Ronel Blanco lived up to his name, turning in the young season’s first no-hit game as the Astros romped 10-0 over Toronto. Blanco walked the first batter of the game and the next-to-last (both former Astro George Springer) but retired everyone else, as no Blue Jay reached second base. It was the 13th no-hit game by an Astro pitcher (11th at home), and the second time Houston has no-hit Toronto. More after the jump.
Continue readingSeptember means pennant chases but, until recently, it also meant greatly expanded rosters and the chance for teams not in the post-season hunt (or even some that were) to take a look at some of their top minor league prospects. That is the topic of this post, looking at those players who made the most of a short rookie audition. More after the jump.
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One year after we “all rose” for Aaron Judge‘s successful quest for the AL single-season home run record, Luis Arraez (pronounced ah-RISE, per Baseball-Reference) is giving us another reason to get to our feet, as he chases one of baseball’s holiest grails, maintaining a .400 batting average as the season approaches its halfway point. More after the jump.
Continue readingThis past season, Braves’ right-hander Kyle Wright won 20 games for the first time. His majors-leading total of 21 wins came in his 5th major league season, though it was really Wright’s first opportunity to win 20 games as he did not appear in more than 8 games in any of his four preceding seasons. In winning 20 games in his first opportunity to do so, Wright became the 87th such pitcher since 1901 and the second in as many seasons, after Julio Urias recorded the same feat in 2021. More after the jump.
Continue readingFor the second year in a row, there was a tie vote in the annual Circle of Greats Balloting, so we will have a run-off election between the two tied players, Carlos Beltran and Bill Dahlen.
Beltran was bested in last year’s run-off against Roy Halladay, a contest that presented the challenge of evaluating an everyday player against a pitcher. This year’s contest is equally as challenging if not more so, comparing two everyday players whose careers are separated by more than a century. More after the jump.
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For his final season, Albert Pujols returned to his home state from his high school and college days and to the team for which he enjoyed his greatest successes. Probably both Pujols and the Cardinals expected his season to be largely a farewell tour, at most platooning at DH, giving first sacker Paul Goldschmidt an occasional day off his feet, and providing a bat off the bench when a pinch-hitter was needed. It turns out that Pujols must have taken a side trip to St. Augustine FL en route to St. Louis, as his season has become much more than he or the Cardinals might have expected, turning in one of the better seasons ever at his age, with some of the best rate stats of the back half of his career. More after the jump.
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Sixty-one years after Roger Maris hit 61 homers (still the AL record as this season began) to break, by one, Babe Ruth‘s then major league record, Aaron Judge has become the third Pinstriper to reach the 60 homer threshold. More after the jump.
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The Seattle Mariners are baseball’s hottest team at the All-Star break, and their rookie center-fielder Julio Rodriguez (“J-Rod” to his hometown fans) is a big reason why. More on Rodriguez and the Mariners after the jump.
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Tiger great Miguel Cabrera has burnished his Hall of Fame credentials as the 33rd member of the 3000 hit club, collecting his milestone knock off of fellow Venezuelan Antonio Senzatela of the Rockies. More after the jump.
The careers of most major league players are brief and unremarkable. Of 15,403 retired players who debuted since 1901, only 5,102 (33%) posted careers of 200 or more games, and just 2,745 (18%) managed 500 contests. Yet, even among the other 82% of players can be found those who showed promise of becoming successful major leaguers in extended careers, promise that, for one reason or another, went unfulfilled. It is to those players that this post is dedicated. More after the jump.
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