Sunday Notes: Five Years Later, Will Benson Continues To Grow
Will Benson was 19 years old and playing in the Midwest League when he led Sunday Notes on May 13, 2018. Two years removed from being drafted 14th overall by Cleveland out of Atlanta’s Westminster High School, he was both promising and raw. His batting average was hovering around the Mendoza line, but his OBP was a healthy .376, and his seven home runs were tied for tops in the circuit.
In many ways, he’s much the same player now. Acquired by the Cincinnati Reds from the Guardians this past February, the 6-foot-5, 230-pound outfielder had a strong 2022 campaign with Triple-A Columbus — 17 bombs and a .948 OPS — but he’s otherwise been a work-in-progress since entering pro ball. His career slash line in the minors is .221/.353/.441, and over 122 big-league plate appearances — he debuted last August — that line is a paltry .187/.256/.243. Contact has been an issue. In back-to-back seasons on the farm, Benson fanned 152 and 151 times. His K-rate in the majors is 32.2%.
But the potential is still there, as evidenced by a pair of performances over the past two weeks. On May 30, Benson had three hits, including a triple, in Cincinnati’s 9-8 win over the Red Sox at Fenway Park. Just four days ago, he walked off the Los Angeles Dodgers with his first big-league home run. Moreover, his athleticism remains elite.
I asked Benson about the road he’s traveled since our 2018 conversation following his three-hit game in Boston.
“It’s been rocky, but with a lot of growth,” Benson told me. “There have been good times, there have been bad times, and through it all there has been so much growth and change for me as a young man. I was 19 then, and now I’m 24 with a family; I have a baby boy that was born in March. There has been growth within the game, as well.”
Like all prospects, Benson had his development path hindered by the pandemic. With the minor-league season cancelled, he had to settle for a short stint in the independent Constellation Energy League, an experience that turned out to be anything but rosy. He had just eight hits in 56 at-bats, and fanned 27 times.
“In terms of playing and continuing with that flow, the whole rhythm of things, it was definitely tough,” Benson said of the 2020 summer. “But I did get to play in Sugar Land, and that was dope. It kind of opened my eyes to ‘I’ve got work to do.’ I felt kind of sad to go into that league and not do very well. But I worked, and I continued to learn.”
A mixed-bag season followed — 17 homers and 146 strikeouts — but then came a career-best 2022. In 401 Triple-A plate appearances, the youngster matched his 2021 home run total while fanning just 91 times. Moreover, his slash line was a stand-up-and-take-notice .279/.426/.522, and he stole 16 bases in 20 attempts. Among those taking notice were the Cincinnati Reds.
“They had been following me ever since I got drafted, and I guess they liked the progress I’ve been making,” Benson said of the trade. “When I played against them in Triple-A last year, I tore them up pretty good. I think it was a combination of that, and them liking my ability on the diamond. I understand that maybe I won’t be a guy who hits .300, but I can be a guy who gets on base close to 40% of the time, steal bases, and hit the ball hard. I can impact the game.”
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RANDOM HITTER-PITCHER MATCHUPS
Curtis Pride went 7 for 11 against Kevin Tapani.
Mookie Betts went 7 for 11 aa against Danny Duffy.
Steve Bowling went 3 for 7 against Glenn Abbott.
Mark Carreon went 10 for 18 against John Burkett.
Glenn Burke went 4 for 6 against Steve Carlton.
Johnny Giavotella went 5 for 7 against Anthony Bass.
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Corey Rosier would like to play in Boston this season. Whether that happens remains to be seen, but one thing is certain: He’ll add athleticism and a discerning eye to the Red Sox roster if and when he arrives. Acquired from San Diego last summer as part of the Eric Hosmer deal, the 23-year-old, left-handed-hitting outfielder has been described by our lead prospect analyst Eric Longenhagen as “a 70 runner with a good idea of the strike zone.” His numbers this season have been promising. In 155 plate appearances with the Double-A Portland Sea Dogs, Rosier has a .305/.364/.433 slash line, a 122 wRC+, and he’s swiped 24 bases in 27 attempts.
He credits offseason speed training at Tampa’s House of Athlete for improving what were already impressive wheels.
“The program I go through has helped make my first step even better, and to get to my top speed quicker,” explained Rosier, who ran a 6.4 60 at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. “Yo Murphy is who put it together. His primary sport is football — he played in the NFL for a little bit — but they’ve branched out to other sports and do a really good baseball program.”
Rosier wasn’t big into football growing up. Rather, he was “a baseball/basketball guy” who was primarily a shooting guard on the hardwood. Defense was one of his strong suits. The 5-foot-10, 190-pound Waldorf, Maryland native would often guard the other team’s best player.
His ability to handle high-level pitching will go a long way toward determining his future on the diamond, and he took a big step in that direction this past winter. Rosier was introduced to a hitting coach named Oswaldo “Ovy” Rodriguez Diaz, who helped him clean up his bat path and strengthen his top hand. The latter part of that equation was paramount.
“Being a right-handed thrower and a left-handed hitter, my bottom hand is naturally more dominant,” Rosier explained. “What was happening is that my swing was getting in and out of the zone — not having a strong top hand was kind of making me get snap-hooky — versus keeping the path through to centerfield. I really focused on strengthening that, and it’s definitely helped.”
The possibility that he could potentially help the Red Sox as soon as this season came up when I asked the confident youngster if he had any final thoughts before preparing that night’s game.
“You haven’t asked me when I’ll be a big-leaguer,’ responded Rosier, who next to Triple-A infielder David Hamilton ranks as the fastest player in the Red Sox system. “I think that could be by the end of this year. With the way I run the bases and play defense, if the Sox make a playoff push, I could be a guy who comes up and helps them win by doing the same things I’m doing here. It’s coming a lot sooner than people know.”
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A quiz:
Ty Cobb has the most singles, doubles, and triples in Detroit Tigers history. Who is the franchise leader for home runs?
The answer can be found below.
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NEWS NOTES
Bobby Bolin, who pitched for three teams — the San Francisco Giants, Milwaukee Brewers, and Boston Red Sox — from 1961-1973, died earlier this month at age 84. The right-hander from Hickory Grove, South Carolina appeared in 495 games and went 88-75 with 51 saves and a 3.40 ERA.
Jack Baldschun, who pitched for the three teams — the Philadelphia Phillies, Cincinnati Reds, San Diego Padres — from 1961-1970, died earlier this week at age 83. The Greenville, Ohio and Miami University product had a three-year-stretch with the Phillies where he logged 29 relief wins, 50 saves, and a 2.79 ERA.
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The answer to the quiz is Al Kaline, with 399 home runs. Norm Cash is second, with 373. Miguel Cabrera is third, with 369.
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The Milwaukee Brewers made a shrewd move when they acquired Owen Miller from the Cleveland Guardians last December in exchange for cash (thanks to The Athletic’s Zack Meisel for confirming that it was a cash transaction with no PTBNL involved). In 174 plate appearances with his new team, the 26-year-old infielder is slashing .313/.351/.448 with four home runs and a 120 wRC+. Moreover, he’s added versatility to the lineup by playing five defensive positions. Featured here at FanGraphs as part of my “Talks Hitting” series last December, the Mequon native is the 12th Wisconsin-born player in Brewers history.
On a related note, the current iteration of the Milwaukee Brewers was established in April 1970 when the Seattle Pilots relocated to Wisconsin’s largest city on short notice, this after the Pilots went into into bankruptcy a week before Opening Day. The moniker preceded the move at the major-league level. In 1884, the Milwaukee Brewers played in the Union Association, an American Association team went by that name in 1891, and when the American League was established in 1901, the Brewers were an inaugural member. The last of those franchises is now in Maryland, the Brewers having become the St. Louis Browns in 1902, and subsequently the Baltimore Orioles in 1954.
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FOREIGN AFFAIRS
Gosuke Katoh hit safely in his first 10 games with NPB’s Nippon-Ham Fighters and is 19-for-51 with four home runs through his first 13. The 28-year-old Mountain View, California native played in eight games for the Toronto Blue Jays last season.
Liván Moinelo is 2-0 with three saves and a 0.87 ERA with the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks. The 27-year-old Cuban-born southpaw has 28 strikeouts and nine hits allowed in 20-and-two-thirds innings. One year ago, he had a 1.03 ERA, 24 saves, and 87 strikeouts in 52-and-two-thirds innings.
Seunghwan Oh recorded his 500th professional save when the KBO’s Samsung Lions beat the NC Dinos 9-6 earlier this week. The 40-year-old right-hander has since added one more and now has 379 saves in the KBO, 80 in NPB, and 42 in MLB. All but three of his stateside saves came with the St. Louis Cardinals in 2016-2017.
Hye Seong Kim is slashing .313/.379/.427 with 13 doubles and three home runs for the KBO’s Kiwoom Heroes. The 24-year-old second baseman has 14 steals in as many attempts.
Peter O’Brien is slashing .393/.454/.793 with a circuit-best 13 home runs for the Mexican League’s Pericos de Puebla. The 32-year-old outfielder played for the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2015-2016 and the Miami Marlins in 2018-2019.
Fernando Rodney is 2-1 with five saves and a 7.56 ERA over 17 Mexican League relief appearances. The 46-year-old veteran of 17 MLB seasons has seen action with both Leones de Yucatan and Diablos Rojos del Mexico.
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Spencer Steer and Christian Encarnacion-Strand were minor-league teammates in the Minnesota Twins system before being traded to the Cincinnati Reds last August in exchange for Tyler Mahle. Steer — featured in my “Talks Hitting” series earlier this month — is enjoying a stellar rookie season, while Encarnacion-Strand, a 2021 fourth-round draft pick out of Oklahoma State University, is knocking loudly on the big-league door. According to Steer, the erstwhile Cowboy doesn’t lack for confidence.
“It was Strand’s first spring training,” recalled Steer. “Some of us were talking in the dugout before an inter-squad game, and he said that he wanted to hit .300 with 30 home runs that year. We were like, ‘What?” Like, no one does that. One of us said, “That’s your expectation?” He said, “Yeah.” Sure enough, he goes ahead and hits 30, and hits over .300.”
Encarnacion-Strand’s exact totals in 2022 — this across 330 plate appearances in High-A and 208 in Double-A — were 32 home runs and a .304 batting average. Based on what he’s doing this year, those numbers weren’t a fluke. Over 194 plate appearances with Triple-A Louisville, he’s slashing a lusty .356/.418/.718 with 16 home runs and a 176 wRC+.
“He’s pretty confident,” said Steer. “He’s also pretty good.”
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FARM NOTES
DJ Peters is getting an opportunity on the mound. The 27-year-old former Los Angeles Dodgers and Texas Rangers outfielder pitched two scoreless innings for the Detroit Tigers Florida Complex League entry earlier this week.
Noah Mendlinger is slashing .306/.427/.471 with four home runs in 151 plate appearances between High-A Peoria and Double-A Springfield. The 22-year-old infielder was signed as a non-drafted free agent by the St. Louis Cardinals out of Georgia College & State University in 2021.
Aaron Schunk is slashing .341/.385/.625 with 10 home runs in 192 plate appearances for the Triple-A Albuquerque Isotopes. Drafted by the Colorado Rockies out of the University of Georgia in 2019, the 25-year-old infielder was first featured here at FanGraphs in June 2020.
Emmet Sheehan is 4-1 with a 1.86 ERA and 88 strikeouts in 53-and-a-third innings for the Double-A Tulsa Drillers. Currently No. 17 our Los Angeles Dodgers Top Prospect list, the 23-year-old right-hander was featured here at FanGraphs last August.
Al Alburquerque is 1-0 with three saves and a 1.29 ERA over 19 relief outings for the independent Atlantic League’s Long Island Ducks. The 38-year-old right-hander — a veteran of 264 big-league games over seven seasons, including five with the Detroit Tigers — last pitched affiliated ball in 2018.
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Which is better, baseball on TV or baseball on the radio? I asked that question in a Twitter poll a few days ago, and the results favored eyeballs over ears. TV received 56.7 of the votes, while radio garnered 43.3%.
Regardless of the medium, the quality of the people behind the microphones matters. In my opinion, it matters a lot. I do my best to tune in to a wide variety of games, even for just an inning or two — keeping abreast of what’s happening across the two leagues is part of my job — and it’s safe to say that not all play-by-play announcers and analysts are created equal. Whether I opt for TV or radio, or for home or away, the respective voices of the game strongly influence my choice.
As one commenter on the poll put it, “It depends upon the broadcasters.”
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LINKS YOU’LL LIKE
Emma Tiedemann and Rylee Pay — the second all-female booth in professional baseball history — are finding chemistry as Double-A Portland’s broadcast team. Jen McCaffrey wrote about them for The Athletic (subscription required).
KCUR Kansas City’s Greg Echlin reported on how the Royals-owned Urban Youth Academy, in the opinion of some members of the city’s African-American community, has strayed from its original goals.
At Forbes, John Perrotto wrote about how Oakland Athletics manager Mark Kotsay is staying positive during a horrid season.
Sports Illustrated’s Stephanie Apstein wrote about how MLB has the power to keep the A’s in the Bay Area.
Jonathan Mayo did a mock draft at MLB.com.
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RANDOM FACTS AND STATS
The Cleveland Guardians have lost 17 games by one run, the most in the majors.
Andrew McCutchen has 1,999 hits, 399 doubles, 295 home runs, a 129 wRC+, and 51.9 WAR. Hall of Famer Tony Oliva had 1,917 hits, 329 doubles, 220 home runs, a 129 wRC+, and 40.7 WAR.
Kansas City Royals right-hander Jordan Lyles is 0-10 with a 6.84 ERA and a .239 BABIP-against. His 18 home runs allowed are the most in the majors.
Patrick Wisdom has struck out 77 times in 202 plate appearances. Luis Arraez has struck out 12 times in 248 plate appearances.
Juan Gonzalez had 157 RBIs and 46 walks in 1998. Ted Williams had 159 RBIs and 162 walks in 1949.
Henry Aaron and Willie Mays each had 648 home runs on June 9, 1972. “Hammerin’ Hank” moved ahead of the “Say Hey Kid” on the all-time homer list — only Babe Ruth had more — the following day.
On today’s date in 1985, Von Hayes hit a solo home run and a grand slam as part of a nine-run first inning as the Philadelphia Phillies routed the New York Mets 26-7 at Veteran’s Stadium. The score was 16-0 after two innings.
On today’s date in 1979, Bob Stanley threw a complete-game four-hitter as the Boston Red Sox beat the Kansas City Royals 4-0 in 10 innings. The losing pitcher was Steve Busby, who allowed two hits in nine-and-a-third innings.
Players born on today’s date include Wheezer Dell, who went a combined 19-23 with a 2.55 ERA while pitching for the St. Louis Cardinals in 1912, and the Brooklyn Robbins from 1915-1917. The Tuscarora native was the first major-league player born in the state of Nevada.
Also born on today’s date was Pop Joy, a first baseman who played for the Union Association’s Washington Nationals in 1884. The Washington DC native had 28 hits — all singles — in 130 at-bats.
David Laurila grew up in Michigan's Upper Peninsula and now writes about baseball from his home in Cambridge, Mass. He authored the Prospectus Q&A series at Baseball Prospectus from December 2006-May 2011 before being claimed off waivers by FanGraphs. He can be followed on Twitter @DavidLaurilaQA.
If Will Benson has a Trot Nixon type breakout this year, that may cement the Reds as the long-term winner of the 2022-23 offseason. Not likely, but certainly possible.
If he can get the .400 OBP with a 30% K-rate like he sort of says it would be impressive indeed
And throw in his current 6.5% walk rate in 123 ML PAs…
He’s relying heavily on HBP
In many ways, he’s much the same player now. Acquired by the Cincinnati Reds from the Guardians this past February, the 6-foot-5, 230-pound outfielder had a strong 2022 campaign with Triple-A Columbus — 17 bombs and a .948 OPS — but he’s otherwise been a work-in-progress since entering pro ball. His career slash line in the minors is .221/.353/.441, and over 122 big-league plate appearances — he debuted last August — that line is a paltry .187/.256/.243. Contact has been an issue. In back-to-back seasons on the farm, Benson fanned 152 and 151 times. His K-rate in the majors is 32.2%.
I remember looking a year or so ago, and couldn’t find a single successful major leaguer with a .220 career BA in the minors. Even a guy like Joey Gallo hit .253 in the minors.
Chris Carter once hit .329 in the minors and his lowest average was .252
Defense is just so bad in the minor leagues. Teams are trying to see if guys like Spencer Torkelson can play third base or something like that. You’re typically losing a lot of BABIP when you get to the majors. And that’s before we consider that you’re just facing better pitching.
That said, that is a challenge. I want to see if I can find a guy.
Update: I have found the exception that proves the rule. Kenley Jansen has a career .219 batting average, which was bad enough that he converted to being a pitcher. Very successful major leaguer, but only in a role where his own batting average had zero impact on his career. If you have a .220 batting average in the minors, you’re better off converting to pitching.
Weird cases aside, the guys who tend to even make it to the majors and be even sort of competent with BAs under .240 are catchers: Jarrod Saltalamacchia, Jason Delay, Martin Maldonado, and Nick Fortes all had BAs in the .220 to .240 range. So I wouldn’t hold out hope that someone like Allan Cerda or Rece Hinds will turn things around. Or Orelvis Martinez.
The most successful major league hitters with minor league BAs under .250 that I could find, rather than them making it because they can play catcher, are Jack Suwinski (.239 BA for SDP, did better in PIT), Will Smith (the Dodgers catcher had a .243 BA but turned things around in AA), Patrick Wisdom (.244 BA for StL, didn’t do much better in Texas), Matt Olson (the Braves’ first baseman, with a .249 BA).
Really, it’s a miracle a guy with a .221 batting average even made it to the majors. The guys with .220ish batting averages that you wind up hearing about are the guys who became coaches, like Kevin Cash.
So you’re saying Benson should convert to catcher? Now that I’d pay to see!
Or pitcher.
Meh. A 6’5 pitcher would hardly be interesting/unusual. But a 6’5 catcher??? That would be a sight to see!
Especially if he won multiple batting titles and an MVP.
Benson has always been interesting to me. His minor league career is a history of really bad performance/batting average for about a half season at each level jump, then figuring it out and mashing. The high Ks even when mashing was a big limiter, but then he finally took a big leap forward in K rate last season. Predictably scuffled after the initial ultra level-jump to MLB…but might be figuring it out. He has not struck out much at all since his last call up and hitting over .300. Then 3-4 today with no Ks. Also a hallmark of Benson in the minors, would go through some weeks-long stretches of striking out at reasonable rates and then strike out half the time for a while again
Now that Tony Oliva is in HOF I’m all for Andrew McCutchen, Dale Murphy, and anyone else of the high but not monster peak but no bulk variety. Josh Donaldson and Nomar Garciaparra are shoo-ins. Josh Hamilton and Bob Elliott are borderline!
I’m not sure what you’re talking about. Murphy and Garciaparra had monster peaks, and McCutchen and Donaldson both had monster peaks and and had enough bulk that they’re probably going to survive past the first ballot when their cases come up.
If you’re just looking for guys whose peaks were so much better than their overall careers but who fall into that gray zone of “definitely not Hall of Famers, but definitely Hall of Very Good”, then Pedro Guerrero, Dave Parker, and Dale Murphy are the founders of this club, but Nomar Garciaparra, Grady Sizemore, and Hanley Ramirez are the current officers. Membership for Edgardo Alfonzo and Shin-Soo Choo is pending.
I guess your definition of “monster” vis-a-vis “high” is different than mine. Just as an illustration, Murphy’s top 3 years were 21 bWAR vs Ty Cobb’s 33. I don’t think other metrics would yield a very different conclusion.
I was looking for players with the same general profile as Oliva who no one has mentioned as a serious HOF candidate. I’m agreeing with the author that he and McCutchen had similar careers, as do many other non-candidates
Got the quiz right, although I was a little surprised to see that Hank Greenberg was not in the top 3, though (he was a distant fourth). Turns out he had literally half as many PAs as the leader; I forgot he entered the military in his age-30 season and didn’t come back until his age-34 season. Longest single term of service of any major league baseball player in WWII. Amazingly, he came back and was almost immediately good again, but he retired to take a front office job not too long after.
Yes he had amazingly good career numbers despite missing several years. Ted Williams too
I went with Kaline just because of the twenty years in the Tiger uniform. Fella was a terrific ballplayer in his day,
I would never have guessed Cash ahead of Cabrera
Cabrera hit something like 140 homers for the Marlins, and while he hit a lot of homers for the Tigers his power started to dry up after his age-30 season. It’s just hard to remember because he was still a really good hitter even after that, just a different kind of hitter.
Cabrera’s power decline is fairly extraordinary. Has yet to hit a single home run this year in 116 PA, and a total of 61 in his last @2500 PA. Only 90 2B over the same span. Mattingly had a power outage as well after a back injury, but stil hit a bunch of doubles.
Cabrera hit a bunch of doubles this week. He’ll probably hit more of them whenever (if ever) his back isn’t barking.
Cash was probably a HOF’er if they hadn’t platooned him (or if he played in a higher offense era). He only had 3 years over 600 PA’s because they sat him vs lefties, so he rarely led the league or even got 100 runs/RBI.
Also had the misfortune to have his best year the same year that Mantle/Maris battled for 60 HR’s (& Cash still led the league in BA & OPS that year) Add in playing through the pitching dominated 60’s & his counting totals don’t look that great..but, he had a 139 OPS+.
As it is, he is still borderline..probably similar to Cepeda, Tony Perez, McGriff, etc..& a better player than Gil Hodges.
Cash famously used a corked bat during his big ’61 season. Though whether or not that helped him is open to debate.
The bigger issue re: his HOF case is that he didn’t become a regular until age 26, mainly because he missed almost two years due to military service.
As for him being platooned, are you sure about that? His spits show that 21.5% of his PAs came against lefties which seems roughly normal. Even if he was platooned at some points in his career, I don’t think more PAs against lefties would have helped him much given that he hit .227/.307/.384 against them.
That’s true, I’d forgotten about his military service.
As for his PA’s- I did a quick search through 4-5 years of Tigers games during his era. They generally averaged 31-33% of PA’s vs LHP most years. If he lost 10% of his PA’s, that’s 60 AB a year. That’s about 700-800 PA’s over his career.
& yes, his %’s were worse vs LHP, but, those extra AB’s would have gotten him more counting stats, which was what really mattered in those days.
I’ll stick by my original statement- Give him 1-2 of the following- More PT due to not platooning vs LHP, more PT due to no military, playing in a higher offensive era & he’s probably in the HOF.
I think this was the first one of these I’ve ever really gotten right with no doubt at all, and it was purely because when it’s the Tigers, you always go with Al Kaline.
Kaline seems under-appreciated, perhaps because of the company he kept. Among peers in the 1954-1974 window of his career, his 89 WAR is fifth best, behind only Mt. Rushmore four of the era – Mays, Aaron, F. Robinson, and Mantle. Easy to get lost in that shuffle.
Also because the AL was considered much worse than the NL then, except for the Yankees. AL was much slower to integrate.
He’s also gotten passed in the public eye by Roberto Clemente, though they were very similar players in value. Kaline is ahead in fWAR, Clemente in bWAR.
Clemente was probably a little better & though he was 38, still was playing when he died, but, the halo effect around his tragic death & his being the first Latin American superstar has pushed him well ahead of Kaline in terms of publicity.
It’s probably true that Kaline is a safe answer but it’s weird for a team that had Ty Cobb
It’s true, Ty Cobb would be a very funny trick answer to the question “Ty Cobb has the most singles, doubles, and triples in Detroit Tigers history. Who is the franchise leader for home runs?”
He was the first player to enlist in October 1940..or over 1 year BEFORE Pearl Harbor…missed the 1941 season, then was honorably discharged due to being over 28 years old 2 days before Pearl Harbor. After that happened, he then re-enlisted.
Likely that he would have been near or passed 500 HR without the 4+ missed seasons.
Milwaukee has been in the middle of (or at the start of) three major league franchise migrations. 1) Boston Braves >> Milwaukee >> Atlanta 2) Seattle Pilots >> Milwaukee Brewers and as the article days, 3) Milwaukee Brewers >> St. Louis Browns >> Baltimore Orioles.
That’s not remarkable on its own, lots of cities have had three ML franchises through the years, but only two other cities have three teams that are still ACTIVE. One is obviously NYC with 4 teams in the the Giants, Dodgers, Yankees and Mets.
What’s the other?
Without looking, or it doesn’t count.
Washington D.C. had the Senators>>Twins, Senators>>Rangers, and Expos>>Nationals.
Not even counting the Almost Washington Padres
Reading the comments is about as fun as the article. Must do thing for me Sunday mornings. Thank you all
Favorite Ty Cobb legend: May 5, 6 1925 at St. Louis Browns, “Cobb’s two-day output reads thus: nine hits in 12 at-bats (.750), six runs, one double, five homers, 11 RBIs, 25 total bases. His nine hits were made consecutively.
Of course, the footnote to the tale is that, just prior to the first game, Cobb was sitting in the dugout with a reporter and pointed out, “I’ll show you something today. I’m going for home runs for the first time in my career.”
Benson’s welcome to make his next stop Cubs. Guy’s got some of the most interesting tools in the pros, gets the ball in the air, takes walks, has power to get to yada yada
Random but I say make McCutchen a HoFer and mention the 2005 draft’s much ballyhooed HS OF trio (Upton, McCutchen, Bruce) on the plaque
Al Kaline? How basic!
Like Vinegar Bend Mizell