MLB 2018

Well, he may not win a World Series in Anaheim, but at least he's still qualified for the Hall of Fame -- which is more than you can say for Charlie Blackmon, Arenado, or Cargo -- not to mention Larry Walker.

Excepting this site's brilliant journalist, sports writers are really ignorant about what makes a brilliant career.

 

You young fellers and gals should enjoy this season. It's been a long, long time since the American League has had two brilliant position players like Trout and Altuve as well as two brilliant starting pitchers like Kluber and Verlander.

 

And this from my bro in MN

By the way, PR is one of the best sports columnists ever. Don't have a link, so here's a looooong read:

Twins' Eduardo Escobar helps usher in new era of players with pint-sized pop
PATRICK REUSSE, Star Tribune



Jimmy Wynn was 25 and in the midst of a 1967 season when he would hit 37 home runs and drive in 107 runs. This was extra impressive, with Wynn playing his home games in the spacious Astrodome with the Houston Astros.

John Wilson, writing for the Houston Chronicle, started referring to Wynn as the “Toy Cannon” that summer. Legend has it, Wynn initially thought the moniker was a belittlement of his stature (5-9, 160 pounds), but soon was convinced it was praise for amazing power in a small frame.

The legend of Wynn has been chronicled often in Houston in recent seasons, as Astros second baseman Jose Altuve has become the ultimate weapon in a baseball machine. He’s listed at 5-6 and 168, although the height is liberal and the weight is conservative.

A half-century after “Toy Cannon” became a nickname of lore, there are undersized hitters doing amazing things in this age of super-velocity for pitchers.

There were dramatic examples of this at Target Field on Wednesday night, with Eduardo Escobar batting third for the Twins and Mookie Betts leading off for Boston. Escobar is listed at 5-10 and Betts at 5-9. It’s a better guess that both are 5-8.

Escobar has joined Eddie Rosario in attempting to carry an otherwise impotent Twins lineup. Betts served a 10-day stay on the disabled list and yet is Mike Trout’s main rival as the American League’s MVP to this point.

Eduardo has an astounding 32 doubles, and a total of 46 extra-base hits and 48 RBI. Mookie is batting .340 with 55 runs scored, 18 home runs and 38 RBI.

Terry Ryan was watching as a scout for Philadelphia. He was the Twins general manager and made the trade on July 28, 2012, that sent lefthander Francisco Liriano to the White Sox for pitcher Pedro Hernandez and Escobar, then 23 and serving as a lightly used utility infielder in Chicago.

A reporter offered this smart-aleck aside to Ryan on Wednesday: “This is what everyone expected Escobar would become when the trade was made, right?”

Ryan smiled and said: “Call your guy in Chicago. He said Escobar would be more than a utility infielder … that he would become an everyday player.”

The Chicago guy was Billy Milos, a Twins scout then and today. Milos was home Wednesdayafter watching a game in Chicago.

“That’s awesome that he said that, but Terry made that trade,” Milos said. “All I said was that Escobar was a good-looking player; that he was a utility player then but could develop into more than that.

“No one … I mean no one … could see Eduardo as the hitter he is today. He swung hard even as a backup infielder. I’m sure he was told by some people to cut down on his swing, but he kept swinging hard and now we’re seeing the results.

“Eduardo’s always been driven. You could see that back in Chicago, how much he wanted to play and to get better.”

Roy Smalley is very informative on hitting in his role as an FSN analyst for Twins games. In a conversation Wednesday, Smalley said:

“Escobar’s leg drive into the ball is as good as there is. He’s been perfect mechanically, getting all that torque to his left side. And all these guys — Eskie, Mookie, Altuve — might be small in height, but they are rocks in strength.”

Dustin Pedroia was the first of this generation’s mighty mites, winning the MVP in his second full season as Boston’s second baseman in 2008. He is 5-8 tops, and has been running into injury problems lately in what was looking like a Hall of Fame career.

There have been suggestions that in this age of constant, 97-mile-per-hour fastballs that players of smaller stature can benefit from a naturally quicker stroke. Smalley was a 6-2 switch hitter, and buys the theory to a degree.

“If I’m taller and have to extend my arms farther to get to the ball, it might be more difficult to be on time,” Smalley said. “That hitting display Escobar put on Tuesday: going down to his shoes to hit a breaking ball from Chris Sale for a double, and then turning around 98 [mph] from Joe Kelly for another double. … He’s getting there awful quick and with great drive.

“Hitting with power is all about extension. And if there’s less movement required with your arms to get the big end of the bat to the ball efficiently, that can be an advantage, I’d guess.”

Whatever the reason, baseball in 2018 has become a Land of Well-Fit Toys.

 

Thanks for the invite, my friend.

I'm not sure why those three players are missing the obvious. The solution to the shift isn't "ground ball to shortstop" as much as it is "line drive to left." The idea that a leadoff batter getting a single is hurting his team is ludicrous. If that's the case, however, I guess Joey Gallo is the role model for the next few generations.

Here's the thing. I was a lefty when I played. When I took batting practice in HS, the drill was bunt, line to left, bunt, line to center, bunt, line to right. Then we had a dozen or so swings to do wherever we could with pitches all over the place. If ANY of us had tried to hit home runs during BP, we'd have teeth marks in our asses for a month. I can't imagine any major league player who is incapable of that regimen.

Look, I know MLB and the TV networks want homers. Hell, they pretty much dictated that every new ball park in the last 40 or so years has to have at least two fields with fences shorter than 8 feet. The ball is juiced, the fences are shorter, the game has been dumbed down. Team defense is just two words that mean nothing when placed next to each other.

Here's the thing: they get a kid in the minors now and talk about exit velocity and launch angle. They tell him, it doesn't matter how many times you get on base, just hit LONG homers and you'll have a major league career. For the last 15 or so years, players have incurred a major DISincentive to play baseball the way it's been played for 100 plus years.

There's been a shift in use for years and years. They pulled one on Teddy Ballgame in the 1950s. What did Williams do? Continue to line the ball to right. What was the result? 512 HRs and a .345 lifetime BA, that plus a ton of walks and not a lot of Ks. What's the result now? Swing even harder and try to hit a HR. Rack up 175 Ks and hit .206 and make $5m a year.

Perhaps the best hope we have is for the Astros to win the next 5 or 6 World Series. They're spray hitters that keep their strike outs down and their walks up. They also hit home runs. They also play fantastic team defense.

And keep them kids off my lawn.