Baseball Chatter

140 batters struckout at least 100 times last year. Teams struck out, on average, 8.03 times per game last season. Teams are striking out, on average, 8.20 times per game this season.

Miguel Cabrera is the 39th player in major league history with more than 1,000 extra base hits.

Zack Cozart has reached base in 27 consecutive games, the longest streak in the majors.

Randal Grichuk will be promoted from High-A Palm Beach to a higher minor league level later this week

Ben Gamel has played at all three outfield positions and is now taking grounders at first base

Jose Quintana has allowed 15 runs over his last seven innings, so he has been working on getting more extension as he finishes his delivery

Bartolo Colon has a 10.03 ERA with a .380 batting average against over his past eight starts. He is 2-7 with a 7.78 ERA overall. Why do I even bring up Bartolo in this column anymore? He can’t be owned in any league.

Ozzie Albies was just put on the seven day disabled list with a foot injury after batting .262 with a .311 on-base percentage, 19 extra-base hits, including three home runs, and 18 RBI in 54 games at Triple-A.

Ender Inciarte is the fourth player in Atlanta franchise history to have at least five hits and five RBIs without making an out in the game.

Chris Sale threw above 95 mph seven times in the first inning of his last start vs Baltimore, but it took him 39 pitches to get through that inning. He needed 71 pitches to get through the next five innings. He was more effective but only reached 96 mph five more times

Jeff Hoffman is 3-0 with a 2.61 ERA after he struck out nine and walked none in seven innings against the Padres. He is striking out 11.3 batters per nine innings

Trevor Story is hitting .300 with at least one hit in six of his last seven games, bringing his average to .214 on the season

Jeff Samardzija is on pace to strike out 258 batters this season.

Marcus Semien really wants to be healthy in time for his promotional action figure night on June 18, but Bob Melvin says nope

It’s going to be more about holding him back. You know him, he’s already got a target in his mind. I don’t know if that’s the same target the training staff has. As you can expect, he’s eager and he wants to be moved along, I’d hate to put a number it, but I would say June is probably going to be tough. It’s not going to be a two or three game thing based on the fact that he’s been out for a whileBob Melvin on Semien

Odubel Herrera is the first Phillies player to hit two doubles in three straight games. He went 10 for 72 in May

 

Teams

Although Atlanta’s new SunTrust Park seems like a hitter’s paradise and a pitcher’s worst nightmare, the 2.5 home runs hit per game is only slightly above the 2.38 average for all National League stadiums. In fact, there are six NL parks with more home runs per game than SunTrust.

Keep an eye on the Rays as they might be getting ready to call up prospect starting pitchers, Jacob Faria or Jose De Leon. Don’t get too excited as they may only make spot starts in order to rest Alex Cobb, Jake Odorizzi and/or Erasmo Ramirez

The Royals are getting ready to host a firesale in the near future.

The White Sox are tied with the Royals for the least wins in the American league and the Padres are the only team in baseball with more losses than the White Sox.

The Astros accomplished another franchise record by winning eleven straight on the road. They are 22-6 overall on the road. They have outscored opponents 89-39 during their current eleven game win streak, and are the first team to win 42 of their first 58 games since 2001

The Indians rank 20th in stolen bases this year after they ranked first in the American League last season.

The Nationals Bullpen has a 5.15 ERA with opponents batting .280 against them, both are the highest in the majors.

Injury Updates

Justin Verlander is on track to make his scheduled start this week as his MRI showed no structural damage

Justin Bour is likely headed to the disabled list with a bruised ankle

Joe Musgrove is scheduled to pitch off a mound Thursday, and if all goes well he will return to the rotation Sunday

Joc Pederson was batting .200 when he got a concussion, his replacement, Chris Taylor is hitting .286 with a .340 on base percentage over the past two weeks. Pederson won’t be rushed back.

Wilson Ramos caught three innings in his first rehab game yesterday

 

Barring any setbacks, both Seth Lugo and Steven Matz will return to the Mets rotation later this week. There were rumors about Matt Harvey going to the bullpen. There is no way that is going to happen.

Share this Post

Leave a Reply