Latest news with #JohanSantana
Forbes
22-06-2025
- Sport
- Forbes
Keeping Clarke Schmidt Healthy Outweighed No-Hitter Possibility For The Yankees
New York Yankees pitcher Clarke Schmidt reacts as he heads to the dugout in the seventh inning of a ... More baseball game against the Baltimore Orioles, Saturday, June 21, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Noah K. Murray) On June 1, 2012, Johan Santana completed first no-hitter in the pitching-rich history of the New York Mets. Santana also needed 134 pitches to create the magical moment. A week later he allowed four homers at Yankee Stadium and the no-hitter wound up being the 350th appearance in a career which ended at 360 outings due to shoulder injuries. While Santana was 33 when he achieved the feat, those are the kind of things managers likely are cognizant of when it comes to lengthy no-hit bids. It is certainly something manager Aaron Boone had in the back of his mind when Clarke Schmidt – four years younger than Santana at the time of his no-hitter – ended his 95th career outing at 103 pitches through seven hitless innings Saturday against the Baltimore Orioles in 86-degree heat. At this point, it is almost expected a no-hitter will be a combined achievement. Including the 2022 World Series, there are 54 no-hitters since Santana's game and 12 of those are combined efforts but since 2015 when Max Scherzer threw both of his no-hitters for the Washington Nationals, 10 of the 35 no-hitters are combined jobs and that includes the Mets second no-hitter in 2022 when Tylor Megill was a month into his major league career and combined with four relievers to no-hit the Phillies. For five of his innings, Schmidt kept the pitch count low. He started the road to possible history by walking two of the first three hitters in a 27-pitch first inning. He made it to the seventh at 82 pitches but when he needed nine pitches to retire Ryan O'Hearn, it was fairly evident Schmidt was not going beyond the seventh and may have been lifted if someone got a hit before the seventh concluded. 'Clarke, as great as he was today, physically all day it was a little bit of a challenge for him so I kind of knew, even after the fifth, it wasn't going to be long [for him],' Boone said. 'You're going to power through pitch limits within reason. Today was not that day for Clarke.' Given the lopsided nature of the score and Schmidt's taxing inning, it was the spot for JT Brubaker to make his debut with the Yankees. Before allowing a hit on a full count to former Yankee Gary Sanchez, Brubaker watched the proceedings unfold from the bullpen without discussing them with his reliever colleagues. 'Unbelievable,' Brubaker said of Schmidt. 'He absolutely dominated with every single pitch he had in the arsenal and went right after their hitters and that can go show you what attacking hitters can do and it can put you in a really good spot.' 'Obviously, I want to go as deep as I can,' Schmidt said. 'But when you're at the 103 mark and you have two more innings to go and you have 80 more games to go, you have to think bigger picture here. Obviously, it's a tough conversation to have and you get frustrated, but it's kind of a mutual feeling where it's like, you have to think big picture here and is it worth throwing 130 pitches?' The bigger picture is Schmidt is on the best run of his career, which began as a first-round pick in 2017, saw limited action in 2020, 2021, made 26 of his 29 appearances as a reliever in 2022 when the Yankees saw Gerrit Cole take a no-hit bid into the seventh against Detroit, Nestor Cortes make it to the eighth with a no-hit try against Texas and Luis Severino get pulled after seven hitless innings at Texas in the final series before the postseason. Schmidt also has five injured list stints under his belt and his season was delayed until April 16 because of a minor rotator cuff injury in spring training when the Yankees lost Cole to Tommy John surgery on his elbow and Luis Gil to a strained right lat – the same injury that cost Schmidt three months. 'Of course, part of me did want to see that,' catcher J.C. Escarra said. 'But, ultimately, just for his health, he had to come out.' As for whether he would have actually completed the feat, there was little doubt for Schmidt, who was attempting to become the answer to the trivia question of who threw the last no-hitter in Yankees' history. 'Yeah, I would have thrown a no-hitter,' Schmidt said. Maybe there will be a next time and if there is the Yankees hope whoever it is does run up the pitch count to create an agonizing but necessary decision.
Al Arabiya
16-06-2025
- Sport
- Al Arabiya
Smith and Vasil Look Like Two Rule 5 Hits for the Rebuilding Chicago White Sox
Shane Smith pitched a total of 10 1/3 innings during his college career at Wake Forest. He had a shoulder operation as a freshman, and his sophomore year was shut down by the COVID-19 pandemic. Then he had elbow surgery. At that point, even Smith began to wonder if baseball was going to work out for him. 'My dream of playing professional baseball–to say it didn't waver would probably be lying,' he said. 'But I knew there was an avenue somehow.' There sure was. Smith has turned into a pleasant surprise for the last-place Chicago White Sox after he was selected by the team in the Rule 5 draft. The White Sox also have Mike Vasil, another twenty-five-year-old Rule 5 right-hander who was claimed off waivers from Tampa Bay in March. The Rule 5 draft provides an opportunity for players left off big league teams' forty-man rosters after several minor league seasons. Teams pay $100,000 to select a player in the major league portion. The players must stay on the active twenty-six-man major league roster all season or else clear waivers and be offered back to their original organization for $50,000. Between ten and twenty players are selected in the big league Rule 5 draft most seasons, but most don't actually stick with their new clubs. Even fewer develop into All-Star-worthy contributors. Hall of Fame outfielder Roberto Clemente and two-time Cy Young Award winner Johan Santana are two of the most famous Rule 5 success stories. So far, it looks as if Smith and Vasil are going to stick with the rebuilding White Sox–quite an accomplishment for an organization from one Rule 5 draft. Smith has a 2.37 ERA in 68 1/3 innings over thirteen starts, and Vasil has a 1.99 ERA in 45 1/3 innings over twenty appearances, all but two in relief. 'Obviously, Mike and I are, I think, putting our best foot forward as of now,' Smith said. 'The biggest thing we can do is just keep it going, keep doing the same stuff.' Smith or Vasil very well could represent the last-place White Sox at next month's All-Star Game in Atlanta. Dan Uggla, with the Florida Marlins in 2006, is the only player to be named an All-Star in the season after he was selected in the Rule 5 draft, according to Sportradar. Being a Rule 5 player is a unique situation in that first year, but Vasil said he doesn't think about it very often. 'I've spent my whole life trying to get here,' he said. 'So I think it's already hard enough; don't put more pressure on yourself.' The six-foot-five Vasil was selected by the New York Mets in the eighth round of the 2021 amateur draft out of the University of Virginia. He was picked by Philadelphia in the Rule 5 draft in December and then traded that same day to the Rays for cash. The White Sox are Vasil's fourth organization since the end of last season. 'It's a lot,' he said. 'But I think for me at the same time, I guess you could say you feel wanted by a lot of different teams.' Vasil began the season in Chicago's bullpen, recording a 1.89 ERA in his first eighteen appearances. He got his first career win when he pitched 2 1/3 scoreless innings against Houston on May 4 and his first save when he got three outs at Cincinnati on May 14. But Vasil's six-pitch arsenal–highlighted by an effective sinker and sweeper–makes him a strong candidate for the rotation. He pitched four shutout innings in his second start at Texas on Saturday. 'Not something that's unfamiliar for me,' he said of starting. 'I started all my minor league career, so in terms of routine I probably know this one a little bit better than my relief one right now.' Smith went right into Chicago's rotation during spring training–an unusual spot for a Rule 5 player. Since 2016, Luis Perdomo, Brad Keller, and Mitch Spence are the only pitchers who made at least twenty starts in the majors in the season after they were selected in the big league phase of the Rule 5 draft. Keller began the 2018 season in Kansas City's bullpen before moving into the rotation in late May. He finished his rookie year with a 9–6 record and a 3.08 ERA in twenty starts and twenty-one relief appearances. 'I think you definitely pull for all the Rule 5 guys because I feel like, not to say this in a bad way, but Rule 5 guys kind of get a bad rap, right?' said Keller, a key reliever for the Chicago Cubs. 'It's like they're like, 'Nobody's got a chance.' That's not true. Some organizations are in different situations where they can't protect guys that they want to.' Smith had been in Milwaukee's organization since he signed with the Brewers as an undrafted free agent in 2021, just weeks after he had Tommy John surgery. He had a 3.05 ERA in thirty-two appearances over two minor league stops last season, finishing the year with Triple-A Nashville. Smith has a big four-seam fastball that gets into the high nineties to go along with a good slider and curveball. But the biggest key to his success this year has been the development of a nasty changeup that really came together in the offseason after years of work. Fortunate timing for Smith and the White Sox. 'For a guy that hasn't really pitched above Double-A–he had some innings in Triple-A–but to come here and pitch the way that he does, it just speaks to his ability and his confidence and also speaks to the group of players and staff here to support him,' general manager Chris Getz said. 'Shane is doing really well, and we expect him to have a really productive, healthy season for us.'
