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David Ross was 38 years outdated and nonetheless strapping on the instruments of ignorance when he was featured right here at FanGraphs in February 2016. The title of the piece was David Ross: Future Big League Manager, and as many within the trade had suggested it will, that supposition quickly got here to fruition. The longtime catcher is at present embarking on what will probably be his fourth season on the helm of the Chicago Cubs. I just lately requested Ross how he approaches the job philosophically now that he’s firmly within the trenches.
“My fashion — the way in which I strategy being a supervisor — is management and route, however I’m additionally nonetheless a participant at coronary heart,” Ross instructed me. “I perceive what these guys are going via, competing for jobs and completely different roles. Speaking via that as a former participant, somebody who skilled it, I can relate to them. I attempt to maintain a participant’s mindset as a part of my decision-making.”
Jed Hoyer was the membership’s Basic Supervisor when the Cubs employed Ross following the 2019 season. I requested the now President of Baseball Operations concerning the course of that knowledgeable that call.
“We knew on the finish of his taking part in profession how he interacted along with his teammates, and we noticed how he ready and held guys accountable,” mentioned Hoyer, who was second in command to Theo Epstein in Chicago’s entrance workplace on the time. “It was very apparent that he was going to be a supervisor, so we talked about, ‘OK, how will we take these apparent instruments [and determine] the most effective course of to undergo to place him in the proper place?’”
Based on Hoyer, an enormous a part of that course of concerned melding Ross’s participant’s mindset with yet one more akin to his personal.
“He spent numerous time within the entrance workplace, studying what the R&D employees does [and] what we speak about throughout video games,” defined Hoyer. “He sat in on commerce deadline stuff and draft stuff. Trying again, that was so extremely beneficial. Rossy will let you know that listening to how we speak about gamers, how we speak about constructing a staff… should you’ve by no means been there and have solely thought of it from a participant’s perspective, then you definitely’re not going to have numerous [perspective] after I go in there and speak about what we’re doing. He discovered how to consider it via each a participant lens and a entrance workplace lens.”
Mindsets apart, the job might be something however simple. Is being a big-league supervisor enjoyable?
“It’s a blessing; I’ll say that,” was Ross’s response to that query. “I like my job. The enjoyable, or the thrill and drive that wakes you up every day — eager to be higher, and to win championships — heck yeah, man. It fuels me. However I don’t know if ‘enjoyable’ is the phrase. I do know that successful is enjoyable and shedding sucks. You grind over the losses and also you flip the web page on the wins actually quick. So I’m unsure what the phrase is. However it’s a blessing.”
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Again in October 2020, this column led with how Xander Bogaerts was on observe to interrupt the Crimson Sox franchise document for many video games performed at shortstop. The 30-year-old four-time All-Star proceeded to take action final June, eclipsing Everett Scott’s 1,093 video games (from 1914-1921) earlier than finally ending his Boston tenure with 1,192.
Now that Bogaerts is a San Diego Padre, I requested him concerning the distinction he now holds. Extra particularly, how good is it to have left Boston with document in hand?
“It’s particular,” Bogaerts instructed me on Thursday. “It’s one thing that will probably be arduous to interrupt, however data are supposed to be damaged. There are younger guys developing, sure, however the way in which the sport is right this moment, it’s arduous to remain on one staff for the remainder of your profession.”
That’s very true when one other staff — on this case Peter Seidler’s Padres — affords you $280M over 11 years. As for the group that had been his skilled dwelling since 2009, the X-man admits that Boston has a particular place in his coronary heart.
“It was a part of my life,” mentioned Bogaerts. “Since I used to be a child, proper? Signing at Fenway, going to the Dominican Summer season League, awards up within the massive leagues… so it’s a spot I’m going to overlook. However I’m excited for this chapter of my life. I’m wanting ahead to it.”
In the meantime, the Crimson Sox are wanting ahead to the arrival of 20-year-old shortstop prospect Marcelo Mayer, who’s No. 18 on our High 100 and seen by many as having all-star potential of his personal. Whether or not Mayer can finally approximate what Bogaerts completed in Boston is a query that Crimson Sox followers will probably be watching intently.
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RANDOM HITTER-PITCHER MATCHUPS
Eddie Miller went 2 for 34 in opposition to Les Webber.
Frank Howard went 28 for 53 in opposition to Gary Peters.
Pete Rose went 17 for 32 in opposition to Warren Spahn.
Reggie Jackson went 21 for 51 in opposition to Doyle Alexander.
Jeff King went 15 for 45 in opposition to Steve Avery.
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Jake McCarthy was considered one of baseball’s greatest rookies final season, albeit with out numerous fanfare. Within the opinion of considered one of his former Arizona Diamondbacks teammates, the 25-year-old outfielder is a participant who deserves extra nationwide consideration than he will get.
“He’s an awesome clubhouse man, a man who brings vitality daily,” opined Daulton Varsho, whom the D-Backs dealt to the Toronto Blue Jays this previous offseason. “He additionally understands baseball very well. Jake talks about luck. He hits numerous floor balls and has a fairly respectable batting-average-on-balls-in-play, and he is aware of that some nights he’s going to go 0-for-4, and a few nights he’s going to go 4-for-4. That’s the way in which this recreation works. However Jake places the bat on the ball and makes use of his pace — he’s bought a very good instrument with that — and I beloved being round him.”
McCarthy had a .349 BABIP in 354 big-league plate appearances final 12 months, in addition to a .283/.342/.427 slash line, eight dwelling runs, 23 stolen bases, and a 116 wRC+. The wheels are undoubtedly plus-plus. As my colleague Michael Baumann pointed out earlier this week, McCarthy is within the 98th percentile in dash pace, an attribute that not solely advantages him on the plate and on the bottom paths, but additionally within the subject.
Varsho covers numerous floor himself. The transformed catcher logged a plus-19 DRS as an outfielder (plus-14 in proper and plus-5 in middle) final season, making him as an elite defender. Requested what these numbers imply to him, the Badger State native was each humble and happy with what he’s been capable of accomplish.
“Simply the quantity of time and effort I’ve put into it,” Varsho instructed me. “Transferring from middle subject to proper subject was type of a tough transition. The angles, understanding how balls are coming off the bat… for lots of fellows it’s arduous to maneuver over and the play the nook properly. To have the ability to do this was fairly particular.”
Given his Marshfield, Wisconsin roots, there was yet one more query I felt compelled to ask: Would he wish to see Aaron Rodgers return to Inexperienced Bay?
“It could be enjoyable to see him come again for yet one more 12 months and provides it yet one more go,” replied Varsho. “But when he needs to maneuver on, as a Packers fan, I’ll transfer on as properly. I’m your typical Wisconsin-ite who loves the Packers and enjoys watching them, and that gained’t change both method.”
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A quiz:
Which participant has appeared in essentially the most regular-season video games over the previous 10 seasons?
The reply might be discovered beneath.
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NEWS NOTES
Andy Andres was honored with the 2023 SABR Analytics Convention Lifetime Achievement Award final weekend. A member of the Boston College school who developed and taught the Baseball Evaluation and Sabermetrics course at Tufts College — a number of former college students now work in MLB entrance places of work — Andres can also be a part-time MLB stringer and pitch clock operator at Fenway Park.
The Tampa Bay Rays have promoted Neil Solondz to radio play-by-play broadcaster alongside Andy Freed. Tampa Bays’ pregame and postgame host for the previous decade, and earlier than that the voice of the Triple-A Durham Bulls, Solondz replaces longtime play-by-play voice Dave Wills, who died unexpectedly this month at age 58.
Joe Pepitone, a primary baseman/outfielder from 1962-1973 who spent his first eight seasons with the Yankees, died earlier this week at age 82. Colourful, and at occasions controversial — he was identified to benefit from the New York Metropolis nightlife — Pepitone clubbed 219 dwelling runs and was a member of two World Collection-winning groups.
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The reply to the quiz is Carlos Santana, who has appeared in 1,440 video games for the reason that begin of the 2013 season.
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Luke Bard has elite spin charge — the 32-year-old right-hander ranks within the 99th percentile for RPMs along with his four-seamer — and at one level that mattered to him. Not anymore.
“For years, I knew I had a excessive spin charge and thought that was type of a present,” mentioned Bard, who signed as a free agent with the Toronto Blue Jays in February. “Now I understand that it’s not essential in any respect. Now I simply attempt to deal with the motion of my pitches and the vertical strategy angle that goes with them.”
Armed with that data, the veteran of 55 big-league video games — 32 of them with the Los Angeles Angels in 2019 — is including a second heater to his arsenal.
“I’m not simply throwing one fastball and placing myself in a bubble,” Bard defined. “I additionally assume the two-seam is definitely my higher pitch movement-wise. It comes type of naturally and provides me a few of that seam-shifted motion. With the four-seam, I’m not elevating my arm slot to chase vertical carry. I may very well be reducing it, realizing that 15 inches of carry from a decrease vertical strategy goes to perhaps play higher than 18 or 19 from the next slot. A hitter’s mind expects a pitch to come back out a sure method, and your slot influences the way it really does, if that is sensible.”
The righty went on to say that his older brother, Colorado Rockies nearer Daniel Bard, has talked about “doing stuff like that.” The youthful sibling has additionally bounced concepts off the pitching analysts/coach at Tread Athletics, the place he checked out vertical strategy on a TrackMan. As for the educational setting at his new baseball dwelling, Toronto is greater than assembly his expectations.
“Now I’m a Blue Jay,” mentioned Bard, who beforehand pitched with Angels, Rays and Yankees. “I actually prefer it. Right here it looks like a great mix of greedy the analytics and greedy that it’s essential to be aggressive. So as to win you want each parts. You’ll want to be baseball gamers, and that’s what they need right here.”
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Preston Mattingly is bullish on Hao-Yu Lee, and for good cause. Eighteen months after being signed as a world free agent, the 20-year-old Taiwanese infielder now is likely one of the high prospects within the Phillies system. I just lately requested Philadelphia’s farm director for a snapshot scouting report on the promising teenager.
“Hao-Yu is a powerful child with a sophisticated really feel to hit,” mentioned Mattingly. “A terrific baseball IQ. He’s very instinctual on the sphere, and he works extraordinarily arduous. We really feel he has a great likelihood to have an above-average hit-power combo. He has a knack for offense.”
Lee is coming off of a primary full skilled season through which he slashed .284/.386/.438 with 9 dwelling runs in 350 plate appearances between three ranges, with the majority of his video games coming with Low-A Clearwater. Defensively, he noticed motion at second base, third base, and shortstop.
“We challenged him by taking part in him all over the place [in the infield],” defined Mattingly. “Long run, it’s extra of a second-base profile, however we’re not ruling out quick. When guys are younger like he’s, you don’t need to rule out something too early as a result of protection is an areas you possibly can actually enhance. Hao-Yu is a low-to-the-ground man who we noticed take some massive strides final 12 months, so I feel his place is slightly bit TBD proper now.”
By way of language, Lee is already positioning himself as somebody who will match properly right into a clubhouse setting.
“He’s an enormous trash-talker,” Mattingly instructed me. “His English is getting higher, and it’s popping out loads via his trash-talking.”
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LINKS YOU’LL LIKE
On the Yonhap Information Company, Jee-ho Yoo wrote about how South Korean baseball faces a painful transition after a disappointing efficiency within the WBC.
Former Milwaukee Brewers and Chunichi Dragons catcher/outfielder Dave Nilsson is now the supervisor of Crew Australia, and he’d welcome a chance to handle in NPB. Jason Coskrey has the story at The Japan Occasions.
Our Esquina’s Lorenzo Delgado told us about Duque Hebbert, whom the Detroit Tigers signed after the 21-year-old Nicaragua right-hander fanned Juan Soto, Julio Rodriguez, and Rafael Devers within the ninth inning of a WBC recreation.
Sports activities Illustrated’s Stephanie Apstein has a story on how the New York Yankees — a staff that Forbes estimates is price $6 billion — doesn’t present complementary in-flight Wi-Fi to their gamers.
Over at The Chicago Solar-Occasions, Maddie Lee wrote about how Chicago Cubs Senior Vice President Craig Breslow’s journeyman taking part in profession continues to be paying dividends.
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RANDOM FACTS AND STATS
Dusty Baker’s 2,093 managerial wins are ninth-most all-time. The Houston supervisor is on faucet to move Joe McCarthy (2,125) and Bucky Harris (2,158) this 12 months, and if the Astros win 102 video games, he may also bounce previous Sparky Anderson (2,194). Each supervisor with extra wins than Baker is within the Corridor of Fame.
Trayce Thompson had 219 at-bats, three infield hits, and a .374 BABIP final 12 months. Jordan Luplow had 205 at-bats, three infield hits, and a .185 BABIP.
Patrick Corbin allowed a most-in-the majors 210 hits final 12 months, together with 27 dwelling runs. Josiah Gray, his Washington Nationals teammate, allowed 136 hits, 38 of which had been dwelling runs,
Mace Brown had a team-best 15 wins for the 1938 Pittsburgh Pirates, with all 15 coming in reduction. The North English, Iowa native was charged with 9 losses, considered one of them on September 28, when he surrendered Gabby Hartnett’s Homer in the Gloamin that propelled the Chicago Cubs into first place to remain. Pittsburgh completed two video games again.
Harry Mace had an MLB profession that comprised three pitching appearances for the American Affiliation’s Washington Statesmen in 1891. His teammates included 19-year-old left-hander Buck Freeman, who logged a 3.89 ERA over 44 innings, then spent the following six seasons within the minors earlier than returning to the big-leagues as an outfielder/first baseman. Freeman had a 133 wRC+ from 1888-1904 and was the highest offensive performer for the 1903 Boston Individuals, who went on to win the primary ever World Collection.
Joe Tinker of Tinker-to-Evers-to-Probability fame performed for the Pacific Northwest League’s Portland Webfoots earlier than becoming a member of the Chicago Orphans in 1902. The Orphans grew to become the Cubs the next season.
The San Diego Padres signed Rickey Henderson to a free agent contract on right this moment’s date in 2001. The 42-year-old outfielder slashed .227/.366/.351 with 25 steals in his return season with San Diego.
The Chicago Cubs launched Fergie Jenkins on right this moment’s date in 1983, successfully ending his profession. The Corridor of Fame right-hander had gone 6-9 with a 4.30 ERA the earlier 12 months in his age-40 season.
Gamers born on right this moment’s date embrace Tim Corcoran, who logged 283 hits as a part-time participant with the Detroit Tigers, Philadelphia Phillies, Minnesota Twins, and New York Mets from 1977-1986. Per his B-Ref player-info web page, Corcoran was nicknamed “Spring Coaching” for his uncanny capability to crush Grapefruit League pitching.
Additionally born on right this moment’s date was Skyrocket Smith, who performed for the American Affiliation’s Louisville Colonels in 1888. Born Samuel J. Smith, in Baltimore, the primary baseman had a 119 wRC+ in his lone big-league season.
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