MLB Bullets is loaded with potential

I always come close to losing my mind at draft time. After two days of coverage this year, I’m going to miss most of day 3 as I go see the doctor. (Actually, it’s pre-scheduled appointments for both me and my daughter.) But while there is some draft news in here, I’m saving most of it for the off-day on Thursday.

I’ll give today’s Bullets a 45 with a future grade of 55.

• The Twins took high school shortstop Royce Lewis with the first pick in the draft. Here’s some information about this (hopefully) future major league star.
• Two players taken in the first four picks, Hunter Greene and Brendan McKay, are “two-way players” who both pitch and play a position. Both will be allowed to do both in the minors, although the Reds have made it clear they consider Greene a pitcher first. Chris Cwik thinks this could start a trend in major league baseball. At least it’s something different.
• Jeff Passan hopes that the selections of African-Americans Lewis and Greene could help sell the game to black youth.
• Alex Rodriguez got really excited when his nephew was taken in the second round by the Marlins.
• Grant Brisbee handed out grades for every first-round pick. What makes this a Brisbee product is that he handed the grades out before the draft was held.
• Cliff Corcoran finds the best player drafted by each MLB team. One guess which player drafted by the Cubs had the best career.
• Tyler Kepner looks at the ubiquitous 20-80 scale that scouts use. If you’re curious about what it all means and why they use it (tradition, mostly), here’s the place to look.
• Sam Miller looks at the Padres experiment this season as they loaded up on Rule 5 picks last winter. How is it going? Not great, but better than you’d probably have guessed last December. The Rule 5 players haven’t embarrassed themselves.
• Michael Weinreb noticed that interleague play turned 20 this month. He wonders why it was so controversial once and he talks with former commissioner Bud Selig.
• Al Pedrique, the manager of the Yankees Triple-A affiliate, says Gleyber Torres isn’t ready for the majors yet, but will be soon. Just keep looking at that ring, Cubs fans.
• Aaron Judge looks to be a heck of a ballplayer having a heck of a season. But Craig Calcaterra implores us to stop trying to turn him into the savior of baseball. Essentially, he’s the savior of New York sportswriters who want something interesting to write about the Yankees, and they really can’t tell the difference between the two things.
• Andrew Marchand wonders that if the Yankees have Judge, are they really going to go after a free agent Bryce Harper in two years? Yeah. Stuff like that.
• Ken Rosenthal reminds us not to overlook the “other Aaron” on the Yankees, Aaron Hicks.
• Dodgers slugger Yasiel Puig hit a home run in Cleveland and then auditioned to be the new Mr. Met as he crossed home plate. Yasiel, you were having such a good year before this.
• Nationals manager Dusty Baker looked at his bullpen and said “We need some help, big time.” Glad he added the “big time.”
• The Nationals position players are starting to voice their frustration about their bullpen situation.
• Mike Lupica identifies what he thinks the problem with the Red Sox is: they miss David Ortiz.
• The Twins are the surprise team in baseball this year and as Peter Keating writes, their big turnaround this season started with their defense.
• Eno Sarris sat down with Twins second baseman Brian Dozier and looked at his “missing” home runs this season. That is, a lot of balls that he hit that should have been home runs but weren’t.
• This is a fantasy baseball column, but it’s a terrific question for regular baseball as well. Michael Beller asks what’s wrong with Pirates starter Gerrit Cole this season?
• Jack Magruder thinks manager Torey Lovullo deserves a lot of credit for the Diamondbacks turnaround this year.
• The butcher’s bill. Phillies second baseman Cesar Hernandez will miss six-to-eight weeks with an oblique strain.
• The Mets put Asdrubal Cabrera on the disabled list with a sprained thumb.
• The Dodgers put first baseman Adrian Gonzalez on the DL with a bad back.
• Speaking of the Dodgers, closer Kenley Jansen has yet to walk a batter this season.
• The Rangers picked up reliever Joely Rodriguez from the Phillies for a player to be named later or cash considerations. Those two must be on their 13th team already this year.
• Reds shortstop Zack Cozart revealed that if he makes the All-Star Team, Joey Votto is buying him a donkey.
• Vin Scully live at the Hollywood Bowl. Let’s see if he smashes his microphone at the end of the piece.
• A woman who attended the very first Hall of Fame induction ceremony in 1939 returned to Cooperstown. Walter Johnson was very nice. (All through baseball he was loved and respected.) Everyone left Ty Cobb alone.
• Darren Rovell got an interview with “The Freeze.”
• Tim Hagerty has the story of the fly ball at a Double-A game in 1978 that just disappeared. Rickey Henderson and Wade Boggs played in that game.
• Q: Are we not Astros fans? A: We are Devo.
• Next season is the last year the Mariners will be playing in Safeco Field. They’re not moving, the stadium is just getting a new sponsor and a new name.
• And finally, while the Mariners haven’t picked out a sponsor yet, supermodel Chrissy Teigen has an idea and a savings account. No worse than naming a park after William Wrigley Jr., I guess.

And tomorrow will be a better day than today, Buster.