To borrow (steal?) the popular header used by many, this week I’m going with:
Nobody Asked Me But …
* Since dreaming up ways to change and improve baseball seems to be in vogue these days, I’m going to try this one more time — the best way for the sport to curtail injuries and overcome the strikeout crises that seems to be plaguing the game is simple. Lower the mound, even so far as to the ground floor if necessary. The reason pitchers on rehabilitation throw off of flat ground first is because it puts less strain on the arm. It also seriously restricts velocity, which is blamed for injuries and a decline in offense … and might quickly make the next item on this list obsolete.
* I don’t know why anybody in the MLB office would dream up that silly six-inning minimum rule for starting pitchers (with exceptions) any more than why so many seem so upset — these days nobody lasts 100 pitches by the sixth inning anyhow. I’d say there’s as much chance of this happening as there is to put a limit on the number of strikeouts a pitcher is allowed per game (with apologies to my friend Leelow).
* I honestly believe there is a simple reason why baseball has seen such an increase in Tommy John surgeries — the success rate is higher than the alternative. Before the man it is named after had the procedure done, pitchers avoided surgery like the plague.
* Aaron Judge and Juan Soto are having generational-type seasons, and certainly deserve consideration for “Player of the Year” honors, but for my money Bobby Witt Jr. is hands down the Most Valuable Player in the American League this year. He’s the reason why the Royals are having the kind of year the Orioles had two years ago — and are on the brink of joining them as legit pennant contenders down the road.
* While on the subject, Anthony Santander has joined frontrunner Gunnar Henderson and Corbin Burnes for Most Valuable Oriole honors.
* I was convinced that “The Wall” at Camden Yards had seriously affected Ryan Mountcastle, but a closer look indicates that while his power numbers are down, it may have made him a better hitter as he goes to the opposite field more often. After a career-high 33 homers in 2021, the right-handed-hitting first baseman dropped to 22 in the first year of the new dimensions at OPACY.
Mountcastle’s batting average stayed consistent in the .250 range in 2021 and 2022 — but has jumped almost 20 points in the last two years. He hit 18 home runs last year and is on pace for a similar number this year with an RBI production somewhere between the 68 and 85 the last two seasons. The Orioles’ lineup looks better when he’s in it.
* It may not show in this space very often, but I really do have a healthy respect for analytics, while holding on to the belief that eye tests and gut feelings still play a major role in all sports, especially baseball. That’s why I shudder every time I see the infield playing in with runners on second and third and less than two outs early in a close game (let’s call four innings and a tie or one-run game). I believe it when analytics tell us the data shows it doesn’t impact the game most times, but I’m not convinced it reveals how many times a single through a drawn-in infield leads to the big inning that can decide a game. Just a pet peeve that’s hard to shake.
* It looks like the AL East is only going to have one wild-card team, with the other two going to the AL Central — and I don’t envy the team that has to play the Royals in a best-of-three set, regardless of where the games are played.
* I know Oriole fans are paranoid about winning the division and losing in the divisional round of the playoffs after last year, but winning the AL East still provides the best chance of advancing to the ALCS. The wild-card route means opening the ALDS with, at best, the No. 3 starter. It might provide a better chance of moving on, but it’s not the recipe for a deep run — and that will hold true whether it’s the Orioles or Yankees.
* Say what you want about the resurgence of the Mets, the bounce-back of the Astros or the curiously effective Guardians, but the team that fascinates me the most as the playoffs loom is Milwaukee. Trading your No. 1 starting pitcher is not a game plan for short-term success, but the Brewers look to have the easiest path to the postseason.
* The addition of Jazz Chisholm Jr. looked to be the missing piece that could separate the Yankees from the Orioles as he hit seven home runs in 11 games. His recent elbow injury keeps him in that same role — the potential missing piece that could provide the difference in a tight race.
* They might still be favored to win the World Series, but the Dodgers may be hard pressed to survive in the NL West. The Diamondbacks are repeating last year’s magical run. The Padres, with a stacked bullpen and Fernando Tatis Jr. on the verge of returning to the lineup, may be the best of the long shots.
I’m amazed by the fact that Blake Snell has as many no-hitters as he does shutouts and complete games (1). I thought this required a call to my friends at the Elias Sports Bureau to see if that’s ever happened before.
It didn’t take long to find out, as unusual as it might seem, the feat is hardly rare. In the last four years eight others, including the Orioles’ John Means in 2021, logged their first complete game and shutout while pitching no-hitters. Of that bunch only Joe Musgrove, who preceded Means in 2021, has pitched a complete game since.
So, as the late Charley Eckman would say “it’s a very simple game” for a pitcher to finish what he started these days — don’t allow hits.
Jim Henneman can be reached at JimH@pressboxonline.com
Photo Credit: Kenya Allen/PressBox