"In My Baseball Easter Bonnet" Edition of the Free For All Mailbag
Photo Credit: Kevin Cunninham | Giant Futures
Goodness! I promise I will never complain about a light week in the There R Giants’ Post Office ever again — because you really brought it this week, gang! You stuffed that mailbag to bursting, and there’s no way I’ll get to all of your inquiries without running into some serious War & Peace length. Apologies if yours was omitted, but I’ll try to keep an eye on who is getting in and who isn’t, and even things up in future weeks.
With that said, there are a lot of questions here today, so let’s get right to the bag. To start with, a whole lot of you asked for updates on Bryce Eldridge, unsurprisingly. I’ll answer one of those in depth momentarily, but I’ll say at the top here that I do know he’s been playing in extended spring camp games in Scottsdale lately, which is a very good sign. And hopefully, he won’t be missing from regular assignment for too much longer.
Deborah Peterson
I see that Bryce Eldridge was assigned to Richmond on the 4th of April. He's on the IL. Any word on his return or was that wrist injury more serious than reported.
I noticed Wade Meckler is active and was listed on Sacramento’s bench on Wednesday night. Do you have an update on how available he is and what the injury was? I just know he was injured trying to steal a base, so imagine it was a jammed finger or something. And while we’re on the subject of injury updates, anything new on Eldridge?
This is a Public Service Announcement for all fans of minor league ball: transactions posted on MiLB.com are not official and they are sometimes wrong. The minor league website had Logan Wyatt listed as active for months after Richmond had announced he had been placed on the IL last year, and poor Ty Hanchey was the Invisible Man all year, never appearing on the website’s listed San Jose roster, despite playing for them on and off throughout the season.
Trey Wilson, Communications Director for Richmond has, over the years, impressed this simple point on me many times: unless the affiliate makes a transaction announcement, it is not official. Now, I will not deny that there have been times, multiple times, when MiLB.com listed a transaction that proved to be accurate within about 24 hours (probably the most famous in recent years, was when Patrick Bailey was sent back down to the ACL from Eugene in his first season). But this is not one of those situations. Eldridge spent all of March battling wrist discomfort, and, at the time I left camp on March 31, he’d taken just two at bats in nearly a month (both seen below). The idea that he would have been ready for full-season assignment five days later was, in my opinion, not credible. And indeed, he wasn’t assigned to Richmond on April 4th — since, as I say, he was playing in Scottsdale this weekend, not Harrisburg.
Meckler’s situation is another case in point. He was put on the 7-day IL on March 30 and then, according to the MiLB website, activated on April 3 — just four days later. I’m no math whiz, but that doesn’t seem to add up to seven days to me. Since that notice, Meckler hasn’t actually appeared in any games. Let’s go to the source: according to the River Cats’ Media Game Notes, Meckler has not been activated off the IL as of yet:
TL:DR When players appear in a game (or when I or another member of the media pass along a release from the team), we’ll know they’re active. Don’t believe everything you read (on MiLB.com).
Finally, I will say that I understand that it’s frustrating that there’s such radio silence when it comes to player injuries in the minors, but I also understand it from the team’s perspective. Putting out updates and timelines creates expectations that don’t conform to the realities of physical rehab. If you go back and listen to the podcast interviews I’ve done over the years with pitchers coming out of TJ or other various other surgeries and injuries, they all tell stories of feeling great one day and then being right back in the starting blocks (or worse) the next. That’s just the nature of the rehab beast. Things go backwards and sideways, and all parties have to exercise loads of patience to get through it. It’s an unpredictable, day-by-day process of trying to get back to good, and there’s no real roadmap for it. So, I get why teams do their best to avoid suggesting one.
All that said, as I mentioned at the top, Eldridge is participating in extended games currently, which is a good sign that he’s feeling better and on his way back, hopefully soon.
Thanks for linking the Down on the Farm Substack last week, it was a great read! After reading it, it seems like Diego Velazquez is the prototype for an underrated prospect that has a strong MLB career. What would a successful season look like for him and how much room does he have to add strength?
Jason, I’m very glad to hear that you took the time to go over and check it out. As I say, I’m a big admirer of their work. And since we have more people here to read the mailbag today, I’ll link it once again! Sign up for the Down on the Farm Substack — at least the free tier. They produce a ton of great articles over there, and, specifically, I enjoyed this piece evaluating prospect rankings.
And with that said, Jason, I think you are spot on with your observation. Their final observation of the nine major conclusions they reached in that piece was: “Surprise hitter successes tend to come from young players who command the zone but are yet to find a power stroke,” and that perfectly describes Velasquez. And it’s why he’s a player I’ve been really interested in even going back to the days when he was barely hitting .200 in the complex league. He has a swing that gets to everything from both sides of the plate, but that advanced contact ability doesn’t make him swing happy at everything (like some other excellent contact hitters we’ve seen in the organization, like Christian Arroyo, Luis Matos, and Adrián Sugastey). Once Velasquez matured to the point where he wasn’t beating everything right into the ground, all of that contact started producing bushels of hits.
As for what would make for a successful year for Velasquez, I think that’s a little harder to say. Obviously, continuing to produce good results on the field is important. He’s still only 21, and playing in a league of outstanding competition (Richmond Manager Dennis Pelfrey repeatedly calls the Eastern League the best league in the minors, and I think he’s probably right about that). If Velasquez continues to show he can thrive in this environment, it’s certainly a good sign.
The questions evaluators have always had about his game however, aren’t solely about performance. He does lack a lot of the advanced physicality that helps players compete in the MLB: he’s not particularly quick or fast or strong or explosive or twitchy. Big league players tend to be a lot of those things. Focusing on turning himself into a more dynamic athlete is part of the equation for young Velasquez. Some of that is working in the weight room and just getting stronger, but I think focusing on explosive movement training will be critical for him as well, on both sides of the ball.
With the glut of near-MLB arms in Sacramento, what is their perceived value on the trade market, if the Giants feel like they need to plug a hole in their major league roster at some point this season? Will a package of two or three of them be a strong enough offer to bring back an all-star caliber player in return?
Well first Andy, I highly advise you to go outside, turn three circles, and spit on the ground, because all this talk of a “glut” of pitching seems to me like it’s just begging for some reciprocal cursing from the Baseball Gods, and I’d advise us all to keep our voices down on the subject! Major league clubs do not look at what the Giants have right now and think the word “glut,” they think the word “depth” — and immediately begin to worry nervously about how quickly that depth will be tested and depleted.
Beyond that, I think the real answer to this is that we’re a long way from July, and teams will do a lot of scouting, monitoring, evaluating, and assessing between now and then. Just as there is going to be a lot of movement over the next three months on team’s draft boards as they watch the spring season unfold for amateurs, there is going to be a lot of movement on team’s pref lists over the next three months, as they watch the minor or major league seasons unfold for young players.
And, of course, the other unknown from your question is “all-star caliber player” in what sort of contract situation — because that’s what determines the return value on a trade. With Vladimir Guerrero, Jr. taken off the free agent market for next year, the only really star-level player heading into free agency (which is the type of All-Star caliber player normally traded) is Kyle Tucker, who has already been dealt once this year and seems highly unlikely to be moved again. Beyond him, there’s a whole bunch of Padres heading into free agency, which seems unlikely for a whole host of reasons. Looking at the lists, I do see a few talented players whom I could imagine being dealt for one reason or another: Framber Valdez, Bo Bichette, maybe even Cedric Mullins? And, yes, I can imagine the Giants putting together an interesting enough package to get into conversations for that level of player in their walk years. But if you’re talking about younger, more controllable All-Star level player (like Luis Robert, Jr.), then I guess it seems less likely to me that the Giants would be sitting with the best hand at the table when the bidding is done — unless they’re willing to put Eldridge on the table as their card in the hole.
But we’ll see. Teams are barely getting started in their “general coverage” of other organizations — they’re still a long ways away from crafting targeted lists of players they might want to think about acquiring. There’s much “drilling down” and “kicking tires” to be done before this conversation gets real. Let’s revisit in July.
Sorry if you’ve touched on this before, but I’m curious if the Giants development plan would be different with Trent Harris if they didn’t have overflowing rotations at the MLB and AAA levels. I’d be interested in him starting, but can’t imagine how he’d ever get the chance. I imagine he has a good shot to debut this season coming from the bullpen, but does he turn into their best trade chip if he’s just as effective as a starter?
Chet, I promise that it’s high on my list to ask Harris his thoughts about this question sometime soon — perhaps this week!
In the meantime, I think that the Giants are always trying to figure out the best way to leverage all of their players’ skills. Harris is truly found money — an undrafted COVID senior who suddenly blossomed into an incredibly impressive performer in his first season. He has three pitches, with two of them (the high-rise fastball and 12-6 curve) looking like average or above offerings. So, the question comes: do you let well enough alone and leave him in the role in which he thrived last year, or try to squeeze even more value from him and stretch him out further?
During his dominant run in 2024, we did see Harris throw a lot of extended outings, hitting a high of four innings at one point with Eugene, and throwing two or three repeatedly. In that sense, he reminds me a little of a young Randy Rodriguez (though with perhaps not quite the upper 90s explosiveness of Randy’s fastball), and the Giants did go through a starter conversion experiment with Rodriguez. That didn’t turn out so well, and, I suspect actually retarded his progress somewhat, so maybe that was a warning case for trying to get greedy with outstanding young relief arms.
Harris is already 26, so messing around with experiments that might end up just delaying his development is a dicey area. Still, I do know the Giants have considered it. I do think that if they really believed in Harris as a starter, they would find room for him to stretch out — the Richmond rotation may be full, but it’s not inviolable, and at the moment, it’s the only one of the four affiliates that doesn’t have at least six starters in it. They could find room in it if they wanted. But Harris’ first outing this season was a one-inning stint in the 9th inning, and that signals to me that they believe his best fit is going to be a bullpen role going forward.
Could other clubs watching him believe something different? That’s certainly possible (though if so, they wouldn’t necessarily want to pay for their evaluation with a higher cost; they’d want to get him on the cheap and get surplus value). But I would say that the Giants don’t tend to look at player development in terms of gaming other clubs’ evaluation models in order to maximize trade value. They really do tend to focus on what they feel is best for a player most of the time. And what they think is best for him at the moment appears to be pitching at the end of games, not the start.
I know it’s been reported that Randy Winn and Buster Posey want full seasons of development at one level for many of their prospects. But with a few hot starts to the year, I still have to ask: Jairo Pomares to Sacramento, when? James Tibbs III to Richmond, when? Dakota Jordan to Eugene, when? Rayner Arias to San Jose, when? All of the outfields seem a bit crowded. But Pomares has played plenty at AA, injuries have probably kept him there, but I imagine if he’s healthy and hitting for power, they’d be quick to promote him if there’s room on the Sac roster. Tibbs and Jordan are college players that I’d like to see move quicker than others if they’re deserving of it with their performances. And I’m eager for Rayner Arias to get to full season ball. I’ll stick with those OFs, but I’d really like to get greedy and ask about potential midseason promotions for Jonah Cox, Bo Davidson, and Lisbel Diaz as well.
I’m curious if they’d have to give up on Marco Luciano or Hunter Bishop to start this wave of promotions, just to be able to get everyone playing time. Luciano is still so young, but with 4 OF’s clearly ahead of him in S.F., and more coming behind him, do they pull the plug if his slow start bleeds into May, June, July?
Ken Gregory,
Hi Roger. I continue to enjoy and appreciate your reporting and analysis. It’s really good.
What are your thoughts about Bishop and the chance for him to turn his career around?
Nothing is exclusively true, Chet. Posey and Winn have certainly expressed a belief that slowing down promotions will lead to more well-rounded players in the long run — but I don’t expect them to be dogmatic about not promoting players. Even the Rays promote players who force the issue, and, as Winn (who came up in the Tampa organization) well knows, they have long been the standard for slow playing their prospects up the system.
But I think we can say that Posey, Winn, and Co. are not likely to be making major promotion decisions based on a literal handful of games. Of the players you mentioned, I would say that Tibbs could be the most likely to see a relatively early bump up, mostly because a lot of the players we might think of as contemporaries of his have started at higher levels: Travis Bazzana opened in Double-A, Nick Kurtz in Triple-A, and Tibbs’ Florida State teammate, of course, is already in the majors. I think if Tibbs really blisters High-A, the Giants might reasonably conclude that they could have pushed him a little harder to begin with.
But, when I say “reasonably quick,” I’m talking about something like Memorial Day or early June, not Easter! I would think that Jordan and Pomares would both be players the club would like to see perform at their current level for most, if not all, of the year. Where promotions are considered, I would imagine they are something we’d see closer to midseason, because I do believe that Posey and Winn believe in players getting a full education at each level of the game — not hitting the Cliff Notes and breezing through the Study Guide questions at the end.
Now, for players who are repeating, or partially repeating levels — like Cox and Diaz — then that time already accrued at the level is likely to be part of the calculation, and real improvements this year over last could be important aspects of evaluation. As for Arias, I wasn’t surprised that they chose to keep him back in the ACL for a second year. I think, in the wake of the second wrist injury last year, that level wasn’t as valuable for him as it might have been last year. He looked like he was in survival mode a lot of the time, just trying to get himself into a good place physically. I’d be very surprised if he moved up to San Jose much earlier than the end of the ACL season this summer.
But it must be said that we’re all in learning mode with this organization right now — they haven’t revealed tendencies yet, and until they do, all we can do is make educated guesses. Or better yet…wait and see.
I do not, however, believe that we’ll see them “give up” on Luciano or Bishop in order to make room for Pomares or other Double-A outfielders. Remember the first rule of running an organization: Protect Inventory at All Times! It’s certainly possible that Luciano could be part of mid-summer trade talks (I’ll be a little surprised if he isn’t to be honest), but a DFA for him or a release for Bishop are a very long way off to my mind. I would think Bishop, who will be a minor league free agent at the end of this season, is still a part of the organization in September.
By the way, if you want some insight into the process of determining promotions, go back and listen to this podcast I did a couple of years ago with Eric Fleming, who was formerly the Giants’ Assistant Farm Director (among many other positions in the front office). He talks specifically about how those decisions are made and the kind of time frames it takes to make them.
As for Ken’s question, I think that the examples of players like Jerar Encarnacion or Mike Yastrzemski should caution us against making final pronouncements on guys. Bishop is in Triple-A, and if he performs there, of course, he can put himself in a position to see major league time. Guys on Triple-A rosters are there because teams see them as valid organizational depth, and every last one of them at that level has the chance to play their way into a call up. That’s not to soft-sell the real challenges facing Bishop. He’s lost a ton of reps, and his reputation coming into pro ball was of a “tools over skills” sort of player in need of refinement. But if he performs, he’ll get a chance.
I might be wrong, but it seems like the most abstract path to the big leagues is that of the relief pitcher (especially ones that aren’t closers). At what level does the guy coming into pitch the 7th in a 4-1 game have a shot at making the big leagues? Is there a point where it is beneficial to move a guy out of the rotation or into lower leverage situations before his major league potential is spent? How are the Giants approaching developing relievers, and have there been any shifts in that approach? Big fan of your work, and thanks as always for the mailbag.
I’m not sure “abstract” is the word I would use, though I take your meaning. Relievers move as their stuff dictates, and the vagaries of pitching in relief means there can be big swings in health, stuff, and effectiveness for those guys. You mention coming in to pitch the 7th of a 4-1 game, but I can give you a more extreme example of a strange path to success from the recent past. When Spencer Bivens was assigned to Richmond at the start of the 2023 season, he was mostly the guy coming in to do the mop up work in games that had gotten out of hand. That’s often an indication that your place on the roster is far from assured, but over the course of the season, he tightened up his command significantly and made real improvements — especially when he was pressed into duty as a starter in the closing weeks of the season. He spun that momentum into a successful offseason in the Mexican Winter League, and, come spring, impressed coaches so much in camp the following year that he worked his way into a big league callup, and now a steady spot in the bullpen.
Going from the long-reliever in sloppy Double-A losses to a big league role in barely over a year? That’s the kind of thing that can happen in the mercurial world of relief work. It’s all about the quality and crispness of stuff and command. Teams know what sort of pitch profiles work at the major league level, and if a player is throwing strikes with pitches that fit that profile, orgs will not hesitate to give him a shot in a big league pen, where there are always innings that need covering. Cole Waites shot from A-ball through all the levels and up to the majors in the one year, when his fastball was arguably the best in the minor leagues (sadly, he’s battled health issues since then). Camilo Doval effectively transitioned from A-ball straight to the majors (with a lost year of development in between). Harris, as we talked about above, stood out for having maybe the best pitching season in the organization last year, and he was throwing almost exclusively in the middle innings of games to start the year. When it comes to relievers, the role doesn’t matter, it’s the stuff that does.
As for your question of whether there comes a time when it’s best to move pitchers out of a starter role, the answer is definitely “yes.” Where that point is depends on the pitcher and how effective he can be as a starter. We saw the Giants make that call pretty early in the ill-fated career of former 2nd round pick, Matt Mikulski. Injuries have forced the issue with Will Bednar. We’ll see how long they play around with the light-bolt arm of Gerelmi Maldonado in a starter’s role. Many others work in a starter’s role all the way up to the majors before results move them out to the bullpen — that’s been the case for Sean Hjelle and Tristan Beck, and potentially will be for guys like Keaton Winn, Trevor McDonald, Mason Black and some of the Carsons. It’s a tough world up there on the top rail, and very few survive as starters for the long haul.
One positive (borderline utopia) and one negative way-too-early questions: how long until we can start dreaming again of Vaun Brown, Giants starting OF? And how worried should we be about Walker Martin?
Joe Whitman seems to be battling with his control, feel for pitches and even tweaking his pitch mix, but still got a positive result. How fast do you think he can keep climbing the levels? And realistically, with so many potential starting arms ahead of him, does it take others being traded or failing or could he just force his way?
I think you’re right to throw in the knowing “way-too-early” caveat there, Henrique. It really is way too early. Heliot Ramos opened up this season going 10 for 31 with three home runs, and then turned around and went 2 for 23. You just can’t chunk up the baseball season into tiny bite-sized pieces and derive meaning from them. As fans, we live and die with every game, but in baseball, you have to take the long-view to make solid evaluations.
Brown and Martin are barely a week into their seasons, and while there may be encouraging or discouraging signs, these guys are still at only around the 50 at bat mark (including their spring training) for their years. I wouldn’t want to draw any conclusions just yet, or even let inklings start to harden into opinions.
Particularly in Martin’s case, he’s still so young and inexperienced that it’s hard to know what sort of a learning curve to expect from him. I’d imagine a slow-play development course is going to be his lot, but we shall see. Of course, if you believe Fangraphs, you might not think Walker is really all that young — I wonder when someone is going to get around to noticing this little bit of digital comedy:
As for Whitman, I’d strongly disagree that he’s battling his command — I think filling up the strike zone has been a real strength for him in his career. He is tweaking his pitch mix, as well as playing with grips and other cues — but that’s very typical of all pitchers in both the minors and majors. They’re always tweaking things and trying new pitches to give them an advantage. They talk to each other constantly and try to pick up little nuances from each other. If I had a dollar for every time I’ve asked guys about some new pitch they’re working on and get a response of essentially “yeah, I junked that; I’m trying something else now,” well, I’d be able to buy something pretty nice for my wife.
The point is to improve and develop, and Whitman’s trying to do that as well as everyone else. I wouldn’t expect him to move beyond Double-A this year, necessarily, though every player has the ability to force the issue with strong performance. There are a lot of pitchers in front of him, but depth has a way of turning shallow in this game awfully fast, especially when it comes to arms. There’s a reason why generations of baseball people have said “you can never have enough pitching.”
I have observed that the last several international amateur classes have landed players who are either conspicuously short or physically mature for their age. You acknowledged this in your interview with Joe Salermo, but once I had this idea in my mind, I could not help but notice the size of this trend. A lot of 5’10”s and below! Along with this, some of the DSL/ACL players who had success last year seem to be the ones who are physically mature, which both makes me question their upside and place a significant part of their success on their strength rather than on other, more reliable long-term indicators. Jhonny Level, Angel Guzman, Djean Macares, Yulian Barreto, Oliver Tejada, Jesus Alexander, even Velasquez strike me as examples of this. Do you think this is, deliberate or not, a consequence of an altered calculus or ideology? For instance, maybe a renewed focus on contact ability or performance floor (rather than ceiling) in general? Anyway, I am curious what you make of these trends individually, as well as their intersection. Thanks!
I think the important thing to keep in mind here is that these are teenagers who are signing at 16, and very often come to agreement with teams as young as 13 or 14. The reality of scouting kids that age is you’re going to be dealing with a lot of smaller body types and projecting/hoping for some growth long term. And in some cases, we have certainly seen that sort of growth — Junior Flores and Jan Caraballo are two pitchers who I’ve noted in recent years have become huge as they’ve moved into their 20s. Alexander is still quite slim, but he’s added height to his frame. Even players like Velasquez (who’s every bit of 6’1” these days!) and Aeverson Arteaga are much bigger now that they’re in their 20s than they were as fresh-faced 16-year-olds back when they signed.
Of course, that’s not going to happen across the board. But running across a 6’3” 13-year-old is still going to be fairly unusual (as an aside, Andy Polanco, who the Giants drafted out of a Florida high school, but who is a Dominican, is quite an interesting physical specimen: tall and lanky but with real speed and the chance to grow into some strength).
The question of whether success at the DSL level is a chimera born of advanced physicality is certainly a good one — and that is often the case. The same is true of college players who beat up on Low-A competition. Being stronger than the people you’re playing with is a clear competitive advantage, but it doesn’t necessarily mean you are going to be stronger than the players at higher levels — am I the only one who remembers that kid in Little League who was already shaving at 10 and would blast ball after ball into the stands, only to be left behind athletically by the time he reached high school?
Still, you’re definitely onto something. If you want a fun read, check out this provocatively titled piece — Was There Really a Steroid Era — from the always terrific Russell Carleton, in which one of the changes in the game he explores is the massive increase in players’ body mass over the past 30 years. The modern game really is played by giants!
Luis Matos has looked very good so far this year and the Giants don’t seem to put any importance on getting him ABs. What’s up with that?
Jung Hoo Lee and Yaz have been two of the team’s best hitters in the early going. Heliot Ramos is too important a power source to lose many reps. And the ageless Wilmer Flores has been irreplaceable. In theory, Flores could play 1b against LHP, allowing Matos sneak into some DH time, but it would seem that the Giants really want to keep Flores off his legs, and he’s also proving capable of meeting the unique challenges of being a DH, which is difficult for a lot of hitters.
All of those elements have worked together to limit Matos’ opportunities. But all of those elements won’t always be in play together throughout the year. I’d say focusing on the “Matos has looked very good so far this year” part is the most important thing. He looks to be making important adjustments. As long as that continues, I feel good about his place on this team.
Old man shouting at clouds question:
Am I the only one concerned about the spreadsheet-ization of prospect coverage?
Don't get me wrong, I want the Giants’ brass to use whatever data is available to make the best decisions for the health of the farm system/strength of the big club.
But when I read/listen to pods about prospects I want to hear poetic descriptions of these young athletes’ tools /makeup/projection/performance. What I don't need is someone reading off literal yearly lists of 6 different prospects' IVB or chase percentages.
Incidentally, what I want is for all prospect coverage to be like your Giants’ prospect coverage. Gimme a little Roger Angel romance. It's baseball!
One old man to another..I still have all of Roger Angel's books on my bookshelf. I do also like the breakdowns in an attempt to pinpoint various skills. My problem is learning the nomenclature..I need a cheat sheet explaining what they all mean.
I certainly appreciate the compliment, Alexi, but I try as hard as I can to get my hands on those IVB and chase percentages as well!
Everything changes with time. The flourid prose of greats like Damon Runyon, Grantland Rice, and yes, even Roger Angel (who I absolutely adore) would, said as it is to say, probably have a hard time fitting into the modern landscape of. baseball writing. Simply delivering descriptions of heroic endeavors in purple prose doesn’t cut it as a mode of delivering information to today’s audience.
I feel that when I’m writing, too. When I get too far away from data and into prose stylings, I worry greatly about delivering insubstantial fluff in place of actual information. And every time a player comes up to the majors and reveals a flaw that I had previously painted as a strength, I feel it even more keenly.
So, while I take the compliment to heart, and understand the sentiment, the fact remains that as humans, we tend to value what we can measure. Today we can measure a whole lot more than we used to — and journalists are judged by their ability to communicate the things we value. I certainly do love to spin off into poetic raptures, but, like everyone else, I’ve been trained to wonder if all that poetry isn’t covering up for a lack of specificity.
And Awhap, thanks for the reminder! I will henceforth be mindful of making sure to explain my terms when dropping a little quantitative knowledge. Keep me honest, folks!
And with that, we’ll cinch the bag closed for the week. I’ll have another mailbag coming next Tuesday, but I’ll remind everybody once again that the mailbag will take a break for a couple of weeks as I head out on assignment, and my trustworthy editor, Jeff, takes over Minor Lines duties for a bit.
I’ll see you at the ballyard, folks. Look for another quick video from me from The Diamond a little later today. And, finally, congratulations to Shane Rademacher, who picked up the NWL Pitcher of the Week honors for his five innings of one-hit, shutout ball on Sunday.
Thank you for your answers and making me realize Whitman’s command has actually been great. I think for some reason I still had those early 2024 struggles in mind.
Very interesting to know minor league pitchers are tweaking their pitches so often. I knew they were always looking for something new/different/better, but no idea it was that often!