After a year away from the game and a handful of minor league tune-up starts, Andy Pettitte officially returned to the Yankees on Sunday. His pitching line was nothing to write home about — 6.1 IP, 7 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 3 BB, 2 K — and he ultimately took the loss against the light-hitting Mariners. All four runs came on a pair of two-run homers, including a line drive shot by Justin Smoak that probably doesn’t leave many non-Yankee Stadium stadiums (video).

Anecdotally, the 39-year-old Pettitte looked an awful lot like the previous versions of himself, just with quite a bit of rust. He threw a ton of moving fastballs — 23 two-seamers and 32 cutters out of 94 pitches (58.5%) — but had trouble getting the ball (particularly the cutter) in on right-handed batters…

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With the loss of yet another baseball player to a torn anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) comes a fresh opportunity for a young, inexperienced prospect. The Washington Nationals organization has replaced starting catcher Wilson Ramos with part-timer Jesus Flores and called up rookie Sandy Leon to serve as the new backup.

Leon is known as a glove-first catcher but his bat began to show signs of improvement at high-A ball in 2011 and that continued over into 2012 with his assignment to double-A. At the time of his promotion Leon was hitting .319/.356/.457 in 27 games. Despite his improvements with the stick he’s not as good as those numbers suggest, though, and the 130 wRC+ is the result of a small sample size. He posted a wRC+ of 89 in 2011. Leon is a switch-hitter and he offers more potential while swinging from the left side.

There is not much that Leon, 23, doesn’t do on defense. He is a great receiver, he calls a solid game and he isn’t afraid to get down and block pitches. The young catcher has an average arm in terms of strength but it’s accurate and he does a nice job of controlling the running game. With one of the strongest pitching staffs in baseball, Leon is exactly what the club needs in a backup catcher and he’s an excellent complement to Flores.

Leon signed with Washington out of Venezuala in 2007. He was actually scouted by two very savvy baseball minds in now-GM Mike Rizzo and Dana Brown, who is currently Special Assistant to the GM in Toronto. Although he will likely never be an impact player with the bat, Leon has a chance to be a valuable bench player for the Washington Nationals.

Sandy Leon isn’t the only intriguing catching prospect in the Nationals system, even after the off-season trade of Derek Norris, which helped the club acquire left-handed starter Gio Gonzalez. David Freitas, currently playing in high-A ball, is more of an offensive-minded catcher than Leon but he can hold his own on defense and should eventually become an average big league backstop. On offense he shows a good eye, can hit for a decent average and has good gap power. Freitas, 23, is currently hitting .300/.390/.478 in 25 games. He was originally a 15th round draft pick out of the University of Hawaii in 2010.

As the Rangers lit up Jered Weaver and the Angels last night to extend their lead over their supposed rivals to eight games, Buster Olney asked a legitimate question on Twitter – when was the last time we saw a team that was as good as the Rangers are across the board? Below are the respective ranks in the WAR components (these are all runs above average) for the Rangers in the American League over the first six weeks of the season:

Batting: +46.3 (1st)
Fielding: +16.3 (1st)
Baserunning: -0.2 (7th)
Starting Pitching: +33.5 (3rd)
Bullpen: +15.2 (2nd)

Baseball has had its fair share of dominant teams before, but to be a top three team nearly across the board is pretty remarkable, even in a sample of just a month and a half. Josh Hamilton’s getting the attention (and deservedly so), but his teammates are pretty good themselves, and there’s a reason why the Rangers are the two time defending AL Champs, and right now, a pretty clear favorite to win the league title once again.

However, there’s an argument to be made that not only are the Rangers not the best team we’ve seen in a while, they might not even be the team playing the best baseball in 2012. Somehow, the defending World Champion St. Louis Cardinals are flying under the radar despite dominating their league in a very similar fashion.

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According to a baseball source, Major League Baseball has dropped the 100-game suspension levied against Eliezer Alfonzo last season due to the same procedural issues that surfaced during the Ryan Braun case over the offseason.

The specific procedural issues were yet again not specifically outlined in this report, but the important aspect to note is that this was not an appeal case that Alfonzo and his team won. This suspension was not brought before an arbitrator. Instead, Major League Baseball re-examined the procedural facts of the sample collection and simply dropped the suspension.

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Table of Contents
Here’s the table of contents for today’s edition of Daily Notes.

1. Featured Game: New York AL at Baltimore, 19:05 ET
2. Other Notable Games (Including MLB.TV Free Game)
3. Today’s Complete Schedule

Featured Game: New York AL at Baltimore, 19:05 ET
Of Particular Note Regarding This Game
Of particular note regarding this game is that right-hander Jason Hammel is starting it for Baltimore.

Of Particular Note Regarding Jason Hammel, Specifically
Of particular note regarding Jason Hammel, specifically, is that, after entering the season with a career ERA of 4.99 (about a 111 or 112 ERA-), he’s posted a 2.09 ERA so far this season (50 ERA-).

Also of Note Regarding Jason Hammel, Specifically
Also of note regarding Jason Hammel, specifically, is that he’s been excellent by the defense-independent numbers so far, too, posting a 60 FIP-, 67 xFIP-, and 1.3 WAR — on the strength, naturally, of excellent peripherals (25.5% K, 7.4% BB, 61.0% GB) — through his first six starts and 38.2 innings.

Regarding Those Strikeout and Walk Rates, Where They Rank
Here’s where Hammel’s strikeout and walk rates rank among the league’s 115 qualified starters: 12th and fifth, respectively.

A Short List of People Who Didn’t Foresee Hammel Doing That
The Oracle of Delphi, probably — and all the lesser oracles, too, probably.

Two Lesser Oracles
The Oracle of Schenectady, for example — and the Oracle of Fresno, for other example.

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Michael Brantley has been no better than a league-average hitter in his three-plus seasons with the Cleveland Indians. It isn’t for lack of a studious approach, though. The 24-year-old puts a lot of thought into his craft — and that should bode well for his future. As for the recent past, he’s been swinging a hot bat. Brantley went 9-for-18 over the weekend against the Red Sox, including a 4-for-5 effort on Thursday night. He later talked about the approach that he brought to each at bat.

——

On his first two at bats and doing his homework: “Josh Beckett is a great pitcher, but at the same time, I could see that he was leaving a lot of balls up and out over the plate. He was missing arm-side a little bit.

“My first at bat, I was kind of looking out over the plate. I got a fastball up and away that I was able to drive to left [for a double]. After that, I noticed that he was trying to use his breaking ball a little more. In my second at bat, he got me 0-2 and threw me a back-foot breaking ball [for a ball]. Then he tried to double up on it, because it’s one of his best out pitches. He left it over the plate and I was able to drive it to left-center for another double.

“On that second at bat, when the count got to 1-2, I was kind of sitting breaking ball. There were runners on second and third, so I knew he was going to try to strike me out. Read the rest of this entry »

Table of Contents
Here’s the table of contents for today’s edition of Daily Notes.

1. A Note for the Mothers
2. Featured Game: Tampa Bay at Baltimore, 13:35 ET
3. Other Notable Games (Including MLB.TV Free Game)
4. Today’s Complete Schedule

A Note for the Mothers
Please, if you would, say hello to your mother for FanGraphs.

And for Mark Wahlberg, too, if you have time:

Featured Game: Tampa Bay at Baltimore, 13:35 ET
First of All, Who’s Pitching
Pitching in this game are decorated British general James Shields (47.1 IP, 75 xFIP-, 0.4 WAR) for Tampa Bay and noted Italian avant garde filmmaker Jake Arrieta (44.2 IP, 85 xFIP-, 0.6 WAR) for Baltimore.

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It’s a small ripple in a very large pond but the Baltimore Orioles front office made another astute move involving a lesser known prospect.

I originally complimented the organization back in the spring when it signed former Arizona Diamondbacks catching prospect John Hester (who was later released and is now playing at the big league level with the Angels) and then again when the club acquired former Boston Red Sox catching prospect Luis Exposito (an admitted upgrade over Hester). Both Exposito and Hester represent excellent, cost-efficient second-string catchers for a club that features a strong starting option like Matt Wieters.

The Orioles’ latest move saw the club receive pitching prospect Mike Belfiore – again from the Arizona Diamondbacks. The left-hander is the return that Baltimore receives for former third base prospect Josh Bell who fell out of favor with the organization (for good reason) and was traded to Arizona for a player-to-be-named-later back in late April. Although I favor Belfiore, 23, by a wide margin it’s a decent trade for both organizations as Arizona adds some corner infield depth and can afford to part with a B-level arm thanks to a minor league system that boasts plethora of top-shelf arms such as Trevor Bauer, Tyler Skaggs, Pat Corbin, and Archie Bradley. Baltimore, on the other hand, desperately needs the pitching depth.

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Table of Contents
Here’s the table of contents for today’s edition of Daily Notes.

1. Featured Game: Atlanta at St. Louis, 19:15 ET (Free Game)
2. Video: Adam Wainwright’s Virile Curveball
3. Today’s Complete Schedule

Featured Game: Atlanta at St. Louis, 19:15 ET
Regarding Who’s Starting Tonight for St. Louis
In terms of who’s starting tonight for St. Louis, it’s handsome and able right-hander Adam Wainwright.

Regarding Adam Wainwright, His Line So Far
In terms of Adam Wainwright and his line so far (through six starts, now), this is it: 33.2 IP, 24.3% K, 5.0% BB, 55.8% GB, 2.70 SIERA, 73 xFIP-, 0.1 WAR.

Regarding That Line Relative to Wainwright’s Career Numbers
Every number in Wainwright’s current line — with the exception of the WAR mark — would constitute a career best.

Regarding What One Guy Somewhere Is Probably Saying About That
One guy somewhere is probably saying — with regard to that comment about how Wainwright is posting career-best numbers — a guy somewhere is probably saying, “Um, sample size much?”

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