Baseball Chatter June 2

Lenny thinks that the Tampa Bay Rays will win the AL East

Edwin Encarnacion sat out for the first time this season, but it wasn’t due to him slumping as he is hitting .321 with five home runs and 10 RBIs in his last 14 games.

Jorge Soler has only participated in 18 games due to injury and the lack of opportunity. Jorge Bonifacio, is hitting .273 with seven home runs in 120 plate appearances. That may not be quite sustainable, of course, but for now he’s producing and the Royals are giving him a chance to show it’s real.

CC Sabathia took fourth place for career strikeouts by a lefty, 2,779. Randy Johnson can’t even be touched though, with 4875.

• Only 16 pitchers have 3,000 strikeouts
• 14 of those are Hall Of Famers

Michael Pineda is 6-2 with a 3.32 ERA. He only earned six wins in 32 starts last season. Pineda has allowed three earned runs or less in nine straight starts.

Masahiro Tanaka

• 5-5 with a 6.34 ERA in 11 starts this season
• Wednesday Night:  5 ⅔ IP, 7 ER, 9 H.
• Last Four Starts: 0-4, 12.23 ERA, 30 H in 17 ⅔ IP

Gerardo Parra past five starts

• 13-for-19, with at least three hits in each of the past three games.
• Last 14 days: 4 doubles, 3 HR, 13 RBIs, .421 AVG
• Started in left field yesterday – 4-for-4
• In three games against the Mariners, he went 7-for-9 with three doubles and four RBIs.

Zack Godley was sent to Triple-A yesterday in order for the Diamondbacks to bring up relievers. He has been pitching great at the major league level so far this season, but he was one of only a few players who still have options left. 2.39 ERA, 2 HR allowed, no more than 3 ER in any start and has pitched at least six innings in each of his past five.

Despite Dansby Swanson skipping Triple-A entirely, he hit .302 with a .361 OBP in 38 major league games last year. This season:

• 2-for-29 with one RBI, four walks, five strikeouts and a .285 OPS in the past eight games,
• overall average .185 (5th lowest among qualifiers)
• Committed errors both Tuesday and Wednesday – earning him the club leading 11 errors.
• .185 AVG (Ranks 24th)
• .559 OPS (Ranks 27th

Jaime Garcia and his 3.18 ERA have not allowed more than four earned runs in any game so far while striking out at least six in seven of his last eight starts.

Joe Kelly threw the fastest pitch in the majors so far this season, and the fastest pitch ever recorded in Red Sox history, 102.2 mph.

• 23.1 IP, 20 Games, 1.54 ERA
• Fastest pitch in majors came on April 28, 102.2 mph, 2 seam FB, matches Daniel Bard on 2009, for fastest recorded pitch in Sox history
• Kelly also has the highest average pitch velocity, 98.9 Rosenthal

Tim Anderson is batting .345 with four home runs and nine RBI in his last 19 games.

Michael Conforto is slumping:

• 5 Hits in last 30 at-bats
• batting average drop from .341 to .309.
• 13 strikeouts in the past 10 games

The Giants are calling up prospect outfielder Austin Slater, .322 at Sacramento. 24-year-old Stanford product, will join the Giants in Philadelphia today

Injury Updates

Francisco Liriano will be activated to make the start tonight against Michael Pineda and the NYY. out with a sore shoulder since May 10

Alex Wood was only supposed to miss one start, but the plan has been ‘modified’, but it isn’t something anyone should be concerned about, according to manager Rick Renteria,

If it was elbow, shoulder – that’s more alarm bells. But with the SC joint, the clavicle-type thing – we just want to make sure it’s right and if it’s another start (before he returns), so be it.Manager Renteria

Manager Terry Collins hasn’t revealed his plans when all his outfielders — Yoenis Cespedes, Michael Conforto, Curtis Granderson and Jay Bruce — are healthy, but he has hinted he would likely rotate Conforto, Granderson and Bruce in center and right field.

Team News

The Giants went 13-16 in May, giving them their fifth consecutive losing month.

• Their Triple-A affiliate in Sacramento (19-32) is in last place.
• Their Double-A affiliate in Richmond (20-32) is in last place.
• Their Single-A club in San Jose (23-30) is in last place.
• Low-A Augusta is 14-34 record with the worst record in the minors

Only three teams have allowed more unearned runs than the Cubs’ 27.

Cubbies Starting Rotation:

• ERA 4.64 (22nd in the majors)
• 20 quality starts (25th).
• 26 runs allowed in 23 innings over the first five games of their road trip (9.89 ERA)

Ned Yost doesn’t think his players are affected by their uncertain future. Royals free agents next season include Eric Hosmer, Mike Moustakas, Lorenzo Cain, Jason Vargas, Mike Minor and Alcides Escobar

In order to receive a compensation pick now, a team has to not only make a qualified offer, but that player has to sign with another club for at least $50 million. If the player signs for less than $50 million, the compensation pick comes after the second round.

The White Sox had a winning record in April, going 13-10. In May they went 11-18 even though they outscored their opponents 140-136. Figure that one out.

They seem like they don’t have a clue while they watch their pitching fall apart.

• Jose Quintana is 2-7 with a 5.60 ERA
• Carlos Rodon is considered fully healthy but has no timetable to return. He is frustrated to say the least.

Phillies prospects are knocking the door down to get to the majors. Roman Quinn, Nick Williams and Dylan Cozens are playing well enough to justify getting a call:

• Quinn batted .286 in May with a .363 on-base percentage.
• Williams batted .282 in May with eight homers.
• Cozens rebounded from a miserable April to bat .330 in May with nine homers.
• All three need to cut back on their strikeouts.