Daylen Lile was one of many prime rookie performers within the senior circuit this season. The 22-year-old outfielder debuted with Washington Nationals in late Could and went on to slash .299/.347/.498 with a 132 wRC+ over 351 plate appearances. Displaying a mix of velocity and energy, Lile legged out 11 triples and left the yard eight instances. A ninth dwelling run on his ledger was an inside-the-parker.
Once I talked to him in September, I discovered that Lile and Nationals teammate James Wooden had been doing plenty of drill work collectively within the batting cage. Left on the slicing room flooring from our dialog— the following characteristic will be discovered right here — was what he advised me in regards to the work itself. Like most good hitters, Lile is diligent about his routine.
“Your preparation issues, as a result of what occurs there interprets to the sport,” he stated. “Mechanically, I nonetheless have the identical swing I had [when entering pro ball in 2021], though I’ve modified a number of issues. I began getting my foot down early to see pitches longer, and now I’m doing a toe-tap for extra rhythm, getting synced with the pitcher.”
After which there may be the routine itself. Lile has been doing his “movement-prep stuff,” since getting back from UCL surgical procedure, which value him the 2022 season. Getting his physique free and conserving it that means all through an extended season is an integral a part of his course of. As you would possibly anticipate, the work he does within the batting cage is each bit as necessary.
“I do plenty of tee work,” Lile advised me “James Wooden and I’ve been doing a few of the similar drills. One is top-hand, the place we’re working by way of the ball on the tee. Then there’s a drill the place I fireplace off my bottom and maintain it — I’m on one leg — in order that I can hold my route going in direction of middle discipline, and might have true backspin on the ball. My final drill, I put slightly slide board on my again foot so I can cease my entrance aspect prefer it’s a kickstand on the bike. If I acknowledge a breaking ball, I’ve like slightly scissor kick, ensuring to not over-rotate.”
Lile additionally hits off of a machine, “doing these dimple balls, these foam balls, to see higher spin on fastballs and breaking balls.” A 3-plate development drill is a part of that work, which is finished on a Hack Assault. Lile will transfer each nearer and farther away from the machine, various the issue. To his thoughts, simpler isn’t higher.
“I wish to be challenged,” defined Lile. “Hitting is tough, so it’s good to prepare like hitting is tough.”
———
RANDOM HITTER-PITCHER MATCHUPS
Thurman Munson went 8 for 19 towards David Clyde.
Enos Slaughter went 8 for 14 towards Clyde King.
Clyde Vollmer went 9 for 17 towards Dick Fowler.
Clyde Milan went 11 for 18 towards Slim Harriss.
Clyde Kluttz went 12 for 22 towards Johnny Schmitz.
———
Jonny Farmelo is likely one of the higher-profile prospects enjoying within the Arizona Fall League this yr. No. 70 on The Board and ranked sixth in a powerful Seattle Mariners farm system, the 21-year-old outfielder has been described by Eric Longenhagen as having “a uncommon mixture of energy and velocity.” Drafted twenty ninth general in 2023 out of Chantilly, Virginia’s Westfield Excessive College, Farmelo has been restricted to 75 skilled video games resulting from a torn ACL in 2024 and a rib cage stress response this previous season. He had a 103 wRC+ over 129 plate appearances with Excessive-A Everett.
Once I talked to Farmelo on my current AFL journey, one of many first issues I requested him about was one thing my colleague wrote earlier this yr. Longenhagen admitted that whereas he was comparatively low on him previous to the draft, “the Mariners made his swing higher fairly rapidly after he signed.”
In line with the teen, that’s solely partially true.
“I wouldn’t say that I actually modified my swing or any mechanics,” Farmelo advised me. “It’s extra the mindset of the best way to method hitting, of attacking pitches in my zone, being aggressive within the center and letting pitchers have the perimeters. I imply, you would possibly see one thing completely different, nevertheless it’s actually extra of me enjoying round with setups and my swing. All through the previous two seasons I’ve bounced round with what I’ve favored, and form of rolled with the place I’m now.”
Requested to elaborate, Farmelo advised me that he used to have a toe faucet, and his fingers in “a extra conventional spot.” Neither is at present the case.
“I don’t do a toe faucet in any respect, and I’ve my barrel actual flat, nearly vertical, straight on my again,” he defined. “Then, once I load, it form of ideas up. That’s the massive adjustment I’ve made, working with my ideas in order that I’m within the spot the place I wish to be.
“I’d discuss with it as having rhythm within the field,” added Farmelo. “If I had been to not have any movement in any respect, I wouldn’t be easy within the field. I would like some form of movement to be able to hit. The necessary factor is to get to the appropriate spot nearly each time.”
He referred to his bat path as being “fairly flat.” Farmelo feels that if he will get too vertical he tends to top-spin the baseball and never drive it the way in which he’d like. However whereas he acknowledges his skill to clear fences, that isn’t how he identifies as a hitter.
“I’m not making an attempt to hit for energy,” he advised me. ”A line drive into the left-center-field hole is what I’m searching for. I’d say my recreation is velocity first, energy second.”
Longenhagen’s scouting grades have Farmelo as a 70 runner and his uncooked energy at 50 current/60 projected.
———
A quiz:
Al Kaline (399) has probably the most dwelling runs in Detroit Tigers franchise historical past. Which two former Tigers are tied for second-most in that class? (A touch: one was a RHH, the opposite a LHH.)
———
NEWS NOTES
Boston’s Low-A affiliate, which has been generally known as the Salem Pink Sox since 2009 — they had been the Salem Avalanche from 1995-2008 whereas affiliated with two different organizations — has been rebranded because the Salem RidgeYaks. (The connection between Yaks and Virginia is a thriller, however the emblem is fairly cool.)
Craig Eaton, a right-hander who appeared in 5 video games for the Kansas Metropolis Royals in 1979, died final month at age 71. The Cincinnati native allowed three runs over 10 innings of labor in his temporary time as a serious league pitcher.
Steve Hargan, a right-hander who pitched for 4 groups from 1965-1977, died on October 30 at age 83. The Ball State College product had his finest years with the Cleveland Indians, logging a 2.48 ERA over 192 innings in 1966, and a 2.62 ERA over 223 innings in 1967. He made the All-Star crew within the latter of these seasons.
Not information, per se, however if you wish to hold monitor of MLB teaching staffs, together with the various vacancies that at present exist, Roster Useful resource has you coated. Colleagues Jason Martinez and Jon Becker do a incredible job of maintaining with the hires.
———
The reply to the quiz is Norm Money and Miguel Cabrera, every of whom homered 373 instances as a Tiger.
———
In the summertime following Munetaka Murakami’s monster 2022 season — one during which the Tokyo Yakult Swallows slugger slammed 56 dwelling runs and put up a 225 wRC+ — I posed a query to a number of MLB executives:
Assuming they had been each made obtainable, which of Murakami or Roki Sasaki would you somewhat have?
Then 21 years previous, Sasaki was considered by many because the world’s most-promising pitcher. Even so, the acronym TINSTAAP exists for a cause. Arms will be unstable. As for the 23-year-old Murakami, whereas he was coming off of a historic season, the monitor file of hitters coming over from NPB has been extra of a blended bag. Might he be anticipated to provide towards MLB pitchers?
Quick ahead to right now, and Sasaki is a World Collection champion, albeit one who handled shoulder points and threw simply 36-and-a-third big-league innings to the tune of a 4.46 ERA and a startlingly-low 17.4% strikeout charge. In the meantime, Murakami is now being posted after placing up a 210 wRC+ with 22 dwelling runs over 224 plate appearances with the Swallows upon coming back from an early-season indirect harm.
Two years in the past, the executives I spoke to had been predictably tight-lipped when it comes to choice. How would possibly they reply now, given a dose of fact serum? I’m inclined to assume they’d take Sasaki, however that doesn’t imply it could be the appropriate selection. An accurate reply possible gained’t be recognized for a minimum of a number of seasons.
———
FOREIGN AFFAIRS
The Australian Baseball League season will get underway right now. The 2025-2026 ABL circuit includes simply 4 groups — the Adelaide Giants, Brisbane Bandits, Perth Warmth, and Sydney Blue Sox — because the Canberra Cavalry and Melbourne Aces will longer be competing within the circuit. The Cavalry beat the Warmth in final yr’s championship collection.
The 2025-2026 Dominican Winter League season is underway with quite a few MLB gamers and prospects collaborating. Aguilas Cibaenas, which has gained 10 of 13 video games, has a roster that features Adael Amador, Ezequiel Durán, Angel Genao, Carter Jensen, Triston McKenzie, and Emmanuel Rodriguez.
Aaron Sanchez is 3-0 and has allowed simply 11 hits and two runs over 23 innings for the Dominican Winter League’s Toros del Este. The 32-year-old right-hander final pitched in MLB with the Minnesota Twins in 2022. He went 15-2 with a 3.00 ERA for the Toronto Blue Jays in 2016.
Yadier Molina is managing the Venezuelan Winter League’s Navegantes de Magallanes. Notable on the crew’s roster is four-time MLB Gold Glove winner Andrelton Simmons, who performed within the Mexican League earlier this yr.
———
The discharge of the 2026 Up to date Baseball Period Committee poll, which my esteemed colleague Jay Jaffe expertly addressed earlier within the week, contains plenty of fascinating names. No much less notable are a few of the omissions, with Lou Whitaker standing out amongst them. As many earlier than me have identified, “Candy Lou” not solely has higher numbers — together with WAR and JAWS — than a number of second basemen who’ve been elected to the Corridor of Fame, he and Alan Trammell performed 1,918 video games collectively because the Detroit Tigers double-play duo. No different keystone combo in MLB historical past can match that.
Trammell is within the Corridor of Fame. Whitaker, whose stats are barely higher than these of his longtime teammate, needs to be enshrined as properly. Frankly, they need to have gone in collectively.
———
FARM NOTES
This yr’s minor league Gold Glove winner on the shortstop place was Konnor Griffin, whom The Board ranks as baseball’s prime prospect. The 19-year-old infielder within the Pittsburgh Pirates system additionally excelled with the bat. Griffin had 21 dwelling runs and a 165 wRC+ throughout three ranges, topping out in Double-A.
The Arizona Fall League’s Fall Stars Recreation will likely be performed tonight at 8pm EST and broadcast stay on MLB Community and MLB.com. The Dwelling Run Derby passed off final night time, with 20-year-old Tony Blanco Jr. taking dwelling the crown. The 6-for-7, 243-pound slugger had seven dwelling runs and a 135 wRC+ over 125 plate appearances this previous season with Excessive-A Bradenton. At the moment the No. 16 prospect within the Pittsburgh Pirates system, Blanco is the son of former MLB and NPB infielder/outfielder Tony Blanco who died earlier this yr when the roof of a nightclub collapsed in Santo Domingo, leading to over 200 fatalities.
Raudi Rodriguez is slashing .421/.507/.614 over 68 plate appearances for the AFL’s Salt River Rafters. At the moment unranked within the Los Angeles Angels system, the 22-year-old outfielder had a 130 wRC+, 21 doubles, 14 triples, 14 dwelling runs, and 38 stolen bases with Low-A Inland Empire this season.
Caden Connor is slashing .383/.519/.417 over 79 plate appearances for the AFL’s Glendale Desert Canine. At the moment unranked within the Chicago White Sox system, the 25-year-old outfielder/first baseman had seven dwelling runs and 13 steals to go together with a 116 wRC+ throughout three ranges, topping out in Triple-A.
———
A random obscure former participant snapshot:
Taffy Wright slashed .328/.390/.453 throughout 2,388 plate appearances in his first 5 MLB seasons, which included two with the Washington Nationals and three with the Chicago White Sox. Amongst gamers who got here to the dish a minimum of 2,000 instances over that 1938-1942 span, solely Ted Williams, Joe DiMaggio, and Cecil Travis posted a better batting common. Wright topped the .300 mark in every of these seasons.
The outfielder from Tabor Metropolis, North Carolina then had his profession interrupted by World Conflict II. Serving within the Military, Wright missed the 1943-1945 campaigns earlier than returning to the White Sox in 1946 and batting a good .275. He then raised his common to .324 in 1947, however that was to be his ultimate productive season. Taft Shedron Wright performed two extra years, in the end ending his big-league tenure with a .311 common and a .799 OPS. He later managed within the minors, serving on the helm for the Ottawa A’s, Amarillo Gold Sox, and Orlando Seratomas.
———
Random obscure former participant snapshot — bonus entry:
Invoice Bergen was a woeful hitter all through his profession. Enjoying with the Brooklyn Superbas/Dodgers and Cincinnati Reds throughout the 1901-1911 seasons, the North Brookfield, Massachusetts native logged a Lilliputian 22 wRC+ over 3,234 plate appearances. Even so, he was an asset in his time. Per a 1908 challenge of The Sporting Information — as associated in Bergen’s SABR BioProject entry — the deadball-era catcher “ranks with the most effective receivers in fashionable baseball.” He was actually among the many finest throwers. Regardless of catching simply 7,883 innings, Bergen has the ninth-most assists on the place in big-league historical past. Additionally per his SABR bio, “On August 23, 1909, Bergen gunned down six St. Louis Cardinals making an attempt to steal.”
Bergen’s Baseball-Reference bio contains these nuggets:
“Whole Baseball ranks him the fifth-best defensive catcher of all-time [and] by the measure of win shares, Bergen was the second-best catcher of his time, trailing solely Ossee Schrecongost.”
———
LINKS YOU’LL LIKE
Gaslamp Ball’s Cheri Bell wrote about the San Diego Padres’ determination to rent Craig Stammen as their new supervisor.
The Detroit Tigers have made some notable teaching adjustments. Emma Lingan advised us about them at Motor Metropolis Bengals.
Andscape’s Clinton Yates wrote about how Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Justin Dean took a job participant path to the World Collection.
How did Mike Trout, the most effective participant of his technology, fade away? Brittany Ghiroli addressed that query at The Athletic.
Rick Reuschel is likely one of the extra underrated pitchers in current generations. Tim Castelli profiled the 1972-1991 right-hander for SABR’s BioProject.
———
RANDOM FACTS AND STATS
Javier Sanoja, who gained a Gold Glove this season within the utility-player class, performed in 10 or extra video games at 5 completely different positions. The Miami Marlins jack-of-all-trades additionally made eight pitching appearances, permitting 17 runs over nine-and-a-third innings.
Fernando Valenzuela pitched in 453 video games and went 173-153 with a 104 ERA+. Ken Holtzman pitched in 451 video games and went 174-150 with a 105 ERA+.
Willie Stargell had a .282 batting common, 475 dwelling runs, and 1,540 RBIs.
Carlos Delgado had a .280 batting common, 473 dwelling runs, and 1,512 RBIs.
Luis Arraez has performed in 595 video games and has 164 extra-base hits and 143 walks over the previous 4 seasons. Nico Hoerner has performed in 592 video games and has 160 extra-base hits and 160 walks over the previous 4 seasons.
Rusty Greer batted .305 with a 120 wRC+ over 4,420 plate appearances with the Texas Rangers from 1994-2002. The left-handed-hitting outfielder was born Thurman Clyde Greer, in Fort Rucker, Alabama.
Dave Pope batted .265 whereas suiting up for the Cleveland Indians and Baltimore Orioles throughout the 1952-1956 seasons (he performed in Recreation One of many 1954 World Collection, which featured Willie Mays’s well-known over-the-shoulder catch on the Polo Grounds). An outfielder with the Negro Nationwide League’s Homestead Grays previous to reaching MLB at age 31, the Talladega, Alabama native notched a .325 common towards the Kansas Metropolis Athletics over 95 plate appearances. Pope fared far worse towards the Chicago White Sox, batting simply .189 over 82 plate appearances..
Ozzie Guillen was named the American League’s Supervisor of the Yr on right now’s date in 2005. On the helm of the crew he’d performed for from 1984-1997, Guillen led the Chicago White Sox to 99 regular-season wins and a World Collection title.
The Atlanta Braves signed Rafael Furcal as an newbie free agent on right now’s date in 1996. The switch-hitting shortstop from Loma de Cabrera, Dominican Republic went on to win Nationwide League Rookie of the Yr honors in 2000 and make an All-Star crew with every of the Braves, Dodgers, and Cardinals. He gained a World Collection ring with St. Louis in 2011.
Gamers born on right now’s date embrace Connie Grob, a right-hander from Cross Plains, Wisconsin who appeared in 37 video games for the Washington Nationals in 1956 (the franchise formally grew to become the Senators the next yr, though that they had been generally referred to by that identify for many years). Grob went 4-5 with a 7.83 over 79-and-third innings in his lone big-league season. He’s damaged into professional ball as a teen in 1952, going 24-5 with a 2.65 ERA with the Wisconsin State League’s Sheboygan Indians.
Additionally born on right now’s date was Don Loun, a left-hander from Frederick, Maryland who appeared in a pair of video games for the Washington Senators in 1964. The second of his two big-league outings was nothing to write down dwelling about — he allowed 4 runs in 4 innings — however his preliminary outing was one other story. Pitching towards the Boston Pink Sox in entrance of a sparse crowd at D.C. Stadium (the official attendance was 1,491), Loun tossed a five-hit shutout in a 1-0 Senators win.