Sunday Notes: Now an Arm In Miami, Lake Bachar Had a Big Leg In Whitewater

Lake Bachar was a kicker at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater before turning his full attention to baseball. He had a good leg. An all-conference performer, Bachar booted three field goals in the 2014 NCAA Division III championship game, a 43-34 Warhawks win over the Mount Union Raiders. Along with being a place kicker, he served as the team’s punter and kickoff specialist across his three collegiate seasons on the gridiron.

How good was he in his other sport?

“I was decent,” said Bachar, who now pitches out of the bullpen for the Miami Marlins. “I don’t know about NFL kicker, but at that time I was going to try do whatever I could to at least go to a [tryout] camp. The longest field goal I kicked in practice was 68 [yards] — good conditions, and all that — and the longest in a game was either high 40s or low 50s.”

Baseball has turned out to be a good career choice, although it took him awhile to reach the majors. Drafted by the San Diego Padres in 2016, the fifth-rounder was 29 years old when he debuted with the Marlins last September. His first full big-league season has been impressive. Over 43 relief appearances, the right-hander has a 5-1 record and a pair of saves to go with his 3.39 ERA and 3.77 FIP over 58-and-a-third innings. His strikeout rate is a solid 26.7%.

Selected off waivers by Miami shortly before his debut, Bachar attributes his late-bloomer breakthrough to “being in the right place at the right time,” as well as some fine-tuning of his pitches. A four-seamer that gets ride-run and a splitter that he’s thrown since 2020 comprise half of his arsenal. The other offerings are breakers new to this year.

“I’ve always been able to spin the ball well,” said Bachar, who toed the rubber 25 times at Wisconsin-Whitewater, and 199 times over eight years in the minors. “This past offseason we got rid of my slider, which I’d been throwing for a few years, and turned it into two other sliders. I was at home throwing into a 9-pocket [pitching net] by myself, sending the videos to our pitching staff, and they were critiquing it. They were helping me do little things, like making sure [the one] went left, basically.”

The left-going slider is a sweeper that has induced a .172 BAA and a 32.0 whiff rate. The other is gyro variation of his old slider, which has induced a .200 BAA and a 36.9% whiff rate.

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RANDOM HITTER-PITCHER MATCHUPS

Eddie Lake went 7 for 14 against Lum Harris.

Joe Lake went 7 for 14 against Eddie Cicotte.

Junior Lake went 6 for 11 against Michael Wacha.

Steve Lake went 4 for 8 against Craig Lefferts.

Tim Laker went 4 for 8 against Greg Swindell.

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Dave Burba owned Sammy Sosa: he fanned the Cubs slugger 16 times while limiting him to five hits in 39 at-bats. The right-hander attributes much of that success to his strengths aligning with Sosa’s weakness. Burba recalls his rival having “a hole on the outside part of the plate, low and away,” which he exploited by attacking with his go-to. “I was a down-and-away-fastball guy,” explained Burba, who pitched for six teams across the 1990-2004 seasons. “Once I established that to him and he was looking for it, I’d throw my forkball. Then, if he started looking forkball, I’d get him with the fastball.”

Roger Cedeno was another story. Burba faced the journeyman outfielder 13 times, all in 2001 when Burba was an Indian and Cedeno a Tiger, and retired him just once. Remarkably, the hitter with a career 90 wRC+ went 9-for-10 with a double, a triple, a home run, and three walks against the veteran hurler.

“It was crazy,” recalled Burba, who is now the pitching coach for the Lansing Lugnuts [Low-A, Athletics]. “Everybody else got him out, and I couldn’t get him out. I’m sure that I made some bad pitches, but fastballs were how I attacked, and I guess I threw them where he liked them. But yeah, it was, ‘I can’t get this kid out.’ I had played with him in winter ball, too. He was a good man. For some reason, he just had my number.”

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Which is the best team you’ve gone up against this season? I asked that question to Pittsburgh Pirates manager Don Kelly prior to yesterday afternoon’s game at Fenway Park.

“Oh man, there are a lot of teams that are good,” Kelly replied. “I would probably say Milwaukee. Playing them at their place the last time we were there, they were really good. They were rolling pretty well.

“Just the way they compete,” added the 45-year-old former MLB utility player, whom the Bucs promoted from bench coach when Derek Shelton was relieved of his duties in early May. “They play the game the right way.”

Kelly’s club has lost seven of 10 games against the Brewers thus far this season. They were outscored 33-6 while suffering a three-game sweep at American Family Field earlier this month.

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A quiz:

Willie Stargell (475) has hit the most home runs in Pittsburgh Pirates franchise history. Who ranks second in that category? (A hint: he led the senior circuit in round-trippers more times than Stargell.)

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NEWS NOTES

SABR announced that its 54th annual convention will take place in Cleveland from July 29-August 2, 2026. The Guardians will be hosting the Arizona Diamondbacks that weekend.

Tigers assistant general manager Jay Sartori will be departing Detroit’s front office after the season. Employed by the organization since 2015, Sartori is moving on to join the ACC as the conference’s vice president of sport technology and innovation (per The Detroit Free Press’s Evan Petzold).

Daryl Patterson, who pitched for four teams from 1968-1974 — primarily the Detroit Tigers — died recently at age 81 (also per The Detroit Free Press). The right-hander logged seven saves and a 2.02 ERA over 68 innings in his rookie season, then made two appearances, tossing three scoreless innings, as the Tigers topped the St. Louis Cardinals in the World Series. Patterson subsequently went 7-1 with a pair of saves for Detroit in 1972.

Randy Moffitt, a right-hander who pitched for three teams — mostly the San Francisco Giants — from 1972-1983, died on Thursday at age 76. The brother of tennis legend Billie Jean King, Moffit was credited with 43 wins and 96 saves.

Marc Hill, a catcher who played for four teams — primarily the San Francisco Giants and Chicago White Sox — from 1973-1986, died on August 24 at age 73. Primarily a backup throughout his career, the right-handed-hitting backstop counted 34 home runs among his 404 hits. He went on to manage in the minors.

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The answer to the quiz is Ralph Kiner, who went deep 301 times for the Pirates from 1946-1955. The Hall of Fame slugger led the National League in home runs in each of his first seven seasons.

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When Cal Raleigh hit his 50th home run of the season this past Monday, he did so as a designated hitter. It was the slugger’s 10th while not in the mariners lineup wearing the tools of ignorance, and that got me wondering. What is the single-season record for most home runs hit as a DH by someone who played the majority of his games at a defensive position?

I reached out to Stathead’s Katie Sharp for the answer.

The most home runs hit as a DH by a player who played at least 51% of his games at a defensive position is 22, by Don Baylor in 1979. Then with the California Angels, Baylor played 97 of his 162 games as an outfielder.

If you increase the threshold to at least 75% of games at a defensive position, the most home runs as a DH is 16, by Juan Gonzalez in 1996. Then with the Texas Rangers, Gonzalez played 102 of his 134 games as an outfielder.

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Jane Leavy’s new book, Make Me Commissioner: I Know What’s Wrong With Baseball and How to Fix It includes facts as well as opinions. This excerpt is an example:

“Thirty-one times since the mound was moved to its current distance in 1893, pitchers carrying no-hitters through the seventh inning have not been around to finish the job, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. Twenty-eight of those thwarted attempts have occurred since 2015 and the advent of the Statcast era.”

Lifting a starting pitcher who has yet to allow a hit makes sense in many situations, but that doesn’t make Leavy’s expressed opinion — she devotes a goodly chunk of words to the subject — any less valid. Single-pitcher no-hitters are special, and it is baseball’s loss when the opportunity is taken away in the late innings.

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FOREIGN AFFAIRS

The NPB pennant races are respectively a dogfight and a runway. In the Pacific League, the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks (70-44) have a one-game lead over the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters (70-46). In the Central League, the Hanshin Tigers (72-44) have a commanding 15-game lead over the second-place Tokyo Yomiuri Giants 57-59).

Kaito Kozono is slashing .295/.352/.379 with two home runs, a 123 wRC+, and a lowest-in-NPB 8.4% strikeout rate over 486 plate appearances for the Hiroshima Carp. The 25-year-old infielder has played 69 games at third base, 35 games at shortstop, and 26 games at second base.

Luis Liberato is slashing 331/.385/.552 with eight home runs and a 156 wRC+ over 200 plate appearances for the Hanwha Eagles. The 29-year-old outfielder joined the KBO team in June after spending the initial part of the season with the Mexican League’s Diablos Rojos del Mexico. Liberato played in five games for the San Diego Padres in 2022.

Bradin Hagens is 12-1 with a 2.17 ERA over 116-and-a-third innings for the Chinese Professional Baseball League’s TSG Hawks. Now in his fifth CPBL season, the 36-year-old right-hander appeared in two games for the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2014.

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Brent Suter was featured in Sunday Notes two weeks ago, the subject at hand being the southpaw’s routines. Left on the cutting room floor from my conversation with the Cincinnati Reds reliever was how he prepares as an opener. Suter has served in that role on 13 occasions over the past six seasons, including thrice this year.

“It’s the same exact routine,” the veteran lefty told me. “I started doing that in 2020 when [the Brewers] had me open now and then. I talked to my bullpen coach at the time, Steve Karsay, and he said to stick with my reliever routine, to just treat it like I was coming into the game in a later inning. So, I go out there and do everything normal. I shower, get my in-game activation done in the weight room, then basically need five or 10 minutes to warm up for the game.”

Suter has thrown 28-and-two-thirds innings in his 13 games as an opener since the start of the 2020 season. He has a 2.83 ERA and a 3.45 FIP in those outings.

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FARM NOTES

Ike Irish has one home run and a 112 wRC+ over 54 plate appearances with the Low-A Delmarva Shorebirds. Drafted 19th overall this summer out of Auburn University, the 21-year-old outfielder/first baseman is ranked No. 3 in the Baltimore Orioles system with a 45 FV.

Andrew Fischer has one home run and a 126 wRC+ over 59 plate appearances with the High-A Wisconsin Timber Rattlers. Drafted 20th overall this summer out of the University of Tennessee, the 21-year-old third baseman is ranked No. 9 in the Milwaukee Brewers system with a 45 FV.

Kyle Lodise has three home runs and a 118 wRC+ over 80 plate appearances with the High-A Winston-Salem Dash. Selected with the first pick of the third round this summer out of Georgia Tech, the 21-year-old shortstop is ranked No. 18 in the Chicago White Sox system, with a 40 FV.

Kane Kepley has two home runs and a 207 wRC+ over 102 plate appearances with the Low-A Myrtle Beach Pelicans. Selected in the second round this summer out of the University of North Carolina, the 21-year-old outfielder is ranked No. 18 in the Chicago Cubs system with a 40 FV.

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Konnor Griffin had a two-homer game for Double-A Altoona on Friday, the first time the 19-year-old shortstop has left the yard more than once as a professional. It likely won’t be the last. Drafted ninth-overall last year by the Pittsburgh Pirates, Griffin is ranked as baseball’s fifth-best prospect on The Board. Playing at three levels this season. Griffin has a .330/.412/.512 slash line to go with16 home runs and a 159 wRC+ over 501 plate appearances. Moreover, he has pilfered 64 bases.

The attitude Griffin brings with him to the field?

“He shows up for early work every day like it’s his first day of Little League,” said Pirates GM Ben Cherington. “He loves baseball.”

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A random obscure former player snapshot:

Detroit Tigers fans of a certain age might remember Ken Szotkiewicz. In a big-league career that comprised 47 games and 98 plate appearances in 1970, the left-handed-hitting shortstop caddied for Cesar Gutierrez and logged a .107 batting average and a 17 wRC+. No non-pitcher in franchise history with at least 60 PAs has a lower BA during his Tigers tenure. He did go deep three times, with all of his dingers coming at Tiger Stadium. Born in Wilmington, Szotkiewicz is one of just 65 Delaware natives to play in MLB.

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LINKS YOU’LL LIKE.

Toronto Blue Jays right-hander Alek Manoah has been documenting his rehab process by writing on baseballs. Ben Nicholson-Smith has the story at Sportsnet Canada.

WQAD’s Lindsey Voss wrote about how baseball has become intertwined with Iowa’s Quad Cities ever since the 1850s

Rob Fitts wrote about the 1908 Reach All-American Tour of Japan for SABR’s Asian Baseball Committee.

At The New York Times, Tyler Kepner talked to 99-year-old southpaw Bobby Shantz, who pitched for seven MLB teams — most notably the Philadelphia A’s — from 1949-1964. “Boy, what a life.”

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RANDOM FACTS AND STATS

Carlos Santana has played in 2,196 regular season games since reaching the big leagues in 2010, the most of any player over that span. The second highest total is Freddie Freeman’s 2,152 games, so even if the recently-released Santana isn’t picked up by another team, he will end the season with the most games since 2010.

Texas Rangers shortstops have combined to hit 30 home runs this season, the most in the majors. The Atlanta Braves are without a home run from a shortstop.

The last time the Los Angeles Angels were no-hit was September 11, 1999. That is the longest any MLB team has gone without being no-hit.

Justin Verlander has 3,520 strikeouts and 83.7 WAR.
Walter Johnson had 3,509 strikeouts and 116.4 WAR.

Andre Dawson batted .279 and hit 438 home runs with a 117 wRC+.
Paul Konerko batted .279 and hit 439 home runs with a 118 wRC+.

On today’s date in 1966, Juan Marichal won his 20th game of the season — he finished the year 25-6 with a 2.23 ERA — as the San Francisco Giants edged the New York Mets 2-1. The the Hall of Fame right-hander had six seasons with 20 or more wins.

The Oakland A’s won their 17th consecutive game on today’s date in 2002. They went on to extend their streak to 20 games, outscoring the Kansas City Royals 12-11 on September 4. Oakland led 11-0 after four innings, blew the lead, then walked off KC courtesy of a Scott Hatteberg homer.

Players born on today’s date include Tracy Stallard, who is best known for having thrown the pitch that Roger Maris hit for his record-setting 61st home run on the final day of the 1961 season. Then with the Boston Red Sox, the right-hander went on to have a 20-loss season with the New York Mets in 1964, despite logging a decent 3.79 ERA. A .110/.113/.127 career hitter, Stallard is the only player in MLB history to come to the plate at least 200 times and not draw a walk.

Also born on today’s date was Jason Gilfillan, whose big-league career comprised 13 relief appearances for the Kansas City Royals in 2003. On the winning end of each of his two decisions despite a 7.71 ERA, the right-hander’s debut came in an 18-1 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays… and it was brutal. The first seven batters he faced went 1B, 1B, 1B, K, HR, BB, IB, and there were a pair of run-scoring wild pitches along the way. Gilfillan went 31-15 with a 4.04 ERA down on the farm.

Happy Townsend had a sad won-lost record while pitching for bad Washington Senators teams from 1902-1905. The right-hander from Townsend, Delaware went 22-69 across those four seasons despite a decent 3.68 ERA. In 1904, he went 5-26 for a Senators club that finished 38-113-5, a whopping 55.5 games out of first place. His final professional season came with the Tri-State League’s Williamsport Millionaires in 1909. That year he went 17-11.