MLB Bullets and the kids are alright

You probably heard that Athletics first-round pick Kyler Murray went to the Cardinals (of the other sport) with the first pick in the NFL draft. That almost certainly ends his baseball career and it’s probably the last time we’ll mention him in these pages, unless he does something like throw out a cool first pitch some day.

C’mon, Molly, that’s not fair. There’s the day of the NBA Draft as well.

• You know this already, but Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is going to play for the Blue Jays today.
• Gregor Chisholm has what you need to know about baseball’s likely next superstar.
• Jon Tayler has what to expect from Guerrero Jr.
• Emma Baccellieri looks at what the projection systems say Guerrero will do this year.
• R.J. Anderson notes that Guerrero Jr. looks (and has put up numbers) a lot like his dad. One difference was that when Vlad Sr. was 20, he was still in low-A. (But then, Vlad went from low-A at 20 to a cup of coffee in the majors at 21 and up for good at 22.) Another difference is that Vlad the younger doesn’t swing at as many bad pitches.
• Kaitlyn McGrath speaks with Guerrero Jr.’s minor league teammates about him and their scouting report is one word: “wow.” (The Athletic sub. req.)
• These photos of the two Vlads when the elder was with the Expos are making everyone go “awwwww.”
• He’s not going to get as much fanfare as Vlad Jr., but the Nationals are also calling up shortstop Carter Kieboom. I’m glad I got to see him play once before he got the call.
• Last year’s big shiny new thing was Braves outfielder Ronald Acuña Jr. and he didn’t disappoint, either last year or this year. Jeff Passan believes that it’s just a matter of time before Acuña is the best player in baseball. Of course, Mike Trout has to retire first.
• Gabe Lacques has a profile of emerging star shortstop Tim Anderson of the White Sox. Anderson has been in the news lately, but Lacques points out that he’s had to overcome some tragedy to get to where he is today.
• David Schoenfield thinks that the Padres have found an ace in rookie pitcher Chris Paddack.
• Schoenfield also believes that Mets rookie first baseman Pete Alonso is baseball’s next big thing, both metaphorically and literally.
• Mets reliever Jacob Rhame was suspended for two games for throwing at the head of Phillies first baseman Rhys Hoskins in Tuesday’s game.
• Hoskins got his revenge on Wednesday when Hoskins homered off Rhame and then took 34 seconds to round the bases.
• Who’s the hottest hitter in baseball? I’m betting you didn’t guess Diamondbacks pitcher Zack Greinke and his 1.845 OPS.
• Who leads the Angels in home runs? Trout? Albert Pujols? Kole Calhoun? Nope, it’s Tommy La Stella, who has seven already. He hit 10 home runs total in his previous five years with the Cubs and Braves.
• While we’re on the Angels, Trout and Andrelton Simmons teamed up to turn one amazing double play. Trout made an incredible catch in center field and Simmons then pulled a semi-hidden-ball trick.
• I’ve written a lot about the Yankees injury issues this season and the Bronx Bombers suffered another blow as outfielder Giancarlo Stanton suffered a setback in his recovery efforts.
• The Yankees added outfielder Clint Frazier to their injured list.
• Dan Szymborski writes that the Yankees injury issues are a major problem, but don’t write off their 2019 season just yet, thanks mainly to the team’s depth.
• The Yankees added to that depth by trading for outfielder Cameron Maybin. The Indians got someone named “cash considerations” back in the deal.
• Yankees pitcher CC Sabathia failed to get his 3,000th strikeout in his last start against the Angels, but he’s only three away and should get it soon. Tim Brown has a look back at Sabathia’s remarkable, hall-of-fame career which Brown calls “not perfect but close enough.”
• The Brewers have signed free agent pitcher Gio Gonzalez to a one-year, $2 million deal.
• Ben Clemens looks at the remarkable skill of Cardinals second baseman Kolten Wong to control the strike zone.
• Clemens also examines how Indians pitcher Trevor Bauer has found success after he changed his pitch selection mix this season. Of course, it wasn’t like he was bad last season. But now he throws almost exclusively fastballs when behind in the count.
• R.J. Anderson notes that the Diamondbacks haven’t missed Paul Goldschmidt much this season because of the remarkable start by first baseman Christian Walker.
• Reds broadcaster Chris Welsh has apologized to Braves second baseman Ozzie Albies after saying on the air that a poor kid from Curaçao like Albies wouldn’t know the difference between $35 and $85 million.
• Meanwhile down with the minor league Salem Red Sox, Melanie Newman and Suzie Cool became the first all-woman broadcast team in baseball. (The Athletic sub. req.) Brittany Ghiroli writes about how the two women came together and the hard work that they have in front of them.
• Giants broadcaster Jon Miller looks back at his Hall-of-Fame career and how much baseball has changed since he started in 1974.
• MLB announced that they are going to have a “Stranger Things” promotion this summer. June 24 will be “Stranger Things” Day at Wrigley. That show is about the only thing I can get my daughter to watch with me, so I have a soft spot for it at the moment. She’s a huge Millie Bobby Brown fan.
• Stephanie Apstein has the story about how the Orioles team have mostly adopted a new form of transportation to get them to and from the stadium: motorized scooters. Or as outfielder Trey Mancini said “[The Orioles] may be the lamest biker gang in the world.”
• A 59-year-old grandmother and Orioles fan got tired of the way everyone was booing Orioles first baseman Chris Davis, so she got a tattoo to honor Davis. It’s her only tattoo.
• Alfonso Tusa looks back at the history of the “kangaroo court” in baseball and in particular, the legendary one that Frank Robinson ran with the Orioles of the late ‘60s and early ‘70s.
• “Tommy John surgery” has officially been added to Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary.
• Brewers pitcher Jeremy Jeffress is going to bring his food truck to Miller Park next week. I am 100% in favor of food trucks at ballparks. Jeffess’ one serves fried seafood.
• He eventually decided against it. but Reds outfielder Jesse Winker considered helping himself to some nachos from a fan in the stands after going for a foul ball.
• And finally, this would be the ultimate breaking of the “unwritten rules” if it had happened in MLB. Instead, we got this cool video of Kenji Akasha of the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks hitting a walkoff home run and then doing an amazing backflip as he crossed home plate.

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