A more-consistent arm slot associated to a transfer again to the third base facet of the rubber has contributed to Cole Ragans’s success this season. The uncooked stuff was clearly already there. As Ben Clemens wrote again in March, the Kansas Metropolis Royals left-hander “seems like an absolute terror on the mound.” My colleague went on to say that if he “had been designing a pitcher in a laboratory, he’d look quite a bit like Ragans.”
Once I talked to the 2024 American League All-Star on the eve of the break, he informed me that going into full assault mode following final yr’s oft-reported velocity soar performed an enormous position in his emergence as a front-line starter. As he put it, “I form of needed to train myself that I might get away with a bit extra of a miss in comparison with after I was throwing 90-91 [mph]. I’ve a superb arsenal in my view, so I can simply go after hitters.”
After which there’s the work he does within the laboratory.
“I take advantage of TrackMan in my bullpens, particularly with the slider and the cutter, to form of see the place I’m at,” stated Ragans, whose heater is now mid-to-high 90s. “The most important factor for me is my launch factors, ensuring that my pitches are in a good cluster. I would like the whole lot popping out of the identical tunnel. I don’t wish to be throwing a fastball from this launch top, and my slider from a decrease launch top.”
Ragans has “gone via phases” the place that has occurred, together with earlier this yr the place he discovered himself dropping his arm slot “three or 4 inches” when throwing his slider. A change to the place he stood on the rubber contributed to the undesirable distinction. He moved from the third base facet to the primary base facet throughout the offseason and remained there all through spring coaching and for his first few regular-season begins.
“What I’d needed was extra horizontal strategy angle, particularly versus lefties with the curveball,” defined Ragans, who has a 3.16 ERA and a 2.67 FIP on the season. “Left on left, I’d form of be coming from behind their ear. However doing that form of tousled the texture of sure pitches, particularly the slider; I used to be yanking it, ensuring that it didn’t keep center. We determined to maneuver again to the third base facet, and from there the slider obtained again to the place it wanted to be.”
The place it wanted to be was popping out of the identical slot as his high-octane fastball and different pitches, which makes one among baseball’s greatest arsenals even higher. With the problem recognized on video and subsequently corrected, the southpaw was again to wanting like Cole Ragans.
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RANDOM HITTER-PITCHER MATCHUPS
Angel Pagán went 0 for 14 in opposition to Brad Ziegler.
Brett Gardner went 0 for 16 in opposition to Darren O’Day.
Julio Franco went 0 for 17 in opposition to Dan Quisenberry.
Marquis Grissom went 1 for 17 in opposition to Byung-Hyun Kim.
Ivan Rodriguez went 1 for 18 in opposition to Chad Bradford.
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I ran a Twitter ballot on the afternoon of Tuesday’s All-Star Sport, asking how a lot of it individuals had been planning to look at. There have been 4 choices, and the outcomes strongly advised that the Midsummer Basic — this yr’s was the ninety fifth — isn’t practically the attraction it as soon as was. Solely 19% of respondents chosen “all,” whereas one other 15.9% went with “most.” The lesser-interest choices fared significantly better. “Some” garnered 29.4% of the votes forged, and “none” topped the ballot with 35.7%.
Viewership numbers had been nothing to write down house about. Per the Related Press, “This yr’s All-Stars drew 7,443,000 viewers on Fox, up 6% from the 2023 sport however the second lowest for the occasion.” Furthermore, the “3.8 ranking and 12 share had been down from a 3.9/12 final yr.”
None of that is stunning. For quite a lot of causes — inter-league play and common entry to most each sport/crew/participant are the first ones — the sport has clearly misplaced a lot of its luster. The times of Pete Rose operating over Ray Fosse (in 1970) and Carl Hubbell hanging out 5 consecutive Corridor of Famers he’d by no means earlier than confronted (1934) are lengthy gone. As B.B. King famously sang, the joys is gone.
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Jerry Izenberg’s Larry Doby in Black and White: The Story of a Baseball Pioneer is one among the best books to return out this yr. Inside its pages, the creator tells of Doby, Roy Campanella, Don Newcombe, and Jackie Robinson all taking part in within the 1949 All-Star Sport, which was held at Brooklyn’s Ebbets Subject.
“No Black man had ever been in an All-Star dugout earlier than,” Izenberg wrote. “All 4 had been signed off Negro League rosters, however Doby was the one one whom baseball common managers had paid to signal; [Branch] Rickey and the Dodgers refused to barter or pay for his or her three. [Bill] Veeck, after all, paid the [Newark] Eagles for Doby.”
A not-unimportant a part of baseball historical past that the majority followers most likely aren’t conscious of.
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A quiz:
Of the 34 gamers to have hit 400 or extra house runs because the begin of the 1980 season, solely three performed completely for one crew. Who’re they?
The reply might be discovered under.
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NEWS NOTES
The Nationwide Baseball Corridor of Fame and Museum introduced on Friday that Kim Ng has joined its board of administrators. The official announcement might be discovered right here.
Jerry Walker, who pitched for the Baltimore Orioles, Kansas Metropolis Athletics, and Cleveland Indians in a profession that spanned the 1957-1964 seasons, died earlier this week at age 85. The suitable-hander went 11-10 with a 2.92 ERA for the Orioles in 1959, a yr that noticed him throw 16 scoreless innings to earn a 1-0 win over the Chicago White Sox.
Nelson Chittum, a right-hander who pitched for the St. Louis Cardinals in 1958, and for the Boston Purple Sox in 1959 and 1960, died this previous week at age 91. His profession ledger features a 3-1 report and a 3.84 ERA over 68 innings.
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The reply to the quiz is Jeff Bagwell, Chipper Jones, and Cal Ripken Jr.
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Again in June, I put collectively a chunk titled Participant’s View: The Greatest Sport of My Life through which a dozen present massive leaguers shared reminiscences of their best particular person performances to this point, and never simply at baseball’s highest stage. Included had been video games from the minors, school, highschool, and even youth leagues. I’ve since begun procuring accounts from different gamers, with plans to sporadically embrace them right here in Sunday Notes. I’ll begin with Cleveland Guardians outfielder Steven Kwan, who shared one every from MLB, NCAA, and Little League.
“It will most likely be my third big-league sport [on April 10, 2022],” stated Kwan, “We had been taking part in Kansas Metropolis and I had a 5-for-5 day. I couldn’t even clarify the way it all occurred. There have been perhaps two barrels out of the 5 hits, however the whole lot was falling. That was a giant day for me in affirming that I might play within the massive leagues. We gained the sport, as effectively. It was thrilling.
“Once I was [at Oregon State University] we had a sport my junior yr, in opposition to LSU, who had knocked us out of the event the yr earlier than. I ended up working a 9 or 10 pitch at-bat to steer off the sport and hit a house run to provide us a 1-0 lead. I don’t keep in mind how the remainder of the sport went, however I keep in mind that being superior. That one actually stands out to me.
“Once I was 12 years outdated, we had been taking part in on a Little League area, my house ballpark, and I went 4-for-5 with 4 homers. On the fifth one, I flew out to the warning monitor and my teammates had been cheering as a result of I obtained out. That was a humorous one, though I keep in mind being a bit bothered that my teammates had been cheering that I obtained out. I used to be clearly simply attempting to win the sport, however they had been some other place with all that.”
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FOREIGN AFFAIRS
Hiroto Takahashi had one more overpowering outing as he continues to be NPB’s most-enthralling pitcher not named Roki Sasaki. On Friday, the 21-year-old Chunichi Dragons right-hander threw eight scoreless innings whereas permitting simply 4 hits with no walks and a dozen strikeouts. Takahashi is 7-1 with a 0.52 ERA over 86 innings on the season.
Darwinzon Hernández has a 2.00 ERA to go along with 49 strikeouts in 27 innings for the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks. The previous Boston Purple Sox reliever has had at the very least one strikeout in all 27 of his appearances this season. Furthermore, no NPB pitcher had beforehand gone greater than 25 consecutive innings with at the very least one strikeout.
Maikel Franco went 3-for-5 with two house runs and 5 RBIs on Monday because the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles routed the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters 16-3. The erstwhile MLB infielder is slashing .271/.294/.441 with half a dozen dingers in his second NPB season.
Do Yeong Kim has 24 house runs to go along with a .346/.417/.623 slash line and a 162 wRC+ in 411 plate appearances for the KBO’s Kia Tigers. The 20-year-old third baseman has stolen 29 bases in 32 makes an attempt.
Haarlem Honkbal Week concluded on Friday with Japan beating a USA squad composed of junior school gamers within the championship sport. The ultimate rating was 10-4. Japan went 7-0 within the event, whose contributors additionally included the USA, Chinese language Taipei, Italy, Spain, and the host crew from the Netherlands.
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A random obscure former participant snapshot:
Dave Meier’s relatively-brief MLB profession included being thrown out in all seven of his stolen base makes an attempt (the report for many instances caught stealing with no profitable theft is held by Oscar Robles, who went 0-for-8). A local of Helena, Montana who performed for the Minnesota Twins in 1984-1985, the Texas Rangers in 1987, and the Chicago Cubs in 1988, Meier logged 62 of his 70 big-league hits with the Twins, together with his solely homer, a three-run blast off of Chicago White Sox southpaw Floyd Bannister. Meier’s minor-league numbers had been fairly good. In 1,509 Triple-A plate appearances, he slashed .320/.386/.506 with 46 house runs throughout three seasons.
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FARM NOTES
Dasan Brown is slashing .268/.370/.420 with six house runs, 17 stolen bases in 18 makes an attempt, and a 127 wRC+ in 270 plate appearances for Excessive-A Vancouver. A 3rd-round decide in 2019, the defensively-gifted centerfielder from Oakville, Ontario is No. 23 on our Toronto Blue Jays High Prospects checklist.
Cooper Ingle is slashing .332/.436/.517 with seven house runs and a 172 wRC+ in 243 plate appearances for Excessive-A Lake County. A fourth-round decide final yr out of Clemson College, the 22-year-old left-handed-hitting catcher is No. 25 on our Cleveland Guardians High Prospects checklist.
Charles McAdoo is slashing .318/.400/.545 with 13 house runs and a 160 wRC+ in 345 plate appearances between Excessive-A Greensboro and Double-A Altoona. A Thirteenth-round decide final yr out of San Jose State, the 22-year-old third baseman went unranked on our Pittsburgh Pirates High Prospects checklist.
George Wolkow is slashing .271/.383/.519 with 10 house runs and a 149 wRC+ in 214 plate appearances between between the Arizona Advanced League and Low-A Kannapolis. A seventh-round decide final yr out of Downers Grove [IL] Excessive College, the 18-year-old outfielder is No. 22 on our Chicago White Sox High Prospects checklist.
Demetrio Crisantes is slashing .372/.450/.525 with 4 house runs and a 154 wRC+ in 262 plate appearances between the Arizona Advanced League and Low-A Visalia. A seventh-round decide in 2022 out of Nogales [AZ] Excessive College, the 19-year-old second baseman went unranked on our Arizona Diamondbacks High Prospects checklist.
Jackie Bradley Jr. is slashing .398/.473/.733 with 12 house runs in 184 plate appearances for the impartial Atlantic League’s Lengthy Island Geese. The 34-year-old former big-league outfielder has a 27-game hitting streak.
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Bryce Rainer took questions from the media after being taken Eleventh-overall by the Detroit Tigers in final Sunday’s newbie draft, and there was a little bit of Triston Casas in his solutions. Very similar to the always-engaging Boston Purple Sox slugger — Casa was likewise a first-round select of the prep ranks — Rainer got here off as a mixture of assured, refreshingly sincere, and entertainingly quirky.
The Athletic’s Cody Stavenhagen led off the questioning by asking the 19-year-old shortstop out of Los Angeles’s Harvard-Westlake Excessive College what it was like to listen to his title known as.
“I actually don’t suppose there’s a phrase to elucidate how I felt,” Rainer replied. “If there may be something I might evaluate it to, I’d say it’s nearly like a child at Christmas… I’m nonetheless form of in a state of shock, per se. It nonetheless doesn’t actually really feel actual, but it surely’s been fairly cool.”
Rainer talked about Santa Claus in his response, and no matter how actual outdated Kris Kringle actually is, the younger infielder is certainly Detroit-bound. It’s not what he anticipated come draft day.
“I didn’t suppose it was going to be the Tigers,” admitted Rainer, whom Eric Longenhagen had projected to go the Chicago White Sox six picks earlier. “I’m going to be sincere with you. We had some concepts. The draft’s loopy — loopy issues occur — and time went on, getting cellphone calls, then it was ‘Tigers.’ I used to be like, ‘All proper. Let’s go. Seems to be like I’m going to be a Tiger.’”
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LINKS YOU’LL LIKE
Terrible Asserting’s 2024 TV Broadcaster rankings at the moment are out.
At Forbes, Daniel R. Epstein wrote about how MLB’s bonus swimming pools limit draftees’ negotiation leverage, particularly for senior indicators.
What’s subsequent within the profession of Shane Baz? Ryan Clark delved into that query at Pitcher Record.
Gaylord and Jim Perry had been the primary brothers to begin in opposition to one another in an American League sport. Richard Cuicchi chronicled the July 3, 1973 contest for SABR’s Video games Undertaking.
The SABR Defensive Index rating via July 14 might be discovered right here.
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RANDOM FACTS AND STATS
On June 23, Masataka Yoshida was slashing .228/.302/.316 with two house runs in 126 plate appearances. Since that point, the Boston Purple Sox DH has slashed .313/.362/.453 with two house runs over 69 plate appearances.
On June 13, Colt Keith was slashing .215/.267/.277 with two house runs in 206 plate appearances. Since that point, the Detroit Tigers rookie infielder has slashed .311/.371/.585 with seven house runs over 116 plate appearances.
On June 1, Rowdy Tellez was slashing .177/.239/.223 with one house run in 142 plate appearances. Since that point, the Pittsburgh Pirates first baseman has slashed .321/.356/.575 with seven house runs in 118 plate appearances.
Rowdy Tellez’s three sacrifice flies on Friday tied a report that’s now co-held by 12 gamers. The final participant to log three sac flies in a single sport had been Jose Lopez with Seattle in 2008.
Nelson Cruz had 464 house runs, a .513 SLG, a 128 wRC+, and 41.1 WAR.
Jose Canseco had 462 house runs, a .515 SLG, a 130 wRC+, and 42.1 WAR.
Lary Aaron performed elements of two seasons within the Atlanta Braves group and went 46-for-183 (.251) with one house run between the Gulf Coast League and the Low-A South Atlantic League. Drafted 776th general by Atlanta in 1981, the Milwaukee native is the son of Corridor of Famer Henry Aaron.
On at the moment’s date in 1945, the Detroit Tigers and Philadelphia Athletics performed to a 1-1 tie earlier than the sport was known as as a result of darkness after 24 innings. Every crew used two pitchers, with Detroit’s Les Mueller going 19-and-two-thirds innings. Philadelphia’s George Kell, who later gained a batting title with the Tigers, went 0-for-10 on the plate.
On at the moment’s date in 2002, the Kansas Metropolis Royals walked off the Cleveland Indians 13-12 in 10 innings on a two-out, bases loaded HPB. Raul Ibanez, who had tied the sport with a two-run homer within the ninth, was the participant plunked.
Gamers born on at the moment’s date embrace Jim Manning, who has the excellence of being the youngest participant in Minnesota Twins historical past. Eighteen years outdated when he made all 5 of his MLB pitching appearances, in 1962, the Northern Michigan College product grew up in Trout Creek, Michigan (inhabitants 275), the identical hometown as erstwhile big-league hurler Dick Pole.
Additionally born on at the moment’s date was Mark Lemongello, a right-hander whose 4 big-league seasons included back-to-back years (1977-1978) with the Houston Astros through which he went 9-14 and allowed 20 house runs whereas making 30 begins. Initially within the Detroit Tigers group, Lemongello’s minor league teammates included Mark Fidrych, Ron LeFlore, and John Wockenfuss.