In this time of interchangeable elbow ligaments, we’ve mostly become inured to the effects of routine Tommy John surgery. Pitcher blows out, pitcher gets stitched together like a beloved sock monkey, pitcher returns in 12 to 18 months.
If that were always the case, Tommy John would be little more than an annoyance. But it’s not always that simple. Sometimes, the pitcher wears out before his UCL undergoes rapid unscheduled disassembly. Sometimes there are half-measures — rest, PRP injections, what have you — that end up having no effect other than prolonging the agony. Then there’s the timing of the injury and surgery; go under the knife in September, and you might not even miss a full season. Show up to camp with a threadbare elbow in February, blow out in late March, and you might miss two. Read the rest of this entry »
Megan Mendoza/The Republic-USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
When our Arizona Diamondbacks Top Prospects list was published in December, Eric Longenhagen described 24-year-old Kyle Amendt as “a late-blooming illusionist righty with a cut/rise fastball and a deceptive delivery.” Our lead prospect analyst went on to say that the physically imposing 6-foot-5, 255-pound hurler had “a 15% swinging strike rate in 2024, among the best in the org, even though his fastball sits just 88-92 mph.” Not fully sold on the total package — command is among the concerns — Eric assigned Amendt a 35+ FV.
His unorthodox style of pitching and minor league numbers nonetheless suggest a future role in a big league bullpen. Along with the aforementioned 15% swinging strike rate, the 2023 ninth-round pick out of Dallas Baptist University logged a 2.86 ERA, a 2.38 FIP, and a 40.3 K% over 44 innings across High-A, Double-A, and Triple-A. And his delivery is indeed unique. Eric called it “over-the-top trebuchet arm action,” adding that Amendt “hides the ball forever.”
Currently a non-roster invitee at D-backs camp, Amendt discussed his delivery and three-pitch arsenal during the Arizona Fall League season.
———
David Laurila: I’ve heard that you have an unorthodox delivery. How would you describe it?
Kyle Amendt: “Like a high left-handed slot as a righty. My curveball is a left-handed curveball, and my fastball is anywhere from an 11:45 to a 12-[o’clock] tilt. Everything looks like it’s coming from directly over my head.”
They’ve changed the rules to make it easier to steal bases. That’s not my conjecture. That’s just the truth. By limiting the number of pickoffs and setting a timer that baserunners can use to establish a rhythm, the game has changed completely. Obviously, it has. You knew this. There were 158 baserunners who tried to steal 10 or more times last season, up from 115 in the final year before the rule changes. Most of them were incredibly successful, too: Those 158 stole at an aggregate 80.4% clip.
That’s not all that interesting, to be honest. You knew it already. But what you might not know? Three baserunners apparently didn’t get the memo. Ryan McMahon, Nicky Lopez, and Vidal Bruján all attempted double digit steals and got thrown out more than half the time. I had to know more, so I tried to see what had gone wrong for these three would-be thieves. Read the rest of this entry »
Below is an analysis of the prospects in the farm system of the Tampa Bay Rays. Scouting reports were compiled with information provided by industry sources as well as our own observations. This is the fifth year we’re delineating between two anticipated relief roles, the abbreviations for which you’ll see in the “position” column below: MIRP for multi-inning relief pitchers, and SIRP for single-inning relief pitchers. The ETAs listed generally correspond to the year a player has to be added to the 40-man roster to avoid being made eligible for the Rule 5 draft. Manual adjustments are made where they seem appropriate, but we use that as a rule of thumb.
A quick overview of what FV (Future Value) means can be found here. A much deeper overview can be found here.
All of the ranked prospects below also appear on The Board, a resource the site offers featuring sortable scouting information for every organization. It has more details (and updated TrackMan data from various sources) than this article and integrates every team’s list so readers can compare prospects across farm systems. It can be found here. Read the rest of this entry »
Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about some members of last year’s Yankees and Dodgers still sniping about the World Series, Max Scherzer’s objection to the challenge system, how ABS has broadly been received so far, and assorted tactical considerations concerning when to challenge. Then they preview the 2025 New York Mets (29:08) with The Athletic’s Tim Britton, and the 2025 Los Angeles Angels (1:20:24) with The Athletic’s Sam Blum.
The Blue Jays were posting live batted ball data during batting practice, and this is indeed cool. At the absolute worst, this is an interesting bit of information for anyone who happens to be hanging around. We all have varying appetites for data while consuming sports, but I don’t know anyone who sees a hitter put a ball in the seats and doesn’t immediately think, “I wonder exactly how far he hit that.” Read the rest of this entry »
The 2024 season was a big one for Kyle Finnegan, or at least it started that way. On the strength of a 2.45 ERA and 25 saves, the Nationals’ closer made his first All-Star team (he finished the year with 38 saves, good for second in the National League). Yet he struggled in the second half, and in November, the Nationals non-tendered him rather than risk a trip through arbitration. On Tuesday — the same day I highlighted his continued free agency within this roundup — he returned to the fold nonetheless on a one-year, $6 million contract.
The deal, which is pending a physical and a 40-man roster move at this writing, is not yet official. Given that Finnegan made $5.1 million last year, the new contract constitutes about an 18% raise for the 33-year-old righty. However, in his annual projections for arbitration-eligible players at MLB Trade Rumors, Matt Swartzestimated that Finnegan would land a salary of $8.6 million, just shy of a 69% raise, because saves play well in arbitration. The view that Finnegan got something of a raw deal by this process is offset by the fact that he did get to test free agency a year ahead of schedule, only to find the market for his services limited enough to make a return his best option. Among the other 29 teams, the Cubs appeared to show the most interest.
Earlier this month, Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo told reporters that the team had kept in touch with Finnegan “throughout the offseason.” He likely lingered on the market because his profile and his performance both have some notable dings. Conceptually, Finnegan is basically a two-pitch pitcher, with a four-seam fastball that averaged 97.2 mph in 2024, and a splitter that has replaced his slider as his main secondary pitch over the past couple of seasons. By the pitch models, the fastball is about average, while the splitter is above-average but short of being a true plus pitch. He doesn’t miss a ton of bats, and while he generates a healthy share of groundballs, he gives up a lot of hard contact. Read the rest of this entry »
Triston Casas is making some changes with his left-handed stroke, and he’s doing so with the Green Monster in mind. The Boston Red Sox slugger has historically used the entire field — his pull-center-oppo numbers last season were 38.5%, 38.5%, and 23.0%, respectively — but he wants to take even better advantage of his home park. Bashing with arms bent will be part of that process… at least for now. Compared to his many of his contemporaries, Casas can be a bit of chameleon when it comes to fine-tuning his swing.
David Laurila: You’re making some adjustments at the plate. What are they?
Triston Casas: “It’s more an approach of keeping my swing inside my frame. I want to have the angles of my body — my hips and my shoulders — in alignment, and try to make sure that I’m making contact inside my body. I want to feel like I’m hitting with my arms bent at a certain point.
“As a hitter, you need that triple extension. Your wrists, your front leg, and your back hip are all perfect, at the right time, as you’re making contact. That’s where you get the power.”
Catcher is a thankless job. If you do it successfully, perfectly even, that means that you’re letting highly paid professionals whip projectiles at you as hard as they can hundreds of times a day. Sometimes, other highly paid professionals will divert these projectiles toward you at the last second, or inadvertently hit you with the giant wooden sticks they’re carrying. You have to dive around and flail your limbs, because the only thing worse than getting hit by one of these balls is not getting hit by them; letting them fly by hurts your team. People try to steal from you constantly, so while you’re trying to catch a rock-hard 100-mph pellet, you also have to scan your peripherals. And if all of that isn’t bad enough, here’s the worst part: Sometimes your manager chooses to start Martín Maldonado ahead of you.
I kid, of course, but I’m writing about Yainer Diaz today, and his gradual phase-in to the major leagues is a key part of his major league career so far. Diaz burst onto the big league scene in 2023 with the kind of approach that makes hitting instructors wince, then shrug their shoulders and nod. He swung early and often, took big hacks, and generally acted like he was allergic to taking walks or hitting singles. It worked. He clobbered 23 homers in only 377 plate appearances, spraying loud contact to all fields. He played better-than-expected defense, too, belying his early scouting reports.
Despite that excellent rookie season, Diaz couldn’t displace an aging Maldonado as the team’s primary catcher; he took some reps at DH, but lost those as well when the team got healthy. By the playoffs, he was an afterthought, a pure backup catcher. But when Maldonado (and manager Dusty Baker) departed in the offseason, Diaz ascended to a starting job. Then he struggled – through the All-Star break, he was hitting a so-so .284/.308/.409 with iffy defense. If you’re more of a WAR person, that’s 1.1 WAR, not great. Here’s one story you could tell about Yainer Diaz: a prospect who struggled to break through with regular playing time. Read the rest of this entry »
Michelle Yeoh is one of the greatest actors working today. How do I know that? It’s not her 40-year career, the 50-plus films on her résumé, or the Academy Award in her trophy case. No, it’s the fact that she was cast in the film adaptation of Wicked, one of the most beloved musicals on the planet, despite having no previous vocal training or singing experience. She told director Jon M. Chu as much before she agreed to join the cast: “You know Jon, I don’t sing.” With all due respect, it shows.
If you haven’t already seen Wicked, well, you should hurry up, because the Oscars are on Sunday. At the very least, take a listen to “The Wizard and I,” in which Yeoh sings alongside Broadway star and Academy Award nominee Cynthia Erivo. Their pairing is the vocal equivalent of the “unfinished horse drawing” meme. Yet, within the context of the entire film, Yeoh makes it work. Her acting is so strong, her portrayal of Madame Morrible so complete and convincing, that by the end of the movie, it’s hard to imagine anyone else in the role. She might have a dark blue slider bar in the Vocal Runs Above Average section of her Cinema Savant page, but her overall performance was well above replacement level.
There are surely some passionate musical theatre fans who took umbrage at the casting of a non-singer in a singing role. I don’t count myself among them. I think there is something wonderful about the idea that someone can use their strengths to overcome their weaknesses. It’s nice to know a person doesn’t have to be skilled at every part of an activity to be altogether successful. On that note, here’s what it looks like when professional baseball player Josh Bell tries to run: Read the rest of this entry »
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