The Weekly Rundown: 6/4/23 - 6/10/23
A devastating Jacob deGrom development, Elly De La Cruz has arrived, and much more.
Good morning!
Before we get into the rundown, I want to start with a poll. We’re almost halfway into our first season with the pitch clock, which got mixed results during spring training. What are your thoughts on it to this point?
I’m a fan of it. That said, I’d make some minor tweaks. For instance, I don’t like how the batter has to be in the box and attentive to the pitcher by the eight-second mark on the clock. Just make it so he has to be in the box and if the pitch is thrown by him while he’s fixing his batting gloves, tough luck. The game feels slightly rushed the way it is right now.
Other than that, I think it’s been a massive success. Most pitchers seem to have already adjusted and it’s massively improving the pace of play. I don’t know if it’s necessarily leading to a boost in viewership, but the product is undoubtedly better.
Alright, that’s enough pitch clock talk for today. Let’s jump in.
deGrom Disaster
The Rangers knew signing two-time Cy Young Award winner Jacob deGrom to a five-year, $185M contract in the offseason was a risk. The star right-hander has been plagued by injuries over the last few seasons, so expecting a full season out of him was always wishful thinking.
Well, their worst nightmare became a reality. deGrom, who already was on the injured list with elbow inflammation, will undergo his second Tommy John surgery and could be out through 2024. Understandably, he was emotional during his press conference discussing his latest setback.
It’s a bummer. The game is better when deGrom is playing and making hitters look foolish. Sadly, that just hasn’t been all that often as of late. One has to wonder whether this injury ruined his Hall-of-Fame case. There’s no doubt that without injuries, he’d be a shoo-in.
The Rangers have been just fine without deGrom. Nathan Eovaldi has stepped up as the ace of a staff that has been among the league’s best to this point in the campaign. Texas sits atop the AL West and doesn’t appear to be going anywhere any time soon. It just sucks that deGrom, who deserves to be a part of that success as much as anybody, won’t be along for the ride.
Quest for .400
The analytics nerds hate batting average as a statistic, but it’s impossible to hate on what Luis Arraez is doing these days. The 2022 AL batting champion is flirting with becoming the first player since Ted Williams in 1953 to hit .400 in a season.
As of today, Arraez is hitting .402. with a .943 OPS. There’s still plenty of baseball to be played this season, but this is a storyline worth keeping tabs on until he starts to slump. Don’t count on that happening though. He’s a hitting machine.
“Throw It Again!”
Pete Alonso probably will refrain from trash-talking for a while. At least, he should after what transpired during Tuesday’s Mets-Braves matchup.
Francisco Lindor and Pete Alonso each belted homers off Braves breakout starter Bryce Elder. After his blast, Alonso taunted Elder from the dugout by yelling “throw it again!”
The Braves responded by scoring five unanswered runs to silence Alonso and earn a 6-4 victory. Braves reliever Tyler Matzek shouted “throw it again!” back at Alonso and the Mets dugout.
The following game, Braves pitcher Charlie Morton plunked Alonso on the wrist. Whether it was intentional is up for debate, but I don’t think it was.
Alonso exited the game due to the injury and was subsequently placed on the 10-day IL.
How The Mighty Have Fallen
Hey, imagine predicting Alek Manoah as your 2023 AL Cy Young Award winner? Ha! You’d have to be a real dummy to do that.
Manoah, coming off an All-Star season and a third-place Cy Young finish, has suddenly hit rock bottom. The 25-year-old right-hander is 1-7 with a 6.36 ERA and 1.897 WHIP through 13 outings. His 42 walks in 58 innings lead the majors.
After another putrid start vs. Houston on Monday, the Blue Jays sent Manoah to the minors. Not Triple-A, Double-A, or even Single-A. They sent him to the Florida Complex League. That’s rookie ball, for those who may not be aware. He’s starting from scratch to fix whatever is broken.
Usually, this is where I’d say I feel for the guy. He's proven to be a real talent and one of the more fun players to watch when he’s at his best. But knowing what we know about his cocky and sometimes offputting demeanor, perhaps he needed to be humbled. I’d argue it couldn’t have happened to a better guy. He’ll be fine.
The IL
Brandon Lowe, 2B, Tampa Bay Rays
Lowe was placed on the 10-day injured list with lower back inflammation.
Aaron Judge, OF, New York Yankees
Judge hit the 10-day IL after suffering a right toe contusion and sprain of the ligament while making a sensational catch through the Dodgers’ right-field wall.
Pete Alonso, 1B, New York Mets
Alonso was placed on the 10-day IL after taking a pitch to the wrist. He was diagnosed with a bone bruise and a sprain of his left wrist, and he is expected to miss three-to-four weeks.
Noah Syndergaard, RHP, Los Angeles Dodgers
Syndergaard was placed on the 15-day IL due to a blister on his right index finger.
Graham Ashcraft, RHP, Cincinnati Reds
Ashcraft is on the 15-day IL with a left calf contusion.
Nestor Cortes, LHP, New York Yankees
The Yankees placed Cortes on the 15-day IL with a rotator cuff strain.
Byron Buxton, OF, Minnesota Twins
Buxton is on the 10-day IL with a rib contusion.
Yordan Alvarez, OF/DH, Houston Astros
The Astros placed Alvarez on the 10-day IL with right oblique discomfort.
Akil Baddoo, OF, Detroit Tigers
Baddoo was placed on the 10-day IL with a quad injury.
Chris Sale, LHP, Boston Red Sox
Sale was transferred to the 60-day IL due to a stress reaction in his shoulder blade.
Dominant On The Bump
Triston McKenzie, Cleveland Guardians
5.0 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 10 K, 1 BB vs. Minnesota Twins
Bobby Miller, Los Angeles Dodgers
6.0 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 7 K, 2 BB vs. New York Yankees
Clayton Kershaw, Los Angeles Dodgers
7.0 IP, 5 H, 0 ER, 9 K, 2 BB vs. Cincinnati Reds
Nathan Eovaldi, Texas Rangers
6.0 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 7 K, 0 BB vs. Seattle Mariners
Martin Perez, Texas Rangers
7.0 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 5 K, 1 BB vs. St. Louis Cardinals
Jon Gray, Texas Rangers
9.0 IP (CG), 4 H, 1 ER, 12 K, 0 BB vs. St. Louis Cardinals
Blake Snell, San Diego Padres
6.0 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 8 K, 3 BB vs. Chicago Cubs
Michael Wacha, San Diego Padres
6.0 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 7 K, 1 BB vs. Seattle Mariners
Kevin Gausman, Toronto Blue Jays
7.0 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 13 K, 0 BB vs. Houston Astros
Lucas Giolito, Chicago White Sox
6.0 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 7 K, 3 BB vs. New York Yankees
Zach Eflin, Tampa Bay Rays
6.2 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 9 K, 1 BB vs. Minnesota Twins
Aaron Nola, Philadelphia Phillies
7.0 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 12 K, 3 BB vs. Detroit Tigers
Zack Wheeler, Philadelphia Phillies
7.1 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 8 K, 1 BB vs. Detroit Tigers
Taijuan Walker, Philadelphia Phillies
7.0 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 8 K, 3 BB vs. Detroit Tigers
Jesus Luzardo, Miami Marlins
7.0 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 8 K, 0 BB vs. Kansas City Royals
Corbin Burnes, Milwaukee Brewers
8.0 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 9 K, 0 BB vs. Baltimore Orioles
Kyle Hendricks, Chicago Cubs
8.0 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 3 K, 1 BB vs. San Francisco Giants
Big Bombs
Eddie Rosario crushed a go-ahead grand slam with two outs in the top of the ninth inning vs. the Diamondbacks.
Freddie Freeman belted a grand slam against the Reds.
Randy Arozarena walked it off vs. the Twins.
Jose Ramirez hit three homers, including the 200th of his career, vs. the Red Sox.
Ozzie Albies helped the Braves sweep the Mets with a walk-off three-run blast.
Kyle Schwarber walked off the Dodgers with a moonshot homer.
Web Gem Of The Week
The Red Sox defense has been abysmal as of late, but it wasn’t all Bad News Bears this week. Kiké Hernandez (0:55 mark of video below) and Alex Verdugo (2:15 mark) each robbed the Rays of homers in the same game.
Welcome To The Show
Braves top pitching prospect AJ Smith-Shawver made his MLB debut out of the bullpen vs. the D’Backs and shined, tossing 2.1 scoreless innings with no hits allowed, one walk, and three strikeouts.
Reds pitching prospect Andrew Abbott made his debut against the Brewers. He tossed six scoreless innings while allowing only one hit, walking four and striking out six.
Reds top prospect Elly De La Cruz, the #4 ranked prospect in MLB, was the story of the week. The 21-year-old showed off his impressive blend of power and speed with a double for his first career hit, a moonshot for his first home run, and an easy triple. The future is bright in Cincy.
You can watch the highlights from his first few big-league games below.
Red Sox prospect Chris Murphy made his big-league debut and pitched 3.1 scoreless innings in relief vs. the Guardians. He allowed two hits, walked one batter and struck out five.
Dodgers rookie hurler Nick Robertson made his MLB debut and recorded his first career strikeout against Elly De La Cruz. He finished with no hits allowed and three K’s in two scoreless innings of work. (6:36 mark below).
Another Reds youngster: Will Benson’s first MLB homer was a two-run walk-off vs. the Dodgers.
Quick Takeaways
Former Red Sox players are enjoying sensational seasons with their new teams. J.D. Martinez already has as many homers (16) as he had all of last year in Boston. Nathan Eovaldi is an AL Cy Young frontrunner. Michael Wacha has been the Padres’ best starting pitcher and won MLB’s Pitcher of the Month honor in May. Matt Strahm has been outstanding as both a starter and a reliever in Philadelphia. Meanwhile, the Red Sox in the midst of a downward spiral with a lackluster pitching staff and an offense that lacks a significant punch outside of Rafael Devers and offseason addition Masataka Yoshida.
How about those Marlins? Their -21 run differential says regression could be coming, but so far they’re hanging with the NL East-leading Braves at 36-29. They’re a scrappy bunch that has won eight of their last 10 games. If you have MLB TV, I’d go as far as to say they’re must-watch with Luis Arraez’s quest for .400 adding to the intrigue.
Earlier in the week, I named the biggest surprises and disappointments of the 2023 season thus far. There was one glaring omission: the New York Mets. They enter today 31-34 and 9.5 games back in the NL East after losing seven of their last 10 games, including a three-game sweep by the Braves. It won’t get any easier as they’ll be without slugger Pete Alonso for at least the next 3-4 weeks.
Who would’ve thought we’d be hyped up for a mid-June series between the Rays and Rangers? They’re the top two teams in the majors at 47-20 and 41-22, respectively. It’s no fluke either as they’re at or near the top of the league in almost every meaningful statistic. I never would have imagined I’d be more excited for a Rays-Rangers series than Red Sox-Yankees, but here we are.
Rapid Fire
Veteran shortstop Didi Gregorius signed a minor-league deal with the Mariners.
The Blue Jays DFA’d reliever Anthony Bass two weeks after he was the subject of controversy because of an Instagram post that called for boycotts of Target and Bud Light over their recent promotions of LGBTQIA+ Pride campaigns.
Padres ace Yu Darvish collected the 100th win of his MLB career. He is the second Japanese-born pitcher ever to accomplish that feat.
The Rumor Mill
The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal writes that the Royals trading Aroldis Chapman this summer is “certain.” The veteran reliever has been at the center of trade rumors throughout the season as the one bright spot on Kansas City’s roster. According to Rosenthal, the Royals are notifying teams they’re willing to move Chapman well before the deadline if a club meets a higher ask on the prospect return. Chapman, 35, has a 2.82 ERA in 24 appearances this year.
That’s it for this week. If you’d like these rundowns in your e-mail inbox every Sunday morning throughout the season, you can subscribe below for free. You can also gift a subscription to any sports fans in your life.
Have a great week!