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Ezequiel Tovar got here into the season ranked because the No. 4 prospect within the Colorado Rockies system. Regardless of being simply 20 years previous, he would possibly end it within the large leagues. In 229 plate appearances with the Double-A Hartford Yard Goats, Tovar is slashing .317/.393/.579 with a 165 wRC+. Furthermore, he has a dozen residence runs and has swiped 16 bases in 17 makes an attempt.
His calling card is his glove. Described by our personal Eric Longenhagen as “a no-doubt shortstop with balletic defensive footwork and a well-calibrated inner clock.” Tovar had obtained comparable rave opinions from MLB scouts within the Arizona Fall League. And that was earlier than he blossomed with the bat.
I requested Yard Goats supervisor Chris Denorfia concerning the offensive strides which have elevated Tovar’s profile.
“Coming into this yr, I used to be advised that there was some chase on down-and-away sliders,” stated Denorfia, who performed 10 big-league seasons. “However I haven’t seen what everyone was speaking about. Someplace between the Fall League and this spring, he’s made this developmental leap. One thing clicked to the place he’s recognizing conditions the place pitchers are going to attempt to get him to chase. Whether or not you name it slowing the sport down, or simply having sufficient reps, he’s made that adjustment. It was in all probability the one factor that was holding him again, which is form of bizarre to say, as a result of he was solely 19 final yr.”
The self-discipline is mirrored within the numbers. Regardless of being one the youngest gamers in his league, Tovar possesses a 9.6 walk-rate and a 22.3% Okay-rate. If you add his improved pop to the equation, it’s straightforward to see why hypothesis of a call-up — untimely that it could be — has begun to develop legs.
Emma Tiedemann replied within the affirmative when requested if Tovar is the very best participant she’s seen this yr. Hartford had performed 9 video games towards their Jap League rival after I posed that query, so the Portland Sea Canine broadcaster was well-acquainted with what he brings to the desk.
“Tovar makes each play look straightforward,” Tiedemann advised me on Friday. “If it’s a play behind the second-base bag, the way in which he appears to have the ability to sluggish issues down and nonetheless make the hard-and-accurate throw to first base is unbelievable. On the plate, he can hit for energy, hit to the gaps, and he may get on base with a bunt single. Then he’s a menace to steal. So, I’d say he’s been the participant who stands proud essentially the most. The way in which he’s polished, particularly for his age, and simply his general composure, he’s actually, actually spectacular.”
Denorfia’s synopsis is just like the broadcaster’s.
“He impacts video games,” stated Denorfia. “That’s whether or not he’s on the bases, taking part in protection, or within the field. For a 20-year-old child, on this league, towards this competitors, to indicate the maturity degree that he does… I don’t suppose I ever performed with a shortstop arising by the minor leagues that was as proficient on either side of the ball as he’s. He’s a really particular participant.”
A scouting director for an MLB staff that might be seeking to transfer veterans for prospects on the commerce deadline is available for the about-to-conclude Sea Canine-Yard Goats collection. And for good motive. As he put it, “There are numerous proficient gamers on these groups.” Tovar, with whom the Rockies can be remiss to half methods with, may very properly be the very best of them.
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RANDOM HITTER-PITCHER MATCHUPS
Francisco Lindor is eighteen for 36 towards Jakob Junis.
Todd Dunwoody went 5 for 11 towards Jeff Juden.
Mike Piazza went 3 for 4 towards Mike Judd.
Taylor Douthit went 3 for 4 towards June Greene.
Frank Jude went 3 for 16 towards Vive Lindaman.
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Ceddanne Rafaela is the fastest-rising prospect within the Boston Purple Sox system. Underneath the radar to begin the yr, the 21-year-old shortstop/centerfielder was promoted to Double-A Portland earlier this week after tearing up the Excessive-A South Atlantic League to the tune of a .330/.368/.594 slash line, with 9 residence runs in 209 plate appearances. His wRC+ was a stand-up-and-take-notice 156.
Rafaela’s first Double-A motion got here towards Hartford, and regardless of him going simply 1 for 13, he made a superb first impression on Denorfia.
“He seems to be like he’s actually tooled up,” the previous big-league outfielder stated of the 5-foot-8, 160-pound wunderkind. “You possibly can inform by the way in which his physique strikes that he’s harmful when he’s within the field. I haven’t seen sufficient of him within the subject to have a good suggestion of what he’s able to on the market, however he seems to be like he can do harm on numerous pitches.”
Rafaela proceeded to do exactly that within the hours following Denorfia’s scouting evaluation. Enjoying in his fourth Double-A recreation on Friday, Rafaela went 4 for five with a double and a house run. On Saturday, he went 2 for 3 with a stroll and a house run.
A local of Curaçao who speaks 4 languages — English, Spanish, Dutch, and Papiamento — Rafaela is equal components humble and assured. Requested previous to Friday’s recreation if he’s stunned by how properly he’s swung the bat this season, he stated that he isn’t. At all times prepared for the fastball, he’s mainly simply sticking to his plan and trusting the method.
He’s additionally having fun with himself.
“That is a lot enjoyable,” Rafaela stated with a smile. “It’s enjoyable to return to the sector and have good teammates. Simply to play baseball is enjoyable.”
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A quiz:
Who holds the New York/San Francisco Giants franchise document for profession RBIs?
The reply may be discovered beneath.
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NEWS NOTES
Midland Rockhounds broadcaster Bob Hards known as his first MLB video games earlier this week in Atlanta. The veteran of 31 minor-league seasons was filling in for Oakland A’s radio voice Ken Korach, who was taking the street journey off.
Mark Schaeffer, a left-handed pitcher who appeared in 41 video games for the San Diego Padres in 1972, died earlier this week at age 73. Schaeffer gained each of his profession choices, and his lone save got here when he retired the one batter he confronted, Pete Rose, in a 17-inning, 4-3 Padres win over the Cincinnati Reds.
Art “Pinky” Deras died final Sunday at age 75. As reported by The Detroit Free Press, Deras hit 13 residence runs in 13 match video games whereas main Hamtramck, Michigan to the 1959 Little League World Sequence championship. Over the course of that season, he pitched 16 shutouts, together with 10 no-hitters. Deras went on to play 5 seasons within the St. Louis Cardinals system, topping out in Double-A.
Orioles legend Boog Powell has been added to the featured-speaker record for this summer time’s national SABR convention. Open to all, the occasion might be held in Baltimore from August 17-21.
SABR’s BioProject hit a milestone this previous week with its 6,000th biography. The bios — a useful contribution to baseball historical past — may be discovered here.
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The reply to the quiz is Mel Ott, who had 1,860 RBIs with the Giants. Willie Mays had 1,859 RBIs with the Giants.
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Nick Krall was a visitor on Friday’s episode of FanGraphs Audio, and one of many a number of topics addressed by the Cincinnati Reds GM was the December 2014 commerce that introduced Eugenio Suárez to the Queen Metropolis in trade for Alfredo Simon. Krall was Cincinnati’s Director of Baseball Operations on the time, whereas Suárez was coming off an 86 wRC+ in his rookie season with the Detroit Tigers.
“I used to be really speaking to Walt Jocketty the opposite day about this,” Krall stated on the pod. “Our suite on the Winter Conferences that yr was instantly throughout the corridor from the Tigers, and there have been a few gamers that we talked about. We ended up getting Jonathon Crawford in that deal, a first-round choose who’d had some damage points. However our scouts, Mike Squires specifically, actually appreciated Eugenio Suárez. We thought that he had the flexibility to to proceed to play the infield. He was getting stronger. He was creating a superb method. We thought there was extra energy within the bat. We had some heated debates about him versus another guys, and he’s the one which gained out.”
Suárez — subsequently dealt to the Seattle Mariners this spring — banged out 189 residence runs whereas logging a 111 wRC+ in seven seasons with the Reds. Crawford by no means made it to the majors. Simon went 13-12 with a 5.05 in his one yr with the Tigers, then returned to Cincinnati as a free agent.
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FOREIGN AFFAIRS
Roberto Osuna, who served a 75-game suspension in 2018 for violating MLB’s Home Violence Coverage. has signed with NPB’s Chiba Lotte Marines. The 27-year-old former Toronto Blue Jays and Houston Astros reliever final pitched within the large leagues in 2020.
Shota Imanaga threw a no-hitter for NPB’s Yokohama BayStars on Tuesday. The 28-year-old left-hander is 2-0 with a 1.67 ERA, and has 29 strikeouts in 27 innings, on the season.
Scott McGough has 20 saves and a 0.69 ERA with NPB’s Yakult Swallows. The 32-year-old former Miami Marlins right-hander has 35 strikeouts, and has allowed 13 hits, over 26 innings.
Koyo Aoyagi is 7-1 with a 0.89 ERA, and has allowed simply 50 hits in 71 innings, with the Hanshin Tigers. The 28-year-old right-hander went 13-6, 2.76 with the NPB Pacific League membership a yr in the past.
Casey Kelly is 7-1 with a 2.57 ERA, and has allowed 56 hits in 66-and-two-thirds innings, with the KBO’s LG Twins. The 32-year-old right-hander — a first-round choose by the Purple Sox in 2008 — final pitched in MLB with the San Francisco Giants in 2018.
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A couple of days in the past, I ran a Twitter ballot asking which of two Toronto Blue Jays pitchers is having the higher season. Kevin Gausman (who pitched yesterday) was 5-4 with a 2.78 ERA and a 1.61 FIP, whereas Alek Manoah is 7-1 with a 1.81 ERA and a 3.05 FIP.
The outcomes favored FIP. Gausman obtained 58.3% of the votes forged, whereas Manoah — my preseason choose to win the AL Cy Young award — garnered 41.7%.
Has Gausman actually had the higher season? Because the saying goes, your mileage might fluctuate.
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FARM NOTES
Esteury Ruiz was promoted to Triple-A this week after slashing .344/.474/.611 with a 176 wRC+ for the Double-A San Antonio Missions. Counting his 4 video games with the El Paso Chihuahuas, the 23-year-old outfielder — No. 25 on our San Diego Padres Top Prospects list — has stolen 39 bases in 44 makes an attempt, and has 12 residence runs in 251 plate appearances.
Jackson Chourio is slashing .369/.416/.639 with a 185 wRC+ for the Low-A Carolina Mudcats. No. 8 on our Milwaukee Brewers Top Prospects list, the 18-year-old outfielder has 13 doubles and 6 residence runs in 142 plate appearances.
Reese Olson — featured in Sunday Notes final August — has a 2.09 FIP to associate with a 3.65 ERA for the Double-A Erie SeaWolves. At the moment No. 6 on our Detroit Tigers Top Prospects list, the 22-year-old right-hander has 72 strikeouts in 49-and-a-third innings.
Joey Cantillo has a 2.34 ERA and a 2.53 FIP, in addition to 62 strikeouts in 42-and-a-third innings, with the Double-A Akron RubberDucks. The 22-year-old left-hander was acquired by the Cleveland Guardians from the San Diego Padres as a part of the August 2020 Mike Clevinger commerce.
Ricky Tiedemann has a 1.27 ERA and a 1.72 FIP in 49-and-two-thirds innings break up between the Low-A Dunedin Blue Jays and the Excessive-A Vancouver Canadians. The 19-year-old left-hander — No. 6 on our Toronto Blue Jays Top Prospect list — has 77 strikeouts and has allowed simply 20 hits.
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Keegan Akin is having a breakout season pitching out of the Baltimore bullpen. In his first yr as a full-time reliever, the 27-year-old lefty has a 2.02 ERA and a 3.03 FIP over 15 appearances. He’s punched out 30 batters, and allowed 20 hits and 10 walks in 35-and-two-thirds innings.
Akin attributes his latest success to easily throwing extra strikes. Nothing else has actually modified. Outdoors of principally shelving his curveball — a pitch he’s by no means relied on closely — the 5-foot-11, 235-pound former Western Michigan College Bronco remains to be throwing the identical fastball, changeup, and slider. Calling that blend his bread-and-butter, Akin defined that attacking the zone, and never attempting to being too exact along with his pitches has been the important thing.
Being totally wholesome hasn’t harm. Akin battled a nagging damage final yr, and ended up having surgical procedure for a sports activities hernia in the course of the offseason. As soon as he’d recovered from the process — and with higher in command in thoughts — he threw extra dwell BPs than he had in earlier winters. Akin being a Michigan native, these occurred indoors.
“This was about 9 minutes from my home,” defined Akin. “I used to be throwing in a batting cage, to the Grand Rapids Christian Excessive Faculty staff. They’re really actually good. They’ve a pitcher named [Kyle] Remington — all of us known as him ‘Remy’ — who’s going to [the University] of Minnesota on a reasonably good scholarship. I’d have cherished to have had these youngsters alone highschool staff.”
That’s to not recommend that lots of them had been squaring up the southpaw’s choices within the dwell BPs. Large league pitchers are a superb bit higher than even the very best highschool hitters.
“Yeah, generally we’re,” stated Akin. “I hope we’re.”
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LINKS YOU’LL LIKE
At Chicago Journal, Edward McClelland told the story of the Chicago Whales, who performed within the renegade Federal League from 1913-1915.
USA As we speak’s Gabe Lacques wrote about how Pat Hoberg is MLB’s highest-rated home-plate umpire in keeping with Umpire Scorecards.
The Athletic’s Cody Stavenhagen wrote about how outfielder-turned-Detroit-Tigers-broadcaster Craig Monroe brings each type and substance to the sales space (subscription required).
Toronto Blue Jays supervisor Charlie Montoyo is a music aficionado who performs percussion at salsa golf equipment. James Wagner wrote about it for The New York Instances.
Cincinnati Reds farmhand Leonardo Seminati — a local of Alzano Lombardo, Italy — wrote about his minor-league journey at Extra Than Baseball.
Bucs Dugout’s Austin Bechtold told of how the promotion of prospects is sparking indicators of life within the Pirates’ rebuild.
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RANDOM FACTS AND STATS
The Washington Nationals have averaged 7.7 runs per recreation of their 23 wins. They’ve averaged 2.1 runs per recreation of their 38 losses.
The Tampa Bay Rays, who’ve a document of 34-25. have used 12 beginning pitchers to date this yr. The Toronto Blue Jays, who’ve a document of 34-24, have used six beginning pitchers.
Carlos Tosca, whose Toronto Blue Jays groups went a mixed 191-191, is the one supervisor in MLB historical past with the identical variety of wins and losses. Seattle Mariners skipper Scott Servais went into final evening with a managerial document of 464-464.
All 15 managers to have managed 3,500 or extra big-league video games are former big-league gamers. Jim Leyland, who managed 3,499 video games, performed seven seasons within the minors however didn’t attain the majors.
Fred Lynn hit precisely 23 residence runs in 4 consecutive seasons (1984-1987). Ken Boyer hit precisely 24 residence runs in 4 consecutive seasons (1961-1964).
On at the moment’s date in 2001, Mike Cameron’s ninth-inning residence run lifted the Seattle Mariners to a 10-9 win over the Colorado Rockies at Coors Discipline. The 2 groups mixed to go yard 9 occasions, with Bret Boone banging two of Seattle’s six round-trippers. Kazuhiro Sasaki recorded his twenty fifth save.
On at the moment’s date in 1978, the New York Yankees beat the Oakland A’s 2-0 behind solo residence runs by Graig Nettles and Willie Randolph. Ron Guidry, who would go on to the end the season 25-3, tossed a three-hit shutout to run his document to 10-0.
Gamers born on at the moment’s date embrace Sam Parrilla, an outfielder whose big-league profession comprised 11 video games for the Philadelphia Phillies in 1970. Murdered in Brooklyn following a visitors dispute in 1994, the native of Santurce, Puerto Rico was the daddy of actress Lana Parrilla.
Additionally born on at the moment’s date was Bitsy Mott, whose MLB profession comprised 90 video games with the Philadelphia Phillies in 1945. An infielder, Mott went on to change into a longtime safety guard for Elvis Presley, and appeared in 4 of his motion pictures.
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