were expected to be one of the worst teams in the majors after giving away Nolan Arenado for next to nothing Christian Yelich Jersey. To this point, they haven’t disappointed, being just as disappointing as expected.While they come into this four-game series after sweeping the San Diego Padres — a reminder weird stuff can happen at Coors Field — but the Rockies have held down last place in the NL West for much of the young season until recently, when the Arizona Diamondbacks started a 13-game losing streak. That has Colorado sitting in 4th place at 28-41. A win tonight in the first game of the series would match Colorado’s longest winning streak of the year: 4.While they were woeful in April at 9-17 and just a little better in May at 11-17, they are 8-7 so far in June despite a -17 run differential for the month. The rest of the NL Central has (probably predictably) done well against them, with the Rockies going a combined 3-10 against the Reds, Pirates and Cardinals. They’ve put up a comical home/road record split, even by their historical standards, going 23-14 at Coors Field but just 5-27 on the road.The LineupDespite playing in Coors Field, the Rockies haven’t had many offensive standouts, with only four regulars putting up an OPS+ above 100 to this point.The weirdest thing about the Rockies’ offensive numbers so far: a relative lack of home run power, outside of their second baseman. Ryan McMahon leads the Rockies with 16 home runs in 68 games, and no one else on their roster has more than 7 longballs.Even with his 16 home runs, McMahon only has an .832 OPS, hitting .260/.307/.525. First baseman C.J. Cron is the guy with 7 home runs and has struggled to hit for much power — a problem for a guy whose only real skill is power that plays in Denver — but he has at least gotten on base with his .250/.357/.429 line.Trevor Story, who has killed the Brewers in just about every series he’s played against them, is off to a sluggish .251/.332/.415 start while questions continue about his future with the Rockies. One thing Story has done, though, is steal some bases. He’s 11-for-15 so far this year in that category, joining Garrett Hampson (12-for-14) as guys with double-digit steal totals who may give the Brewers some problems.The Probable PitchersThe Rockies, predictably, have struggled with their pitching, ranking 27th in team ERA, 28th in team batting average allowed and 29th in team WHIP.German Marquez is still the best starter they have and a legitimate talent, but has seen his ERA balloon up to 4.60 after his last start against the Reds, where he gave up 8 runs in a death-by-papercuts type of start. He’s actually done a really good job this year avoiding hard contact — he ranks in the top 15% in the league in lowest barrel percentage — but it’s been the defense that has let him down from time to time. Before his nightmare start against the Reds, he had been on a roll, throwing four straight games of 1 run or less. He’ll go up against Brandon Woodruff tonight in the best pitching match-up of the weekend.Antonio Senzatela will pitch in Game 2 against Corbin Burnes, and he’s actually a bit of an anomoly — he’s the rare Rockies pitcher who’s been better at home (3.83 ERA) than on the road (6 Bobby Wahl Jersey.94 ERA). He’s been able to prevent home runs at Coors, but hasn’t prevented contact — his 14.8% strikeout percentage is among the worst in the league, so even if the battered Brewers’ offense continues to struggle with power, they should be able to at least make some contact. Senzatela’s key appears to be limiting baserunners, even with those contact rates — he doesn’t really walk anyone, and he’s among the better pitchers at preventing batters from barreling up pitches.Austin Gomber, one of the players the Rockies got in return for Arenado, will start opposite Adrian Houser in Game 3. The lefty has put up a 3.54 ERA to this point this year, but has an expected ERA of 3.32. He doesn’t throw especially hard — averaging just 92 mph on the fastball he throws 40% of the time — but he’s found a way to make his breaking stuff play in Coors Field. That could be because of the high spin rate he’s managed to throw his curveball at, ranking in the top half of the league despite the higher elevation in Denver. He’s also incrase his strikeout rate from 22.7% last year to 24.4% this year while cutting down his walk rate.Chi Chi Gonzalez and Eric Lauer will match up in the series finale as two pitchers who have occasionally been hit very hard this year. Gonzalez especially has been pummeled, getting tagged for a 5.76 ERA — but a 6.72 expected ERA based on his underlying metrics Kurt Suzuki Jersey. He ranks in the bottom 1 percent in strikeout percentage and whiff percentage, as well as expected batting average, giving up an average exit velocity of 90.1 mph. In comparison, Lauer’s given up an average exit velocity of 89.6 mph.Statistics courtesy of Baseball-Reference and Statcast

exciting play in baseball! Admittedly, I made the same claim about “Little League home runs,” and there is some overlap between the two. To clarify, there’s nothing that beats the experience of watching a batter sprint all the way around the bases after putting a ball in play.Using Stathead, I have found every inside-the-parker in Marlins history. Through 29 regular seasons and three postseasons, the franchise has had 20 of them from 17 different players.Fortunately, we have television footage of many of these unconventional homers:Bret Barberie at Cardinals (June 13, 1994)—The first inside-the-park home run ever credited to a Marlin was made possible by an outfield collision. Barberie’s is the only one in Fish history to be fielded by an infielder https://www.mmfanstore.com/pablo-lopez-jersey, as second baseman Geronimo Peña ventured deep into center to assist. It was also an extremely clutch play, tying the score at 1-1 in the top of the ninth inning.Edgar Rentería vs. Reds (April 5, 1997)—Even more so than Barberie’s, this ball was easily catchable if not for the miscommunication between Deion Sanders and Reggie Sanders. Instead, Rentería turned it into a game-tying homer in the bottom of the ninth, forcing the game into extras. He later gave the Marlins a walk-off victory with a run-scoring single in the 11th.Kevin Millar vs. Cubs (May 24, 1999)—Millar’s first career major league homer was also a game-winner, aided by Sammy Sosa’s inability to locate the ball near Wrigley Field’s ivy-clad wall. Close play at the plate!Hee-Seop Choi vs Jon Berti Jersey. Astros (May 19, 2004)—This home-to-home sprint took about 17 seconds for the rookie slugger.Emilio Bonifacio vs. Nationals (April 6, 2009)—Bonifacio got his on Opening Day 2009 in what was his Marlins debut. He made an amazing first impression on his new fanbase throughout that entire week before coming back down to Earth. It took more than two years for the Dominican speedster to actually get an over-the-fence dinger for the Fish.So beautiful Fantastic news: MLB Film Room has added this original, high-definition, local TV call of *THE* Emilio Bonifacio Marlins inside-the-park home run from Opening Day 2009 pic.twitter.com/CMfW77tGiS— Fish Stripes February 2, 2021Cameron Maybin vs. Brewers (May 31, 2010)—Trailing Milwaukee 4-0 heading into the later innings, the Marlins flipped the game on its head with 13 unanswered runs! Maybin was right in the middle of that offensive barrage.Dee Gordon vs. Giants (June 30, 2015)—I’d be willing to bet that Gordon’s home-to-home dash was the fastest ever for a Marlins inside-the-parker. What a dynamic leadoff man he was at his peak.J.T. Realmuto vs. Brewers (September 8, 2015)—The final month of the 2015 season was also the final month of Marlins Park’s original, cavernous outfield dimensions. Since then, any batted balls similar to Realmuto’s have cleared the fence.Realmuto at Phillies (August 24, 2017)—FOX Sports Florida play-by-play announcer Rich Waltz was convinced that this was a game-tying two-run shot. Realmuto technically proved him right by hustling all the way.Your browser does not support HTML5 video.JT Riddle at Padres (May 29, 2018)—Statcast estimates that this ball traveled 266 feet in the air, 87 feet less than Riddle’s next-shortest home run during that season.Your browser does not support HTML5 video.Jazz Chisholm Jr. vs. Braves (July 10, 2021)—This play, unfortunately, will be best remembered for the right knee injury that Ronald Acuña Jr. suffered when attempting to make the catch.The Marlins all-time leader in inside-the-park homers? World Series champ Kurt Abbott (three) https://www.mmfanstore.com/adam-duvall-jersey.Here is the full list:Stathead I’ll be keeping this updated throughout 2021 and beyond.

setbacks to already injured players, the ragtag Mets have continued to find ways to win. The rain once again messed with the Mets’ schedule this week, reducing the number of games played to five from the seven that were scheduled. The Mets went 4-1 over those five games, taking three of four games from the Rockies after dropping the series opener on Monday, including a doubleheader sweep on Thursday and executing a “mini-sweep” of the Braves on Saturday with their most decisive victory of the season. That laugher on Saturday propelled the Mets to a 126 wRC+ as a team over the past week, which is tied for the second-best mark in baseball. Especially notable is the breakout in the power department from the Mets Noah Syndergaard Jersey. As has been the theme all season, the Mets’ victories included contributions from unlikely sources. We’ll start with the new face on this meter. On Tuesday, in what was truly an “emergency mode” move, the Mets traded for 26-year-old Brewers outfielder Billy McKinney. They had very little choice but to make a move like this, given the fact that Johneshwy Fargas (who had been performing so well as a fill-in) sprained his AC joint by slamming into the outfield wall and was placed on the (very crowded) injured list. That, combined with the fact that Cameron Maybin and Khalil Lee—who combined for one hit in a total of 19 plate appearances between them this week—continued to be pretty much automatic outs, created a dire outfield situation for the Mets that McKinney was meant to help remedy. The bar is low, to be fair, but McKinney has far exceeded it so far. Over his first ten plate appearances as a Met, McKinney logged two hits, including a home run in Saturday’s rout of the Braves, drove in three runs, and scored three runs. Although McKinney is likely far from a long-term solution for the Mets, he has already shown himself to be a significant upgrade over what they had. It is worth noting that Maybin did snap his historic hitless drought in Saturday’s game with a dribbler up the third base line that stayed fair. He also walked twice and scored two runs this week. Meanwhile, Lee also scored a run this week. But now that players are beginning to return from the injured list for the Mets, both players have found themselves off the roster. (Note that this meter does not include yesterday’s game, which will be reflected in next week’s meter.) Brandon Drury has thrived this week at the plate, with his ability to play multiple positions being a huge asset to the ailing Mets. In nine plate appearances this week, Drury had three hits, including two home runs—one in Tuesday’s 3-1 victory and one in Saturday’s laugher. His four RBIs for the week are tied for the team lead with two players who had far more plate appearances than he did. A player who had a promising career set back by a long battle with migraine headaches, it would be a great story for Drury to find a second life with the Mets. The two other players with four runs driven in this week are the Mets’ catching tandem: James McCann and Tomás Nido. With Nido heading into the week scorching hot with the bat and the Mets desperate to pack as many major league caliber bats into the lineup as they could, McCann was forced into service as a first baseman this week—a position he had not played at the major league level. Not only did he handle the position better than anyone could have possibly expected, his bat finally came alive this week in a big way. Other than Drury, he is the only Met with multiple home runs this week. One of them came in Monday’s loss and the other came in Saturday’s big win. Saturday was a huge day for McCann all around; he went 4-for-5 with two RBIs and three runs scored. Overall, he posted a 235 wRC+ over 19 plate appearances this week, which earns him a much-deserved fireball. Hopefully it’s the beginning of breakout for McCann, who had struggled so mightily early in the season. Meanwhile, Nido’s bat has cooled off a bit, but he still contributed this week. His two-run homer was the decider in Tuesday’s victory Corey Oswalt Jersey, snapping a sixth-inning tie in support of Jacob deGrom in his return from the injured list. He also had a two-RBI day on Saturday, contributing to the full team offensive explosion. But those two hits represent essentially his only production for the week. He had three hits in all over 14 plate appearances this week, good for a 77 wRC+. However, given his skills defensively behind the plate, Nido does not need to be hitting far above his head to help the team win. With Pete Alonso back at first base every day, it’s likely that Nido and McCann will continue to share time behind the plate more or less equally, with Luis Rojas riding the hot hand whenever he can. The Mets were able to play McCann at first base in Alonso’s absence because of the presence of walk-off specialist and third string catcher Patrick Mazeika on the roster. Mazeika did have two hits in five plate appearances this week, but with players (particularly Alonso) returning from the injured list, carrying three catchers was something the Mets could no longer afford to do and Mazeika was optioned to Triple-A yesterday. Jonathan Villar continues to thrive as the Mets’ everyday third baseman in J.D. Davis’ absence. Along with McCann, he earns a fireball for his 213 wRC+ over 20 plate appearances this week, in addition to continuing to play excellent defense at the hot corner. He leads the team in hits (6), walks (4), and runs scored (4) this week. The Mets will certainly take a .500 on-base percentage from their leadoff hitter, which is where he has been hitting every day of late. He narrowly missed a grand slam in Saturday’s win over the Braves, but later had his redemption, socking a solo homer into the well of the home run apple. Choose your favorite hitting metric—99 DRC+, 104 wRC+, 104 OPS+ overall for Villar in 2021—according to any of them he has been a solid replacement and has played a huge role in keeping the Mets afloat during the tumultuous month of May https://www.nymgear.com/custom-jersey. Perhaps even more surprisingly, the same can be said for José Peraza, who has been playing second base every day while Jeff McNeil remains sidelined (along with Luis Guillorme, the primary backup infielder). He too has played slick defense and has contributed plenty with the bat. Thursday in particular was a huge day for Peraza. His solo homer was the difference in the game Game 1 of the doubleheader against the Rockies. And then in the nightcap, he drove in two runs—one on a single in the fourth and one on a bases-loaded walk in the sixth—en route to the Mets’ 4-2 win. Overall, he posted a 119 wRC+ over 16 plate appearances this week. Along with Drury as the utility man, Wilfredo Tovar serves as the backup infielder, but has seen limited playing time with others swinging a hot bat. Tovar was hitless in three plate appearances this week. It seems likely he will be the next player to be cut from the roster when the next position player gets healthy. The couple of everyday players in Francisco Lindor and Dominic Smith that remain in the lineup have continued to struggle with the bat, although both showed signs of life this week. Lindor really had a rough go of it early in the week, but did have a walk and a stolen base in Tuesday’s game. The hits finally came at the end of the week. He hit a single in Game 2 of Thursday’s doubleheader, but really had a big day on Saturday (as did many other Mets). Lindor had two hits on Saturday, including a two-run homer in the seventh inning. He also scored three runs on the day. And it goes without saying that he continues to play Gold Glove caliber defense at shortstop. But he still posted just a 54 wRC+ over 19 plate appearances this week. Hopefully his recent burst of power is a sign that he is breaking out. Dominic Smith has also been lacking in the power department, even when he is collecting his hits. All three of his hits in 14 plate appearances this week were singles and they, along with his one walk, add up to an 88 wRC+ for the week. Like much of the lineup, pretty much all of his production came in Saturday’s game, in which he collected his only RBI for the week. However, that RBI single came when the game was still close, putting the Mets up 2-0 at the time. Smith also scored a run in Tuesday’s victory; he came around to score on Tomás Nido’s game-winning two-run homer.

have a nice weekend? I sure hope so. The Orioles themselves had a pretty good one, even if it ended on a sour note yesterday Gary Roenicke Jersey. After racking up wins on Friday and Saturday, the team squandered a great start by John Means in a 1-0 walk-off loss to the Rangers. You can read all about that loss, if you must, in Paul Folkemer’s game recap. The Orioles hitters will have a chance to think about what they’ve done during today’s off day, the first of two they’ll have this week. Then tomorrow they start a two-game series with the Miami Marlins, their first interleague series of the year. One of the worst slumping hitters on the team is Anthony Santander, who had high expectations put upon him after his exciting 2020 season. But he’s had just 10 hits this season despite being a regular in the lineup. Just three of those hits have gone for extra bases, including a double yesterday. And he’s only drawn two walks. It’s been pretty brutal. Brandon Hyde was asked about Santander as documented in the link to Roch’s blog below, and he used a lot of words to say that the league was able to figure Santander out some last year and they’re using that to their advantage so far this year. That’s not encouraging! But Hyde assures us that he’s working hard to change his approach to turn things around Mickey Jannis Jersey. I sure hope it works for both him and the rest of the offense. LinksOrioles’ Trey Mancini enduring mixed start to comeback season: ‘He’s just trying so hard’ - Baltimore SunIt's no secret that Trey Mancini has been frustrated with his struggles this year. But Brandon Hyde (and I) think he'll be fine.Sunday Notes: Cesar Valdez’s Powerful Paralyzing Perfect Pachydermous Percussion Pitch | FanGraphs BaseballThis week's Sunday notes starts with notes of Cesar Valdez. David Laurila asked Tim Hyers, the hitting coach for the Red Sox, what advice he gives for batters about to face Valdez.Hyde on Galvis, Kremer, Akin, Santander and more - School of RochRoch Kubatko has Brandon Hyde's thoughts on a bevy of players, including Freddy Galvis, Dean Kremer, and Anthony Santander.John Means throws seven scoreless but Orioles lose in extras to Rangers - MLB.comThe Orioles lost yesterday, but John Means pitched a heck of a game. If he can be close to this good for most of his other starts, we're in for a lot of fun.Birthdays and HistoryIs today your birthday? Happy birthday! You have three Orioles birthday buddies. Flat Breezy himself, George Sherrill, turns 44 years old today. Ah, back when Orioles used to be older than me. Those were the days. It’s also the birthday of Willis Otanez (48) who played in 32 games with the Orioles from 1998-99 and Scott Kamieniecki (57), who was an Oriole from 1997-99. He made 30 starts for the wire-to-wire ‘97 team. On this day in 1996, the Texas Rangers beat the Orioles 26-7, including a 16-run eighth inning https://www.baltimoregearshop.com/chris-davis-jersey. Shortstop Manny Alexander pitched the final 2⁄3 of an inning, walking four and giving up five runs. It’s no 30-3, but still plenty embarrassing. Makes yesterday’s loss not seem too bad!

would chase a third baseman, what with Eugenio Suarez fresh off a breakout All Star campaign and top prospect Nick Senzel already in the fold https://www.crfanshop.com/deivy-grullon-jersey. It seems even stranger that they’d go after a 46 year old one, but that’s just what they did in signing David Bell on Sunday.Perhaps it was because Bell has 10 career walks in Great American Ball Park against just 2 strikeouts. More likely, though, it’s because the team wants Bell as their new manager, since that’s at least what their press release hinted at earlier today Carson Fulmer Jersey.David Bell has been named the new manager of the Cincinnati Reds. He will be introduced at a press conference on Monday at 11:00 a.m. pic.twitter.com/BdIlLCGKMG— Cincinnati Reds October 21, 2018Bell, the longtime infielder, cut his initial managing chops on the Cincinnati farm, managing AA Carolina and AAA Louisville for a time prior to jumping onto big league coaching staffs in both Chicago and St. Louis. He’ll join the Reds after a stint serving as VP of Player Development with the San Francisco Giants, which means he’ll come to the Cincinnati dugout with a rare mix of, well, dugout experience as well as front office experience, which is something not many other managerial candidates could boast.Of course, the rumors were flying earlier in the week that the Reds were hoping to hire former New York Yankees manager Joe Girardi before he withdrew his name from the process, meaning Bell might have only been Cincinnati’s second choice among their finalists. Girardi, for what it’s worth, withdrew his name from contention for the Texas Rangers job today, too, meaning he’ll likely wait another year to see if any better [cough Chicago cough] jobs come available.In Bell, the Reds now have another rookie big league manager, as they did with Bryan Price through those lovely years. Of course, the misery the franchise slogged through on Price’s watch was largely deliberate, whereas they’ll theoretically be reinvesting into the team at ‘record’ levels in future seasons under Bell’s watch as they try to dig their way out of the NL Central cellar after five straight last-place rebuilding campaigns. At least, one can hope.Odds are, Bell will bring on a staff that won’t make nostalgic Reds fans celebrate. His time in the St. Louis organization has many wondering if he’ll bring former Cardinals manager Mike Matheny on to be his bench coach, as the two served in the reverse order in Busch Stadium for several years. Despite Bell’s roots in Cincinnati and his father’s extensive time with the organization, Bell never played for the Reds, meaning his staff likely won’t be anything akin to getting the mid-90’s Reds band back together. That said Cincinnati Store, he appears to be a plenty competent hire and one who deserved a chance to be a big league manager for someone at some point soon, and we’re left hoping that he can emerge on the scene with prowess and success instead of watching the Reds go with an experienced candidate that already comes to the job with an extensive reputation.That could work. It really might. We’ll just have to cross our fingers and hope he’s got the phone numbers of every major pitching free agent on speed dial, and maybe even some dirt on them for leverage. Otherwise, who the Reds hired today will likely still be nothing more than a footnote in franchise history down the road, since that’s ultimately still the major focus of the offseason.

false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table Brady Singer Jersey.MsoNormalTablemso-style-name:"Table Normal";mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;mso-style-noshow:yes;mso-style-priority:99;mso-style-qformat:yes;mso-style-parent:"";mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;mso-para-margin:0in;mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;mso-pagination:widow-orphan;font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri;mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;At the All-Star Break, the Texas Rangers are 50-38, in first place in the A.L. West, and with a 4.5 game lead on Anaheim, despite getting swept at home by the lowly Orioles in the last series before the break.Texas has been a fairly balanced team this year, third in the league runs scored as a result of being fourth in both on base percentage and slugging percentage, while being seventh in the league in runs allowed. The offense has been led by Josh Hamilton, who is performing at an MVP-type level, while Nelson Cruz and Vlad Guerrero each have an OPS over 900. The starting rotation has been a mixed bag, with Colby Lewis and C.J. Wilson putting up sparkling ERAs while Rich Harden and Scott Feldman have lagged behind. The bullpen is loaded with power arms, though, and the Rangers defense - led by 21 year old All Star Elvis Andrus - has been good enough to help compensate for some of the weaknesses in the rotation Steve Balboni Jersey.The Rangers would be buyers right now, except it looks like they've already done their shopping. Texas acquired Bengie Molina from the San Francisco Giants for Chris Ray and Michael Main, a controversial deal among Rangers fans, many of whom do not see Molina as an upgrade over Matt Treanor and Max Ramirez. Oh, and there's that Cliff Lee guy the Rangers went and got last week. You might have heard about that.The biggest hindrance right now to the Rangers making any additional moves is the muddled ownership situation. The team is in bankruptcy, and its budget is being overseen by MLB, which has been having to advance the organization money to pay its bills. As a result, the Rangers can take on very little in the way of additional payroll, which is why Texas had to pay a steeper price in the Molina and Lee trades in order to get its trade partners to absorb more of the salaries of the players Texas was acquiring.One thing that the Rangers have been in the market for all year, and will likely continue to pursue at the trade deadline, is a right handed bench bat, preferably one that can play first base. Chris Davis, who started the season as the team's first baseman before getting demoted in April, has been called back up to replace Justin Smoak, who was dealt to Seattle. However, the Rangers have no real viable option behind the lefthanded Davis, and could use a righty who can play some first base as an insurance policy, and also to pinch hit late in games.What the Rangers have to trade are pitchers, pitchers, pitchers. The Rangers are particularly stacked in two categories. First https://www.kcrgear.com/mike-sweeney-jersey, relievers who are near major league ready...the Rangers could shop hard-throwing righties Pedro Strop, Guillermo Moscoso, Omar Beltre, Warner Madrigal, or Evan Reed, and lefties Zach Phillips, Ben Snyder, Clay Rapada, or Kasey Kiker, and not even impact the major league bullpen. The Rangers dipped into this group when they included Josh Lueke in the Lee trade.In addition, the Rangers are loaded with live arms in A-ball, even after parting with Michael Main in the Molina deal. Wilmer Font, Robbie Ross, Robbie Erlin, Wilfredo Boscan, Carlos Pimentel, Matt Thompson, Joe Wieland, Richard Bleier, Braden Tullis, Neil Ramirez, Jake Brigham...the Rangers are loaded with guys in the lower levels who have major league potential, and who could be potential trade chips at the deadline.-----Previous team previews:LAnaheim AngelsOakland AthleticsHoustonAstrosToronto Blue JaysMilwaukeeBrewersSt. Louis CardinalsChicagoCubsArizonaDiamondbacksSan Francisco GiantsClevelandIndiansSeattleMarinersFloridaMarlinsNew York MetsWashingtonNationalsBaltimoreOriolesPhiladelphia PhilliesPittsburghPiratesCincinnati RedsColorado RockiesKansasCity RoyalsDetroit TigersMinnesota TwinsChicago White Sox

2018, they got the National League’s reigning MVP — a player who had crushed 150 homers across his previous four seasons and posted three seasons with an OPS of .950 or better. Though underwhelming in direct comparison, Stanton’s first season in pinstripes was good enough to consider his acquisition a success. In 2018, he played in 158 games, including 72 in the field, while hitting well enough to earn a 130 OPS+ — well above league average, but a notch below his career mark until then of 147. Stanton’s 2018 was a good start to his Yankee tenure, especially if he could get a bit more comfortable as he adjusted to his new digs.Succumbing to myriad injuries to his biceps, shoulder, and knee, Stanton played in just 18 games in 2019, the fewest of any season of his career. Finally, with a 1.384 OPS in the first week of the 2020 season, set off by a first-inning Opening Day homer off of Max Scherzer, it seemed as though he’d he might just have his first great season with the Yankees. However, an injury to his hamstring in August limited him to 23 games, hampering his overall impact on the club’s campaign.This season, a tepid April turned into a scalding start to May coinciding with a move into the lineup’s two-hole, seeing Stanton raise his average from .154 to .314 during a two-week hot streak where he triple-slashed .500/.520/.896. However, since the Yankees seemingly can’t have nice things, G’s come crashing down to earth and now sports a mediocre — at least by his standards — .462 slugging and .812 OPS, the worst marks of his career.So what the heck happened to the guy that just a couple of seasons ago was perhaps the game’s most feared hitter?On Sunday Night Baseball’s broadcast of the Yankees’ rubber match against the Red Sox, another former Yankee slugger in his own right, Alex Rodriguez, correctly identified two connected yet distinct sources of Stanton’s current struggles. One, Stanton’s foot is often down late — as has been the case with a handful of other Yankee hitters this season — and two, his weight transfer, instead of moving through the zone towards the right side of the field (as A-Rod recommended), comes around the ball and across his body towards left field.The first issue, that of being late to the ball, is as essential to successful hitting approach as any other mechanical issue. If a batter’s front foot is down late, like Gary Sánchez and Gleyber Torres’ have been all season until very recently, he gives himself less time to read and react to the incoming pitch, as well as progress through the appropriate mechanical checkpoints of the swing. Instead, the batter will either be late and miss the ball or shortcut the proper bat path, leading to an inefficient energy transfer.The only pitches late-footed hitters have consistent success against are hung, breaking balls — i.e. those that are thrown slow enough to counteract the batter’s own tardiness and are easily reachable within the zone, like his best hit ball this week. This is exactly why, as Tom noted a couple of weeks ago, Stanton can look Ruthian one day and Mendozian the next.Fixing his timing should be relatively easy, but that alone won’t get Stanton out of his rut. The secondary mechanical issue, that of Stanton’s bat path (even when he’s completely on time) has presumably undermined his attempts to get back on track. With the Yankees, Giancarlo Stanton has always utilized a downward chop across the zone. While most hitters would scarcely put the ball in play with this approach, Stanton has been able to be one of the better hitters in baseball this way simply because of his unique physical abilities. Of anyone with at least 25 homers over the past four seasons, Stanton has unsurprisingly hit his harder than anyone else, at an average of 109.6 mph. However, he has done so with the fourth-lowest average launch angle of any of those players. Of the 81 other players with at least as many homers as Stanton has had in the past four seasons (60), only nine have an average launch angle as low or lower than Stanton’s (10 degrees), a group that includes line drive kings like Christian Yelich and Juan Soto as well as speedsters like Fernando Tatis Jr., José Altuve, and Trea “Burners” Turner. For Stanton’s super-slugging profile https://www.nyygear.com/gleyber-torres-jersey, his relatively low launch angle on his bombs is surprising, at least in comparison to his true outcome-stud peers like Aaron Judge (13.2-degree career average launch angle), Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (15.1), or Joey Gallo (22.2). Stanton hits the ball so hard — harder than anyone in the history of ball tracking data — that he has often gotten away with this suboptimal batted ball distribution. The downward chop that limits Stanton’s ability to elevate the baseball actually stems from a compensation he made for another mechanical flaw he experienced early on in his days with the Marlins.Before he started rocking his uniquely closed-off stance to match his across-body swing, Stanton possessed a much more conventional, open stance. For example, take a look at his very first career big-league homer:Stanton gets plenty of explosion and rotation to send this baseball into the stratosphere. Just look at how easily he’s able to fully rotate his hips and shoulders before even squaring up the baseball: This incredible clearance helped Stanton generate massive power back through the middle of the field on contact out in front of his body, but it also limited his ability to cover the whole plate, leaving the outer third unprotected.In Stanton’s rookie season, he struck out 31.1 percent of the time, back when the league strikeout rate was just 18.5 percent compared to 2021’s all-time high of 23.77 percent. As a major league newbie, Stanton was playing an entirely different kind of baseball from basically everyone except Adam Dunn (who also struck out more than 30 per of the time in 2010).To ameliorate some of the swing and miss in his game, Stanton had closed off his stance by the end of his run with the Florida Fish. Even though the greatest point of leverage in his swing was out in front of him with the barrel traveling across his body, he’d realigned his body to align his swing a bit more with the plane of the pitch.The same ridiculous hip drive is still there with a contact point in front of his chest, but he’s physically angled more towards the plate, giving him better plate coverage. This season, Stanton’s lost his timing and then his balance, leading to a preponderance of poor swings. Still, occasionally he’s been able to launch balls on the basis of his herculean strength alone, but even then his swing is in pretty poor shape. Take this homer against the Angels in late June for instance:On the Marlins, Stanton was all the way into the end of his follow-through before lifting his head and rising out of his stance to admire his moonshot. In this swing, it seems as though his foot flies open by force rather than by choice as the momentum of his hip turn carries him up and out of his stance instead of comfortably holding the turn without flying open. Perhaps Stanton’s hips are less mobile than they used to be, or more likely, as A-Rod suggested, he needs to start thinking about generating energy towards the second baseman.Still, this of course is a home run swing — it’s not exactly “bad.” However, the mechanical deficiency on display here — the leakage of energy towards the left side of the field — opens the door to less consistent, weaker contact like this:This 96.0 mph flyout would have been a homer at 105 mph or better had he not pulled off the ball at the last second, spoiling what would have otherwise been a fine swing. Also, this energy leakage has driven Stanton to drill more of his batted balls into the ground than ever. This year, Stanton has posted a 49.4 ground ball rate, way up from his career average in the low 40s.Combining Stanton’s shaky mechanics with inconsistent timing has been a recipe for disaster, especially when he’s swinging at pitches as if he were crushing everything. In this particularly painful at-bat, Stanton found himself in a 3-0 count with two runners on-base; the perfect opportunity to take some pressure off of Gerrit Cole. A walk would load the bases and extend the inning, whereas anything more would radically augment the Yankees’ chances of winning. Before Ryne Stanek even received his sign, everyone in the ballpark must have known what pitch was coming based on the count and situation. In order to get back into the count and avoid walking Stanton, Stanek had to throw a fastball. Still, dumbfoundingly, Stanton is so late to the pitch he knows is coming, it looks like he guessed off-speed. Stanton’s late-planted front foot gives him little time to read and react, and feel like he’s seeing the pitch. Instead, the mistake forces his front side to fly open in an attempt to catch up to the baseball, but still ends up on top of it and jammed. With an opportunity to deliver a back-breaking RBI or two, Stanton grounded into a double play, neutering the Yankees’ chance at a late-inning rally.Stanton’s frequent tardiness and wavering mechanical foundation have made his offensive heroics come far too irregularly for a third-of-a-billion-dollar player. If he’s to get back on track, he needs to get his foot down as early as possible every time to give himself a chance of delivering competitive swings in each and every at-bat. Secondarily, he ought to start thinking about how to reorient the energy of his swing back through the box instead of trying so hard to pull the ball Gary Sanchez Jersey. If he doesn’t, the two inconsistencies will continue to frustratingly feed into each other, even if he stumbles into 25-plus homers on the basis of his gargantuan talent alone https://www.nyygear.com/don-larsen-jersey.