Baseball s Next .400 Hitter?
The Giants are a really bad team, but their World Series now is playing the Dodgers. I have a sneaking feeling that the Dodgers are going to have problems with them all year. It s just one of those things It s easy to blame this one on Doc for taking out Maeda after 5, but Alexander didn t cough up a hairball. Stripling did an inning later. Well, stripling set the table
The Giants are a really bad team, but their World Series now is playing the Dodgers. I have a sneaking feeling that the Dodgers are going to have problems with them all year. It’s just one of those things… It’s easy to blame this one on Doc for taking out Maeda after 5, but Alexander didn’t cough up a hairball. Stripling did… an inning later. Well, stripling set the table and Floro gave up the game-winning double. The runs were charged to Chicken Strip, but Floro gave up the hit. After the game, Ross said:
“The guys put 8½ innings of really good baseball together except when I was on the field.”
I could argue that after Maeda’s recent struggles he was trying to let Maeda be done after a successful start, so as to build on it. I also would have left Verdugo in to hit in the 9th instead of CT3, but again, Doc likes to show confidence in his players. It’s not what I would have done, but I won’t lose my mind over it.
The Great Bochy took out the Shark and brought in Watson who immediately gave up 4 hits and 2 runs! Bochy is an idiot, right? If that’s the logic you apply to Roberts, apply it both ways. Stripling could have done his job and so could Chris Taylor. You can disagree with the moves, but players have to execute too. Has anyone noticed that Joe Kelly has had two back-to-back outings without allowing a run? His ERA is down to a microscopic 8.31 (microscopic compared to what it once was).
I had hopes that Cody Bellinger could someday hit .300, but come on, .400? You have to be kidding me. After last night’s game, he is hitting .434 with one game left in May. I can’t wrap my mind around anyone hitting .400 again, but Cody Bellinger is doing all the things necessary to accomplish that. With two strikes, he just tries to make contact, almost a swinging bunt is how it looks.
He has cut down his strikeout rate from 27% to 15%, and increased his walk rate to 18% (from 12% last year). He is handling that low inside pitch and high inside pitch and not swinging at balls out of the zone. He is obviously taking RVS’s tutelage to heart, looking for pitches in certain parts of the zone. The odds are, he won’t hit .400, but right about now, he is showing all the signs that he can maintain it. Is it sustainable? I think not, but part of me is not quite sure.
The fact of the matter is: Cody Bellinger is morphing into a superstar at a much younger age than Yelich. I predicted stardom for him, but never anticipated anything like this. He has 14 HR to go with his .434 BA and set the All-time MLB record for RBI before May 1st with 37. By the way, he also gunned down Brandon Crawford at 3B and I doubt that even Puig would have made the play. Cody unleashed a throw that seems to be about 8 feet off the ground.
Cody is also OPS’ing 1.414 and before you say that is totally unsustainable, in 2004 Barry Bonds OPS’ed 1.422. He also OPS’ed over 1.300 three times as did Babe Ruth. He’s certainly in rare air. Will he hit a skid and come down to earth? History says that is likely… but you never know. It will be interesting to watch as he currently shows no signs of falling into bad habits.
Other Dodger News
- This could fall into “This might be really serious” category: AJ Pollock evidently has an elbow infection (possibly staph). This is the elbow where he has had a plate and screws inserted and has had two surgeries. This can potentially be horrible news. You don’t mess with stuff like this. Stay tuned.
- No word on Andrew Toles, except that he is in Glendale. I would imagine he is just working back into shape. If Pollock remains on the IL long term, we could see him in a month… maybe, or maybe not. We don’t know anything…
- Who takes Pollocks’ place? I would think Beaty or Rios, both LH hitters. If Pollock is going to miss much time, the Dodgers could sure us another RH bat… preferably one that could play CF as well. They could also use a “fixed” CT3, but that doesn’t appear close.
- It appears that DJLM is headed to the IL with knee inflammation. That brings the total number of Yankees on the IL to 163. 😉
- Let’s hope Striker Buehler gets his mojo back tonight. I think he has been “tinkering” too much. Just do the voodoo that you do, Striker.
(Photo Credit: Michael Urakami/MLB.com)
Minor League Report by AC
Both OKC and Great Lakes had a travel day and will resume play on Tuesday. The two remaining teams came away with one run victories.
Tulsa Drillers 5 – Corpus Christi Hooks 4 (Astros)
Down 4-1 in the 8th inning, the Drillers scored 4 thanks largely due to a DJ Peters 3 run HR, his third on the season. Gavin Lux got a sac fly for the 4th run. Four of the Drillers 7 hits on the night came in that 8th inning, along with 2 walks. That was enough for the win. No Driller had more than 1 hit, and Peters’ HR was the only XBH.
But tonight was the debut of 28-year-old RHP, Yordy Cabrera, in the Dodgers organization. Cabrera has had a very interesting career to this point, and if so inclined, you can read all about him in the linked article below. For now, the Dodgers are intrigued because he is another with a triple digit fastball. Cabrera went 3.1 innings allowing 3 runs (2 earned), 5 hits, 1 walk, and 2 strikeouts. Cabrera was relieved by Nathan Long who had 2.0 IP allowing 1 run on 1 hit, 1 walk, and 1 strikeout. Adam McCreery and Layne Somsen finished the final 3.2 shutout innings for the victory. McCreery got the win (2-1), while Somsen got his 2nd save on the season.
https://www.mlb.com/news/yordy-cabrera-surprises-in-dodgers-camp
RC Quakes 3 – Lake Elsinore Storm 2 (Padres)
It took 10 innings, but the Quakes came away with a 3-2 hard fought victory. Michael Grove started for the Quakes but finished his 34 pitches before he could get out of the 1st inning. In his 0.2 IP, Grove allowed 1 run (unearned) on 1 hit, 1 walk, and 2 strikeouts. Grove was relieved by Wills Montgomery who pitched a very good 5.2 innings before he ran into a little trouble in the 7th. After a walk, strikeout, and stolen base, Wills was replaced by the struggling Leo Crawford. In a save situation, Leo promptly gave up a run scoring and game tying single to knot the score at 2-2. Crawford continued and pitched an uneventful 2.2 innings after the single. Jordan Sheffield came in the top of the 10th, retired the side, but not without the great effort by Donovan Casey throwing out the go-ahead run at the plate. In the bottom of the 10th, Casey was again the impetus starting at 2nd base. Carlos Rincon walked, and Connor Wong flew out to CF with Casey and Rincon each moving up a base. Going on contact, Casey scored on a Devin Mann ground ball to 3B who made an errant throw to the plate giving Casey an easy score and a Quakes victory.
The Quakes hitters got a taste of the future Padres Ace, 20-year-old, LHSP, MacKenzie Gore. In his 4.1 IP, Gore struck out 11 Quakes’ batters. In the 5th, after striking out Starling Heredia, Gore issued his only walk to Brandon Montgomery and was replaced by Caleb Bouchley. Bouchley struck out Donovan Casey for out #2 in the fifth, but Carlos Rincon then slugged a 2 run HR to CF to give the Quakes the lead at 2-1. It was Carlos’ 3rd HR on the season. Besides Rincon’s HR, the Quakes offense was limited to 2 hits each from Nick Yarnall, Brandon Montgomery, and Devin Mann. Yarnall and Montgomery each hit their 3rd double.
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Discussion (156)
Disagree, not disagreeable
Enough with all this dumb talk about CT3. Does anyone know who Jose Ramirez is? The Cleveland Indians infielder hit 34 HR with a .939 OPS last year. In about twice as many AB’s as CT3, he is hitting .188 with 2 HR and OPS’ing .572!
Throw the baby out with the bathwater!
The car has a flat tire… blow it up!
It’s too cold in the house, set it on fire!
You send a guy like Yasiel Puig who is a dumbass and disrespects his coaches down. You don;t send a gut like CT3 down now.
Maybe after 150 AB’s you think about send CT3 down, but if your plan is to destroy his confidence and trade value, you send him down now… especially if you are really stupid!
Do you have any idea how hard it is to hit in the major leagues and how difficult it is to break out of a slump? Obviously not!
Ian Kinsler, Scott Schebler, Jackie Bradley, Jr., Josh Harrison, Chris Owings, Travis Shaw, Keon Broxton, Chris Dickerson, Rogned Odor, Edwin Nunez, and several others are all hitting less than CT3.
Wait, the car is dirty – take it to the junkyard. Yeah, that’s the ticket…
Geeeeezzzzz – Some of you guys kill me…
Looks like it’s Beaty.
DODGERS RECALL INF MATT BEATY
OF A.J. POLLOCK PLACED ON 10-DAY IL
LOS ANGELES – The Los Angeles Dodgers today recalled infielder Matt Beaty from Triple-A Oklahoma City and placed outfielder A.J. Pollock on the 10-day injured list with right elbow inflammation.
Beaty, 26, was the 12th round selection by the Dodgers in the 2014 First-Year Player Draft out of Belmont University. The former Belmont Bruin has been with the Dodger organization for five seasons and this will be his first Major League promotion after being added to the 40-man roster on November 20, 2018. In five minor league seasons, he is a .307 (427-for-1390) hitter with 33 homers and 209 RBI across five different levels. Prior to the promotion, Beaty was batting .277 (23-for-83) with two homers and 10 RBI in 22 games for Oklahoma City.
Pollock, 31, will make his make his fifth career stint on the IL. In 28 games this season, Pollock is batting .223 (23-for-109) with two homers and 14 RBI. The former 2015 All-Star and Gold Glove Award winner is a career .279 (663-for-2380) hitter with 76 homers and 278 RBI.
Beaty it is.
Dodger’s lack of right handed hitting depth exposed here
I haven’t read through all of today’s posts, so while I continue to have serious doubts about CT3, I do agree with Mark that there is no justification to send him down to OKC, at this time.
What bothers me about CT3 is his apparent unwillingness to cut down on his violent wild swing. With his speed, and athleticism, it appears as if CT3 would be successful with s more controlled swing that got his speed on base regularly. I suspect he’s a guy that could hit a lot of doubles, and find his way on base often enough to ultimately become a very effective lead-off hitter. But it’s just speculation on my part. Maybe I’m right and maybe I’m wrong.
Well Mark it’s not like Taylor set the world on fire for an entire year last season. It’s not a career maker to lead the league in K’s with little or no power!
Hernandez CF
Seager SS
Turner 3B
Bellinger RF
Freese 1B
Muncy 2B
Taylor LF
Barnes C
Buehler P
I for one wasn’t advocating sending CT3 down, I was questioning the decision to use him in the particular spot in question last night.
And only asking the question of how the decision was made.
As it was fleshed out, is it a decision made on a ” hunch ” a decision of a manager trying to get his guy on track, or a decision based on analytics.
That was my question, just curious how the game is being orchestrated.
I sure hope Taylor finds his way out of this rut, and hope DR helps him to do it.
Sure hope Andrew Toles gets another shot.
I do think that the Dodgers need another RH hitter.
I still want Nick Castellanos, but we may have to trade Joc to get him. He is in a bad situation on a bad team. Put him on a good team with coaching from RVS and I think he blooms. Let him play LF – he can be decent there.
Casty is a Free Agent after this season. Joc has two more years of control.
Mark,
Thanks for your analysis regarding DR decision. If that’s what he was trying to do with and for CT3 I can appreciate that. If he was attempting to get his man right, then hats off to him. As you say, we can’t tell yet the benifit. CT3 didn’t execute last night but perhaps it still will help him.
If DR’s decision was based on stats then IMO it was bad and he got what he asked for.
But to take a risk to help your players, we’ll it’s worth the risk. Especially now.
Random thought: A troll is a troll.
Ken Gurnick has an excellent article on the Dodgers website which highlights the origins of “The Dodgers Way”, the pitching rich history of the team over the past seventy-five years and the impact that scouting and minor league development have had and continues to have on the franchise. Its a great read and I’d recommend for all Dodgers fans, both old and new.
Would not be surprised to see Joc/CT in LF, Bells in CF. Verdugo in RF, Freese. Muncy, Beaty andTurner at 1B, 2B and 3B, Seager at SS and Kike as the super sub.
Porcello shutting out the A’s in Boston. He is over 105 pitch count and counting. Starting to see a trend in letting Starters go deeper into games?? Pitch Count should be banned.
Victory tonight for Taylor. He didn’t strike out but blasted a ball to first base at 64 mph!
Actually, you could see he cut down on his swing after 2 strikes.
Seager needs to bat lower. I keep saying this until he back to being himself. Right now he is not a good #2 hitter.
Bellinger is god
Mr. Freeze in the house.
Taylor improving every ab. Got that last shot to 1base up to 71 mph!
From MLB Trade Rumors:
The Brewers announced Tuesday that righty Josh Fields has been released from their Triple-A affiliate in San Antonio. Per Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel (on Twitter), Fields exercised the April 30 opt-out clause in the minor league deal he signed with Milwaukee last month.
The former Dodgers righty was off to a miserable start to the season in San Antonio, where he’d yielded eight runs (seven earned) on seven hits and four walks with five strikeouts in just 7 2/3 innings of work. Fields allowed runs in six of his first seven Triple-A appearances this year, though he did finish out that otherwise forgettable stint with three shutout innings across three appearances (one hit, no walks, three strikeouts), so perhaps he’s begun to turn a corner.
Since being acquired by the Dodgers in 2016, the now-33-year-old Fields has racked up 117 1/3 innings of relief and pitched to a terrific 2.61 ERA with 8.8 K/9, 2.6 BB/9 and 1.22 HR/9. Beyond that recent track record, Fields generally averages nearly 95 mph on his heater with strong swinging-strike and opponents’ chase rates, all of which should be alluring to other clubs. He’s an extreme fly-ball pitcher thanks to a heavy reliance on a four-seam fastball, but Fields has allowed well less than a homer per nine innings pitched dating back to 2014 (even when factoring in an outlier 1.58 HR/9 mark in 2017).
Seager doesn’t look right yet. He is arm swinging and not really getting his hips into it.
Buehler doesn’t look the way he did last year. His pitches aren’t as sharp. He’s close though.
Great job going the other way. Huge runs