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New York Times
29-05-2025
- General
- New York Times
Brandon Nimmo on hitting at Citi Field: ‘I just try to stay sane'
NEW YORK — Brandon Nimmo scrolls through the photos on his phone, through row after row of his infant daughter, to two screenshots he took side by side earlier this year — the purest evidence, in his mind, of what it's like to hit baseballs at Citi Field. The first is a home run Nimmo hit late last June off Houston's Bryan Abreu — one he struck at 103.5 mph with a 23-degree launch angle that traveled 412 feet to left-center. The second is a long out Nimmo hit in early April this season against Miami's Max Meyer — one he struck at 104 mph with a 27-degree launch angle that traveled 332 feet to left-center. Source: Nimmo could not get over the 80-foot gap between the two balls in play. So he went to Joe Lefkowitz, the Mets' senior manager of baseball analytics integration, and asked: How much could the temperature play a part? It didn't feel windy that day, but could the wind have knocked it down that much? What about spin? Advertisement Lefkowitz guessed that maybe those variables could explain about 12 feet of difference in the ball's flight. Six weeks later, Nimmo's incredulity has not abated. 'That's 68 feet of unknown,' he said. 'How is there 68 feet? I could get 10 feet, but 68?' This is life for a hitter at Citi Field. No, 'It's hard to hit at one of the sport's most pitcher-friendly parks' is not a newsflash. Baseball Savant's current park factors grade Citi Field as the second-hardest park for base hits (ahead only of Seattle's T-Mobile Park) and tied for the fourth-hardest park for offense overall. The experience of the longest-tenured Met reflects what it's like to live in that reality, year after year, at-bat after at-bat. 'I've just accepted it: Citi Field in April and May is really difficult to hit in,' Nimmo said. 'There is no changing it.' In all but one full season of his career, Nimmo has hit better on the road than at home. In several of those years, the gap has been relatively vast — a seismic chasm of 210 points of OPS in 2022 and differences of 51 and 75 points in each of the last two seasons. This year, it's happening again: His OPS on the road is 157 points higher than at home after he reached base four times on Wednesday against the White Sox. Nimmo is right in pointing to April and May as the primary drivers of his home and road splits. That's been even more extreme since the start of the 2022 season. Nimmo explains it like this. 'There's nothing you can really do about it except raise your top-end exit velocity, and I've already maxed mine out,' he said. 'You have to be an anomaly. You have to be one of those guys where you're Pete Alonso, Aaron Judge, Oneil Cruz. 'If you're really good at hitting home runs, you'd clip like 30 in the course of 700 plate appearances. If five of those are taken away in April and May, it's not like you're going to recover those. That's one of your 30 bullets.' Advertisement In 2023, Nimmo tried using a heavier bat early in the season to increase his exit velo, hoping it would help him combat Citi Field's challenges. However, he felt the heavier bat was forcing him to make swing decisions too early and compromising his overall approach. Nimmo's splits have become more extreme since he fundamentally changed who he was as a hitter a few years back. That's when he started selling out more in the search for power, which has been rewarded far more on the road than at home. Since the start of 2022, Nimmo's hit about 60 percent of his home runs on the road (42 to 29 at home). 'Early in my career, I would usually have better numbers than my expected (metrics), and now later I have worse numbers than my expected. But you're still seeing the jump in home runs and power and doubles, so it's a tradeoff,' Nimmo said. 'Groundballs, you can sometimes have a higher average on, but you don't have nearly as much slug. That was part of why I had more even splits in the beginning.' Could Nimmo use his old approach at home and his new one on the road? 'We can't have a swing on the road and a swing at home. It's hard enough to have one swing,' co-hitting coach Jeremy Barnes said. 'His process isn't any different.' As a veteran in the clubhouse, Nimmo views it as his responsibility to keep others' heads up early in the season. He noted a ball Brett Baty had hit to the track last homestand that would have been a home run later in the season. 'I just told him, 'Dude, there's nothing else you can do. Just stay there,'' Nimmo said. 'I know it sucks. It's just the way it is. You have to find a way to spin it positive so you don't drive yourself nuts with it.' The way to spin it positively right now? There's one more series at home before the calendar turns to June. Nimmo is pumped. Advertisement 'I just try to stay sane through April and May and maybe some things will bounce your way, maybe they won't, and then just look toward the summer,' he said. 'It is frustrating. It's just the way it is. You can't look at the results too much and you have to focus on the process. This looks pretty good, so I need to stay on that track and trust that when I'm on the road or when things warm up, it will turn around.'
New York Times
22-05-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
Fantasy baseball waiver wire pickups featuring Jake Burger, Will Warren and more
We're deep enough into the fantasy baseball season that most of us are looking at rosters only partially resembling the team we originally drafted. Since roster churn is the name of the game, I'm running it back all season with your favorite speculator piece implementing my patented data-backed, formulaic approach to discover next week's waiver wire headliners … today. Advertisement Going position by position, I mine my favorite player stat combinations regarding control, batted ball quality and swing-and-miss ability. Then I mash them together to identify some cheap gems to grab before the squares figure it out next week. At the bottom, I rank my favorite available players around the diamond, two-start pitchers and speculative adds. Access The Athletic's guide for abbreviations used in fantasy baseball. When it comes to hitting, opportunity may be king, but we still need production, which comes from underlying skills. Scores of studies have proven the impact of exit velocity and its direct relationship with slugging percentage, so raw power is always a great place to start. The list below utilizes contact frequency and quality, paired with advanced statistics to identify underlying hitting skills. Hitters in this table have +80% contact, +40% hard-hit, a +.340 expected weighted on-base average and at least 35 plate appearances in the past 21 days. One of fantasy managers' most common errors is complacency, usually on better teams. Many of us have been there — a roster's performing well, full of noteworthy names, but we might not notice someone in the active lineup losing playing time. Now, that doesn't mean it's necessarily time to cut these guys, but losing at-bats is never a good thing. It gave me the idea to start tracking notable players who are losing opportunities. *** = Prioritize for speed ^^^ = Riser Players from previous articles who are no longer under 50% rostered (Yahoo) and should be rostered first As far as pitching goes, the thesis couldn't be simpler — do our best to avoid any bias attached to surface stats (outputs) by instead focusing on underlying metrics (inputs). The most important SP skills are suppressing runs by keeping runners off base and striking out batters. Though simply showing up on this list so early may be noise, there's an argument that this combination of skills signals an immediate call to action. Advertisement Pitchers in this table have a ≤3.50 skills independent ERA, ≤1.20 WHIP, +18.0% K-BB rate, with a minimum of 10 IP in the past 30 days. ^^^ = Riser Players from previous articles who are no longer under 50% rostered (Yahoo) and should be rostered first (Top photo of Will Warren: Brad Penner / Imagn Images)
New York Times
22-05-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
Bat speed risers and fallers and their fantasy baseball outlooks
Bat speed is just one part of what makes a hitter who they are, but it's a key profile component. Most results-oriented stats are still quite noisy at this point in the season, but changes in bat speed tend to stick. Let's look at which players have gained and lost the most bat speed since last year. I'll start with some general notes on bat speed so we can get to know the stat better, but feel free to scroll down to the player analysis if that's what you're here for. View The Athletic's guide to commonly used baseball abbreviations. Advertisement Before making any claims about individual players, I wanted to see if bat speed changes naturally over the course of the season. It doesn't. Last year, league bat speed stayed flat at 71.5 miles per hour from month to month (okay, it was 71.4 in March and April, but you get the idea). This year, it was 71.6 through April and is 71.7 so far in May, which is interesting, but nothing that should change your analysis of individual players. Players have A and B swings. League-wide, players lose about a mile per hour in two-strike counts (70.4 mph this year) and gain about that amount when ahead (72.8). This shows players can and do take different approaches based on the situation. While the stat mostly captures strength, it also captures style. Some hitters will simply choose to be more aggressive than others. Last year, Jarren Duran lifted his bat speed nearly 2 mph after May. He was the fifth-biggest gainer, and his power took off from that point. However, he was one of the few big gainers, and most of the rest were not players getting within sniffing distance of your fantasy team (Austin Hedges, anyone?). Around half the players in MLB stayed within 0.5 mph when comparing their 2024 bat speed from before June 1 to after, and there were just as many bat speed losers as gainers. Season-to-season bat speed changes matter at this point, and they make for a good starting point as we map out the territory for the remaining three-quarters of the year. Here is everyone who has added at least 1.5 mph of bat speed this year: As expected, we're seeing power bumps for hitters who are swinging harder, but not 100% of the time. It also appears it's easier to gain bat speed if you start at the lower end of the spectrum – Oneil Cruz can't swing much harder than he already does, but Nolan Schanuel and Brice Turang had a little more oomph in them. Advertisement You probably didn't draft Anthony Volpe, Turang or Geraldo Perdomo for their power, but the power bump matters because it helps them get on base, stay in the lineup and knock a few extra homers. Perdomo has moved to the back of the lineup with Ketel Marte back from injury, so he'll lose roughly a PA per game going forward, but he will still steal and score from that spot. Take him down half a notch, and project Turang for his xBA of .276 — his .290 figure is somewhat BABIP-inflated — but otherwise, you can feel comfortable paying for what these three have done. It looks sustainable. Schanuel hits for a good average, but the extra bat speed still doesn't leave him with enough power to be anything more than a deep league CI or UT guy. Alejandro Kirk is kind of a better version of Schanuel, but at a premium position. He has great bat control paired with average power. This year, he's lifting the ball a lot more. We haven't fully seen the results yet, but I like him going forward. Jorge Polanco, on the other hand, has surged from below average to above average in bat speed and basically every other hitting metric. He's cooling off some, but this provides more validation that tangible improvements exist here. He's one of the fun stories this season, and a guy worth getting if his manager thinks he's pure fool's gold. Andrea Arcadipane did a great breakdown of how he's changed. Ryan McMahon and Lars Nootbaar also seem to have better days ahead. For more evidence, check out Michael Salfino's recent column. The strikeout rate will weigh on McMahon, but he's a solid buy, especially in OBP leagues. That's doubly true for Nootbaar, who has more speed and contact than McMahon. The one caveat with Nootbaar is he's one of those Statcast heroes who always seems to end up with a middling season, but with the extra bat speed and elevated launch angle, I'm still in. The same goes for Vinnie Pasquantino, who seems to have traded power for contact, which led to a rough early part of the season, but he's been scorching in May with a .304/.329/.481 line. Now let's look at the players who have lost at least 1.5 mph on their swing. Yes, that's four of the Mets' five best hitters. Juan Soto might be doing the reverse-Pasquantino, trading a little power for contact (perhaps due to the change in park?). That's probably overthinking it. Another thing to know is that he typically underperforms his x-stats. He's still elite, and I buy the rest-of-season projections that put him around .274/.413/.515 going forward. Advertisement As for his teammates, Francisco Lindor has also been making more contact with less power this year. Even with the bat speed drop, he's still doing what you paid for, and I expect that to continue. Mark Vientos, however, needs to find his 2024 bat speed. He's making better swing decisions, but his barrel rate is down by half to 7%. I have no inside knowledge here, but I wouldn't be shocked if he has some nagging aches and pains messing with his swing just enough to cause a significant drop-off. Brandon Nimmo changed his approach to try for more power, and the results are … confusing. The bat speed is down, the hard-hit and barrel rates are the highest of his career, and the results have been poor, but the x-stats are great. Hold onto him — odds are he'll have a nice, productive summer. Josh Naylor is a similar contradicting mix: the bat speed is down, but the hardest hit of his career by far came this season, and, like Nimmo, he's boasting his best hard-hit rate and exit velocity. I think we saw his power peak last season, and the average will probably come down a bit, but at the end of the day, he's a good hitter in a good lineup. William Contreras is showing great contact and walk rates, but his power is really sagging under his reduced bat speed and 4.7% barrel rate. His track record is excellent, and maybe he will return to form soon enough, but I do worry there's an underlying physical issue here. Willy Adames stole bases like never before in his contract year last season. Was he also swinging harder with his eye on the prize? His bat speed jumped 1.1 mph from 2023 to 2024, making this year's drop look more within his natural range. This could also just be something that happens year-to-year. Fernando Tatis Jr. and Michael Harris II are also swinging close to their 2023 speeds. Which one is the 'real' one? It's hard to say without more data. Tatis Jr. hasn't missed a beat and may be benefiting from added bat control — his swinging strike rate is the lowest of his career. Adames mostly looks like a guy coming off a career season while moving to a tougher park. The average and power should rise slightly, but don't expect last year's version. As for Harris, he should be better than this, but it's worth noting his SLG% has dropped every year of his career. The BABIP will come up, and he's still a good speed source. Maybe he puts the pieces back together at some point, but I'm only banking on the steals for now. (Top photo of Juan Soto, Francisco Lindor: Vincent Carchietta / Imagn Images)
New York Times
16-05-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
Reds mailbag, Part 1: Wrong hitting coach? Wrong OF? Right way to eat a hot dog?
CINCINNATI — The natives are restless, and with the Reds dropping a series at home to a team that has lost 151 of its last 206 games, it's hard to blame them. Cincinnati beat the Chicago White Sox 7-1 on Thursday to salvage the final game of its series with just its third victory in the last 12 games. After 45 games, it owns a 21-24 record and is in fourth place in the National League Central, 4.5 games behind the division-leading Chicago Cubs. Advertisement There are, naturally, questions. And while some may caution that it's too early to jump to conclusions, some disagree, not only jumping off the Terry Francona bandwagon but then finding a nice, comfortable spot on the train tracks to take a soothing nap. Because there were so many questions, I'm breaking this into two parts. Let's get to the questions, which have been lightly edited for clarity and brevity. Would you consider the hiring of Chris Valaika as the lead hitting instructor a disaster? It seems like everybody has gotten worse when it comes to power. Elly De La Cruz doesn't hit home runs or steal bases anymore. They have taken the most electric player in baseball and unplugged him. Make it make sense, please. — Scott S. No. One of my favorite quotes I've ever heard from a hitting coach came from Brook Jacoby when he was with the Reds. Jacoby was asked how you teach a player to have an approach like Joey Votto. Jacoby's answer was, 'You don't teach them, you draft them.' Hitting coaches are hired to be fired. They're easy scapegoats and fresh meat for fans and sports talk radio. I'd recommend this excellent story from Cody Stavenhagen from January 2023. One of the best parts is that Cody's lede is about Kevin Seitzer's success and longevity as the hitting coach of the Atlanta Braves. He was fired after the 2024 season, his 10th with the team. Within two months, he was hired as the Seattle Mariners' hitting coach. So far, the Mariners offense has been one of the surprises of the season. Is that because of Seitzer? Despite Seitzer? Get hot, 44. @ellylacocoa18 — Cincinnati Reds (@Reds) May 15, 2025 As for De La Cruz, he has eight home runs through 45 games. Last year, he had nine home runs through 45 games. In 2023, he hit six home runs through 45 games. In light of the offensive struggles, are there any outfielders in the pipeline who could help? Have you heard any rumblings about the team contacting other teams looking to upgrade, or are we going to rely on a turnaround by the players on the roster? — Stephen S. With the surplus of young talent we keep hearing about in the minors, why don't we trade for an outfielder who can hit .275 with some pop? Guys like Will Benson and Connor Joe certainly aren't getting it done — Kevin H. This was a popular refrain throughout the offseason and even spring training. Why didn't the Reds acquire better outfield options? So, just going by the expectations set in the question, I went ahead and looked at the numbers. Advertisement Last year, according to FanGraphs, there were 13 qualified outfielders who hit .275. My follow-up question would be, what constitutes 'some pop'? Would that be 25 homers? Of those 13 outfielders who hit .275, exactly three — Aaron Judge, Yordan Alvarez and Juan Soto — had 25 or more home runs. Of those, Alvarez is the only one who hasn't reached free agency and the Astros signed him to a six-year, $115 million extension in 2022. Although … he's injured and hitting .210/.306/.340 with three homers in 29 games. Alvarez is the pauper of the group, with Judge and Soto combining for $1.125 billion in salary over the lives of their contracts. Want to go on slugging percentage? Last year, the average slugging percentage of all players in baseball was .399. Let's play with round numbers and say .400 is average pop, .450 is 'some pop' while .500 is pop. Of the 13 qualified outfielders last season with at least a .275 batting average, nine had a .450 or better slug and four had .500 or better. Entering Thursday, there were 19 qualified outfielders with a .275 or better average. Of those, 14 had a .450 or better slugging percentage and nine were .500 or better. If you lower the batting average to .274, you would have two Reds outfielders — Gavin Lux (.291) and TJ Friedl (.274). So, you want to lower the standards a bit? Well, the qualified outfielder with the 14th-best batting average last year hit .273/.325/.409 with 20 home runs. Would that qualify? I'll say even if it's not the exact parameters set out, I'd take that player. That leads to the question of what package the team dealing the player would accept? While the Reds' system is pretty deep, I'm just not sure I see a deal that makes sense for the Seattle Mariners, owners of that player, to deal Julio Rodriguez to the Reds. Advertisement Let's dig even further — who were the top free-agent outfielders this offseason according to The Athletic's Big Board, what kind of paydays did they get and how are they performing (all stats through Wednesday's games)? There were nine outfielders among the top 40 free agents. I honestly don't know the answers as I type and start to research it, but I've got a hunch. In comparison, the Reds added outfielder Austin Hays to a one-year deal worth $5 million. Hays has had two stints on the IL already, but in the 19 games he's played, he is hitting .306/.354/.569 with five home runs. Lux, who has started 23 games in the outfield for the Reds, has played 41 games overall and is hitting .291/.383/.397 with one homer. He had two hits, a walk and an RBI on Thursday. Honestly, when looking around, it's hard to argue with the production the Reds are getting from the outfielders they acquired. Yes, it's still early. But if it's too early to praise, perhaps it's too early to bury? I can't believe that Pete Rose would get enough Hall of Fame votes if he were on the ballot for BBWAA members to vote on. What's your sense of how much support Rose has from members of the HOF's veterans committee? I suppose if the powers that be want to make it happen, they could stack it with former teammates and friendly faces. Is that where we are heading? — Sean L. This is not backed by any type of scientific polling, just that I've talked to a lot of people and gotten a lot of opinions from writers, former players and executives, the three groups who comprise the Eras Committees. The Hall of Fame board of directors appoints the 16 members. The group that elected Dave Parker and Dick Allen in December included six Hall of Fame members (Paul Molitor, Eddie Murray, Tony Pérez, Lee Smith, Ozzie Smith and Joe Torre), five executives (Sandy Alderson, Terry McGuirk, Dayton Moore, Arte Moreno and Brian Sabean) and five veteran media members and historians (Bob Elliott, Leslie Heaphy, Steve Hirdt, Dick Kaegel and Larry Lester). That will not be the same group that rules on Rose, even if there may be some overlap. The group that decides Rose's fate will not be determined until 2027. I believe Rose would have a better shot with the writers than he would any committee selected by the Hall of Fame. I also see the accusations that Rose had a sexual relationship with a minor hurting him more with younger writers than older ones. It was the Hall of Fame that instituted the ruling taking players on the permanently ineligible list out of consideration for the Hall in 1991, right before Rose was going on the ballot. I'm not sure what's happened in the 34 years since that would change that stance. I could be wrong, but I wouldn't bet on Rose getting his day in Cooperstown in the foreseeable future. Advertisement With Memorial Day not too far away, how do you gussy up a grilled hot dog? — Ed H. I like a dog with a little mustard and, yes, a little ketchup. I will gladly take the heat from our recent visitors from Chicago, but I like the way the sweetness of ketchup (Heinz, none of this fancy crap) pairs with the tartness of a simple yellow mustard. Also, I'm a huge fan of the split-top bun, especially when steamed. (Photo of Elly De La Cruz and Gavin Lux: Dylan Buell / Getty Images)
New York Times
13-05-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
How Kyle Schwarber's changes vs. lefty pitchers transformed his game: ‘Be prepared to die'
PHILADELPHIA — A few years ago, Kyle Schwarber heard a story. He cannot remember who told it or who was involved. But he remembers one detail, the mantra that has guided his transformation into a complete hitter on the verge of another huge payday. It went like this: A left-handed hitter had success against Randy Johnson, one of the greatest lefty pitchers ever. A teammate asked this hitter how he did it. Advertisement 'You have to be prepared to die,' he said. This story was embedded in Schwarber's head near the end of the 2023 season. By Game 162, when the Phillies knew they'd face the Miami Marlins in the Wild Card Series, Schwarber made a request. He wanted to wear a C-Flap helmet during the season's final game, anticipating he'd face Marlins lefty Jesús Luzardo, now a Phillies teammate, a few days later. He had to stay in there against Luzardo's power sinker that ran inside. He wore the new helmet for those two playoff games against Miami, struck out five times in eight at-bats, then ditched it for the rest of the postseason. He wore it again to begin 2024. He added more padding to his right hand and left wrist only when he faced lefties. On the third day of that season, he heard he might not start against Atlanta Braves lefty Chris Sale. But he talked his way into the lineup, and on the second pitch he saw from Sale, launched a homer 382 feet to right field. No lefty hitter in MLB has taken more plate appearances against lefty pitchers since the start of the 2024 season than Schwarber. It's up to 313 now. And, in that time, only two lefty hitters with at least 50 plate appearances have a higher OPS against lefty pitchers than Schwarber: Yordan Alvarez and Juan Soto. Schwarber is tied for the major-league lead in homers this season, and half of his 14 have come against lefties. There is more to it than the C-Flap helmet. It's been a years-long process for Schwarber to evolve. 'He's got this knack,' Phillies hitting coach Kevin Long said, 'for willing himself to do things that other people think he can't do.' Whenever Schwarber is in the cage with Long before a matchup against a tough lefty, Schwarber says the line. Be prepared to die. It must be a coincidence that few lefty hitters can match the success he's enjoyed since adding the face guard. 'I mean, the mind's a powerful thing, right?' Schwarber said. 'You tell yourself one thing, and the next thing you know, you're having success. But I feel there are a lot of different things, too, that went into that.' The transformational day, in Schwarber's mind, was March 31, 2024. The time he faced Sale. He homered, then struck out and hit into a double play. 'But something just felt right,' Schwarber said. 'I couldn't even put my finger on what it was. 'Wow. That felt good?' I just kind of kept going with it. I do it every day. I did it every day in the previous years, doing my lefty stuff. But something just clicked.' Advertisement Maybe. But this doesn't just happen, not a decade into an established player's career. Long has seen plenty of lefty hitters who could master lefty matchups. In the hitting coach's mind, it started in 2021 when both were with the Washington Nationals. Schwarber, after years as a platoon player with the Chicago Cubs, hit .268/.389/.398 against lefties that season with Washington and the Boston Red Sox. Schwarber, to that point in his career, was a .197 hitter versus lefties. He is hitting .321/.446/.774 against them in 2025. It's .304/.415/.548 since the start of 2024. 'It's work,' Long said. 'It's willing yourself. It is understanding what a lefty is trying to do to you. Understanding the angles. Understanding what pitches do against lefties. He's got a really good grasp on it. He's shortened his swing since the time I met him to where he is now.' It's one thing to shake the platoon label. It is another to become an elite left-on-left hitter. Teams continue to attack Schwarber with lefty relievers late in games; he's hit .276/.400/.526 against them since 2024. The Phillies are daring teams to summon a lefty to face Schwarber because he is batting behind Bryce Harper this season. 'You try to get to that point where you make it just a pitcher,' said Schwarber, who will be a free agent at season's end. 'You don't really view it as left-on-left or a right-handed pitcher, whatever it is. You just view yourself as hitting. You kind of want to take the stigma away from that.' This was achievable, Schwarber said, because of the work with Long. He can make quicker adjustments during a game, a week, a month. The hitting coach simulates an extreme angle by placing a pitching machine off-center from home plate to recreate the arm angle. The machine fires fastballs, sliders and curveballs; Long places it closer to home plate to improve Schwarber's reaction time. He had to work within the angle. Align with the left arm. Change the field. Advertisement 'Here's how crazy this whole thing is,' Long said. 'So, two weeks ago, he's hitting under .200 against righties. And he's beside himself. He's like, 'How?' I said, 'You lost your feel for righties. You have to work just as hard on right-handed angles as you do lefties.' So what does he do?' More work. Schwabrer went 1-for-4 in Monday's lackluster 3-2 Phillies loss to the St. Louis Cardinals. He extended his on-base streak to 47 games with a bloop single to begin the sixth. He saw a 2-1 slider in the zone from lefty Matthew Liberatore and clipped enough of it. Schwarber later scored what was the tying run at the time. 'That's what he's been doing,' Phillies manager Rob Thomson said. 'He's taking what they give him.' 'It brings me great pleasure to watch somebody who's put that much time and energy into his craft,' Long said. 'There are so many things that he does that people don't even notice.' Maybe Schwarber is just playing enough tricks on his mind. He thinks he can get to the two-seam fastballs that run in on his hands while still covering spin away. He lives by a mantra that, like any good baseball story, has unknown origins. He's still alive. 'It's just like, funny, right?' Schwarber said. 'You think about that. You just have to be ready. You have this feeling. You're able to stay in there.'
