Innholdsfortegnelse for March 2020 i Baseball America

Of the 115 World Series ever played, the Dodgers and Yankees have opposed each other in 11 of them. That accounts for 9.5 percent of total World Series matchups and is by far the most common. It’s also the matchup forecast by Baseball America in a near-unanimous vote by our editorial team—and it’s easy to see why. The Dodgers traded from their wealth of prospects to acquire right fielder Mookie Betts and lefthander David Price from the Red Sox. Betts and reigning National League MVP Cody Bellinger co-headline a Los Angeles lineup that led the league in runs scored last season. Price slots in as the No. 3 starter behind Walker Buehler and Clayton Kershaw in the Dodgers’ deep stable of rotation arms. The Yankees advanced to the American League…

Under general manager Rick Hahn, the White Sox have “won” the offseason before. Before the 2015 season, they were viewed as instant contenders after a winter haul of veterans brought in righthander Jeff Samardzija, first baseman Adam LaRoche, outfielder Melky Cabrera and relievers David Robertson, Zach Duke and Dan Jennings. When it was time to prove it on the field, the White Sox went 76-86 and finished fourth in the American League Central. Before the 2014 season, Chicago added first baseman Jose Abreu, outfielder Adam Eaton, third baseman Matt Davidson and pitchers Scott Downs, Felipe Paulino, Ronald Belisario and Javy Guerra. The White Sox finished fourth in that season, too, going 73-89. It was a classic case of rinse, wash, repeat and fail, and Hahn finally became fed up with…

SHOGO AKIYAMA, OF, REDS Akiyama set the single-season hits record in Japan and is a solid center fielder who can help Cincinnati on both sides of the ball. BOBBY DALBEC, 3B/1B, RED SOX Dalbec is powerful, patient and knocking on the door at Triple-A. JAYLIN DAVIS, OF, GIANTS After a breakout 2019, the slugging Davis is primed to contend for a starting outfield spot with the rebuilding Giants. MACKENZIE GORE, LHP, PADRES Gore has made just five career starts above high Class A, but his polish, poise and excellent arsenal give him a chance to rise quickly to San Diego. AUSTIN HAYS, OF, ORIOLES Hays has generally performed when healthy and is set to open the year as the Orioles’ center fielder. SAM HILLIARD, OF, ROCKIES Hilliard showed prodigious power…

EDWARD ADAMCZYK, a righthander who served in the U.S. Marine Corps in World War II before pitching for the Indians and Reds organizations in 1947 and ’48, died Sept. 24 in Orchard Park, N.Y. He was 96. JOHN ALTOBELLI, an outfielder who played for the Marlins in the Florida State League in 1985, died Jan. 26 in the helicopter crash that killed former NBA superstar Kobe Bryant and seven others in Calabasas, Calif. He was 56. Altobelli served as head coach for Orange Coast (Calif.) JC for 27 seasons, winning more than 700 games and capturing five California state junior college championships. RAMON AVILES, a second baseman and shortstop who played four seasons for the Phillies and Red Sox, died Jan. 27 in Manati, Puerto Rico. He was 68. Aviles…

FROM OUR ARCHIVE ISSUE May 1, 1983 RUNDOWN “I like to carry myself like Satchel did. My uncle played with him on the Kansas City Monarchs and my father knew him personally,” Oil Can Boyd said of Hall of Famer Satchel Paige, his boyhood idol. Oil Can Boyd continues to love baseball, a game he played for 10 seasons in the major leagues. What Boyd does not like about the game is the declining number of black Americans playing it. African-Americans accounted for just 13 percent of Opening Day major league rosters in 2019, but Boyd has an idea that could change that. “When the black parent is not involved in the game, the kids are not going to be involved in the game,” Boyd said. “So we’re trying to…

John Altobelli was to embark on his 28th season as the head coach of Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa, Calif., on Jan. 28. Two days before Opening Day, however, he was killed, along with former NBA great Kobe Bryant, in a helicopter crash that also took the lives of Altobelli’s wife and daughter, who was a teammate of Bryant’s daughter on a youth basketball team. The news about the crash focused on the death of Kobe Bryant, his daughter Gianna “and seven others,” to the point that Rockies scout Walker Monfort was at a game on Sunday when he saw a tweet about Bryant’s death and mentioned the helicopter crash to the scouts seated near him. The scout next to him, who had just received a brief call, nodded…

BY ORGANIZATION Notable ● The Rays are at least tied for the most Top 100 Prospects for the second straight season. They had nine Top 100 Prospects entering 2019, tied with the Padres for the most in baseball. ● The Brewers are the only team without a Top 100 Prospect, a year after three teams (Cubs, Red Sox and Yankees) had none. This is the first time since 2011 that the Brewers have not had a Top 100 prospect. ● The Dodgers have at least four Top 100 Prospects for the seventh straight year. Their seven Top 100 Prospects this year are their most since 2016, when they also had a class of seven that included Corey Seager, Cody Bellinger, Julio Urias, Alex Verdugo and Kenta Maeda. BY POSITION Notable…

The Baseball America editorial team predicted the order of finish, postseason participants and award winners as players reported to spring training in mid-February. Please see our BA Crystal Ball throughout the MLB Preview for offseason winners and losers, biggest storylines, breakout players and more. AMERICAN LEAGUE EAST 1. New York Yankees 2. Tampa Bay Rays 3. Boston Red Sox 4. Toronto Blue Jays 5. Baltimore Orioles CENTRAL 1. Minnesota Twins 2. Cleveland Indians 3. Chicago White Sox 4. Kansas City Royals 5. Detroit Tigers WEST 1. Houston Astros 2. Oakland Athletics 3. Los Angeles Angels 4. Texas Rangers 5. Seattle Mariners Wild Cards: Athletics, Rays. Pennant: Yankees. MVP: (1) Mike Trout, OF, Angels. (2) Francisco Lindor, SS, Indians. (3) Aaron Judge, OF, Yankees. Cy Young Award: (1) Gerrit Cole, RHP,…

Padres executive chairman Ron Fowler’s big league team had just finished its ninth straight losing season when some of the Padres’ most devout fans sidled up to him at Petco Park. The organization’s two-day prospect showcase, now an annual event, served as the backdrop for a gathering with the Padres’ most active followers on social media a day after the end of the 2019 season, but the present state of the big league product tugged at Fowler’s patience. A second manager under his watch had been fired just nine days earlier. The off-the-cuff stream of consciousness that poured out of Fowler that last day in September—“heads will roll, beginning with mine”—echoed the frustration he relayed years earlier on a radio program while criticizing pitcher James Shields. That served as the…

The Mariners made progress in 2019. The change wasn’t always perceptible in the big leagues, where the team finished last in the American League West and missed the playoffs for the 18th straight season, but there were flashes toward the end of the year of the good things that were happening down on the farm. Take righthander Reggie McClain as an example. Seattle’s 13th-rounder out of Missouri in 2016 got hit around at high Class A Modesto for the first two full seasons of his career and returned there to begin 2019, albeit in the bullpen. Something was different this time, and he suddenly found success. He made just six appearances at Modesto before moving to Double-A Arkansas, where he continued mowing down the competition. In 31.2 innings between the…

Baseball America annually polls major league scouting departments to vote on our Preseason High School All-America teams. We ask each organization to make its selections based on performance, talent and professional potential. In the past, the BA preseason first team has been a predictor of first-round draft selections. Last year’s Preseason All-America Team included Dallas area shortstop Bobby Witt Jr., the No. 2 overall pick in the 2019 draft, along with outfielder Riley Greene (No. 5), shortstop CJ Abrams (6), third baseman Brett Baty (12), outfielder Corbin Carroll (16) and righthanders Daniel Espino (24) and Brennan Malone (33). SECOND TEAM THIRD TEAM TYLER SODERSTROM, C TURKLOCK (CALIF.) HS Soderstrom narrowly edged second-team catcher Drew Romo. He’s a first round-caliber player thanks to the strength of his lefthanded bat, which he…

Speculating on young arms to round out your fantasy pitching staff is often fun and sometimes profitable. It only takes one success to cancel out all the misfires. The arms I focus on are unestablished—often young—pitchers who have bat-missing stuff and a realistic big league rotation opportunity. Pitchers like this could be one tweak—or one extended opportunity—away from breaking through and establishing themselves. Perhaps the pitcher needs improved pitch sequencing. Perhaps he needs to modify his fastball usage or improve command of the pitch. Sometimes a breakthrough is as close as throwing strike one more frequently. Those are areas that pitchers tend to improve with age and experience, and that growth potential represents upside if you know where to look. That’s why I studied all pitchers who threw at least…

This year we celebrate the 30th anniversary of our first Top 100 Prospects ranking in 1990. We hope it will come close to matching the pedigree of that 1990 list, which now includes a pair of Hall of Famers in Frank Thomas (No. 29) and Larry Walker (No. 41). This year’s ranking is led by Rays shortstop Wander Franco, who is the fifth shortstop to rank No. 1. The others include Hall of Famer Chipper Jones (1993) and Alex Rodriguez (1995). The most recent was 2016 National League Rookie of the Year Corey Seager. Jurickson Profar (2013) is the other. Franco turns 19 on March 1 and is the second-youngest No. 1 overall prospect ever, bested only by Braves center fielder Andruw Jones, who was still 18 on Opening Day…

Rays shortstop Wander Franco ranks first on the Top 100 Prospects and White Sox center fielder Luis Robert ranks second. Both had exceptional 2019 seasons, but they took wildly different paths to get to that success. Franco was a maestro of controlling his at-bats. Thanks to his selective eye and exceptional hand-eye coordination, he generally got ahead in counts, got the pitcher at a disadvantage and then found a pitch to hit. Forty percent of Franco’s plate appearances ended with him ahead in the count. And he hit .326/.510/.543 when he was ahead. Among Top 100 Prospects with 100 or more plate appearances in full-season ball last year, Franco ranked sixth in percentage of plate appearances where he was ahead in the count. Angels outfielder Brandon Marsh was tops with…

Arival scout sat in the stands at Busch Stadium last summer, watching Tommy Edman rack up hit after hit. The veteran scout has had Cardinals organization coverage for years. He liked Edman as a prospect. When it came to write his report, he turned Edman in as a future utility player. A big leaguer, but not a starter. Now, watching Edman start at third base and hit leadoff for the playoff-bound Cardinals, the scout just sat back and chuckled. “Just call it the ‘Cardinal Way,’” the scout said. “A lot of people sit there and say the same thing: it’s pixie dust. They sit there and sprinkle it on them and they perform.” Welcome to “Cardinals Devil Magic.” Throughout the last decade—and even before it, really—the Cardinals routinely turned college…

BEST ATHLETE (POSITION PLAYER) Masyn Winn Ed Howard Brandon Fields BEST PURE HITTER Robert Hassell Austin Hendrick Pete Crow-Armstrong BEST POWER Austin Hendrick Blaze Jordan Jordan Walker FASTEST RUNNER Enrique Bradfield Petey Halpin Masyn Winn BEST DEFENSIVE INFIELDER Ed Howard Milan Tolentino Steven Ondina BEST DEFENSIVE OUTFIELDER Pete Crow-Armstrong Enrique Bradfield Petey Halpin BEST DEFENSIVE CATCHER Drew Romo Kyle Teel Kevin Parada BEST INFIELD ARM Coby Mayo Masyn Winn Ed Howard BEST OUTFIELD ARM Austin Hendrick Chase Davis Jared Jones BEST CATCHER ARM Tyler Soderstrom Drew Romo Corey Collins BEST FASTBALL Jared Kelley Mick Abel Carson Montgomery BEST FASTBALL MOVEMENT Jared Kelley Mick Abel Alejandro Rosario BEST BREAKING BALL Mick Abel (SL) Victor Mederos (CB) Carson Montgomery (SL) BEST CHANGEUP Ben Hernandez Jared Kelley Mick Abel BEST COMMAND Mick Abel…