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New York Times
28-04-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
The Cubs know this is only a good start and that they ‘need better'
CHICAGO — The Chicago Cubs are off to their best start since, uh, last season, which ended with the big-market club 10 games behind the Milwaukee Brewers and outside the playoffs. That context illustrates the sense of urgency shown by Chicago's front office and field staff, as well as the dwindling patience with certain players. The lesson is to always keep pushing. Advertisement 'We had a good April last year, too,' Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer said. 'And then we erased that really quickly.' So far, the Cubs have aced the test that — at least on paper — represented the hardest month on any club's schedule this season. Even with the degree of difficulty and Sunday night's 3-1 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies in 10 innings at Wrigley Field, the Cubs are 17-12 at this juncture. If that record sounds familiar, the Cubs were 17-11 after last year's April 28 appearance on 'Sunday Night Baseball,' only to go 21-34 in May and June, dropping into last place in the National League Central and falling nine games under .500 before the Fourth of July. The Cubs took hope off the table, forcing the organization to operate as a seller and a buyer at the trade deadline. A strong second half still left the club with the same 83-79 record that got manager David Ross fired in 2023. In Craig Counsell's Year 2 on the North Side, the manager's subtle influences can be seen in how the Cubs approached their season-opening trip to Japan as a team-bonding opportunity and returned home to implement a more adaptable offense for the unpredictable conditions within the Friendly Confines. Led by superstar Kyle Tucker, the lineup features power, speed and athleticism, a combination that has allowed the Cubs to win close games in frigid weather, beat good pitchers and blow teams out of Wrigley Field. ''Embrace challenges' is something that Couns has always emphasized for us,' Cubs second baseman Nico Hoerner said. 'The mindset from this group has been much more on the side of, 'This is really sick to get to play in front of all these people and against some of the best players in the world.' It's a hard April, but it doesn't mean that it's going to go good or bad. Same goes for parts of the year that are quote-unquote 'easy.' It's not that simple.' we could watch this all day. — Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) April 28, 2025 The Cubs already completed their season series against the Los Angeles Dodgers, San Diego Padres and Arizona Diamondbacks. They faced Yoshinobu Yamamoto (twice), Roki Sasaki (twice), Tyler Glasnow, Dylan Cease, Nick Pivetta (twice), Zac Gallen (twice), Merrill Kelly (twice), Corbin Burnes, Luis Severino, Nathan Eovaldi and Jesús Luzardo. They played in front of sellout crowds at the Tokyo Dome, Dodger Stadium and Petco Park. Wrigley Field is rocking again with Weird and Wild instant classics. Advertisement 'The fact that we came out of the gate hot and played really good teams really well is great,' Cubs pitcher Jameson Taillon said Sunday night after matching Phillies starter Aaron Nola with seven innings of one-run ball. 'I also think we probably have a bit of a target on our back. We're the Chicago Cubs, and teams like it when we come to town. They want to beat us. There's no time to step off the gas.' Counsell's expectations can be heard loud and clear in the Wrigley Field interview room, where last September he stated the obvious and called out the entire organization when he flatly said, 'We should be trying to build 90-win teams here.' To reach that level, Hoyer's front office will continue to scour the market for reinforcements and upgrades. Counsell gave another blunt assessment after watching young starter Ben Brown unravel in Saturday's 10-4 loss to the Phillies: 'We need better, frankly.' For now at least, nine comeback victories have covered up some of these lingering issues. All-Star pitcher Justin Steele is recovering from season-ending surgery on his left elbow. Javier Assad, another projected member of the Opening Day rotation, recently reaggravated his oblique injury, meaning he will essentially have to do another spring training whenever he's cleared to ramp up again. The bullpen has a 4.99 ERA, but the Cubs see a path where that group becomes more efficient and effective. Ryan Pressly, the 36-year-old closer who had his knee drained last week, pitched a scoreless ninth inning Sunday to keep it a 1-1 game before Julian Merryweather took the loss in the 10th. Third base remains a revolving-door system. Matt Shaw, the organization's top prospect, got 68 plate appearances before he was demoted to Triple-A Iowa. Gage Workman, the Rule 5 project who made the Opening Day roster, was designated for assignment last week and was traded to the Chicago White Sox. Vidal Bruján allowed the Phillies to score an extra run in Sunday's 10th inning when he played back on Trea Turner's two-out chopper to third base. Given Turner's speed and the game situation, Counsell said, 'You got to go get that ball.' Advertisement When things go wrong and a team banks wins, it's a sign of resiliency and resourcefulness. After Monday's day off, the Cubs will begin a six-game trip to Pittsburgh and Milwaukee. In May alone, the Cubs will face the White Sox, Miami Marlins and Colorado Rockies a total of 12 times. Only one more West Coast trip remains on their schedule, and that won't happen until the end of August. In any event, it's going to be an entertaining summer in Wrigleyville. 'We have a ways to go,' Hoyer said. 'All that really matters is how we're playing. Yes, playing the Dodgers, Arizona, San Diego — those are hard places to play, hard teams to beat. But I feel like the way Major League Baseball is now, it's just a lot flatter than it used to be. On any given night, if you're not playing well, you can lose and fall into losing streaks. The idea that we can exhale after this is wrong.' (Photo of Dansby Swanson: Geoff Stellfox / Getty Images)
New York Times
25-04-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
Weird & Wild: The 24-2 Game, Brewers steal the show and an MLB-MiLB Johnny Vander Meer
So you thought the Weird and Wild sport of baseball was going to calm down one of these weeks, huh? Sorry. Not this week! A team stole nine bases … before it made its 10th out. … A pitcher summoned his inner Johnny Vander Meer and spun off back-to-back hitless starts … in two different leagues. … And another pitcher lost a no-hit bid … on a ball that left the bat two innings earlier. Advertisement But none of that was even close to being the Weirdest or Wildest stuff we saw this week. So let's tell you all about it, beginning with … Once upon a time, in a baseball galaxy far far away, there was a pitcher named Wes Littleton. Did you know he's a legend — or at least a certified Weird and Wild cult hero? I could make you guess why. Or I could just show you this: Yep. There it is. Just a fun little line score from Aug. 20, 2007 — from that time Wes Littleton got credit for a save for the Rangers … in a 30-3 game. It's 18 years later now. So I'm hereby adding that save to the list of Records That Won't Ever Be Broken. And why would I be doing that this week? Because we just had Another One of Those Games that bring Wes Littleton back to life. We love it when that happens. This one came along Sunday in Baltimore: Randy Wynne. He had himself a huge day for the Reds. He went from an emergency call-up to That Guy Who Saved a 24-2 Game. What a cool day at the yard that was, huh? But still, he was no Wes Littleton. I'll tell you lots more about Wynne — and about that 24-2 game — in a moment. But any time a guy makes a run at Wes Littleton and comes up short, we should all think about big Wes and smile. BIGGEST MARGIN OF VICTORY IN A SAVE (Since 1969) (*in the same ballpark — Camden Yards) Get the picture? It's 18 years later, and nobody has even gotten close to big Wes on that blowout-save leaderboard. So clearly, he holds one of the most unbreakable records ever set — and nobody even appreciated his role in history as it was unfolding. His teammate, Michael Young, remembers it well. And by 'remembers it,' we mean he pretty much remembers nothing about it. WEIRD AND WILD: 'When Wes got a save in that game, did you feel like you were witnessing history?' Advertisement YOUNG: 'No, I had no idea. Like, honestly, I didn't even know he got a save.' W&W: 'So do you feel now like you were deprived of the chance to have goosebumps over a 30-3 save?' YOUNG: 'I do. That's exactly right. And in 2007, I could have used all the goosebumps I could have gotten.' W&W: 'So nobody even knew back then that he had just set the most unbreakable record of all time?' YOUNG: 'No, there's no way anybody knew about that. Even him.' Sadly, I came up short in my quest to track down Littleton for this column. But I did come across photographic evidence that suggests he's proud of that record now. It's right there on his Instagram page: A photo of the scoreboard. And the score in that photo is … 30-3. So what has to happen for a pitcher to get a save in a dramatic game like that one — or 24-2? Well, he has to finish off a win … and go at least three innings … and 'pitch effectively.' Oh, and his teammates have to run around the bases many, many, many times. Well, Randy Wynn's Reds teammates definitely held up their end Sunday. So now that we've paid our respects to the most unbreakable record in history, let's move along to … We're only four weeks into this baseball season. But I feel like we've reached new April heights for most games in one month that America has decided are a 'Weird and Wild' kind of game. Well, America, I'm here for you at times like this. So here comes Everything you Need to Know About Reds 24, Orioles 2 (even if you didn't know you did). 24-2? Really? I was hoping we had ourselves a Scorigami — but not just the first 24-2 game in baseball history. I was rooting for the first 24-2 game in the history of any of the four major North American men's professional sports. Except … Nope! Through the miracle of Baseball Reference/Stathead, I learned we've actually had four previous 24-2 games in the modern era — although only two of them have happened since 1912. Advertisement But even weirder (and wilder), I also found two 24-2 games in NFL history! Anybody remember Steelers 24, Chargers 2 in Week 14, 1972? I'd guess no — unless you were that Chargers lineman who sacked Terry Bradshaw in the end zone that day. The bottom feeders — Elly De La Cruz is our idea of a superstar, right? He batted third in this game for the Reds — and drove in one run. But whatever! The Reds got 11 hits and 13 RBIs from the two dudes who batted eighth and ninth, Noelvi Marte and Austin Wynns. Add in the No. 7 hole (shared by Jake Fraley and Blake Dunn) — and that comes to 13 hits and 17 RBIs — from the 7-8-9 hitters! Want to guess how many teams have ever spewed 17 RBIs in one game out of the bottom third of the order? As always, feel free to guess zero! Austin's Powers — Johnny Bench used to catch for the Reds. Maybe you've heard of him. You know what he never did? Get six hits in one game. But you know who just caught for the Reds and did get six hits in one game? Austin Wynns, because of course he did. So what's so Weird and Wild about that? • He's a catcher! And as loyal reader/friend of the column Eric Orns reports, Wynns is just the second catcher to get six hits in a game since 1949. The other: Paul Lo Duca, on May 28, 2001. • He was the No. 9 hitter! And how many No. 9 hitters in the modern era have ever gotten six hits in a game? That would be one: Austin Wynns! It was the only spot on the lineup card that had never had a six-hit game … until Sunday. (Hat tip: Eric Orns.) • He hasn't exactly been Luis Arraez! To find Wynns' previous six hits, you'd have to comb through the box scores all the way back to last July 11. Only one man has ever had a six-hit game after entering it with a lower career batting average than Wynns (.231) — the unforgettable Mike Benjamin, at .207. (Another hat tip to Orns.) Advertisement Scoring position — Is it OK to mention one more tidbit about Wynns' big day? He was awesome and all that. But he also got his fifth and sixth hits with position players on the mound! He singled in the eighth inning off an infielder, Jorge Mateo. That was hit No. 5. Then came a homer in the ninth off a catcher, Gary Sánchez. That was hit No. 6. So who else has ever gotten his fifth and sixth hits in a game off position players? According to the amazing Kenny Jackelen of Baseball Reference, that could only be … nobody. And who else has even gotten two hits off position players in a five-hit game? Well, there was the guy hitting in front of Wynns (Marte). But Yoán Moncada also did it on June 15, 2022. Compromising position — Speaking of Mateo and Sánchez, they might not have reminded the population of Baltimore of Zack Britton and Tippy Martinez with their late-inning relief prowess … seeing as how they gave up nine runs (in two innings). Before the Reds ran into those two guys, only two teams had ever scored nine runs (or more) against position-player 'pitchers' in the same game: The Blue Jays put up 10 against the Rays' Luke Raley and Christian Bethancourt on May 23, 2023. And the Mets scored nine against the Phillies' dynamic duo of Roman Quinn and Scott Kingery on Aug. 16, 2018. Traffic jam — Then again, the Orioles didn't just need more pitchers in this game. They needed more traffic cops — because it was hard to tell where you found the most traffic that day, on the Beltway or when the Reds were running the bases. Ever heard of a game in which a team got 25 hits … and 11 walks … and two hit batters? No, you have not! As Orns reports, the Reds were the first team to ever do that. Even if you ignore the hit-by-pitch part, they were the first team with that many hits and that many walks … in 75 years … since the Red Sox put up 28 hits and 11 walks on June 8, 1950. Advertisement So that enabled the Reds to tie the weirdest record of the day: Leaving an incredible 13 runners on base in a game in which they scored 24 runs. The only other team to do that was … also the Reds, in a ridiculous 24-12 game at Coors Field in 1999. Five more Weird/Wild blockbusters — This game was so wild that we're still not done! Did you know … • All five guys who pitched for the Orioles finished the game with an ERA over 10.00! The previous latest point in a season that had ever happened, according to Orns, was the fourth game of the season, which was when the 2016 Rockies pulled it off. • TJ Friedl batted eight times — in a nine-inning game! The only two other hitters who did that in a game in the 21st century? Frank Catalanotto and Ian Kinsler, for Texas, in (you guessed it) … the Wes Littleton Game! • The Reds won a road game by 22 runs! And how rare is that? As Cincinnati TV sports anchor Charlie Clifford reported, they hadn't even scored 20 on the road since a 1999 20-1 game in Philadelphia against a Phillies team managed by … some guy named Terry Francona! • Remember when the Reds used to play 1-0 games every day? That was just a couple of weeks ago. So according to my favorite Reds nugget finder, Joel Luckhaupt, to locate the last time a team won a game by at least 20 runs and lost multiple 1-0 games in a span of 25 games, you'd have to go back 70 years! Walt Dropo's 1955 White Sox were the last team to pull that off. • Name the score! Finally, how can you not love a game in which the Reds got 10 hits from guys named Austin (Wynns and Hays)? I asked the official Name Game czar of Weird and Wild, David Firstman, to check that out. And the most hits he could find by two teammates with the same name was eight, by the Brandons (Crawford and Belt), for the Giants on Aug. 8, 2016. Advertisement But that wasn't even the Weird and Wild Name Game highlight of the day. What catcher was Randy Wynne pitching to when he recorded the save that started this column? It was Austin Wynns. Which means … It was a Wynne-Wynns situation! GO DEEPER C. Notes: Reds run wild in record-setting Sunday that has numbers galore JUDGEMENT DAY — Aaron Judge in 2024: Whomped 58 home runs. Aaron Judge in 2025 (so far): Rocking a batting average of … .415! So how often does a guy who led his league in home runs one year blitz through April the next year hitting .400? OK, so April isn't over yet, but just in case. … The last defending home run champ to do that: Eddie Murray (.441) in 1982. (Murray tied for the American League lead in homers in '81.) But who was the last man to lead the major leagues in home runs one year and hit .400 the next April (with at least 60 plate appearances). That would be some nobody named … Lou Gehrig (.412), in 1932. (Gehrig tied this dude, George H. Ruth, for the lead in 1931.) SPIDER MAN 2-0 — Patrick Corbin's won-lost record from 2020-24: a scary 33-70! Patrick Corbin's record this season in Texas (since summoning all his superpowers to pitch despite a mysterious spider bite): a stunning 2-0! So does great spider power create great won-lost responsibility? You decide. You would have to go back five years to find the last time Corbin's won-lost record was two games over. 500. He was 2-0 after three starts in 2020, quickly headed south and never had a winning record at any point over his next 132 starts for the Nationals. Until this man met that spider. And the rest is history. '10's' ARE WILD (AND ALSO WEIRD) — Feel free to read our Weird and Wild bonus edition on how the Cubs gave up 10 runs in an inning last Friday and still won. But here's the weirdest, wildest epilog to that story: Four days later, they won an improbable 11-10 game with the Dodgers. And here at Weird and Wild World HQ, we wonder about stuff like that. Advertisement How many teams in the modern era have ever had a week like the Cubs — winning one game in which they gave up 10 runs in an inning and another game in which they allowed 10 in a game? I spent way too much of my theoretically useful life on this. But I could find only two! One was Babe Ruth's 1933 Yankees: Won a 17-11 game against the A's on June 3 despite allowing 11 runs in the third inning. … And that came a week after a game in which they served up 11 runs to the White Sox — but won anyway by scoring 12 in the eighth. The other team to do this? That would be Beals Becker's 1912 New York Giants. On June 20, they went into the ninth inning with a 21-2 lead … and gave up 10 in the ninth to Doc Miller's Boston Braves. … And then, two days later, in the same series, they won a madcap 14-12 game against the Braves. But that's it … until these Cubs came along … many decades later! JOC JAMS — Your attention, please: Joc Pederson got a hit! He was (somehow) 0-for-his-last-41 before his pinch hit Wednesday, for the Rangers in Sacramento. And that got me thinking, which is always dangerous. Here's just a sampling of sweet-swinging pitchers who never went 0-for-41: Randy Johnson Roy Halladay Tim Lincecum CC Sabathia Greg Maddux Tom Glavine John Smoltz I could go on, but just remind yourself: What's Joc's primary job again? Oh, that's right. He's a DH … so the pitchers don't have to hit! HOW BOUT THIS SIX-PACK — Like any newcomer to Philadelphia, Jordan Romano never set out to get the Boos Choir of Philly all riled up. But he just can't help himself. So the bad news last Saturday was, he came on in the ninth inning and gave up six runs to the Marlins. The good news was, the Phillies won anyway, 11-10. And how often do you see that — a former All-Star reliever giving up six in the ninth but his team still won the game? Not much! Advertisement Baseball Reference's Kenny Jackelen found only three other All-Star relievers who have done this in the division-play era (now in its 57th season): • Keith Foulke — for the White Sox on June 25, 2000 • Shigetoshi Hasegawa — for the Blue Jays on April 18, 2000 • Jim Clancy — for the Astros on July 20, 1990 So don't try this at home … especially if that home is in South Philadelphia! PLEASE WASH YOUR SOX — I've been trying not to pick on the White Sox in this column this year. But this just in: They finally wore me down. Do you ever look at their box scores? All these names appeared in Tuesday's edition, with their season batting averages listed alongside: Nick Maton — .167 Luis Robert Jr. — .151 Andrew Vaughn — .145 Michael A. Taylor — .149 Jacob Amaya — .089 Joshua Palacios — .182 (Not pictured: Miguel Vargas — .157) It was 23 games into their season. What the heck! I couldn't remember a team with this many guys who were still gurgling beneath the Mendoza Line this late in a season. I asked Baseball Reference's brilliant researcher Katie Sharp if I was onto something. Of course I was! Only one other team in the last 50 years had this many players 'hitting' under .200 this deep into a season. If you use a cutoff of at least 45 plate appearances, the White Sox had six of them. The only other team Katie found was the 2024 Diamondbacks — who had seven of them. She found three other teams in the live-ball era — the '74 Orioles, '72 Brewers and '60 Tigers — and two more in the dead-ball era (1909 White Sox and Washington Nationals). But here I thought the dead-ball era was over. Um, not on the South Side of Chicago, it isn't. CRIME DOES PAY — The Milwaukee Brewers in 2020: Stole six bases … in their last 33 games combined. The Milwaukee Brewers on Sunday against the A's: Stole six bases … in the first inning. The @Brewers successfully pulled off two double steals in the 1st inning. They had a franchise-record SIX stolen bases in the frame 🤯 — MLB (@MLB) April 20, 2025 Hey, let's keep going. Those 2020 Brewers: Stole nine bases … in the whole month of August, a month when they sent 1,024 hitters to home plate. The Brewers on Sunday: Stole nine bases … just in the first four innings, before they'd even sent their 20th hitter to home plate. I don't know about you. But I never get tired of seeing all the ways teams try to win in the ever-changing sport of … Baseball! Advertisement This all happened, in real life, since the last edition of this column. No kidding. • Cleveland's Emmanuel Clase spun off a 1-2-3 save against the Pirates last Saturday despite giving up a triple. … Um, how'd that happen? … Because Enmanuel Valdez ruined the Emmanuel vs. Enmanuel portion of this note … when he tried to call timeout after his triple … by lifting his hand off the bag to ask for time … and getting tagged out! Wow. Valdez called OUT on this after sliding into third with an apparent triple and not getting a timeout. Never seen this one. — Travis Sawchik (@Travis_Sawchik) April 19, 2025 • I watched Sandy Alcantara make a start last Friday in Philly in which he threw 30 pitches in the first inning … and then 37 more in the second! The only Cy Young Award winner in the previous five seasons to kick off a start with two straight innings of 30-plus pitches: Blake Snell (of course) … who did it in two starts in a row on Sept. 23 and 29, 2019. (Hat tip: STATS Perform.) • Thanks to the magic of official scoring, Max Fried lost a no-hit bid in the eighth inning Sunday … on a ball that left the bat two innings earlier! Do I really need to explain this any further? I don't think so. • And how about the Diamondbacks' first two batters, in their April 17 game in Miami, starting the game by going: strikeout … sacrifice fly. Wait, what? True! Corbin Carroll whiffed but reached first on a wild pitch. You know the rest. Steal of second. Steal of third. Geraldo Perdomo sac fly. Baseball! (Hat tip: Eric Orns.) RALLY FEVER — As loyal reader Stephen Tolbert tweeted at us last Saturday, it isn't every weekend when you see teams put up a 10-run inning and an eight-run inning on back-to-back days. But it isn't any weekend when two teams do that … and they both lose. In this week's Weird and Wild special, I devoted many words to describing how the Diamondbacks managed to do that last Friday at Wrigley. Then came Saturday, when the Washington Nationals rolled into the bottom of the seventh at Coors Field with a 12-2 lead … and gave up eight to the Rockies … but still won, 12-11, because baseball is so frigging weird (and also wild). Advertisement FINNEGAN'S BOWL-A-RAMA — OK, so last Saturday was a day when the Nationals turned a 12-2 game into a 12-11 game. But that was a good thing — at least for the Strange But True portion of this column. And that's because they had to wave in their closer, Kyle Finnegan, from the bullpen to pitch the ninth in that game. And as the radio voice of the Nationals, Dave Jageler, alerted me excitedly, Finnegan entered that inning with 299 career appearances, 299 innings pitched and 299 strikeouts. So … guess what happened next. One inning … one strikeout … one career pitching line Mookie Betts would be totally jealous of. It's official!! Kyle Finnegan's baseball reference page. He bowled a 900 series. 300 games pitched. 300 innings pitched. 300 strikeouts. Gotta love baseball. — Dave Jageler (@DaveJageler) April 21, 2025 IT'S A WALK-OFF UH-WHAT-WAS-THAT — Here's a game-ending play you don't see a whole lot. Take a look at how this April 10 Red Sox-Blue Jays game was won. See if you catch this. Trevor Story walks it off for the Red Sox! — Talkin' Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) April 10, 2025 It's the old walk-off 4-3 out? What? FanGraphs' David Laurila inspired me to ask Katie Sharp if that's as Strange But True as we thought it was. Yup! It has happened only two other times in the last 50 years. • Padres over Dodgers on May 21, 1997 — Wilton Guerrero throws out Quilvio Veras at first just for the heck of it. • Pirates over Cubs on June 5, 1990 — Ryne Sandberg throws out R.J. Reynolds just for fun. Crazy! FIRST TO LAST — Here's another bizarre game for you, from last Saturday. The Diamondbacks scored two runs in a 6-2 loss to the Cubs — the first on a leadoff solo homer (by Corbin Carroll), the second on another solo homer with two outs in the ninth (Tim Tawa). In between, they just hung a bunch of zeroes. And yes, you don't see that much! (Hat tip: Jesse Rogers.) Advertisement But just how much? Katie Sharp dug up only three other modern-era games in the Baseball Reference database with that same, hard-to-replicate script: • A 15-2 Phillies loss to the Cubs on July 22, 2022, with Kyle Schwarber and Darick Hall providing the bookend homers. • An incredible 2-1 A's win over the Red Sox on Aug. 22, 1971 — featuring a Bert Campaneris leadoff shot and a Reggie Jackson walk-off inside-the-park homer! • And a 5-2 win for the Mets, over the Giants, on Aug. 8, 1962. Those two Giants homers: from Harvey Kuenn and Orlando Cepeda. Hey, did we just drop the names of Corbin Carroll, Reggie Jackson and Orlando Cepeda in the same note? We did. You're welcome! PAGING JOHNNY VAN DER MEER — And now one last thing. This might have been the greatest pitching feat of the whole darned season … and it feels as if nobody even noticed … except the Weird and Wild column. Check out the last two starts by humongous Rays pitching phenom Joe Boyle. April 13 — makes a last-minute fill-in start in the big leagues against the Braves: 5 IP, 0 hits April 19 — heads back to Triple-A Durham, faces the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders: 6 IP, 0 hits So if you're scoring at home (and hopefully, that never occurred to you), you've just seen two consecutive starts allowing zero hits. Which seems good. It's now 87 years since Johnny Vander Meer did that thing he is most famous for — by throwing back-to-back no-hitters, against the Braves and Dodgers. And granted, I'm pretty sure Joe Boyle isn't going to be quite that legendary for what he's done. But think about it. Who the heck has ever had a major-league/minor-league Vander Meer? All right, so you can call it a quasi-Vander Meer if you'd like, since Boyle didn't go nine innings in either start. But still, here's the question I asked Boyle's manager with the Durham Bulls, Morgan Ensberg: WEIRD AND WILD: 'So he's thrown a no-hitter in the major leagues and a no-hitter in Triple A. What league should he pitch in next?' Advertisement ENSBERG: 'That's a really good point. He should go back to the big leagues and try to continue to repeat this whole not-letting-guys-get-a-hit thing, because it's very effective.' Very! So remember that, kids. If you can just go out there and never give up a hit, no matter what league you're in, I predict a bright future for you in the beautiful sport of … Baseball! (Top photo of the scoreboard from the 24-2 game: Nick Wass / Associated Press)
New York Times
18-04-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
Weird & Wild: Twins' Jose Miranda summons his inner ‘Hamilton'
Editor's note: This is a bonus Weird and Wild column. To read more Weird and Wild from the past week, go here. Poor Jose Miranda. There are a million things he hasn't done. But if this past week was any indication, just you wait. Just in the past week, the Minnesota Twins' third baseman was out even when he was safe. … And that got him shipped back to the minor leagues … where he headed off to Target … and wound up as the early leader in our annual Injury of the Year competition. Advertisement So you know who's here to tell his story? We are! Let's hear a big hand now for … the cast (and chorus) of the Weird and Wild column. We don't know if history has its eyes on Jose. But we do. So in honor of his cousin — that Lin-Manuel Miranda guy, of 'Hamilton' fame — here's how we think the cast of 'Hamilton' would rise up and put Jose Miranda's week in its proper perspective. It was only last season that Miranda did something only three other players in history have ever done. He headed for home plate and got a hit in 12 at-bats in a row. So perhaps you thought that would have been enough to get him into the Twins' big-league (locker) room where it happens this season. But that was before he wandered onto the base paths last Saturday … where this unfortunate thing transpired. Umpire called Jose Miranda safe, saying the fielder didn't touch the base to get the forceout. But then Miranda just walked away and got tagged out anyway. — Aaron Gleeman (@AaronGleeman) April 12, 2025 Oops! We think Lin-Manuel could have gotten a whole act out of that scene alone, featuring our chorus singing … • 'What'd I Miss?' • 'Wait for It' • 'Say No to This' • 'Stay Alive' And … judging by the stories on this game on our very site … that regrettable gaffe appeared to turn into … • 'The Story of Tonight' Which then led to an even more unfortunate development for our hero … It never feels like a good plan for baseball job security to find a way to get yourself tagged out even when you're safe. But it's an even worse plan when you're 6-for-36, hitting .167/.167/.250 and have an OPS+ of (wait for it) 18. So what happened to Miranda after that Safe Wait No I'm Not Game? The Twins shipped him right on back to Triple-A St. Paul. And that inspired our Weird and Wild Chorus to launch into renditions of: • 'Take a Break' Advertisement • 'The World Turned Upside-Down' And (with any luck) … • 'You'll Be Back' Except then, last Monday, Jose Miranda went shopping. And by the time he was through, he was … By now you probably have heard this story. But just in 'case' you haven't … According to the Twins, Miranda was zipping through Target and, because hydration is often the key to salvation, he grabbed a case of water off the shelf. Good idea, except … Those cases of water can get bulky and slippery on you — and this one attempted a daring escape from Miranda's hands. So he did what any great athlete would do at a time like that — try to … Catch it. But those cases of water are heavy, you know! So that didn't go well, either. Next thing we knew, Miranda was heading for the St. Paul injured list with a strained left hand … incurred in the most watery way possible. Twins notes from the minors: – Zebby Matthews starts for Triple-A St. Paul tonight, a week after his last outing. – Jose Miranda was placed on the Triple-A injured list with a hand strain before playing a game. – Brock Stewart begins a rehab assignment at Low-A Fort Myers. — Aaron Gleeman (@ April 15, 2025 at 2:46 PM We'd advise him to spend the next week heeding Aaron Burr's advice for Hamilton: Talk less, smile more. But that's going to be hard, when the cast of Weird and Wild is all around him, singing catchy tunes like: • 'Stay Alive' • 'Helpless' • 'How Lucky (You) Are To Be Alive Right Now' • '(Left) Hand Man' • 'Say No to This' And (accompanied by Rocco Baldelli and the Twins Singers) … • 'That Would Be Enough' Now this can still be a story of redemption, you understand. Miranda's season isn't over. Miranda's career isn't over. And this will not result in any ill-fated duels — with Ryan Burr or anyone else. So there will always be more chances for men talented enough to go 12-for-12. But … Yikes. What a week! So Jose, the world's gonna know your name. And we're aware we just helped with that. But who lives? Who dies? Who tells your story? That can still be you, Jose. Unless you prefer to leave it to … the Weird and Wild chorus! And man, we sure hope not. After all this singing, our vocal cords are officially shredded. (Photo of Colt Keith tagging out Jose Miranda on April 12: David Berding / Getty Images)
New York Times
18-04-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
Weird & Wild: The 3-run walk, a bizarre strikeout and the baseball gods bless Manny Machado
Oh, man. What a week. There was a strikeout that hit the bat but never hit a glove. … There was a home run in San Diego scripted 100 percent by (who else) the baseball gods. … There was a pitcher who issued a walk after he'd gotten ejected. … And there was a guy who stole six bases in a game in which he forgot to get a hit. Advertisement But if you thought that was wacky, they weren't even close to being the Weirdest or Wildest things that happened in baseball all week. So let's get started, by taking … You know that old expression, you've got to walk before you run? Tell it to those Albuquerque Isotopes. What we learned from them this week was … You've got to walk before you score three runs. The Isotopes are the Triple-A affiliate of the Colorado Rockies. The big-league team can barely score any runs these days — on a walk, a hit or even (literally) an earthquake in San Diego. But enough about them. Back to Albuquerque. You have to see this play. And if you've already seen it, what's the problem? You can't possibly see it enough! THE ALBUQUERQUE ISOTOPES SCORED THREE RUNS ON A BASES-LOADED WALK AND THERE IS VIDEO [image or embed] — Codify Baseball (@ April 15, 2025 at 10:57 PM So if you weren't adding along at home, you just saw three runs scoring on a walk. And does that seem kind of rare to you? You should answer yes to that. 'I can't recall ever seeing three runs scoring on ball four,' said dulcet Isotopes broadcaster Josh Suchon … and also every other living human. When stuff like this happens in baseball, America seems to think this is what's known as a Weird and Wild kind of play. They're not wrong. And thanks for thinking of us, America. So we know what that means. It means there is lots to get to. But before we move along to bizarre questions like what just happened … and how do you even score a play like that … and how would somebody like Josh Suchon explain that play into a microphone in real time … You probably want some Weird and Wild tidbits. So here you go. So has this ever happened before? That's the question I asked Baseball-Reference's amazing Katie Sharp, because of course I did. Has there ever been a walk in a major-league game on which three runs scored? I'd have bet no — and I'd have been wrong! Katie actually found two of these in the Baseball Reference database: • Aug. 21, 1914: Should we even count this? It happened in a Federal League game between Tex Wisterzil's Brooklyn Tip-Tops and Biddy Dolan's Indianapolis Hoosiers. It's not totally clear from the play-by-play what happened. But it looks as if Brooklyn pitcher Ed (Don't Call Me BB) Lafitte muffed the catcher's throw back to the pitcher. Then the Tip-Tops started throwing the ball all over Federal League Park — and even the batter (Benny Kauff) scored, on a walk and two errors. Advertisement • July 11, 1983: This play — in a Cardinals-Dodgers game in L.A. — had actual living eyewitnesses. Fernando Valenzuela walked the bases full. Then in marched Dave Stewart to pitch to Tom Herr. Ball four was a wild pitch. Then the catcher, Steve Yeager, made a wild throw to the plate. And all three runners scored — even though Herr never made it beyond first base. Good times. So that's great knowledge, filled with exceptional name-dropping. But I still vote that the merry-go-round in Albuquerque was way more fun. However, there's one more thing. Meanwhile in Colorado … Have I mentioned that the Rockies have had a little trouble scoring recently? Over the first five games of their last road trip, they also scored three runs … in a span of 134 batters! And while that was going on, their triple-A team scored three runs in a span of one batter — who walked. But in other news … the rulebook says the Rockies also are allowed to walk with the bases loaded. They just don't do that much. They've scored three runs on walks … in their last 161 games combined! Meanwhile, their top minor-league team just scored three runs on a walk in a span of 20 seconds. Yes, the @ABQTopes scored 3 runs on a walk last night. Here's the longer clip with a replay from our elite @Windfire_pro crew that shows the "high home" angle of all the madness. Jackie Robinson would be proud of @RealSlimSchunky Cc: @jaysonst @CodifyBaseball @JomboyMedia — Josh Suchon (@Josh_Suchon) April 16, 2025 All right. That'll do it for the tidbits. Let's move along to … How'd you like to be the official scorer for a play like that? Somebody had to do that. And Frank Mercogliano was just the guy. He's one of America's ultimate students of all sorts of scoring decisions. So when this nuttiness broke out, he had a flashback. Advertisement He somehow remembered a Jose Bautista walk in 2017 in which the Mariners kind of zoned out … so Bautista ambled into second base. It took a couple of days but Bautista wound up getting credit for a steal of second — on a walk. And amazingly, Mercogliano recalled all of that. He just had to verify that recollection, with some assistance from Google and Retrosheet. 'I remembered that, but I wanted to make sure I found it,' he told Weird and Wild, 'so that if anyone asked me, 'Why is this a stolen base?' I could say, 'Well, it was done in 2017.'' So how did he score it? The runner on third (Austin Nola) scored on the bases-loaded walk. The runner on second (Aaron Schunk) advanced to third on the walk, then got credited with 'a straight steal of home.' And the runner on first (Jordan Beck) advanced to second on the walk, was awarded a steal of third and scored on a throwing error by bamboozled El Paso pitcher Omar Cruz. It all kind of makes sense, except the 'straight steal of home' part. WEIRD AND WILD: 'You used the expression, 'straight steal of home.' That's the least straight steal of home ever. … So it counts as a straight steal of home, even though he had to make a left turn?' MERCOGLIANO: 'Yeah, exactly. Straight steal of home. … He just had to make a left turn in Albuquerque.' This is what the scorebook looks like after that play and the wild game last night. — Josh Suchon (@Josh_Suchon) April 16, 2025 Got that, Google Maps? Great. Now let's ask: How'd you like to be the broadcaster for a play like that? I know you want to say yes. But first, let's hear Josh Suchon recount how he went about keeping his brain from overloading as all this was going on. First, you should factor in that it's Jackie Robinson Day, so everyone on the field is wearing the same number (42). And also understand that a broadcaster's normal instinct after every walk is not that The Bad News Bears is about to bust out, but just to write down that walk in his scorebook. So Suchon was doing just that. Except then, he said, he heard the crowd buzz. Advertisement 'Fortunately, our crowd is so great that I hear a commotion,' he said. 'So as I'm starting to write 'BB' in my scorebook, I look up and I just see the blur of somebody sliding headfirst into home plate. And that's when I realize something's happening here. And then you realize the pitcher does not realize this is happening here. And then his teammates are trying to get his attention, and he throws wildly to third. 'And so I'm just trying to keep up with it. Everyone's wearing No. 42, so I want to make sure that I don't misidentify anybody. And I'm hoping that I'm counting correctly — up to three.' Hey, mission accomplished on all of that. But also realize there's a surreal confluence of extreme events going on: • A savvy base runner in Schunk who detects immediately the pitcher has zoned out. • Another astute base runner in Beck who watches that second run score and realizes the pitcher still hasn't regained baseball consciousness. • And a pitcher in Cruz who is lost in his own brain space after what Suchon called 'the ultimate Jayson Stark inning.' By that, he means: a leadoff comebacker off Cruz's glove … two pitches heaved off the backstop … two ball-strike challenges … a throwing error by the third baseman … three other walks … then this fateful walk, after he'd jumped ahead in the count, 0-2. So was that a tipoff that Cruz was already reeling before that three-run carousel started spinning? Seems like it. But whatever happened, at least we got a three-run walk out of it that we can talk about for the next decade. Baseball! It's awesome. 'I think that plays like that reward people who truly love baseball and understand that something wacky can happen at any second,' Suchon said. 'So whether you're Aaron Schunk at second base, or whether you're a fan in the stands, or whether you're a broadcaster, or whether you're an umpire, whoever you are, you just always have to be alert for this once-in-a-lifetime, once-in-a-generation experience where something like that happens, right?' Advertisement Right! It was weird. It was wild. It was a carnival ride just to make sense of. But … 'But that's what makes it so fun,' Josh Suchon said. 'That's what makes baseball so great, is that these wacky things happen — and then Jayson Stark writes about them.' Thanks to that three-run walk and that conversation with Josh Suchon, we stumbled upon a fun theme to this week's Weird and Wild extravaganza: Broadcasters tell us about how they describe things that nobody has ever seen before … To people (on the radio) who literally haven't seen that thing! So let's just say you were the great Tom Hamilton, the radio voice of Cleveland baseball for 36 seasons and a man who is three months away from being honored on Induction Weekend in Cooperstown. Then let's just say the most bizarre strikeout of all time happened. And let's just say it looked like this. Thanks to that three-run walk and that conversation with Josh Suchon, we stumbled upon a fun theme to this week's Weird and Wild extravaganza: Broadcasters tell us about how they describe things that nobody has ever seen before … To people (on the radio) who literally haven't seen that thing! So let's just say you were the great Tom Hamilton, the radio voice of Cleveland baseball for 36 seasons and a man who is three months away from being honored on Induction Weekend in Cooperstown. Then let's just say the most bizarre strikeout of all time happened. And let's just say it looked like this. That's one way to do it 🤣 — MLB (@MLB) April 12, 2025 Yessir, just your standard strike three … in which the pitch somehow hits the bottom of the knob of the bat … and then the baseball miraculously caroms into that perfect spot between the forearm and the pads of the catcher (Austin Hedges). Um, what? I mean, he's out! So would it truly be accurate to say that Austin Hedges caught that strike three? Or did it catch him? Advertisement 'I know one thing,' Hamilton told Weird and Wild. 'Austin Hedges is as good a defensive catcher as there is in the game — but he does not practice that play.' And for good reason. After all, what were the odds of that happening — 9 quadrillion to 1? 'Just the fact that you and I are talking about it right now,' Hamilton said, 'tells us they're astronomical.' So how great is baseball? Think about how many baseball games Tom Hamilton has seen and called … and then this thing happens that none of us has ever seen and that seems almost impossible. And then … there it was. It was enough to make Hamilton think back to his first spring training in this job. He was driving back from a road game with his first partner, Herb Score. And Score pretty much warned him that some day, something this wacky was definitely going to happen — because on any day in baseball, you can see something you've never seen before and you'll never see again. 'He said that statement that I have lived for 36 years,' Hamilton said. 'It's just what you and I are talking about. How many times do you come to the park in what you think might just be another ho-hum day in a long season. … And then you're going to see something … and Jayson Stark is going to call you. 'And that,' Hamilton said, 'is the beauty of our game. That's why, to me, this never gets old, because no matter what kind of a team you're covering, something's going to happen that you and I haven't seen again. And the question is, will it be tonight? Will it be tomorrow? Or will it be four months from now? But it's going to happen again, where we're going to see something we've never seen before, and we'll have another story to talk about.' OK, let's do this one more time because why the heck not. Just suppose you were the radio voice of the San Diego Padres. And just suppose you were calling a game Tuesday night when Manny Machado lofted two foul balls onto the field of play in one at-bat … And that team on the other side — the Cubs — caught neither of them (for two errors). Advertisement Do you think you'd have the guts to say what the great radio voice of the Padres, Jesse Agler, said … into a microphone … where everyone could hear him? 'If you've watched enough baseball in your life,' Agler said on the air, as Machado's fifth-inning at-bat rolled along, 'you have a sense, deep down in your gut, about what's going to happen.' He said that. And then, on the very next pitch … yep. I think we all saw this one coming after two dropped foul pop-ups 😅 🎙️ @jesseagler — 97.3 The Fan (@973TheFanSD) April 16, 2025 'The most predictable, yet unpredictable, game in the world,' Agler said, while Machado was still in mid-trot. 'The Cubs dropped two foul pops in this at-bat, and the baseball gods reward the Padres with Manny Machado's second home run of the season.' You should know, if you're not a regular Padres radio listener, that Jesse Agler has a rep as a noted predictor of the baseball future. He even predicted the Padres' playoff-clinching walkoff triple play last September. Seems risky, right? But whatever! 'I think it's fun to throw stuff out there,' he told the Weird and Wild column. Oh, it's fun, all right. It's just that your chances of being wrong are so much higher than your chances of being right. And shouldn't we all know that logically — that the odds are totally against that home run? Let's prove that now. I asked my friends from STATS Perform to look into this. And you know how many other players, in the 52-season history of their play-by-play database, have ever done what Machado just did — hit a home run after the other team clanked two foul balls? None! Of course. So what is it about baseball that something that unlikely happens, and yet we actually find ourselves expecting it to happen? And then afterward, thousands of people are saying, 'Yeah, that made sense.' Do we even want to explain to them that no, that did not make sense? 'I mean, it makes sense in the context of the beautiful stupidity of baseball,' Agler said. 'It does not make sense in any other context. If you were going to run the numbers on it, there's no way it would make sense. But again, I think that's one of the things that draws people to this game in a deep, deep way, that is so uncommon in the rest of our lives.' Advertisement But what does the rest of our lives have to do with it? It isn't trigonometry. It's baseball. 'For those of us who are lucky enough to watch baseball professionally, with the amount of games that we see, there's no way that that should be happening on any kind of basis, much less a regular basis,' Jesse Agler said. 'And yet it seems like once or twice a week, you go, 'Man, I've never seen that before.' It's just the damnedest thing. It really is.' So remember that, OK? It isn't logic. It isn't science. It isn't normal. It isn't paranormal. It's just … Baseball! Poor Jose Miranda. There are a million things he hasn't done. But if this past week was any indication, just you wait. Just in the past week, the Minnesota Twins' third baseman was out even when he was safe. … And that got him shipped back to the minor leagues … where he headed off to Target … and wound up as the early leader in our annual Injury of the Year competition. So you know who's here to tell his story? We are! Let's hear a big hand now for … the cast (and chorus) of the Weird and Wild column. We don't know if history has its eyes on Jose. But we do. So in honor of his cousin — that Lin-Manuel Miranda guy, of 'Hamilton' fame — here's how we think the cast of 'Hamilton' would rise up and put Jose Miranda's week in its proper perspective. It was only last season that Miranda did something only three other players in history have ever done. He headed for home plate and got a hit in 12 at-bats in a row. So perhaps you thought that would have been enough to get him into the Twins' big-league (locker) room where it happens this season. But that was before he wandered onto the basepaths last Saturday … where this unfortunate thing transpired. Umpire called Jose Miranda safe, saying the fielder didn't touch the base to get the forceout. But then Miranda just walked away and got tagged out anyway. — Aaron Gleeman (@AaronGleeman) April 12, 2025 Oops! We think Lin-Manuel could have gotten a whole act out of that scene alone, featuring our chorus singing … • 'What'd I Miss?' • 'Wait for It' • 'Say No to This' • 'Stay Alive' And … judging by the stories on this game on our very site … that regrettable gaffe appeared to turn into … • 'The Story of Tonight' Advertisement Which then led to an even more unfortunate development for our hero … It never feels like a good plan for baseball job security to find a way to get yourself tagged out even when you're safe. But it's an even worse plan when you're 6-for-36, hitting .167/.167/.250 and have an OPS+ of (wait for it) 18. So what happened to Miranda after that Safe Wait No I'm Not Game? The Twins shipped him right on back to Triple-A St. Paul. And that inspired our Weird and Wild Chorus to launch into renditions of: • 'Take a Break' • 'The World Turned Upside-Down' And (with any luck) … • 'You'll Be Back' Except then, last Monday, Jose Miranda went shopping. And by the time he was through, he was … By now you probably have heard this story. But just in 'case' you haven't … According to the Twins, Miranda was zipping through Target and, because hydration is often the key to salvation, he grabbed a case of water off the shelf. Good idea, except … Those cases of water can get bulky and slippery on you — and this one attempted a daring escape from Miranda's hands. So he did what any great athlete would do at a time like that — try to … Catch it. But those cases of water are heavy, you know! So that didn't go well, either. Next thing we knew, Miranda was heading for the St. Paul injured list with a strained left hand … incurred in the most watery way possible. Twins notes from the minors: – Zebby Matthews starts for Triple-A St. Paul tonight, a week after his last outing. – Jose Miranda was placed on the Triple-A injured list with a hand strain before playing a game. – Brock Stewart begins a rehab assignment at Low-A Fort Myers. — Aaron Gleeman (@ April 15, 2025 at 2:46 PM We'd advise him to spend the next week heeding Aaron Burr's advice for Hamilton: Talk less, smile more. But that's going to be hard, when the cast of Weird and Wild is all around him, singing catchy tunes like: • 'Stay Alive' • 'Helpless' • 'How Lucky (You) Are To Be Alive Right Now' • '(Left) Hand Man' • 'Say No to This' And (accompanied by Rocco Baldelli and the Twins Singers) … • 'That Would Be Enough' Now this can still be a story of redemption, you understand. Miranda's season isn't over. Miranda's career isn't over. And this will not result in any ill-fated duels — with Ryan Burr or anyone else. So there will always be more chances for men talented enough to go 12-for-12. But … Yikes. What a week! Advertisement So Jose, the world's gonna know your name. And we're aware we just helped with that. But who lives? Who dies? Who tells your story? That can still be you, Jose. Unless you prefer to leave it to … the Weird and Wild chorus! And man, we sure hope not. After all this singing, our vocal cords are officially shredded. BEWARE OF ZOMBIES — While we're on this subject, how unstoppable are the Padres in San Diego? The Braves couldn't stop them. The Guardians couldn't stop them. The Rockies couldn't stop them. The baseball gods couldn't stop them. But you know who could? Those dastardly Zombie Runners. So on Tuesday, the Padres finally had their 11-game home winning streak end on a run scored by … a zombie runner. (Cubs 2, Padres 1, in 10 zombie-fied innings.) And thanks to Katie Sharp, we can tell you that no team has ever had any kind of single-season winning streak that long foiled by a Zombie Runner (a.k.a. that mysterious dude who gets to start every extra inning on second base). The Astros held the old home-streak record with 10 (ended in extras last July 13). The Rays got zombied after a nine-game road streak in 2021. And the Braves watched an overall nine-game win streak disappear in 2023 when they, too, were overrun by zombies. So zombie haters? This note's for you. CEDRIC THE ENTERTAINER — The awesome voice of the Orioles on MASN, Kevin Brown, keeps going down that Weird and Wild rabbit hole, digging up new tidbits for us every week. Here's a fun one that caught his eye Tuesday. Let's recap Orioles center fielder Cedric Mullins' first three trips to the plate: Third inning — walk to break up perfect game. Fifth inning — single to break up no-hitter. Seventh inning — home run to break up shutout. Ced sent this one. — Baltimore Orioles (@Orioles) April 16, 2025 On one hand, this has been done before — 43 times, in fact, in the Baseball-Reference database. And the list of players who have done this, according to Kenny Jackelen, includes Ted Williams, Yogi Berra and Joey Votto. Whoever they are. But now here comes the Weird and Wild part. Since the Orioles moved to Baltimore 71 years ago, this had happened only once in any Orioles game — for or against them. And that game was … Game 1 of the 1983 World Series, when a fellow named Joe Morgan did that for the Phillies against the Orioles (and their starter, Scott McGregor). Advertisement GROUND CENTRAL STATION — Those Kansas City Royals rolled into Yankee Stadium this week … and got swept – because of course they got swept. Does it feel to you as if those AL Central teams never win at Yankee Stadium? You wouldn't be wrong. I checked. The record of the five AL Central teams in The Stadium over the past five seasons? How about 15-50 … or 17-55 if you count the postseason. A team that played at that pace over a full season would win (gulp) 38 games. What's up with that, you ask? Must be pastrami-related! THE OLD 1-2 — I'm guessing this was Keith Law's favorite thing that happened all week: On the same day (Monday), Pirates rock star Pauk Skenes … • Became the first No. 1 pick in the history of the draft to pitch to a catcher (Henry Davis) who was also the No. 1 pick. • Finally got to pitch against not just his friend and former LSU teammate, the Nationals' Dylan Crews, but also the player who got drafted right behind him, at No. 2 in the country the same year (2023) that Skenes got picked first. All that's cool, but I'm not done. • So Skenes has now pitched to either the No. 1 pick (Davis) or the No. 2 pick (Joey Bart) as his catcher in four of his first 28 big-league starts. • And finally, there's this: Hitters who were taken with either the first or second pick in the draft have three times as many strikeouts as hits against Skenes. That group — Dansby Swanson, Spencer Torkelson, Alex Bregman and Crews — is a combined 2-for-10 against him, with six strikeouts (and no extra-base hits). THE REAL DRAFT KING — Speaking of the draft, Astros phenom Cam Smith only got drafted last July 16. He hit his first career home run in the big leagues a week ago. So it took him only 269 days to go from the draft board to a home run trot. And that seemed quick. I asked my friends from STATS just how quick. Advertisement Only six players in baseball draft history could beat that. Three of them went straight to the big leagues: Bob Horner (1978), Dave Winfield (1973) and Dave Roberts (1972). Horner went deep a mere 10 days after he got drafted! Three more got drafted that summer and were in the big leagues, hitting home runs, by that September: J.D. Drew (1998), Bo Jackson (1986) and Nolan Schanuel (2023). My favorite bet-ya-didn't-know-this tidbit from that list: Bo Jackson hit his first big-league homer before he scored his first NFL touchdown! So let's hear it for … Baseball! Cam Smith blasts his first career home run 👏 — MLB (@MLB) April 12, 2025 All this stuff really happened in the last week. I swear. • Nationals reliever Jorge López managed to walk a guy (and give up three runs) after he got ejected (three pitches into a messy Andrew McCutchen plate appearance Wednesday). Washington reliever Eduardo Salazar helpfully finished López's walk. • Braves bopper Marcell Ozuna hit two home runs in the same *day* — in two different cities (Atlanta and Tampa) … with a little assistance from a two-hour, 45-minute rain delay that turned the first of those homers into a 12:53 a.m. walkoff special last Friday — err, Saturday. • Nationals rookie James Wood got hit by a Paul Skenes pitch Monday — but it was the catcher (Pittsburgh's Endy Rodríguez) who wound up on the injured list. Apparently, that can happen when baseballs ricochet off the hitter's leg and head directly for your bare hand. #Pirates Endy Rodriguez left with an injured hand tonight. Likely headed to the IL per reports — Mike Kurland (@Mike_Kurland) April 15, 2025 • Since that Pirates-Nationals series was about as bonkers as it gets, of course Tommy Pham got thrown out at first base Wednesday on a single. … OK, so it would have been a single if he'd just been aware that the aforementioned James Wood didn't catch his line drive to left before it hit the ground. Confusion then reigned. The Pirates wound up with two runners dashing toward first. And when the throw from left beat Pham to the bag, he wound up as only the eighth hitter in the live-ball era to 'single' into a 7-3 out at first. Hat tip: Katie Sharp. WATCH: Tommy Pham with a groundout to…LEFT FIELD???#Nationals # — No Warmup The Pod (@nwthepod) April 17, 2025 · Bryce Harper hit a home run Tuesday in breeeezy Philadelphia with a 45-degree launch angle. Not to imply that's a rarity, but the league average last season on balls hit with a 45-degree launch angle (or greater) was a dazzling .019! And the last left-handed hitting Phillie to pull a home run to right field in that park with a launch angle that pronounced was … Ryan Howard … 10 years ago! Advertisement • And here's to Beloit Sky Carp outfielder Emaarion Boyd. He stole six bases in a game last week … despite the slight technicality that he didn't get any hits. So how many bases has he stolen this season in games where he actually got a hit? Right you are. That would be none! THE NAME RINGS A BELL — Baseball is better than science fiction, isn't it? Last Sunday, new Red Sox ace Garret Crochet made his first start against that White Sox team that traded him, right there in the park where he'd pitched his whole career. So how'd that go? He took a no-hitter into the eighth inning, naturally … only to have it broken up by … a guy he was traded for (Chase Meidroth)! Because America needs to know just how nutty baseball is, I asked Baseball-Reference's incredible Kenny Jackelen to look into this. And … Want to guess how many pitchers, in their voluminous database, had a no-hitter busted up that late in a game by a hitter he'd been traded for? As always, zero is a fantastic guess. How's that for your 3rd career MLB hit?!@whitesox No. 8 prospect Chase Meidroth breaks up Garrett Crochet's no-hit bid in the 8th. — MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) April 13, 2025 Nutty epilogue — Kenny did find a game in 1954 where Early Wynn lost a no-hitter in the ninth. Then, three years later … he was traded for the guy who got the hit, Fred Hatfield! RAIN ON ME — Welcome to one of the Strangest But Truest games in the history of the new Yankee Stadium. This was last Friday night, when the Giants and Yankees played baseball in the midst of approximately 2 billion raindrops — for five-plus innings anyway. There were a few walks! Yankees pitchers walked 11 Giants in this game — in 5 2/3 innings! And what's so Strange But True about that? They were the first team in the modern era to hand out that many walks without even getting 18 outs. And the last team to walk that many in six full innings did it as recently as 87 years ago (the 1938 White Sox). Advertisement The Stro Show! Then there was Yankees starter Marcus Stroman. He had quite a night, if only because he gave up five runs before he got an out — and then didn't make it through the first inning. On one hand, he's not the only Yankees starter on his own team who has given up that many runs before he got an out. (Carlos Rodón did it on Sept. 29, 2023, in Kansas City.) But Stroman did become the first Yankees starter ever to allow at least five runs before he got an out and not make it through the first inning in any version of Yankee Stadium. Well then. Robbie Ray broke the rules! And finally, how 'bout Giants starter Robbie Ray. He only went four innings — but he still got The Win. That's not actually allowed — in any other game. But did you know that in baseball, they let that whole five-innings requirement slide when it rains (and the winning team only pitches five innings)? Who knew it had happened five other times since that rule went into effect … 75 years ago. But baseball is inventive like that! SHUT UP AND PLAY THE HITS — Finally, how about Dodgers multipurpose man Miguel Rojas. Just as we all expected, he's pitched to more hitters in the big leagues this season than Max Scherzer, Alexis Díaz or David Bednar! That would be 14 of them. And he faced all 14 in a six-out outing last Saturday that played, let's just say, a pivotal role in the Dodgers' unprecedented 16-0 loss to the Cubs. But that's not even the Strange But True part. The Strange But True part is that in the eighth inning, Cubs rookie Gage Workman got his first career hit … against Miguel Rojas, position player. And then, in the ninth inning, Workman got his second career hit … also against Miguel Rojas, position player. So, how many players have gotten their first two career hits off the same true position player? Katie Sharp dug into that one. And that answer would be … none! In other words, no player in history has ever started his career like Gage Workman. But here's our advice. Gage, nobody will ever remember who that dude was who you got those hits against. So save that … Baseball! (Top photo of Manny Machado reacting after hitting a home run against the Cubs on April 15: Sean M. Haffey / Getty Images)
New York Times
11-04-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
Will Vlad Jr. join his dad in the Hall of Fame? How his early career numbers stack up
Editor's note: This is a bonus Weird and Wild column. To read more Weird and Wild from the past week, go here and here. The Vladimir Guerrero Jr. number you've been hearing all week is 500 million — which is how many dollars the Toronto Blue Jays are going to be depositing in his money market fund over the next 14 years. But how'd you like to peruse some other numbers? Advertisement Here's why: Because Vladdy has a real chance to make it to the Hall of Fame. And that's something to think about — since he has a father, Vlad Guerrero Sr., who is already in the Hall of Fame. And you know what we've never seen in the history of this sport? A father and son who both made it into the Hall of Fame as players. But Vladdy has put himself into position to make that possible — and to do it as the face of his franchise. What makes us think so? Here's what. He's already done so much — Last year was Vlad Jr.'s age-25 season. When he finished it, he already had 160 career homers. Did you know … of all the Hall of Fame position players whose careers began in the expansion era (1961-present), only two of them had more home runs at that age: Ken Griffey Jr. (189) and Johnny Bench (179). Then there's this: You'd be amazed by all the Hall of Famers who weren't even close to Vladdy through age 25. Like these guys, for instance: (*still hadn't come over from Japan) Do we forget how young Vladdy still is? It feels like Vlad Guerrero Jr. has been around for almost as long as Andrew McCutchen. Nope. This guy just turned 26 three weeks ago. It's wild to think he's still younger than … Griffin Conine JJ Bleday Spencer Horwitz Josh Smith Josh Lowe Michael Busch Luken Baker And many, many, many other hitters who feel as if they're just starting their careers. Father vs. son — And finally, let's see where Vladdy compares with his dad at the same age (through their age-25 seasons). It's eye-opening. (WAR is according to Baseball Reference) Now we can't predict the future. We don't know if Vlad Jr. is going to get another 2,000 hits over these next 14 years — or 2,000 days on the injured list. We don't know if he's going to age like his dad — who was still making All-Star teams at 35 — or like Darryl Strawberry, who never had 2-WAR season after 29. But we're talking about a guy with a chance to write a special story — for two generations of Guerreros. I can't wait to see how it turns out. GO DEEPER Baseball Hall of Fame tiers: Which active players are on course for Cooperstown?
