Innholdsfortegnelse for April 2023 i Baseball America

Twice a month at BaseballAmerica.com, subscribers get exclusive access to BA writers to ask any question they want. Below is a BA Mailbag excerpt from March. With likely second- or third-round college righthanders Grant Taylor and Jaxon Wiggins already lost for the season, are we seeing an increase in Tommy John surgeries? Do you see any solutions in the foreseeable future to prevent these surgeries? Kyle Hearn from Michigan To answer your first question: no. Two pitchers does not equal a trend. This puts 2023 in line with multiple other years in which first-round pitchers went down with elbow injuries. At this time last year, we had already seen elbow injuries for Reggie Crawford and Peyton Pallette. The early stage of the season is a time when we see more…

BA GRADE 80 BA GRADE 75 BA GRADE 70 BA GRADE 65 BA GRADE 60 BA GRADE 55 Just missed the cut Andrew Benintendi Michael Brantley Corbin Carroll Gunnar Henderson Eloy Jimenez Pablo Lopez Brandon Lowe Daulton Varsho Devin Williams…

Vinnie Pasquantino 1B, Royals We started to see it last year in a partial season with Pasquantino, who hit .295/.383/.450 in 72 big league games. Now we could see him take the next step and put himself in the conversation among the top first basemen. Pasquantino swung a hot bat last August and September, putting up a .960 OPS with seven homers and more walks than strikeouts. Oneil Cruz SS, Pirates The 6-foot-7 Cruz has the hardest-hit ball—122.4 mph—of the Statcast era. He also has elite speed and a ton of basestealing ability. With better contact consistency, joining the 30-30 club is a real possibility for Cruz. Riley Greene OF, Tigers Greene looked like a lock for the Tigers’ Opening Day roster last season, but a late-March broken foot set…

For the first time, the Orioles rank as the No. 1 farm system in our organization talent rankings. Baseball America began ranking the farm systems in 1984. We look at the totality of talent in each organization, with an emphasis on top prospects but also factoring depth. For most of the 40-year run of org talent rankings, the Orioles have been nowhere near the top. From 1984 to 2020, they never ranked higher than No. 8. Baltimore moved up to seventh in 2021, fourth last year and now first. The Orioles are the 19th different organization to lead our talent rankings. Last year, the Mariners ranked No. 1 for the first time with a farm system led by Julio Rodriguez and George Kirby. The Rays held the top spot in…

This year, MLB embarks on a season of change like few in the modern history of the game. For a detailed analysis about the myriad on-field rules changes aimed at encouraging action and speeding up pace of play, please see Page 10, and for J.J. Cooper’s read on baseball’s changing broadcasting landscape, please see Page 50. But before we get to all that, let’s place the most momentous changes of MLB’s expansion era in context. 1960s 1961: The AL expands to Los Angeles and Washington. The NL expands to Houston and New York the next season. By 1977, MLB had grown from 16 teams to 26 by stretching westward and internationally with teams in Montreal and Toronto. 1963: The Minor League Agreement between MLB and the National Association codifies the…

One thing is clear from studying the data from this year’s spring training and from minor leagues that had previously adopted rules to encourage basestealing. Stolen bases are definitely going to be a thing again. Derek Carty’s THE BAT X player projection system estimates that there will be 600 additional stolen bases in MLB this season compared with last year. This issue’s cover subject, Trea Turner, will be right in the thick of things. Turner is one of 20 players projected to add at least five stolen bases to his ledger based on the new MLB rules for 2023. Turner ranks second only to Ronald Acuña Jr. on THE BAT X’s full list of projected stolen base gainers, comparing original player projections with an update to account for the rules…

The BA editorial staff goes on record with their bold—and not so bold—predictions for the 2023 MLB season. Our nine Crystal Ball prognosticators this year are Ben Badler, Carlos Collazo, JJ Cooper, Matt Eddy, Kyle Glaser, Chris Hilburn-Trenkle, Savannah McCann, Josh Norris and Geoff Pontes. This year we graded each team on the 20-80 scale, where 50 is average. AMERICAN LEAGUE EAST 1. Yankees 70 2. Blue Jays 60 3. Rays 55 4. Orioles 50 5. Red Sox 40 CENTRAL 1. Guardians 55 2. Twins 55 3. White Sox 50 4. Royals 30 5. Tigers 30 WEST 1. Astros 80 2. Mariners 60 3. Angels 50 4. Rangers 50 5. Athletics 20 Wild Cards: Mariners, Blue Jays, Rays. Pennant: Astros (5 votes), Blue Jays (2), Yankees (2). MVP: Shohei Ohtani.…

The Orioles haven’t made the playoffs since they lost the Wild Card Game in 2016, and they haven’t won a playoff game since 2014. But if recent history of the Baseball America organization talent rankings is any guide, that should change before too long. Each of the past 15 No. 1 farm systems, every one of them made at least one postseason appearance in the succeeding seasons following the ranking. Five of them won the World Series, and there were a total of 13 pennants won in the five seasons following the No. 1 ranking. Other top farm systems, such as the 2019 Padres, traded significant prospect capital to bring in MLB talent. The ability to slot in youngsters also can ensure that an organization has the payroll flexibility to…

@JJCOOP36 Just in time for the 2023 baseball season, the long-anticipated demise of regional sports networks is beginning to shift from theory to reality. While everyone was focused on Bally Sports’ financial issues that are likely headed to bankruptcy, AT&T SportsNet decided to give up. The company, which has the rights to four MLB teams, has begun informing teams that they could have their TV rights back at no cost if they absolve AT&T SportsNet of future liabilities. Otherwise, AT&T SportsNet would begin liquidation proceedings. While RSN revenue is important to the NBA, NHL and MLB, the timing of the crisis means that the financial issues for RSNs is hitting late in the NBA and NHL seasons. That means those leagues’ teams have received much of their yearly rights payments.…

Baseball has undergone more changes to its on-field product in the 2020s than it has in any decade since the 1960s. For a comprehensive timeline of significant changes, see Numbers Game on Page 6. This season, MLB unveils several new playing rules aimed at encouraging action and speeding up the pace of the national pastime. Amid the tumult, another fundamental change to baseball in 2023 has flown a bit under the radar. MLB is adopting a more balanced schedule that will sharply reduce the number of intra-division games and also ensure that every team plays each of the 29 other teams for at least one series each season. WHAT’S DIFFERENT ■ Division matchups decrease from 76 total games—19 versus each divisional opponent—to 52 total games, or 13 per opponent. The…

If there is ever any doubt about how much of an impact rookies can have on a team, one need only look to the 2022 rookie class. Mariners outfielder Julio Rodriguez, Orioles catcher Adley Rutschman, Braves outfielder Michael Harris II and Braves righthander Spencer Strider all emerged as instant stars last season and altered the fortunes of their respective franchises. Astros shortstop Jeremy Peña won a Gold Glove and the ALCS and World Series MVP awards, becoming the first rookie shortstop to do any of those things. Mariners righthander George Kirby made his debut during the season and became a fixture in Seattle’s playoff rotation. Angels lefthander Reid Detmers threw a no-hitter on his way to a breakout season, Royals third baseman Bobby Witt Jr. had 20 homers and 30…

Promising 18-year-old catcher Samuel Basallo is ready for Low-A. “He has all the skills that are necessary to be a frontline catcher,” said Orioles farm director Matt Blood. PAGE 41 AMERICAN LEAGUE Basallo Adds To O’s International Crop Catcher Samuel Basallo was one of two seven-figure signees in the Orioles’ landmark 2019 international class, one that represented the organization’s return to the market after years without meaningful participation. While other members of the class have reached full-season ball earlier, hopes are high that Basallo, who could begin 2023 at Low-A Delmarva, could emerge as the best. “I don’t want to put any huge expectations on him,” Orioles farm director Matt Blood said. “I’ll say that a player his age at his premium position, with his skill set, if he goes out…