I was feeling kinda down tonight, so I found something that cheered me up. Maybe it will make you feel better too.
El Mago indeed.
- MLB released the results of their study into baseballs and they confirm that the balls are indeed different than they used to be, contributing to the home run spike. The study concludes that the balls “bounciness” and internal structure is unchanged, but that somehow the “drag coefficient” has changed. Essentially, the balls are more aerodynamic than they were back in 2015. The problem is that they study was unable to determine why this was so.
- Anthony Castrovince has a lot more details on the study, including a link to the full 84-page report, if you want to read the whole thing.
- White Sox (and former Cubs) catcher Welington Castillo has been suspended for 80 games for testing positive for EPO, which is one of the things cyclist Lance Armstrong was banned for. Castillo, for his part, has apologized and hasn’t blamed any “accidental” or “inadvertent” use. He just said he made a bad decision.
- Sticking with the Pale Hose for a moment, recovering pitcher Danny Farquhar will throw out the first pitch at Guaranteed Rate Field on June 1.
- And sticking with PED-use for a while, Mike Oz talks with broadcaster Alex Rodriguez about his remarkable transformation over the past four seasons. Rodriguez has said this before, but he credits his year-long suspension for giving him time to re-assess what type of person he wanted to be and realizing he could change.
- Maybe that will help Blue Jays closer Roberto Osuna, who, according to Jon Heyman, is looking at a lengthy suspension over a domestic violence incident. Osuna has been on paid administrative leave since earlier this month.
- Jeff Passan has the story of a high-school baseball player whose return to baseball while battling depression and a crippling anxiety disorder should have been a story on the redemptive power of sport. Instead, it’s become the story of a nightmare about how adult administrators and officials can ruin people and things.
- In case you weren’t sick of the hype yet, Jon Tayler has a profile of Blue Jays prospect Vladimir Guerrero Jr., likely the next big superstar in the game. “Baby Vlad” is the subject of a big debate about why he’s still in the minors, although it should be said he’s still a pretty poor defensive third baseman at this point. Of course, he’ll probably always be a pretty poor defensive third baseman and he needs to move to first. Also, Tayler makes a comparison that I’ve heard ESPN’s Keith Law make as well. While they are some similarities between Guerrero Jr. and his father, the player that Vlad Jr. really reminds everyone of is Miguel Cabrera.
- Zack Kram explains why Red Sox outfielder Mookie Betts is the best player in baseball (Non-Mike Trout division).
- Travis Sawchik notes that the 2018 Astros are “on-pace” to have the greatest pitching staff in MLB history.
- On Sunday, former UCLA teammates Gerrit Cole and Trevor Bauer will face off against each other in the majors for the first time. There’s no getting around it: these two people do not like each other. Bob Nightengale looks at this feud between the two pitchers that dates back to their college days. Nobody seems to know what started it, if anything, or what it’s about, other than that they are two very different personalities.
- Unfortunately, we’re not going to get a Shohei Ohtani/Masahiro Tanaka matchup on the same day as the Angels have pushed back Ohtani’s next start. We might get to see Ohtani hit off of Tanaka, but the Angels are trying hard to limit the number of innings that Ohtani throws this year.
- Michael Beller examines the disturbing downward trend in Phillies pitcher Jake Arrieta’s strikeout rates.
- The big story of the past week has been the Rays “bullpenning” strategy, although I suspect the story on the baseballs will climb to the top of the charts now. Grant Brisbee explains that even though it may be a smart strategy, he opposes it on aesthetic reasons. Brisbee thinks that widespread use of the tactic would decrease the “watchability” of the game.
- Bradford Doolittle looks at all the teams classified as “rebuilding” over the offseason and gives a progress report on all of them. I like how he classifies them as “arrived” (Braves, Phillies), “on-track” (White Sox, Athletics) and “jury out” which is everyone else except the Reds, who are just not in a good place right now. Maybe they should watch that Javy video. It worked for me.
- Jeff Sullivan notes while the Mariners are off to a great start and are currently in a the second wild-card spot, their terrible farm system puts them in a tough spot, both this season and in the future. Sullivan notes the system is so bad, that a recent report says that there is nothing there that the Padres would take for outfielder Travis Jankowski. Jankowski is off to a good start to the year in part-time play, but he’s 27 years old and his career OPS+ is 78. Yet the Padres look at the M’s farm system like they’re offering to pay in Consecoins.
- Sticking with the Padres, Travis Sawchik has a look at Padres pitcher Adam Cimber, who has the lowest release point in the majors.
- Sticking with a theme, Jeff Sullivan looks at Pirates third baseman Colin Moran’s absurd ability to hit high pitches.
- The Orioles are now “fielding calls” on shortstop Manny Machado. That’s a long way from trading him though and Theo Epstein pooh-pooh’d talk he’d go to the Cubs without outright denying it. (As he shouldn’t because who knows what the Orioles would ask for?)
- Cardinals outfielder Marcell Ozuna was benched on Wednesday because he overslept and was late to the ballpark.
- That’s not Ozuna’s only problem. The bigger issue is that he isn’t hitting. Matt Snyder notes that the Cardinals need Ozuna and Dexter Fowler to start hitting if they want to return to the postseason in 2018.
- Tim Brown breaks down how Rockies catcher Tony Wolters’ routine backing up of first base against the Dodgers won the game. As Brown says, it’s something that catchers practice all the time but it rarely comes into play. So rare, in fact, that it’s easy to forget.
- Jerry Crasnick looks at what legalized sports wagering could mean for baseball.
- Astros outfielder Josh Reddick landed on the disabled list with a spider bite. See, people laughed at Glenallen Hill, but he was right to be scared.
- With the MLB Draft coming up, here are a bunch of sons, nephews and little brothers of people in baseball or other celebrities who could get picked.
- Rangers pitcher Bartolo Colon turned 45 so the team celebrated by smashing his face into a cake.
- David Schoenfield has 45 facts about the 45-year-old Colon. Unbelievably, he’s one of just two remaining players who played in MLB in the 1990s. (Adrian Beltre is the other.)
- Twins second baseman Brian Dozier hit a ball into the fence at Target Field. Not over, into. Remarkably, that’s the second time in his career he’s hit a ball that got stuck in the padding on the outfield wall.
- Here’s the Royals Ramon Torres hitting a “Little League home run.”
- Here is actor Hank Azaria, in character as broadcaster Jim Brockmeyer, interviewing Keith Hernandez about his upcoming autobiography. Probably NSFW, but the auto-playing video was automatically muted and with subtitles for me, which is nice of Yahoo! Sports to do. Better if they didn’t have an autoplay video, but whatever.
- Speaking of the Mets, if that Javy Baez play didn’t cheer you up, here are some pictures of Mets players cuddling with adorable puppies. I don’t praise the Mets often, but this is just what American needs right now. Thank you, Metropolitans.
- And finally, mlb.com is calling this play the “weirdest play of 2018” and I can’t say they’re wrong. The pitch bounced off of the ground, then hit catcher Salvador Perez’s glove. After that, it ricocheted off batter Shin-Soo Choo’s face and then landed back in Perez’s glove, who threw to second base to catch Delino DeShields trying to steal.
And tomorrow will be a better day than today, Buster.