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USA Today
26-05-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
'Sportsmanship is not sexy': Have we lost the purpose of high school sports?
'Sportsmanship is not sexy': Have we lost the purpose of high school sports? Show Caption Hide Caption Little leaguer hit by ball is quickest to console pitcher who hit him At a 2022 Little League World Series game in Texas, Tulsa player Isaiah Jarvis took a hit to the head and then consoled the pitcher who hit him. USA TODAY Elliot Hopkins has centered his career around a term he feels should embody high school sports. For more than a quarter-century, he has worked on initiatives around the country to promote it at games. Go to your local one, though, and you might not see it. "Sportsmanship is not sexy," says Hopkins, director of student services for the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS). "Strangely enough," he says, "this is why sportsmanship really matters: Some people just don't get it because of what they see at other levels or schools in their state or conference. Some parents are bad actors. And then the kids get the same vibe, and then they carry it out into the field. And then you mix in some coaches who don't understand that education-based sports is just that: Education-based." Witness a March basketball playoff game between two Pennsylvania schools – Meadville and Uniontown. A technical foul on the court led to a brawl in the stands among adults. It spilled onto the court. Arrests were made and fans were led off in handcuffs. As spring sports conclude their postseasons through the end of May and into June, state associations and administrators hold their breath. On-campus incidents like this not only occur with frightening regularity, but they sharply distort the deep-rooted message that is the backbone of high school sports. "People immediately think our role is to get students effective for the next level, which is college or major league baseball," Hopkins says. "It's quite the opposite. We believe what we do makes a young person a better human being and a better contributor to society." Instead, emotion, aggression and me-first aggrandizement can interlock into an ugly mess with so much seemingly on the line: NIL money, next-level participation, pay-for-play opportunities on travel teams and social media reputations. How can more kids and parents be better examples and better understand the core values of school-based sports? USA Sports shares perspective from Hopkins' decades-long career and from coaches and leaders who spoke at March's Project Play Summit in Berkeley, California, about the crossroads high school athletics faces. 'One of the last free options': High school sports connects communities and can save lives The goal of Project Play, a national initiative from the Aspen Institute, is to build healthy communities for kids of all ages, races and economic backgrounds through sports. We can think of high school athletics in a similar fashion. Studies have connected them with higher attendance and academic achievement. But prep sports also cuts to the core of our being and sense of belonging. It's a place where we band together to face our most intense rivals, but also one where we shake their hands afterward and where our parents cheerfully sell them and their supporters tickets and hot dogs. Go to rural Virginia, though, and you find moms and dads selling cupcakes and donuts to pay for referees jerseys and lining materials for the field. For every team with million dollar donors to help build fields, there are many others who play at city or regional parks. They depend on the experience. "School-based athletics is one of the last free options to participate," says Franky Navarro, California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) commissioner of Oakland, California. It's a city with a sharp divide in socioeconomic status between zip codes. "It provides opportunity for students," he says. "It builds community and depending on where you're at, it can also serve as violence prevention." According to the most recent survey results from the NFHS, high school sports have more than 8 million participants, a rise from 444,248 since the coronavirus pandemic, an especially dark period for children. During the first 10 months of COVID, 5,568 youth between the ages of 5 and 24 died by suicide, according to the National Institutes of Health. "We had kids taking their own lives because they can't see their teammates," Hopkins says. "We had kids not eating as well as they normally do because, in some cases, they get their best meals when they go to school (and) their best adult supervision is when they have coaches around them. "Ninety-five percent of our kids, if not a higher number, when they hang up their high school jersey, they're done. They're not going on to the next level. They're not going to play in college. They're just gonna be regular people. How have we impacted them for four years?" 'Where were the adults?' High school sports are a chance for us to set better examples We play in front of people we might run into at the grocery store, mall or post office. We see teachers and local Little Leaguers in the bleachers much more often than college coaches. It can be an opportunity to show how much we have grown, but also how far we have to go. "What's going on in high school is a microcosm of what's going on in society," Hopkins says. "We see people cheating. There are fights at games (at the) college and professional level. That's what our kids see, and that's what they want to mirror. A prominent basketball player pushes somebody because of a hard foul, that gives credence. It's like a dog whistle that tells some kids they can do the same thing – because he does it, it must be OK. And it's not OK. We don't do a good enough job to hone in on that." These games center around raw emotion that tests human sensibility. Taunts and gestures can begin on social media earlier in the week, heightening everyone's awareness of what's ahead, "so come Friday night football, there's gonna be a fight in the stands," Hopkins says. He says in recent years, students in Indianapolis have shown up for baseball games against a Jewish school with swastikas on their cheeks, while others in New Mexico have thrown tortillas at a team comprised of predominantly Native American players. A mostly white team in Coronado, California, was stripped of a regional championship when spectators behaved similarly against Latino players. "Where were the adults?" Hopkins say. "Who thought that'd be funny or would be a good idea? And you wonder why the first hard foul or that first pitch is up near the chin of somebody." A number of states, including Illinois, New Jersey, Hawaii and Virginia, have adopted zero tolerance policies, resulting in immediate ejection and further discipline against hate speech directed at sex, race, religion, creed, age, national origin, ancestry, pregnancy, marital or parental status, sexual orientation or disability. All 51 high school associations, including the District of Columbia, have policies for curbing poor spectator behavior in general. In California, two former NBA players, Robert Horry and Matt Barnes, were ejected from their sons' games for yelling at officials in the last two years. Video showed Horry shouting, "Hey ref … you suck!" while Barnes confronted a student broadcaster for the other team. The CIF recently instituted two bylaws: adult spectators must stay away for three games if ejected; and if you assault a game official you're done attending California high school sports. "It's sad that we had to put them in place," says Ron Nocetti, the CIF's executive director. "And we literally had people say, 'Well, that's not fair.' I mean, wait, you're telling me that you can go and physically assault someone in a parking lot, which we saw happen after a baseball game, and you think you have the right to then come back to our events?' "It's also why we talked about wanting to get more involved in sports at the younger ages. Just look at all the videos you see out there. There's referees literally been chased around basketball courts after games. I mean, that's how sad it has gotten." Coach Steve: Dan Hurley's words could improve parent, coach behavior at games 'Bigger than yourself': High school sports can help us discover who we are The CIF is only authorized to govern ninth through 12th grade athletics, but Nocetti wants to see sports played at every middle school in California. That way, affiliated high schools could partner with them and send their players in to mentor and coach. "Then these students are looking up to those students," he says. Seated with him on stage at Project Play was former University of California soccer player Ari Manrique, who has coached girls at Berkeley High. Manrique was a star who travelled as a member of the U.S. national team at the U-15, U-16 and U-17 levels. But at the end of her career at Cal, she had to medically retire and found herself using her psychology coursework to fully understand her younger athletes. Some days, she says, she went in with a full practice plan but needed to lighten it up after her players were dragging from, say, a chemistry test. "It's not always gonna be 'Go, go, go,' " she says. "It's hard to be a teenager and I think teenagers are feeling that in the ever-changing world that we have – with social media and everything else. Students who already have so much in the education space, now you're asked me to practice after class? Like, 'No, no way.' And they kind of can get lost in this. "I was able to find my love for the sport again in a tough time and see the girls go from maybe deciding to quit after freshman year to seeing them at senior day, they've made it all the way through. And they have no plans of playing in college, but they have a nice group of friends. They got something out of it. They learned. They became a better person because of it." She also has perhaps realized that along her own elite path, taking online courses away form the traditional high school setting, she had missed out. "I think there's something to be said about playing a high school sport, being a part of something bigger than yourself," she says. During an interview earlier this year, USA TODAY Sports asked Luis Robles, a former USMNT goalie and the technical director of MLS NEXT, if he encouraged teens within his youth soccer organization to play the sport in high school. MLS NEXT only recently added a tier to accommodate a prep schedule. "I would stop short of encourage; it's just allowed," Robles said. "I think what we encourage is them to identify the best environment possible for them to develop. And what we've identified as what would be the best environment is where are the best coaches? And if you're under that coach for as long as possible, and you're competing with the best possible competition that aids your development." Hopkins would argue that travel coaches who ask players to skip high school for their team have an educational obligation, too. "I'm not saying those opportunities aren't good for children," he says. "You've got to finish the sentence. They also have to mirror what we're trying to teach because if they never get to play at the high school level, and they just run their career in youth sports and travel ball and things like that, they have to make sure those kids are ready for life as well." Coach Steve: Is it worth it? 10 questions teen athletes need to ask if they play travel sports High school sports is now about NIL; what about sportsmanship? It has all suddenly become much more of a business. Navarro, the CIF Oakland section commissioner, has found himself asking former collegiate athletes in his office to help students figure out the landscape of Name, Image and Likeness. NIL has exploded into a money-making opportunity. High school athletes, depending on their state, can create their own brand and try to profit off of it. The chances increase when they get to college, especially if they are top recruits. "What happens if you get a deal, what do you do?" Navarro says. "I think for many of our students that never have had the opportunity to earn income, it becomes a challenge when they do arrive at a college level and are beginning to earn." Hopkins, 67, who played on the defensive line at Wake Forest from 1975 to 1979, doesn't see the system as sustainable. "You just can't keep doing this long term, because what happens is you and I are teammates and you get a bigger deal than I am, but I'm blocking for you," he says. "I'm like, 'What the heck? You wouldn't be getting any money if I didn't block for you. I need more money so you can do your job,' and the whole locker room becomes frazzled, and then no one trusts each other, no one wants to work for each other. They're out for themselves." To him, NIL is be another disruptive force to that magic "s" word he and NFHS are holding up these days like a placard. "Sportsmanship is a demonstration of fair play, respect and gracious behavior," he says. "We have not seen a lot of stories of that. And it's not a political thing. It's just where we are right now as a country, and we need to get back to the middle, because if you raise a bunch of kids who don't have fair play, respect or gracious behavior, we're going to end up raising and allowing those kids to grow up having kids with little bit of a different attitude, and that's gonna to kill the sport. "And you can fill in the blank of whatever sport it is." Steve Borelli, aka Coach Steve, has been an editor and writer with USA TODAY since 1999. He spent 10 years coaching his two sons' baseball and basketball teams. He and his wife, Colleen, are now sports parents for two high schoolers. His column is posted weekly. For his past columns, click here. Got a question for Coach Steve you want answered in a column? Email him at sborelli@
Vancouver Sun
14-05-2025
- Sport
- Vancouver Sun
Mariners switch pitching prospect brings 90 MPH fastballs from both sides to Nat Bailey
The Vancouver Canadians' scouting report on Everett AquaSox pitcher Jurrangelo Cijntje is bound to be a little longer than most, considering they need to account for him throwing both right- and left-handed. The 21-year-old Seattle Mariners' farmhand is doing his best to push 'switch-pitcher' into today's baseball vernacular. This isn't a novelty act, either, with the Mariners picking Cijntje in the first round (No. 15 overall) in the 2024 Entry Draft out of Mississippi State and giving him a US$4.88 million signing bonus. The MLB Pipeline has Cijntje (pronounced sane-ja) as the No. 92 prospect in the entire minor leagues as part of their updated top 100 list that came out Sunday. He remains at No. 8 on Seattle's top 30 list. According to his MLB Pipeline scouting report, his fastball touches 98 m.p.h. as a right-hander, and he complements it with a slider and a change-up. As a lefty, it's a low-90s fastball with a sweeper, and he does throw from a lower arm slot. Start your day with a roundup of B.C.-focused news and opinion. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder. The next issue of Sunrise will soon be in your inbox. Please try again Interested in more newsletters? Browse here. The C's, who are the Toronto Blue Jays' high-A affiliate, start a six-game Northwest League set with the AquaSox on Tuesday at Nat Bailey Stadium. Starting pitchers for the entire series haven't been announced yet, but Cijntje has been Everett's Saturday starter of late. Tickets are available at the C's website . Promotions this week include Asahi baseball tribute night on Tuesday and women-in-sports-day on Saturday, featuring an appearance by Sportsnet's Hazel Mae. Jurrangelo Cijntje's ability to pitch with both hands makes him unique, but the @Mariners ' up-and-coming phenom is also starting to turn a corner for the @EverettAquaSox : Cijntje is trying to enter rare territory, considering the majors hasn't seen a pitcher throw with both arms regularly since reliever Pat Venditte, whose 61-game, five year career in the bigs came to an end in 2020. He had been tagged as the first hurler to do such a thing on a consistent basis at that level since 1901. Montreal Expos fans may recall 39-year-old righty Greg Harris pitching lefty to two batters in what was the second to last game of his 15-year big league career in 1995. That ended up getting some traction as a news story back then. Cijntje was born in Gravenhage, Netherlands, and raised largely in Willemstad, Curaçao . He's a natural southpaw, but he always wanted to be like his dad Michelangelo, who was a righty-throwing catcher, so he practised throwing with both hands. He played for Curaçao in the 2016 Little League World Series. His family sent him to Hialeah, Fla., to live with cousins while he played high school baseball. That led him to Mississippi State, and to where he is now. He recorded the win last Saturday in Everett's 3-1 triumph over the Tri-City Dust Devils after allowing two hits and one earned run in five innings, while striking out six and walking two. Tri-City put out a lineup with two lefty batters and two switch-hitters. Cijntje pitched left-handed just three times; Tri-City was 0-for-2 with a walk against him in those instances. When he pitched right-handed, Tri-City was 2-for-15 (including a solo home run by lefty-hitting outfielder Anthony Scull in the fifth inning), with six strikeouts, a walk and a hit-by-pitch. The Mariners have had him throwing predominantly righty this season. He's faced 120 hitters so far with Everett, according to Baseball Reference, and he's gone from the right side 90 times. Opposing batters are hitting .167 (13-of-78) when he's a righty and .316 (6-of-19) when he's a lefty. Latest edition of switch-pitcher Saturday with Jurrangelo Cijntje 🎉 @EverettAquaSox | @MsPlayerDev | @Mariners On the season, he's 2-2, with a 5.27 ERA, in nine games, including six starts. He has been much better as a starter (.194 opponents' batting average) than a reliever (.444 opponents' batting average). At 5-foot-11 and 200 pounds, Cijntje is on the smaller side by pitcher standards today. He's drawn comparisons with one-time Vancouver hurler Marcus Stroman in that regard. If Cijntje can get the two-sided thing to work, it would be a distinct advantage. Teams used to be able to bring in a reliever to face one specific hitter. That's no longer allowed. Pitchers have to face three hitters or last until the end of the inning before they can be replaced. And hitters still fare much better against pitchers from the opposite side. According to Baseball Reference, lefty batters in the big leagues in 2024 hit 12 points higher (.249 compared with .237) and were 44 points better in slugging percentage (.410 compared with .366) against right-handed pitchers compared with left-handers. The C's (15-18) feature the current Northwest League player of the week in infielder/outfielder Adrian Pinto, 22, who hit .467 (7-for-15) with three homers, five RBIs and six runs scored against the Spokane Indians in four games last week. Pinto and Vancouver shortstop Arjun Nimmala, 19, are tied for the league lead in homers with Everett outfielder Lazaro Montes, 20, each with seven. Nimmala is up to No. 59 from 78 on this weekend's updated MLB Pipeline Top 100 list . He's No. 1 on the Toronto list compiled by MLB Pipeline. Everett (14-18) features the top two on Seattle's MLB Pipeline list in shortstop Colt Emerson, 19, and Montes, respectively. Emerson is No. 19 on the Top 100 list, Montes is No. 36. SEwen@
Chicago Tribune
14-05-2025
- Business
- Chicago Tribune
Union Township residents show up in force to protest data centers proposed for rural community
The Porter County Expo Center was a mass exercise in solidarity Tuesday evening as over 1,000 Union Township residents crammed into the main ballroom to vehemently oppose two data centers proposed for Wheeler. The sea of orange T-shirts that read 'Wheeler Country Not Corporate' covered nearly every body in the 530 chairs, while hundreds more stood on three sides around them. That visual message was audibly reinforced at a deafening level as the crowd cheered their neighbors who spoke against the proposal and booed a NIPSCO official and other business leaders who spoke in favor of it. The town hall was organized by the Porter County Plan Commission as an extra step not required by state statute to allow petitioner QTS to hear the questions, concerns, and feedback from residents as it finesses its application for a planned unit development that would allow for changes to the county's Unified Development Ordinance through a vote of the Board of Commissioners. While the Plan Commission will run the majority of the application process it is strictly an advisory body, meaning it will take a vote to make a non-binding favorable or unfavorable recommendation to the Board of Commissioners which has the final say. 'I know a lot of people are impatient and they want it to stop now,' said Porter County's Director of Development & Storm Water Management Mike Jabo, 'but there's a process.' The proposed projects are being called Jeremiah A and Jeremiah B. Jeremiah A is proposed for a 351.85-acre parcel at the northeast corner of County Road W 450 N and County Road N 750 W owned by John Loxas of Hammond. Jeremiah B is proposed for 434.46 acres owned by Johnson Sunnybrook Farm, LLC and Ceres Cedar Creek Farm, LLC, of Hobart, at the southeast corner of W 450 N and N 650 W due north of Union Township Middle and High schools. QTS, a Kansas City-based data center owner, operator, and developer, was given 45 minutes to make a presentation. The formal petition came from AXPK, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company, on behalf of the property owners who would transfer ownership upon adoption of the ordinances. Attorneys for AXPK filed papers with the county naming QTS as an affiliate. Nick Blessing, of the land policy and development department for QTS, started off with a lot of talk about core values. 'Integrity, character, and trust are foundational to every relationship,' he said while two women who live in Union Township and serve the children in the cafeteria at Union Center Elementary chuckled over his remarks in the middle of the audience. Upon his mention of QTS taking a team of boys from one of its data center towns to the Little League World Series someone in the audience muttered, 'He's gaslighting.' To talk of the installation of a 50-foot American flag on a 'Freedom Wall' another said, 'Oh big deal!' And to his claims that the company's data centers provide 'very skilled labor jobs' and 'highly skilled technology jobs,' someone shouted, 'That's a lie.' Blessing said 125 to 175 full-time permanent jobs were anticipated at the sites upon completion. He also said the county could expect $10 million in tax revenues upon full buildout. He then passed the presentation to his colleague Chris Kapper of the predevelopment team who addressed a series of particular concerns, including building height, setbacks, and site lines. Building height in the proposed light industrial zone would be 75 feet, plus additional height for mechanical equipment. 'We understand that is what is causing some angst,' Blessing said. A 32-foot landscaping berm with a 5-foot elevation change from the road level is proposed. 'We envision you will be able to shield the view of the development at maturation in about 10 years,' he added. He explained that setback plans have been expanded to 2,000 feet from the nearest school building, 1,000 feet from the nearest ball field, 100 feet from agriculture, 200 feet from residential development, and 500 feet from school property. The audience was unimpressed. After a few brief remarks from Blessing regarding noise and EMFs the meeting was turned over to public comment. What had been planned for two hours eventually stretched 45 minutes over schedule as moderator and Plan Commission President Rick Burns failed to maintain control of the event. While the audience was originally told each speaker would be given a maximum of two minutes to speak, some were haphazardly given up to five because they were deemed to have special status, such as a physician, or the crowd demanded they be allowed to continue. Rex Richards, president of the Valparaiso Chamber of Commerce, spoke first. 'I'm here to compliment the county on going through this type of process,' he said. 'If you need to hire experts to help please consider doing that.' NIPSCO's Rick Calinski, director of public affairs and economic development, got big boos when he introduced himself next. He said NIPSCO's Generation Company is pursuing the separation of the cost of infrastructure for large projects like data centers from that of regular customers. Several county officials were in attendance, including the entire Board of Commissioners, Treasurer Jimmy Albarran, and County Council members Red Stone, R-1st; Michelle Harris, R-At-Large; Mike Brickner, R-At-Large; and Andy Vasquez, R-4th. Vasquez was the only one to speak. 'If it comes to me for a vote for an abatement, my answer is no,' he said. Speakers made a variety of points including statements that the project would not be a data center, but a hyper-scaled data center the size of many WalMarts and that Blackstone, which is considered by many to have contributed to the 2008 housing crisis, bought QTS in 2021. Porter Township School Corporation Superintendant Stacey Schmidt joked that despite Union Township Bearcats being their arch-rivals, her community did not support a data center being thrust upon them. 'Parents send our most precious asset (to school),' she said. 'School safety is lacking in your presentation.' Union Township resident Chris Navetta summed up the ethos of the crowd. 'I've moved here for this and I've never been more proud of Wheeler. These are your constituents.'
Los Angeles Times
13-05-2025
- Sport
- Los Angeles Times
Dodgers Dugout: What should the Dodgers do about Michael Conforto?
Hi, and welcome to another edition of Dodgers Dugout. My name is Houston Mitchell. A belated Happy Mother's Day to all you mothers out there. Sometimes it appears a dark cloud is constantly following a player, sort of like Joe Btfsplk or is just hapless where nothing ever seems to go right, like Charlie Brown. or there's just doom and gloom whenever they are around, like Eeyore. The first time I remember it is during the 1988 season, when it seemed for a couple of months that this would happen in every at-bat by Jeff Hamilton: fastball down the middle, taken for strike one; fastball down the middle, takes for strike two; curveball in the dirt, swung on and missed, strike three. This season, that player for the Dodgers is Michael Conforto. We haven't talked much about Conforto, so let's do a little background on him. Conforto was born March 1, 1993 in Seattle. He was a star at Oregon State and was taken by the New York Mets in the first round (10th overall pick) of the 2014 draft. He reached the majors quickly, appearing in 56 games with the Mets in 2015. The Mets lost in the World Series that season, but Conforto became only the third player to play in the Little League World Series, College World Series and Major League World Series (the other two: Ed Vosberg and Jason Varitek). His breakthrough season was 2017, when he hit .279/.384/.555 with 20 doubles and 27 homers in 444 plate appearances and made the All-Star team. His power numbers began to dip a bit, but were still solid (28 homers in 638 plate appearances in 2018, 33 in 648 plate appearances in 2019), but he was a solid major leaguer. Let's take a look at his OPS+ each season: 2015: 1302016: 952017: 1482018: 1222019: 1272020: 1542021: 1002023: 1002024: 116 You'll notice 2022 is not represented. Before the 2021 season, Conforto turned down a $100-million contract extension. That turned out not to be wise. Conforto had an off year by his standards, hitting .232/.344/.384 with 14 homers in 479 plate apperances. He became a free agent after the season and signed with... no one. His agent, Scott Boras, said Conforto injured his shoulder while working out in January, 2022, had surgery and would not play at all that year. In January 2023, Conforto signed a two-year, $36-million deal with the Giants. He hit .239/.334/.384 in 2023 with 14 doubles and 15 homers in 470 plate appearances and .237/.309/.450 last season with 27 doubles and 20 homers in 488 plate appearances. The Dodgers signed him for one-year, $17-million, and he started off well. After his first six games, he was hitting .368 with four doubles and a homer. Then, the roof caved in. From April 4-May 9, Conforto was eight for 93, good for an .086 batting average. And he struck out 34 times. Because he also walked 15 times in that span, he scored 12 runs, which may be a record for a guy who went eight for 93. Last week, Conforto talked to our Jack Harris and said, 'This game will kick you down. It will kick you when you're down. It can be cruel. So sometimes, you just have to lean on what you know you are as a player, and all the support you have around you … and keep going straight ahead, keep working. ... I think we're right on the edge of getting things back. There's just been a few of them where, you hit it [well], you look up and there's somebody there. It just seems to happen more when you're not going right.' Dave Roberts: 'It's still easy to bet on him because the head is still there, the work is still there. 'He's just got to keep taking good at-bats, and they'll fall. A guy that's been around for so long, I think he can handle this five weeks of adversity.' The luxury of the Dodgers having such a good team is they can afford to give someone like Conforto a longer chance than most other teams could. James Outman could have taken some playing time from him, but Outman is one for 15 since returning from the minors, while Kiké Hernández and Chris Taylor haven't exactly been candidates for the Silver Slugger this year either. Conforto has three hits in his last six at-bats. Not a sign that the slump is over, but a step in the right direction. The Dodgers play the long game, which can be frustrating for fans. The Dodgers are very patient with players and have been for quite a while now. It should come as no surprise that they will give Conforto ample time to rediscover his offense. They have the best record in baseball and can afford to be patient. By the way, Conforto's mother, is Tracie Ruiz Conforto, who won gold medal in the solo and duet synchronized swimming event at the 1984 Los Angeles Summer Olympics. Clayton Kershaw made what is hoped to be his final rehab start, pitching four innings while giving up two runs, two hits, two walks and striking out two for triple-A Oklahoma City. If all goes well, he will come off the IL and start against the Angels on Sunday at Dodger Stadium. Tyler Glasnow has started playing catch again as he tries to return from shoulder inflammation. Blake Snell was supposed to start throwing again Sunday, but did not because of discomfort in his pitching shoulder. Glasnow and Snell will be checked by doctors on Monday, but this isn't a good sign for Snell. Just imagine being a Rockies fan. They haven't made the postseason since 2018 (when they were swept in the first round) and haven't won a postseason game since 2009. They lost to the Padres on Saturday, 21-0. And Sunday they fired their manager, Bud Black, before they beat the Padres 9-3. That 'improved' their record to 7-33, before they lost Monday to drop to 7-34, which means they are on pace to finish 28-134, which I'm guessing would not be a good enough record to sneak into the postseason as a wild-card team. Their GM, Bill Schmidt, blames a lot of it on injuries. But it can't be too fun to be a fan of the Rockies lately. Also, just as a reminder that the Dodgers aren't the only team that struggles at times, the Padres bullpen has given up 29 runs in its last 16 innings, including six runs in the ninth inning at home against the Angels on Monday. The Dodgers' all-time leaders in OPS+, minimum 1,000 plate appearances Franchise1. Dan Brouthers, 1722. Gary Sheffield, 1602. Mike Piazza, 1604. Freddie Freeman, 1574. Jack Fournier, 1576. Reggie Smith, 1527. Pedro Guerrero, 1498. Lefty O'Doul, 1459. Babe Herman, 1449. Hanley Ramirez, 1449. Jim Wynn, 144 Los Angeles only1. Gary Sheffield, 1601. Mike Piazza, 1603. Freddie Freeman, 1574. Reggie Smith, 1525. Pedro Guerrero, 1496 Hanley Ramirez, 1446. Jim Wynn, 1448. Mookie Betts, 1439. Duke Snider, 13610. Justin Turner, 133 Is there a top 10 Dodgers list you'd like to see Email me at and let me know. A look at how some prominent Dodgers from the last few seasons are doing with their new team (through Sunday). Click on the player name to be taken to the baseball-reference page with all their stats. Batters Cody Bellinger, Yankees: .221/.293/.382, 150 plate appearances, 4 doubles, 1 triple, 5 homers, 20 RBIs, 91 OPS+ Michael Busch, Cubs: .262/.360/.500, 150 PA's, 8 doubles, 1 triple, 7 homers, 24 RBIs, 142 OPS+ Jason Heyward, Padres, .181/.225/.292, 81 PA's, 2 doubles, 2 homers, 12 RBIs, 45 OPS+ Gavin Lux, Reds: .282/.377/.389, 151 PA's, 9 doubles, 1 triple, 1 homer, 18 RBIs, 111 OPS+ Zach McKinstry, Tigers: .274/.370/.395, 147 PA's, 6 doubles, 3 triples, 1 homer, 16 RBIs, 121 OPS+ Joc Pederson, Rangers, .130/.237/.230, 115 PA's, 5 doubles, 1 triple, 1 homer, 4 RBIs, 37 OPS+ Keibert Ruiz, Nationals, .292/.343/.377, 140 PA's. 5 doubles, 2 homers, 14 RBIs, 106 OPS+ Corey Seager, Rangers: .300/.346/.520, 107 PA's, 4 doubles, 6 homers, 12 RBIs, 148 OPS+ Justin Turner, Cubs: .155/.271/.155, 70 PA's, 7 RBIs, 26 OPS+ Trea Turner, Phillies: .310/.371/.394, 170 PA's, 7 doubles, 2 homer, 14 RBIs, 118 OPS+ Miguel Vargas, White Sox: .215/.312/.319, 154 PA's, 8 doubles, 2 homer, 12 RBIs, 83 OPS+ Alex Verdugo, Braves: .241/.300/.325, 38 PA's, 7 doubles, 7 RBIs, 76 OPS+ Pitching Walker Buehler, Red Sox: 4-1, 4.28 ERA, 33.2 IP, 32 hits, 9 walks, 29 K's, 96 ERA+, on the IL Jack Flaherty, Tigers: 1-5, 4.61 ERA, 41 IP, 37 hits, 14 walks, 35 K's, 85 ERA+ Kenley Jansen, Angels: 0-1, 5.40 ERA, 7 saves, 10 IP, 12 hits, 2 walks, 9 K's, 80 ERA+ Craig Kimbrel, Braves: in the minors on a rehab assignment Kenta Maeda, Tigers: 0-0, 7.88 ERA, 8 IP, 9 hits, 6 walks, 8 K's, 52 ERA+, released by Tigers Ryan Pepiot, Rays: 2-4, 3.86 ERA, 44.1 IP, 42 hits, 16 walks, 38 K's, 104 ERA+ Max Scherzer, Blue Jays: 0-0, 6.00 ERA, 3 IP, 3 hits, 0 walks, 1 K, 74 ERA+, on the IL Ryan Yarbrough, Yankees: 0-0, 3.70 ERA, 24.1 IP, 21 hits, 10 walks, 20 K's, 107 ERA+ Is there a player you'd like to see listed here? Email me at and let me know. Tuesday: Athletics (TBD) at Dodgers (Landon Knack, 2-0, 4.61 ERA), 7:10 p.m., Sportsnet LA, AM 570, KTNQ 1020 Wednesday: Athletics (TBD) at Dodgers (Yoshinobu Yamamoto, 4-3, 1.80 ERA), 7:10 p.m., Sportsnet LA, AM 570, KTNQ 1020 Thursday: Athletics (TBD) at Dodgers (Roki Sasaki, 1-1, 4.72 ERA), 7:10 p.m., Sportsnet LA, AM 570, KTNQ 1020 *-left-handed How Freddie Freeman unleashed a hot streak at the plate with a single off Paul Skenes Dodgers continue 'to bet on' Michael Conforto, but can he break unthinkable early slump? Shaikin: Agent Nez Balelo 'wouldn't do anything different' with Shohei Ohtani's $700-million deal Hernández: Shohei Ohtani pitching this season initially felt like a luxury. Now it's a necessity Are the Dodgers in a glass-half-full situation or glass-half-empty? | Dodgers Debate From 1929, all-time Dodgers great Dazzy Vance talks pitching. Watch and listen here. Have a comment or something you'd like to see in a future Dodgers newsletter? Email me at and follow me on Twitter at @latimeshouston. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.
Yahoo
13-04-2025
- Yahoo
Arizona baseball coach guilty of catfishing Little League World Series players
An Arizona baseball coach pled guilty to multiple crimes related to child pornography, U.S. Attorney David Metcalf said in a news release. Donald Michael, also known as 'Baseball Fun,' 47, from Queen Creek, pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to manufacture child pornography, one count of conspiracy to receive and distribute child pornography, one count of distribution and attempted distribution of child pornography and two counts of receipt of child pornography. Michael worked as a boy's baseball coach for more than 20 years. According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, Michael and two other men, Andrew Wolf and Kray Strange, who have both been convicted and sentenced in the case, worked together to coerce boys to send them sexually explicit images. The three men catfished boys who were students at the school where Wolf worked in Philadelphia by creating fake social media profiles claiming to be teenage girls and would contact the boys and engage in sexually explicit conversations, as well as send pornographic images of children to the boys, officials said. The men would ask the boys to send their pictures in return. If the boys refused to continue, the three men would blackmail and extort them to manipulate them into continuing to send images, officials said. After Wolf and Strange were arrested and incarcerated, Daniel continued to catfish boys, targeting children who were playing in the Little League World Series. 'Donald Michael and his co-conspirators strategized at length about how to 'bait' young boys into taking and sending explicit images of themselves,' U.S. Attorney Metcalf said in a statement. 'They reveled in the anonymity that the internet provided them to target and catfish their young victims. Unmasking these predators is a priority for my office and the FBI, as we work to protect children everywhere from sexual exploitation.' Michael's sentencing was scheduled for August 14. He faces a mandatory minimum term of 15 years of imprisonment and five years of supervised release and a maximum term of 110 years of imprisonment and lifetime supervised release. He will also be required to register as a child sex offender under both state and federal law. The case was part of Project Safe Childhood, an initiative to combat child sexual exploitation and abuse. The FBI investigated the case and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Kelly Harrell and Michelle Rotella. Corina Vanek covers development for The Arizona Republic. Reach her at cvanek@ Follow her on X @CorinaVanek. This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Arizona baseball coach blackmailed boys for sexually explicit content
