.
High-A (!) Everett makes their first ever full-season start tonight in Hillsboro, home of the Diamondbacks-affiliated Hops. Matt Brash takes the mound for Everett, the first in an absolutely loaded starting rotation. As JY detailed, there’s George Kirby, Emerson Hancock, Brandon Williamson, Isaiah Campbell, and Juan Then. We may see some piggy-backed starts this year just to get innings for all of these guys. For the position players, Julio Rodriguez all but ensures this will be an affiliate to watch on a regular basis, but 3B Austin Shenton, C Carter Bins, OF Zach deLoach, and IF Kaden Polcovich are worth watching, too. Tonight, Brash faces off with Luis Frias, who was brilliant in what was then the short-season Northwest League in 2019. The contest kicks off at 6:35pm, and is on MiLB.tv, unlike the AquaSox home games :(.
The AA Arkansas Travelers renew their long-simmering civil war with breakaway republic Northwest Arkansas tonight. The Travs aren’t as prospect-laden as some of the other affiliates, but figure to be pretty competitive with some experienced pitchers like Ian McKinney from the left side and Darren McCaughan from the right. Undersized righty Devin Sweet put together a really good 2019 season before the world changed, so it’ll be good to see him again – the same could be said for reliever/swing-man/low-arm-slot guy Penn Murfee, who looked good in a random AAA appearance I got to see. The position players are headed by three guys for whom the prospect sheen has worn off a bit, but still have some talent and have presumably been desperate for an opportunity to play again: IF Joe Rizzo, coming off two years in the Cal League, and OFs Dom Thompson-Williams, part of the James Paxton trade package, and Keegan McGovern, who scuffled in his first taste of High-A ball. Tonight, newcomer Alejandro Requena (who has some AA experience in the Phillies org), takes the mound for Arkansas opposite Royals prospect Jon Heasley. The KC system is really deep on the mound, so Heasley doesn’t get the publicity of an Asa Lacy or Jackson Kowar, but he performed pretty well back in 2019. This game starts at 5:10 Pacifc.