Innholdsfortegnelse for May 2019 i Baseball America

@BaseballAmerica @BaseballAmerica BaseballAmericaMag ReadBA FOR THE LOVE OF THE GAME Baseball Factory and Softball Factory are partnering with Baseball America to feature up-and-coming baseball and softball players in each issue of BA magazine. Find more softball coverage at SoftballAmerica.com BA HISTORY Teams often ask us for posters of our covers to decorate clubhouses, offices and suites. Our Twins-themed covers displayed (L-R). 1997: Todd Walker The LSU product tops the Twins’ system. 1983: Tim Teufel The IL player of the year earns a callup. 2013: Byron Buxton Five-tool talent shines in full-season debut. 1987: Kirby Puckett Future Hall of Famer keys upstart Twins. BASEBALL AMERICA COVER STORY MLB Network’s Bill Ripken spent a day with Twins bench coach Derek Shelton for a Network show called “The Coaches: Who Are These Guys?”…

Going through a rough stretch at the plate? Don’t immediately assume you need to make a mechanical change to get back on track. Too often we see young hitters who string together a couple oh-fers and immediately jump into the cage to make a swing change. They move their hands to a different spot, change their stride, try to implement a new trigger, and make any number of other physical adjustments in an effort to “fix their swing.” Often times the swing is fine—it’s other factors that are causing the issues. At Baseball Factory, our goal is to build complete hitters. Here’s a checklist to evaluate the next time you’re struggling and before you need to make a mechanical change: 1. PITCH SELECTION: Am I swinging at strikes? Have I…

The sharp managers in your dynasty league know all about the Top 100 Prospects. The sharper ones can probably give you a lede on the next 100 prospects, too. It’s after that point where information asymmetry pays off. Knowing which prospects are the wise investments outside the top 200 can give you an advantage. In a best-case scenario, you can pluck a talented but lesser known prospect off the waiver wire, watch him build value in your farm system and then trade him for assets to help your major league team win. As we exit spring training and head into the regular season, let’s take stock of a few rising prospects who you can dream on. Players are presented in alphabetical order. BRANDON BIELAK RHP, ASTROS The Astros’ pitching factory…

Baseball America took note of the rising tide of impact talent from Latin America, particularly the Dominican Republic, in 1985. The cover story in the July 25 issue that year focused on the Blue Jays’ Dominican presence. Shortstop Tony Fernandez, left fielder George Bell and second baseman Damaso Garcia were everyday players, while rookie middle infielder Manny Lee served as a reserve. Led by manager Bobby Cox, the 1985 Blue Jays won the American League East and took the Royals to seven games in the Championship Series. In the process, Toronto, an expansion franchise that began play in 1977, helped usher in a modern approach to building an organization. The international flavor that was present in Toronto also pervaded the Blue Jays’ farm system. They led baseball with 23 players…

1870s Cubans fleeing the Ten Years’ War bring baseball to the D.R. 1880s Baseball continues to gain popularity 1890s First professional league forms consisting of two teams 1900s Tigres del Licey franchise founded in Santo Domingo (1907) 1910s Estrellas Orientales franchise founded in San Pedro de Macoris (1910) 1920s Leones del Escogido franchise founded in Santo Domingo to rival Licey (1921) 1930s Stadiums built by president Rafael Trujillo’s public works projects help make baseball the republic’s national pastime Trujillo employs Negro League stars including Satchel Paige, Josh Gibson and Cool Papa Bell to play for his Dragones de Ciudad Trujillo club in a nascent, three-team Dominican League (1937) The league folds when the dictator Trujillo is ousted; players from the U.S., Cuba and Puerto Rico return to their homelands (1938)…

APPROACHING FROM THE EAST, VISITORS DON’T SEE DUDY NOBLE FIELD UNTIL THEY ARE UPON IT. IT RISES FROM THE MISSISSIPPI STATE CAMPUS LIKE A CATHEDRAL, RESPLENDENT IN ITS GRANDEUR. Visitors approaching from the west see it in its rightful place in the Starkville skyline along with Davis Wade Stadium, where the football team plays, and Humphrey Coliseum, the basketball arena. No matter what direction visitors come to it, Dudy Noble Field is striking. The $68 million rebuild of one of college baseball’s iconic venues was completed this year and produced the sport’s best venue. The right field entrance opens on to the Adkerson Plaza and a beautiful view of the field. The home plate entrance is adorned by statues depicting Will Clark and Rafael Palmeiro, Thunder and Lightning. The stadium’s…

@DAVESERRANO11 We are getting to that time of the year for college baseball. Conference races are starting to take shape. RPI standings are starting to become much more of the focus after each win or loss. As college baseball enters the second half of the season, the stretch run to postseason is in sight. And for many programs, the goal of reaching the College World Series and playing for a national championship seems as wide open as ever. As a former coach who has experienced baseball on both sides of the country (Tennessee from 1995-96 and again from 2012-2017 and Cal State Fullerton and UC Irvine from 1997-2011), I’ve been asked many times where the best baseball is played. I rarely share my opinion, since I believe it’s played well…

A large portion of the major league scouting community descended on USA Baseball’s National Training Complex in Cary, N.C., in April for the eighth annual National High School Invitational. Baseball America was at each game of the event, observing and taking notes to focus on how the top prospects at the tournament handled themselves and whether they improved their draft stock. The NHSI didn’t produce a Jordyn Adams-type storyline this year, where a player significantly boosted his stock and jumped into firstround consideration, but there were enough players at the event to keep draft junkies satiated. C.J. ABRAMS, SS BLESSED TRINITY CATHOLIC HS, ROSWELL, GA. BA RANK:NO.4 Abrams looked fine at the plate—he didn’t overwhelm and he didn’t look overmatched—but it was an impressive showing for him defensively at shortstop,…

@JOE_SHEEHAN Since taking over as commissioner, Rob Manfred has brought up expansion countless times, giving the idea of additional Major League Baseball franchises an air of inevitability. The idea is seductive. For one thing, 32 teams is a more elegant number for baseball than 30, because it would create a pair of 16-team leagues and nullify year-round interleague play. MLB hasn’t added teams in 21 seasons, marking the longest it has gone without expanding since the heyday of the original 16 franchises. Even in an era of boundless revenues, the appeal of expansion fees—free money for current owners, perhaps up to a billion dollars in total—is considerable. As we consider where to put two new teams, though, consider that MLB hasn’t expanded in a fully voluntary manner since before it…

@JJCOOP36 If you’re a baseball player born in the U.S., your most likely path to the major leagues is through a four-year college. The numbers make that clear. On 2019 Opening Day rosters, 45 percent of all players came from four-year colleges, dramatically more than any other source. Among draftees, six out of every 10 came from the four-year college route. Just 32 percent signed out of high school while the other 8 percent signed out of junior college. Any player who makes it to the major leagues for a few years is going to comfortably reside in the top tax bracket. Whether a player signs out of high school or goes to college, anyone who is a regular for a couple of years is going to be a millionaire.…

One out of every five Triple-A teams spent the first month of the 2019 season playing a game of getting-to-know-you. The first months of a new affiliation relationship are an acclimation process. The minor league team learns how the big league club likes its clubhouse run and works through the various minor needs that don’t become apparent until the two sides are working together day after day. In Omaha, Reading, Pa., and Lakeland, Fla., no such introductions are necessary. Those clubs have been working with their major league affiliates—the Royals, Phillies and Tigers—for half a century or more. The relationships stretch far beyond the careers of most anyone working for either the major or minor league teams. When current Phillies general manager Matt Klentak was born in 1980, Reading and…

If you squint hard enough and look out over the horizon, somewhere out there you’ll see Major League Baseball with 32 teams. The league, which last expanded in 1998, has some tidying up to do, but for Commissioner Rob Manfred, he envisions a team in the Pacific and Eastern time zones. “Baseball is a growth industry,” Manfred said. “Eventually, we’d like to get to 32 teams.” There are some good reasons for Manfred’s view on growth. MLB now sees gross revenues in excess of $10 billion, and with two new clubs the owners would likely garner $2 billion or more in expansion fees, not to mention new media rights revenues. With expansion would come regional realignment, and by then the universal DH would either be added or already implemented, given…

For the Royals, 2015 was a magical year. Helmed by manager Ned Yost, they won 95 games, fourth most in the major leagues. They ran away with the American League Central, then toppled the Blue Jays for the AL pennant and finished by taking down the Mets and winning their first World Series since 1985. This came a year after making the World Series but falling short against the Giants thanks to an epic Game 7 performance from Madison Bumgarner. The Royals accomplished this while spending $205 million on payroll in 2014 and 2015 combined. That was $77 million less than what the Dodgers spent in 2015 alone. Ultimately, the Royals were pushed to the top by a strong homegrown core of players acquired largely by general manager Dayton Moore…

Left Field Lofts Perhaps the signature piece of the new Dudy Noble Field is the Left Field Lofts, a set of 12 condos built in left field. A rooftop deck can be used for large gatherings. The two-bedroom condos cost $64,000 a year, though they cannot serve as a primary residence. In addition to providing an outstanding view of baseball games, they are also a close walk to the football stadium and basketball arena. Left Field Lounge The Lounge holds a special place in Mississippi State baseball. It began 50 years ago with fans setting up tailgates behind the left field fence. Over time, it grew into a unique atmosphere with people building makeshift rigs to host parties in the outfield. The New Dude brings more solidity to the Lounge…

This year’s outfield class is one of the stronger aspects of the college position player group, with four likely first-round picks. The top three players on this list—Hunter Bishop, JJ Bleday and Kameron Misner—are projected to be top 20 picks. Both the four first-rounders and three top-20 picks would match last year’s class and make this one of the most prolific groups of college outfielders in the last 20 years. This year’s outfield class trends more toward corner outfielders than center fielders, even among the projected first-rounders, which is unusual because teams typically favor athletic center fielders. Half the players in the top 10 are not playing center field in college. Paired with last year, when corner bats Seth Beer and Trevor Larnach were picked in the first round, it…

Coming out of his suburban St. Louis high school in 2017, righthander Jackson Rutledge looked like he was more than ready for pro ball. The Rockwood Summit High senior stood 6-foot-8 and had already outgrown his father, John, who is 6-foot-5 and played ball in college. It wasn’t just size that attracted scouts to Rutledge. His fastball routinely sat in the low 90s with excellent sinking life. He checked in at No. 183 on Baseball America’s ranking of prospects for the 2017 draft, which would have put him squarely in the middle of the sixth round. But the timing wasn’t quite right. “He was not ready for the draft out of high school,” John said, “just maturity wise.” So Rutledge got to campus at Arkansas, where the plan was to…

is BA’s For the Love of the Game Selection Partner TRISDYN FLEETWOOD, 11 BLOOMSBURG, PA: Trisdyn has learned to fight from the moment he entered the world with a congenital heart defect. One doctor told the family prepare for the worst when he was born. The sixth grader continues to challenge himself and conquer his goals. Trisdyn fell in love with baseball at the age of 4 while playing T-ball and began pitching during coach pitch. Last summer, he went to Little League World Series summer camp. This year at age 11, he begins his first year in Major Leagues (Little League). TY MAINOLFI, 12 STATEN ISLAND, NY: Ty was a huge reason his team won a recent 12U Cal Ripken Rundown Tournament in Aberdeen, Md. The switch-hitting shortstop hit…

@TRACYRINGOLSBY It was only fitting that Ichiro Suzuki returned to the Mariners for his final big league at-bats. Those five at-bats came during the Japan opening series between the Mariners and Athletics in Tokyo in March. It was, after all, the Mariners who signed Ichiro and started him on his way to becoming the first Japanese position player in major league history. He will unquestionably become the first Japanese player enshrined in the Hall of Fame when he becomes eligible in 2025. But the Mariners didn’t know that when they signed him in November 2000. At the time, Seattle was in need of a pick-me-up. Yes, they were coming off three postseason appearances in six years and had put together a five-year run that produced what were the five best…

Born 17 months apart, Nationals outfielders Victor Robles and Juan Soto were never teammates or rivals as they grew up in Santo Domingo, the political capital and baseball capital of the Dominican Republic. But they knew about each other, which is no surprise considering the passion their home nation has for baseball. “I feel like I’ve had a love for the game ever since I was in my mother’s womb,” Robles said through a translator. “But really, ever since I was around seven years old, I’ve always had the support of my parents, as well as my friends. I think they’ve guided me and supported me and helped me grow as a player and taught me a lot.” The 21-year-old Robles made his first major league Opening Day roster in…

In a span of 21 days, Major League Baseball will convert a professional soccer pitch in the heart of London into a state-of-the-art baseball stadium worthy of the most storied rivalry in baseball between the Red Sox and Yankees for their upcoming June series. And frankly, not many will bat an eye that they can. Over the past six years, Major League Baseball has fielded games on a historical cricket ground in Australia, an abandoned golf course in Fort Bragg, N.C., and a minor league ballpark in Williamsport, Pa., a town known for Little League Baseball. And they’ve made it look easy. “We won’t let stadiums be the inhibitor for us to go in and play these games,” said Jim Small, senior vice president for MLB’s international business. “If it’s…

Each spring, teams attempt to squeeze every last drop of value from young players by delaying the start of their major league service time clocks. Sending a player to Triple-A for a few weeks in April, as the Cubs did with Kris Bryant in 2015, the Braves did with Ronald Acuña Jr. in 2018 and the Blue Jays intended to do with Vladimir Guerrero Jr. this year before he injured his oblique, can push back a player’s free agency by an entire season. Two organizations are changing the tenor of the player-team relationship this season, in ways that could benefit both parties. On the eve of Opening Day, the Padres announced that 20-year-old Fernando Tatis Jr., the No. 2 prospect in baseball, would forgo Triple-A and be the club’s everyday…

Texas is annually regarded as one of the powerhouse states for producing draft talent. But recently that has been more the product of impressive depth throughout the draft rather than overwhelming talent at the top. That is in sharp contrast with Florida and California, the two other high volume talent producers. Those states have produced 46 firstround picks this century—good for an average of 5.1 per year. Texas clocks in with 24 first-round picks since 2010, averaging just 2.7 per year. Last year, only high schoolers Grayson Rodriguez and Jordan Groshans went in the first round. That puts Texas behind Georgia (26 picks, 2.9 per year) and ahead of North Carolina (16 picks, 1.8 per year). During the last eight years, Texas has produced either two or three first-round picks…