This series of articles looks at players whose careers are cut short due to misfortune, but few of them are cases as sudden or as dramatic as that of former Astros pitcher J.R. Richard, who died one week ago at age 70. The Houston fireballer had emerged as one of the game’s hardest throwing starters and a potential ace when he suffered a stroke 41 years ago and collapsed during the team’s pregame warmups. He never pitched in the majors again.

Richard’s debut was about as brilliant as one can get: a complete-game shutout of the Giants in September 1971 in which he struck out 15 batters. This was toward the end of Willie Mays‘ illustrious career, but how many pitchers can claim to have pulled off a hat trick of whiffs against an inner-circle Hall of Famer in their debut? Those 15 strikeouts tied pitcher Karl Spooner’s debut record; incidentally, Spooner is another player with a short career that was ended by a shoulder injury a year later, but that’s a tale for another time.

As a pitcher, Richard looks more at home in 2021 than in 1970. At 6’8″ with a fastball hitting the century mark and a slider in the low 90s, there was a lot of intimidation and little in the way of pitching to contact here. The only problem was that he was raw mechanically, just two years out of high school, and coaching staffs weren’t as experienced as today at helping pitchers harness such an explosive repertoire; over his 12 remaining innings that season, including a first inning he didn’t finish, Richard walked 13 batters.

The wildness never quite went away, and Richard spent the new few years riding the Triple-A shuttle. But the Astros traded Claude Osteen in 1974 for two recent Cardinals draft picks, and Don Wilson and his son died in January 1975 from carbon monoxide poisoning, and these were the days you couldn’t just go shopping in free agency. So up to the majors came Richard for good.

Read the rest of this entry »

Don Mattingly knows hitting. The Miami Marlins manager slashed .307/.358/.471 over his 14 seasons with the New York Yankees, winning a batting title along the way. Since his playing days, he’s served as a hitting coach for both his former team and for the Los Angeles Dodgers. “Donnie Baseball” also managed the Dodgers, a five-season stint that preceded his arrival in Miami six years ago.

Mattingly shared his thoughts on hitting, both mechanical and philosophical, over the phone prior to a recent game. (This interview was edited for length and clarity.)

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David Laurila: Let’s start with your playing career. How would you describe who you were as a hitter?

Don Mattingly: “I kind of changed over the years. I came up as a guy who was probably known more for just putting the ball in play. I hit for [a high] average in the minor leagues. I used the whole field and had more of a hit-it-where-it’s-pitched type approach. From there, I kind of grew in strength, which allowed me to drive in runs. I became more of a doubles guy.”

Laurila: Was the change mostly a matter of getting stronger, or were there adjustments, as well?

Mattingly: “I definitely made adjustments. The biggest was probably getting physically stronger — that was the start of it — [because] I didn’t really hit for true home run power. I didn’t have home run power through the minor leagues. Read the rest of this entry »

As a shortstop, you never want to be in this position:

You can almost see the expletives flying out of his mouth, and it gets worse: Nolan Arenado is out of frame to the right, which means that ball is ticketed for left field. How did it get to this point? Let’s back up.

When you’re fielding a bunt, decisions come at you immediately. Barehand it? Glove it? Lead runner? Take a beat and take the sure out? You have to make all of those choices in a split second. Here’s the play in the ninth inning of Sunday’s Cardinals/Royals game that left Paul DeJong lunging helplessly:

Obviously, it didn’t turn out well. But it’s not as though Paul Goldschmidt didn’t know there was a chance of failure going in. Going for the lead runner on a bunt is a high-risk, high-reward play; anyone could tell you that. How large was the risk? How valuable was the reward? Let’s find out together, because I think this situation is low-key fascinating. Read the rest of this entry »

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about their imperfections, follow up on flying horses, Justice Blackmun omitting Mel Ott from Flood vs. Kuhn, and a possible defense of pitcher hitters, then assess the state of the standings and playoff races, contemplate a position change for Fernando Tatis Jr., discuss the Field of Dreams Game, and consider a point in favor of robot umps and signs of spin-rate resurgence.

Audio intro: David Bowie, "Win"
Audio outro: Oh Pep!, "The Race"

Link to article about how horses fly
Link to article on Blackmun and Ott
Link to Ben on pitcher hitters/position-player pitchers
Link to post on Canseco pitching
Link to video of Holt pitching
Link to post on slowest possible pitches
Link to thread on slowest possible pitches
Link to FanGraphs Playoff Odds
Link to Mike Petriello on the Mets’ offense
Link to Petriello on the Jays’ offense
Link to Justin Choi on the Jays
Link to Rob Mains on team mobility
Link to Rob Arthur on the absence of superteams
Link to article on Tatis in the outfield
Link to Field of Dreams episode
Link to paper on umpire discrimination
Link to thread about umpire discrimination
Link to tweet about resurgent spin

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At the trade deadline, the Nationals cleaned house. Max Scherzer and Trea Turner went to the Dodgers, Brad Hand to the Blue Jays. Kyle Schwarber? He’s now on the Red Sox. Daniel Hudson? A Padre. Josh Harrison and Yan Gomes are Athletics, and for some reason, the Cardinals decided to acquire Jon Lester. What’s left of the Washington Nationals are bits and pieces from their 2019 World Series run, some young prospects, franchise mainstay Ryan Zimmerman, and Juan Soto.

It’s probably too soon to ask when the Nationals will find themselves contending again. However, both their retention of Soto and their acquisition of major league-ready prospects Josiah Gray and Keibert Ruiz potentially indicates that the front office at least hopes the team will play meaningful baseball sometime in the near future. While things may look a bit hazy in the immediate wake of the deadline, one player whose performance could influence the timing of the Nationals next competitive window is Patrick Corbin, who still has three years left on his contract after 2021.

Over the last two seasons, Corbin hasn’t been especially good. After a sparkling debut season with Washington, one that culminated in the aforementioned championship, Corbin has been average or worse since. He pitched 202 innings in 2019 to the tune of a 3.25 ERA, a 28.5% strikeout rate, and a 8.4% walk rate. He was worth 4.7 WAR, a figure that ranked 14th in the majors (it was good for third on his own team). The Nationals assembled a super-staff that year, and as I asserted on this very website, the pickup of Corbin the prior offseason made a huge difference in the team’s success not only in the regular season, but in the postseason as well. Read the rest of this entry »

I’ve spent way too much time pondering how to begin this article. So instead of formulating a timely and witty introduction, I’ll be direct: The Blue Jays offense is amazing! You already know that, but it bears repeating. Together, Jays hitters have amassed the league’s second-highest wRC+ while maintaining the league’s second-lowest strikeout rate. This is scary, and this is legit.

Right now, the only team with a higher wRC+ is the Astros. The only team with a lower strikeout rate is… also the Astros. And it’s easy to explain. They don’t have the most power or the best discipline, but they do lead the league in O-Contact%. Even when would-be balls are swung at, they’re either put in play or fouled off. Couple that with a minuscule swinging-strike rate of 8.7%, and it’s a team poised to give opposing pitchers fits. Tenacity wins.

As for the Blue Jays, however, their formula isn’t immediately noticeable. Duh, they have the best hitter on the planet. I know, imaginary voice, but I’m talking about the team as a whole. A few days ago, the Jays routed the visiting Red Sox, outscoring them by eight runs. Let’s consider how the ambush unfolded. Nathan Eovaldi had managed to salvage a rough start until the fifth inning, when Teoscar Hernández unleashed his full strength against a first-pitch fastball:

Read the rest of this entry »

Cleveland’s willingness to trade Francisco Lindor and Carlos Carrasco was the result of two related factors: ownership would not pay anything close to market value for one of the best players in baseball; and the club believed it could maintain competitiveness on the cheap with its core of cost-controlled pitching still receiving pre-arbitration checks. Shane Bieber is the headliner, but breakout seasons from previously unheralded prospects Aaron Civale and Zach Plesac gave the soon-to-be Guardians confidence that they could suppress runs at an above-average clip and hand the game off to a good bullpen.

That plan has not come to pass; Cleveland’s pitching staff ranks just 19th in WAR as of the writing of this piece. But while the bullpen has held up its end of the bargain, sitting ninth in WAR among relief units, the rotation has accumulated just 4 WAR total through the beginning of August.

Much of that can be attributed to the three starters who were supposed to lead the way. Bieber and Civale have been on ice for most season due to a shoulder strain for the former and a finger injury for the latter; both were recently moved to the 60-day IL with the hope of returning in September. Plesac has also missed time, but he hasn’t helped much when he has been on the field. Through his most recent start, he has posted a 4.84 ERA and 5.08 FIP and a strikeout rate of only 15.6%, fifth lowest among starters with at least 80 innings pitched.

Read the rest of this entry »

The Learning and Developing a Pitch series returned last month after being on hiatus due to the pandemic. Each week, we’ll hear from three pitchers on a notable weapon in their arsenal. Today’s installment features Trevor Richards, Tayler Saucedo, and Cole Sulser.

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Trevor Richards, Toronto Blue Jays

“I probably began learning [a changeup] in grade school, back when I was just starting to figure out pitching and was only allowed to throw a fastball and a changeup. My coach showed me a grip. It started out as a two-seam grip, then kind of evolved from there. Eventually I changed it to a four-seam, and that’s pretty much the same grip I’m using now.

“The four-seam felt more comfortable, and I also felt like I could get more depth on it going across the seams. When I was going two-seam, it would have more run than depth and I preferred it going down rather than just running. I know a lot of guys who grip it [similarly] but use two seams, so honestly, I think it’s more of a preference, more of an arm-slot kind of thing. It just depends, person-to-person. Read the rest of this entry »

I know what you’re thinking: it’s a layup of a title. Harrison Bader is one of the best defensive outfielders in baseball. When he needs it, he can engage a little bit of turbo boost, turning his range from excellent to downright ludicrous:

Too easy, right? What a one-note title. We get it: he catches all the balls. If you thought that was what I had in store for you, gather around, because things are about to get exciting.

Bader, you see, collected Pokémon cards as a kid. Relevant? Not really. Unless you follow fantasy baseball forums and heard this whopper of a tale early in the season:

I’m not the first person to cover this story. Sami Alsado picked it up in May over at Pitcher List and wondered whether it should inform our opinion of Bader’s start. But it was still early in the year, and besides, Bader himself hadn’t said anything about it yet. Well, that surgery was real, and Bader is in the midst of a breakout offensive season. It’s speculation no longer — Harrison Bader is seeing clearly. Let’s see what removing some nasal polyps can do for you. Read the rest of this entry »