Welcome to a different version of 5 Issues I Appreciated (Or Didn’t Like) This Week. August is a month I like to make use of for relaxation and restoration. After the chaos of July, there’s a pure lull within the season earlier than the drama of September. Each deadline consumers and sellers are determining their new rosters and allocating taking part in time to new arrivals and minor league call-ups. No race is right down to the wire, and but many races are already determined. That’s a good time to chill out – and what I love to do to chill out is watch baseball. This week’s set of 5 issues doesn’t have loads of pivotal performs or playoff squads on the brink. It doesn’t have walk-offs or game-ending defensive performs. It’s simply guys doing cool issues, and typically that’s the most effective a part of baseball. So with a fast programming word – 5 Issues is off subsequent week whereas I’m going to the US Open – and a nod to Zach Lowe of The Ringer, let’s get began.
1. Final Reversals
In an 0-2 depend in his first begin off the IL, Hunter Greene misplaced management of a fastball:
Hey, it occurs. It was an 0-2 depend, so no large deal, get ‘em subsequent pitch. Solely, wait, one thing was happening:
Hit… by pitch? I’m unsure anybody on the plate was certain what occurred. J.T. Realmuto stated one thing to umpire Carlos Torres. Torres considered it after which ultimately awarded Realmuto first base. Tyler Stephenson went full John Travolta behind residence plate, trying round in useless for somebody to make this make sense to him.
How did Reds supervisor Terry Francona really feel about this? The identical method I did, and the identical method you do proper now, presumably:
When the primary slow-motion replay got here in, all the pieces began to make just a little extra sense:
Realmuto wasn’t hit by the pitch; his bat was. It’s a straightforward overturn. Why didn’t anybody discover? Effectively, Stephenson had his eyes closed and his glove blocked Torres’ view of the butt of Realmuto’s bat. Nobody observed the deflection instantly both; in spite of everything, Stephenson caught up his glove making an attempt to catch it and the ball landed within the mitt.
The replay assessment was brief and conclusive. The decision on the sphere was overturned; as a substitute of a hit-by-pitch, it was a foul ball. Solely, that’s not fairly proper – there have been two strikes. The ball landed in Stephenson’s mitt after making contact with the bat. That’s a textbook foul tip strikeout. As an alternative of strolling to first base, Realmuto trudged again to the dugout.
There have solely been 5 different HBP-to-strikeout overturns within the replay assessment period. I watched video of all of them. The one this week was the strangest. Right here’s AJ Pollock getting “hit” by Tyler Chatwood within the first one I discovered:
See the umpire’s fast and decisive response? That’s regular. Name a useless ball, decide what occurred, level to first to sign a hit-by-pitch – it’s normal working process. Torres didn’t even name a useless ball, as a result of he didn’t notice he wanted to.
Actually, I believe Realmuto may need inadvertently achieved this to himself. It’s possible that if he didn’t say something to Torres, that will have simply been a ball. Nobody noticed the ball deflect off the bat in actual time, and it was such a glancing blow that nobody appeared to listen to it. You may inform due to their reactions; Torres doesn’t name the ball useless instantly and Stephenson undoubtedly has no thought what’s happening. Additionally? Change this rule! That must be one of many hardest-luck strikeouts of all time.
2. Coordination
Jung Hoo Lee’s second 12 months in San Francisco has gone a lot better than his first. He’s wholesome, for one factor: After an damage restricted him to only 158 plate appearances in 2024, he’s been lively for your complete season and has already crested 500 plate appearances this 12 months. He’s improved throughout the board offensively, flashing gap-to-gap energy and persistently working counts and avoiding strikeouts. It’s been extra of a battle defensively, the place he’s been someplace between blah (per OAA) and fairly poor (per DRS and Baseball Prospectus’ DRP). It’s powerful having your fielding in comparison with the ridiculous monsters who roam middle as of late. However what number of of them can do that?
What’s that, you say? That was a regular play, catch chance 99%? The wind appeared just a little swirly, which made it barely harder, however you’re not fallacious. Lee took a meandering path to the ball and nonetheless had time to flatten his route and kind of come to a whole cease to evaluate the wind; he in all probability might have caught it standing up if he’d gotten a greater learn initially. That’s all true! However look forward to the reveal:
It’s like a magic trick, pulling a coin out from behind a kindergartener’s ear solely in baseball kind. Oh, you’d count on the ball to be in my glove? No, after all it’s someplace else. See, the ball truly kicked out of Lee’s glove, however he made a spectacular instinctual adjustment:
Lee’s proper leg made that complete play. He lunged and missed together with his hand, the traditional factor you’d use to catch a baseball. For many gamers, that will be the tip of the play. However Lee by some means flipped his hips to get in place, drove his proper knee previous the ball with out bumping it away, after which pincered it into the hole between his knees to guard it from falling to the bottom.
Don’t do that at residence. I say that out of non-public expertise – my canine checked out me humorous for about 5 minutes whereas I attempted to duplicate it on my front room ground. There’s no practising or instructing this. Nobody works on it in spring coaching. For almost each outfielder in baseball, the play would have been over after it kicked out of their glove. Lee is likely to be a below-average outfielder while you take the sum of his defensive contributions into consideration. His coordination and skill to make last-minute changes, although? It’s certifiably wonderful.
3. Necessity
Ryan O’Hearn doesn’t face lefties. In his complete Orioles profession – 1,223 plate appearances – he confronted solely 137 lefties. It’s no secret why: He posted an 89 wRC+ in opposition to them, as in comparison with a 126 wRC+ in opposition to righties. That’s an enormous platoon cut up, greater than double the most important league common for lefties. The O’s had a surfeit of righty platoon choices, and even this 12 months, when O’Hearn put up his greatest season but, they typically didn’t let him face lefties, and he hit poorly in opposition to them when he did get the prospect.
In principle, the Padres are equally able to sheltering O’Hearn. They’ve solely given him six plate appearances in opposition to lefties, and so they’ve just about all been out of necessity slightly than want. Your bench isn’t at all times as full as you’d like, the opposite workforce can sneak in lefty relievers at nearly any time late within the recreation, and no hitter avoids dealing with lefties altogether. Actually, the Padres have given him these alternatives at about the identical charge because the O’s. However let’s simply say he’s not hitting southpaws fairly so poorly with San Diego:
That’s 4-5 with a stroll, and all 4 hits have gone for further bases. It’s far too small of a pattern to make substantive conclusions, after all, however O’Hearn has already socked as many homers in opposition to lefties in a Padres uniform as he did in Baltimore, the place he performed for 20 instances as lengthy.
The final one, a two-run blast in opposition to All-Star Robbie Ray, got here after Mike Shildt pinch-hit with O’Hearn in opposition to a lefty. It wasn’t precisely a standard determination – Jake Cronenworth was hit within the hand in his earlier plate look, and whereas he performed the sphere afterwards, he didn’t seem like able to swinging a bat. Because the Padres had already juiced their lineup with righties in opposition to Ray, the one bench hitter with a platoon benefit was Elias Díaz, and your light-hitting backup catcher isn’t an actual pinch-hitting choice. O’Hearn was the logical play even when “pinch-hit with the man we by no means let face lefties in opposition to a dominant lefty” isn’t usually determination.
So, is O’Hearn abruptly a lefty killer? I don’t assume so, however I undoubtedly hope so. The Padres are going to run into many extra probabilities to both let O’Hearn hit in opposition to a lefty or change him with an inferior hitter (Jose Iglesias? Bryce Johnson?) who stands on the opposite aspect of the plate. Beforehand, the choice has not often been attention-grabbing – get the righty in there. Within the final 20 days, although, O’Hearn is making it exhausting to drag him from the sport. Sure, it’s six plate appearances. Certain, that’s not how pattern sizes work. However since coming to the Padres, he’s slashing .800/.833/2.400 in opposition to lefties. Can you actually flip that down in favor of Candelita? It’s gonna be an awesome subplot to observe down the stretch.
4. Thievery
Alejandro Kirk doesn’t steal bases. In his complete minor league profession, he swiped 5 baggage, all in 2018 and 2019. He’s by no means a lot as tried one on the main league degree. He’s listed at 5-foot-8 and 245 kilos, form of the reverse of a prototypical base stealing body. His 24.2 ft/sec dash pace is within the second percentile league-wide. May you, personally, beat Alejandro Kirk in a footrace? Most likely not, nevertheless it’s a minimum of nearer than it might be for just about each different main leaguer.
Anyway, right here’s Alejandro Kirk stealing a base:
This play was an ideal storm of pro-stealing components. With just one out and a runner on third in a one-run recreation, the Rangers infield was all the best way in. That meant Jake Burger couldn’t maintain Kirk on first base as a result of he was off the road and on the grass. It wasn’t an enormous deal, although. Is there a runner much less vital to carry on than the man with 2,000 plate appearances and nil stolen base makes an attempt? In the meantime, with Daulton Varsho on third base, Kyle Higashioka had little interest in throwing right down to second and letting Varsho maraud residence. The Rangers knew there was no throw coming to second. Take a look at their positioning with the ball already in Higashioka’s glove:
In different phrases, they have been kind of daring Kirk to go. Why wouldn’t they? Kirk batted 1,946 instances earlier than trying his first steal. Second place within the majors for many plate appearances with out trying one? Spencer Horwitz with 723. The post-integration file for profession plate appearances and not using a stolen base try is 2,224, by Johnny Estrada from 2001-2008. Only a few batters attain 1,000 plate appearances with out making an attempt to steal a minimum of as soon as. Kirk was a real standout in his area of standing round.
Now he’s obtained a swipe in his again pocket. Estrada’s file is secure; the percentages of Horwitz attending to that milestone are negligible. He’s not even a catcher! However extra importantly, Kirk is on the board. He tried to behave informal after stealing the bottom, however the crowd wouldn’t let it go (the Jays posted that it was his first profession stolen base on the scoreboard). You already know you’ve achieved one thing enjoyable while you get Max Scherzer to react like this:
5. Pratfalls With Joyful Endings
In case your solely understanding of outfield protection got here from this column, you may assume that falling over was a key a part of the job:
Sorry for the digital camera angle; it’s all each broadcasts had. However in any case, what a catastrophe. You may’t fall down there. That’s Alek Freaking Thomas on the basepaths. He’s maniacally aggressive and has the pace to make it work; he’s 10 runs above common on the basepaths in his profession even with out taking stolen bases (he’s not an awesome base stealer) into consideration. He was on his horse instantly and had eyes on residence plate. Watch Thomas clock what’s happening in middle, choose up third base coach Shaun Larkin waving him on, and ebook it residence:
Wait, what? He obtained thrown out?!? Yeah, and by lots, because it seems. See, Angel Martínez fell, nevertheless it was pretty swish as falls go. He didn’t lose the ball, didn’t panic, and was again on his ft shortly to toss within the relay. It took him a few second-and-a-half to get well, which isn’t nice, nevertheless it’s lots higher than staying down or shedding his grip:
That was an honest relay throw, completely on line however and not using a ton of vigor. Martínez has a cannon arm, however he didn’t present it off there; he was simply pondering of getting the ball to the infield. When Gabriel Arias obtained the throw, although, he had most effort on his thoughts. Arias has an extremely robust throwing arm, too. He knew there was going to be a play on the plate. He obtained the relay throw whereas already stepping right into a throw residence:
Don’t overlook Bo Naylor’s function in that play. The throw beat Thomas by loads, nevertheless it reached Naylor on a brief hop. With out good focus, that ball would in all probability skip away. It hit so near Naylor that he needed to make a first-base-style scoop:
In the meantime, although, even with an outfielder falling down after which feathering in a relay throw as a substitute of ripping one, Thomas was out by fairly a bit. I believe I can present you what went fallacious. Right here’s Thomas with Martínez sprawled out within the outfield:
He’s nowhere close to third base. Overlook how exhausting Arias threw the ball on his relay; there aren’t many gamers who’re making it residence safely from this place:
The play wasn’t in entrance of Thomas; he observed that Martínez fell, however he needed to flip his head to run at most pace after that. However the timing simply wasn’t proper for even a quick runner to attain. Martínez was throwing the ball in earlier than Thomas reached third base. Arias was releasing it from shortstop earlier than he was midway residence. Main league fielders are nice. This simply wasn’t a secure time to attain, even after Martínez’s stumble.
It’s maybe not a coincidence that Shaun Larkin isn’t teaching third base for the Diamondbacks anymore. Supervisor Torey Lovullo eliminated him after this very recreation, the truth is. It was a straw-that-broke-the-camel’s-back state of affairs, however I believe it’s emblematic of how exhausting it’s to wrap your head round simply how athletic main leaguers are. Angel Martínez was on his again within the outfield, after which he made a natural-looking, low-effort transfer and simply wasn’t. He didn’t need to make a hero throw. He didn’t need to attempt to whip it residence on the fly to make up for his stumble. He simply saved his head about him and let his pure coordination plus his workforce’s competence make up for the journey. Martínez has been fairly unhealthy within the outfield this 12 months. He’s a shortstop by commerce and hasn’t tailored to the broad expanses of grass all that cleanly. However making an athletic, tumbling play, and having the remainder of the Guardians flip it into an out? He appears fairly good doing that.