Outside the Confines: A Ray of sunshine

Be sure to check out last night’s BCB After Dark and tell me what baseball position are you? Or something like that. I should probably do something like one of those Buzzfeed quizzes to determine which cast member of Boy Meets World that you are, but I don’t know how to do that. I think you just ask a bunch of questions and then spit out a random character.

• The Rays called up Wander Franco, who is the top prospect in baseball. Franco got the start last night and hit a game-tying three-run home run for his first major league hit. Franco also doubled and walked in five trips to the plate in an extra-inning loss to the Red Sox.
• In case you’re still unfamiliar with Franco, Adam Berry and Jesse Sanchez have an in-depth look at what this phenom is all about.
• While that last article was an introduction to Franco the person, Eric Longenhagen breaks down Franco’s minor league statistics to tell you why he should be such a special player.
• Michael Baumann explains that not all top prospects are created equal and there are few that have been anything close to what Franco should be.
• David Schoenfield writes that in his first game, at least, Franco lived up to the hype. (ESPN+ sub. req.)
• Eno Sarris explains why it is so difficult for statistical models to predict how well Franco is likely to perform. (The Athletic sub. req.)
• Keith Law notes that contrary to popular opinion, today’s top draft picks are not spending less time in the minors than in the past. (The Athletic sub. req.)
• Franco arrived at Tropicana Field for his first game in a white Rolls Royce.
• Major League Baseball has started checking pitchers for foreign substances and Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer did not respond well when Phillies manager Joe Giradi asked for him to be checked for substances in the middle of the fourth inning. It should be noted this was the third time that game that Scherzer had been checked.
• Girardi got thrown out of the game later after an exchange with the Nationals’ coaching staff. Managers can be ejected if they are asking for checks for frivolous reasons or to throw a pitcher off his game, but that was not the reason Girardi was ejected last night.
• Zach Crizer notes that a big problem for pitchers, in an age when everyone on social media is looking for the smallest clues, is what can they do with their hands on the mound that won’t cause a paranoid social media response?
• Hall-of-Famer Chipper Jones offers a solution for the foreign substances issue. Jones thinks that pitchers should be allowed to use pine tar but nothing else.
• Bob Nightengale has a look at a machine whose inventors think can solve the foreign substance issue. Their machine is an automatic Ball Mudder machine, that will rub mud on each new ball the same way every time. The company also thinks that it can apply a substance that will change color whenever a foreign substance comes in contact with the ball.
• The New York Mets have finished their review of their organization following the sexual misconduct charges made against former manager Mickey Callaway. The Mets announced that the two front office employees who failed to act on earlier allegations have been fired. They also announced new protocols to deal with future incidents.
• The Mets also got bad news as pitcher Marcus Stroman has a hip injury and pitcher Joey Lucchesi will undergo Tommy John surgery and is out for the season.
• I guess this is as good a time as any for the butcher’s bill. If you remember Monday’s Cubs’ game, Cleveland starter Aaron Civale left the game early with a finger injury. Cleveland expects Civale will miss some time with the injury.
• And poor Twins outfielder Byron Buxton can’t catch a break. Just three days after coming off the injured list with a hip strain, Buxton broke his hand after getting hit by a pitch. When he is on the field, Buxton has been having the best season of his career in 2021.
• The Twins also held a moving pre-game ceremony for their former bench coach Mike Bell, who died of kidney cancer in March. They waited until now when the Reds, managed by Mike’s brother David Bell, came to the Twin Cities to have the ceremony
• Blue Jays pitcher Alek Manoah was suspended for five games for throwing at the Orioles’ Maikel Franco.
• Ashley MacLennan (who?) writes that Rays pitcher Tyler Glasnow is not only a good pitcher, he offers a “real” voice that MLB needs right now.
• David Schoenfield has one player that each team should either trade for or trade away. (ESPN+ sub. req.)
• Alden Gonzalez explains how the Padres gambled that spending big money and putting a top team on the field could get San Diego excited about sports again. (ESPN+ sub. req.)
• Justin Choi notes that while pitchers are throwing fewer two-seam fastballs/sinkers these days, the pitch is nowhere near approaching extinction.
• Former Phillies outfielder Dylan Cozens has retired from baseball and intends to pursue a career in the NFL. Good luck with that. He was offered a scholarship to play football at Arizona, but that was way back in 2012.
• I couldn’t believe this play as I saw it unfold last night. Brewers first baseman (and former fan favorite around here) Daniel Vogelbach tried to score from second base on a single last night in Arizona. Unfortunately, Vogelbach stopped and pulled up lame as he ran past third base. But the Diamondbacks infielders didn’t notice it and Vogelbach hopped all the way home for a run. And Arizona is the most pathetic team I’ve seen in at least 15 years.
• Former umpire Dale Scott talks about how and why he decided to come out as gay back in 2014.
• Finally, this is a different kind of Father’s Day story. Dodgers outfielder Andrew Toles hasn’t played since 2018 and is on the restricted list as he suffers from a severe form of schizophrenia. He’s unaware that his Dodger teammates won the World Series last year. Right now, Toles’ father is trying to take care of him and he refuses to give up on his son.

Let’s make tomorrow a better day than today, Buster.