Mikey Romero has hit a number of velocity bumps for the reason that Boston Pink Sox drafted him twenty fourth general in 2022 out of California’s Orange Lutheran Excessive College. A again harm restricted the 21-year-old multi-position infielder to simply 34 video games in 2023, and he then didn’t return to recreation motion till final Could. He additionally missed time in August after struggling a concussion.
When wholesome, it’s been largely easy crusing for the previous first-rounder. [Boston took Roman Anthony 16 picks later the same year]. Romero’s last-season ledger included 16 house runs and a 125 wRC+ over 362 plate appearances between Excessive-A Greenville and Double-A Portland.
He’s off to a powerful begin within the present marketing campaign. Again on the larger of these ranges, Romero is swinging to the tune of a 134 wRC+ in 154 journeys to the plate. Totally half of his 34 hits have gone for additional bases. The San Diego native’s easy left-handed stroke has produced 10 doubles, a pair of triples, and 5 house runs.
Because the season was getting underway, I requested the promising teen how he’s grown as a hitter since becoming a member of the skilled ranks.
“Being a highschool draft man, a variety of it has been maturing with the physicality,” replied Romero, who at 205 kilos has added 30 kilos to his six-foot body. “My physique maturing, my getting stronger, is permitting me to affect the ball extra. It’s additionally giving me extra time to react to pitches, versus type of dishonest to stuff. Clearly, I’ve been honing my strategy. You want a strong strategy to place up good at-bats.”
Unprompted, Romero introduced up hitting analytics, saying that whereas his ears are open to something which may assist him get higher, he stays “a really feel man” at coronary heart. A lot for that cause, he does his “listening sparsely.”
His strategy does nonetheless want some fine-tuning. Romero has a excessive chase fee, significantly with two strikes, and because of this has fanned in 27.3% of his plate appearances this 12 months. On the similar time, his stroll fee is a strong 11.7%. In a latest recreation, Romero drew 4 free passes in as many PAs..
The bodily changes he’s made embody elevating his fingers, the first goal being higher capable of deal with excessive heaters. The thought course of that goes together with that may be a good instance of his old-school-meets-new-school mindset.
“Beginning them larger makes for a less complicated transfer,” defined Romero. “I simply have to show. We’re on this new period of launch angle, and whatnot, however I nonetheless really feel like I’m making an attempt to swing down on the ball. Clearly, that’s not what occurs; I hit the center, or slightly below it, to drive the ball. Perhaps I even hit a house run. However what I’m considering is protecting my fingers above the ball and actually simply making an attempt to remain on high of it. Everybody on this recreation has experience — ride-cut or ride-run — and when you’re hitting above the ball, you’re going to provide your self an opportunity.”
And when you’re questioning, sure, Romero has labored to extend each his bat velocity and his exit velocities. When the search is to achieve your potential, that comes with the territory.
“Our org is large on bat velocity coaching,” mentioned Romero. “We use Driveline bats. There are three varieties —a Deal with Load, an Beneath Load, and a Barrel Load — and also you swing them tremendous quick. Doing that, your baseball muscle groups are going to get stronger. You create a stimulus in your nervous system which interprets to your recreation swings. I set a private document for exit velo throughout spring coaching. I hit a ball 109 [mph] in a single recreation. I believe I’ve extra within the tank, too.”
That has already confirmed true. To date this season, Romero’s exit velocity has topped out 111 mph. His ninetieth percentile EV has been 105 mph.
———
RANDOM HITTER-PITCHER MATCHUPS
Mickey Grasso went 5 for 15 towards Ray Scarborough.
Jim Fairey went 6 for 9 towards Invoice Singer.
Randall Simon went 7 for 15 towards Hideo Nomo.
Artwork Garibaldi went 5 for 7 towards Fred Frankhouse.
Pinch Thomas went 0 for 8 towards Herb Pennock.
———
Mark Vientos was 21 years previous and enjoying within the excessive minors after I talked hitting with him late within the 2021 season. 4 years faraway from being drafted 59th general out of a Plantation, Florida highschool, the younger third baseman subsequently got here in at No. 6 on our 2022 New York Mets High Prospects record. Assigned a forty five FV by Eric Longenhagen, Vientos proceeded to achieve Queens that September.
I not too long ago requested the now-25-year-old how he’s developed as a hitter since we first spoke.
“Not a lot is completely different,” Vientos replied. “I’m simply studying little issues right here and there. Probably not large issues, to be trustworthy. The strategy will get higher. You’re employed within the cage and your swing will get higher. That’s just about it. No large modifications.”
Vientos advised me in our 2021 dialog that he considers himself an “all-around kind of hitter,” including that whereas lots of people think about him only a energy risk, he believes that he can hit for each common and energy. That hasn’t modified both.
“Should you take a look at my common final 12 months, I believe it was within the .260s,” mentioned Vientos, whose numbers included .a 266/.322/.516 slash line, 27 house runs, a 133 wRC+, and a 29.7% strikeout fee. “I don’t know if that’s thought-about hitting for common or for energy — I don’t know what’s what these days — however I believe I’ve the aptitude of hitting .300 with 40-plus bombs someday. That’s the kind of hitter I really feel I’m. I believe that’s my functionality.”
Vientos is presently at .231/.300/.379 with six house runs and a 93 wRC+ over 203 plate appearances. His strikeout fee is a profession low 23.6%.
———
A quiz:
A complete of 28 gamers have hit 500 or extra house runs. Of them, Barry Bonds (514) and Willie Mays (338) have probably the most stolen bases. Which members of the five hundred membership rank as the underside two for stolen bases?
The reply could be discovered under.
———
NEWS NOTES
Tomorrow [June 2] is Lou Gehrig Day, which is held yearly not solely to have a good time the New York Yankees icon, but in addition to lift consciousness for ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis), aka Lou Gehrig’s Illness. Gehrig’s streak of two,160 consecutive video games performed started on at this time’s date in 1925.
Horace Pace, a speedy outfielder who performed for the San Francisco Giants and Cleveland Indians throughout the 1975-1979 seasons, died earlier this week at age 73. Used primarily as a defensive substitute and as a pinch-runner, Pace went 28-for-135 on the plate, with 4 of his hits coming towards Toronto Blue Jays southpaw Jerry Garvin.
Scott Klingenbeck, a right-hander who pitched for the Baltimore Orioles, Minnesota Twins, and Cincinnati Reds in a profession that spanned the 1994-1998 seasons, died on Could 20 at age 54. All advised, Klingenbeck appeared in 39 video games and went 5-8 with a 6.91 ERA over 138 innings.
———
The reply to the quiz is Mark McGwire and David Ortiz, with 12 and 17 stolen bases respectively. Should you guessed Harmon Killebrew or Jim Thome, they every had 19 steals.
———
Gunnar Henderson is a younger famous person who, like a lot of his Baltimore Orioles teammates, has been underachieving on the dish. Two months into the season, the 23-year-old shortstop has a 113 wRC+ to go together with seven house runs and a .254/.315/.433 slash line. Over the earlier two seasons — the primary of which noticed him win American League Rookie of the Yr honors — Henderson hit 65 house runs whereas placing up a 140 wRC+.
In September 2022, only a handful of weeks after he’d damaged into the massive leagues, I sat down with Henderson to discuss hitting. Numbers apart, how has he progressed since that point?
“I believe the massive factor has been the expertise, studying what I’m good at and balancing that with what the pitcher is nice at,” Henderson advised me final weekend. “What’s additionally helped me is admittedly determining my load and being prepared earlier — with the ability to decipher completely different pitches. I’m making an attempt to manage the zone and get the pitches that I can do harm on.”
Elaborating on his load, Henderson defined that being extra in tune along with his decrease half permits him to maneuver a little bit bit earlier, and to see the pitch earlier. As for his left-handed swing, it “in all probability appears the identical because it did three or 4 years in the past.”
“Your swing is you swing,” mentioned Henderson. “It’s what works for you, and you must follow your strengths. That mentioned, I used to be very younger arising and you must make minor modifications right here and there. For some guys there are large swing modifications, however for me, thankfully, there haven’t been any large ones. Greater than something, it’s simply been about gaining extra expertise.”
Henderson has 1,692 big-league plate appearances since debuting with the Birds just below three years in the past. When he recorded his four-hundredth profession hit on Friday, he grew to become the sixth participant in group historical past to achieve that quantity previous to his twenty fourth birthday. Manny Machado, Eddie Murray, Boog Powell, Cal Ripken Jr., and Brooks Robinson are the others.
———
FOREIGN AFFAIRS
The Hanshin Tigers are 30-20 and boast the very best document amongst NPB’s 12 groups. The Tokyo Yakult Swallows are 14-31 and have the worst document.
Kyle Muller tossed seven shutout innings and notched his first NPB win on Thursday because the Chunichi Dragons topped the Yakult Swallows 6-0. The 27-year-old erstwhile Atlanta Braves and Oakland Athletics left-hander has a 4.77 ERA over six begins for the Nagoya-based membership.
Lewin Díaz leads all KBO hitters with 21 house runs. The 28-year-old former Miami Marlins first baseman is slashing .299/.354/.638 in his second season with the Samsung Lions.
Zac Lowther is 2-1 with a 2.59 ERA over 41-and-two-thirds innings for the Chinese language Skilled Baseball League’s Wei Chuan Dragons. The 29-year-old former Baltimore Orioles left-hander is in his first season with the Taipei, Taiwan-based group.
Robinson Canó is slashing .369/.423/.581 with six house runs for the Mexican League’s Diablos Rojos del Mexico. The 42-year-old former MLB All-Star has 3,542 skilled hits, together with 404 house runs.
———
Hoby Milner emerged as a dependable reliever in 2022. Over the 5 earlier seasons, which he’d spent with 4 completely different groups, the left-hander had logged a 4.77 ERA over simply 77-and-a-third innings. Furthermore, he was with no win, save, or loss in his 93 appearances. As chronicled right here in Sunday Notes on Could 1, 2022, Milner holds the main league document [95] for many video games with no determination to start a profession.
From 2022-2024, the 34-year-old southpaw made a tops-on-the-team 201 appearances for the Milwaukee Brewers [he’d pitched in 19 games for them the year before], logging a 3.44 ERA over 193-and-two-thirds innings. His ledger over that span additionally included 10 wins, 5 defeats, and one save.
Milner’s transformation from infrequently-used journeyman to counted-upon bullpen mainstay got here regardless of his lack of ability to overlook as many bats as he’d hoped for.
“I used to be getting optioned quite a bit in 2021; I believe I used to be up and down seven occasions,” recalled Milner, who signed a free-agent take care of the Texas Rangers this previous offseason and has since put up a 2.13 ERA over 25 appearances. ‘One of many occasions I obtained despatched down, I requested [then Milwaukee manager] Craig Counsell, ‘What’s going to assist me keep up right here?’ He advised me, ‘Truthfully, I don’t assume there may be something you are able to do in a single day, however swing-and-miss to lefties can be good..’ I attempted my hardest, nevertheless it was, ‘OK, that is one thing I simply can’t do.’ With my velocity and arm angle, getting excessive swing-and-miss charges wasn’t going to be within the method.
“I figured that if I couldn’t get the swing-and-miss, I’d attempt to get the worst contact I may,” added Milner. “So, I began throwing sinkers to lefties. It was the other of what he’d mentioned, nevertheless it labored out. Constant tender contact grew to become the purpose. Since then I’ve accomplished another issues to get tender contact, however that was type of the turning level for me.”
Milner has a 50.6% floor ball fee and a 23.1% strikeout fee for the reason that begin of the 2022 season. His 225 reduction outings are second-most within the majors amongst southpaws, behind solely Tanner Scott’s 240.
———
FARM NOTES
Joseph Sullivan is slashing .232/.425/.497 with 11 house runs and a 149 wRC+ over 207 plate appearances for the Excessive-A Asheville Vacationers. Drafted within the seventh spherical final 12 months by the Houston Astros out of the College of South Alabama, the 23-year-old outfielder is the grandson of former NFL quarterback Pat Sullivan, who received the 1971 Heisman Trophy whereas enjoying at Auburn.
Ryan Jackson is slashing .308/.471/.456 with three house runs and a 163 wRC+ over 224 plate appearances for the Low-A Lake Elsinore Storm. The 23-year-old shortstop was drafted within the seventeenth spherical final 12 months by the San Diego Padres out of the College of Southern California.
West Michigan Whitecaps catcher/first baseman Josue Briceño leads the Excessive-A Midwest League in house runs (12), OPS (1.005), and wRC+ (172). The 20-year-old left-handed-hitting Maracay, Venezuela native is slashing .268/.383/.622.
Devin Fitz-Gerald is slashing .345/.459/.672 with 5 house runs and a 182 wRC+ over 74 plate appearances within the Arizona Advanced League. The 19-year-old infielder was drafted within the fifth spherical final 12 months by the Texas Rangers out of Parkland, Florida’s Stoneman Douglas Excessive College.
Gage Stanifer has a 1.46 ERA and a 39.7% strikeout fee between Low-A Dunedin and Excessive-Vancouver. A Nineteenth-round spherical choose in 2022 out of Westfield (IN) Excessive College, the 21-year-old right-hander within the Toronto Blue Jays system has allowed simply 14 hits in 37 innings.
———
Twins pitching prospect Andrew Morris spent three years at Colorado Mesa College, transferred to Texas Tech College for his senior season, and is presently half a semester in need of a level in psychology. His instructional path prior to varsity was considered one of precocity.
“I began highschool at [age] 12, and graduated highschool at 16,” Morris advised me earlier this 12 months. “I skipped second grade after we moved to Alaska — I used to be in Alaska for 5 years — and earlier than that I’d began preschool early. COVID type of set me nearer to regular, however I used to be nonetheless younger for my draft class.”
Minnesota’s fourth-round choose in 2022, Morris has made 10 begins for Triple-A St. Paul this season and has a 4.15 ERA and a 4.25 FIP. The correct-hander has 42 strikeouts in 47-and-two-thirds innings.
———
A random obscure former participant snapshot:
“Colby Jack” Coombs wasn’t obscure throughout his enjoying days — removed from — however he’s comparatively unknown a century later. His profession is certainly price figuring out about — particularly his signature season. Pitching for the Philadelphia Athletics in 1910, the Le Grand, Iowa-born, Waterville, Maine-raised right-hander went 31-9 with a 1.30 ERA over 353 innings, tossing 35 full video games and hurling 13 shutouts. And he wasn’t a one-year surprise. Different notable campaigns included win-loss marks of 28-12, 21-10, and 15-10 (the final of these with the Brooklyn Dodgers). The Colby School product made six World Collection begins over the course of his profession, going 5-0 with a 2.70 ERA.
———
LINKS YOU’LL LIKE
At CBS Sports activities, Julian McWilliams wrote about Mookie Betts’s transfer to shortstop.
At CBC Information, Bob Becken wrote about Mizuki Akatsuka, an ambidextrous pitcher from Japan who’s presently enjoying for the Chatham-Kent Barnstormers in Canada’s Intercounty Baseball League.
At Greenville, South Carolina’s Submit and Courier, Caitlin Herrington checked out what it would take for Shoeless Joe Jackson to realize induction to the Corridor of Fame.
A horse named for 82-year-old former big-league outfielder Jim Gosger positioned second in final month’s Preakness Stakes. Clark Spencer has the story, which incorporates quotes from the human Gosger, at Paulick Report.
Sam Blum purchased a ticket to a recreation in Sacramento, the place the erstwhile Oakland A’s are presently enjoying on account of “a wholly man-made disaster.” Blum supplied ideas on the expertise — each his personal and people of followers he spoke to — at The Athletic.
———
RANDOM FACTS AND STATS
San Francisco Giants relievers have mixed to go 14-6 with 16 saves and a 2.42 ERA this season. Los Angeles Angels relievers have mixed to go 14-7 with 13 saves and a 6.18 ERA.
Colorado Rockies batters have mixed for 413 hits, the fewest of any group. The NL West membership’s 15 triples are probably the most for any group.
Rockies southpaw Kyle Freeland has made 5 begins by which he has gone no less than six innings and allowed three or fewer runs. In one other begin, he allowed one run over five-and-a-third innings. Freeland has an 0-8 won-lost document on the season.
LAA’s Taylor Ward has fanned 65 occasions this season and has but to achieve base through a HBP. Milwaukee’s Caleb Durbin has fanned 11 occasions and reached base through a HBP 9 occasions.
NYY’s Paul Goldschmidt is 26-for-49 (.531) with seven doubles, 4 house runs, and 11 walks versus left-handed pitchers. Colorado’s Jacob Stallings is 1-for-34 (.031) with 16 strikeouts versus southpaws.
Johan Santana threw 2,025-and-two-thirds innings and went 139-78 with a 136 ERA+. Chris Sale has thrown 2,026 innings and gone 141-86 with a 140 ERA+.
On at this time’s date in 2007, the Cleveland Indians scored 5 occasions within the backside of the ninth inning to stroll off the Detroit Tigers 12-11. David Dellucci’s single off of Todd Jones plated Trot Nixon with the profitable run.
On at this time’s date in 1944, Jimmy Outlaw scored on a Don Ross double to provide the Detroit Tigers a 4-3 win over the New York Yankees in 16 innings. Hal Newhouser, who went on to complete the season 29-9 and be named AL MVP, labored seven-and-a-third innings scoreless of reduction to earn the victory.
Gamers born on at this time’s date embody Man Morton, a right-hander who went 98-86 pitching for the Cleveland Naps/Indians throughout the 1914-1924 seasons. Nicknamed “The Alabama Blossom,” Morton misplaced his first 13 selections earlier than garnering a win within the remaining look of his rookie season. His son, Man “Moose” Morton performed in a single recreation for the Boston Pink Sox in 1954, fanning as a pinch-hitter in his lone at-bat.
Additionally born on at this time’s date was Johnny Mostil, a speedy centerfielder who batted .301 over 4,103 plate appearances with the Chicago White Sox from 1918-1929. Nicknamed “Bananas,” Mostil managed within the minors for 25 seasons after his enjoying profession was over, skippering squads such because the Eau Claire Bears, Superior Blues, and Waterloo White Hawks.