Innholdsfortegnelse for April 2022 i Baseball America

All events begin at 9 a.m., with on-site check-in from 8-8:30 a.m. All participants must be registered on League Apps to be eligible to participate. Who can attend? Open to select athletes in the 2025-26 Graduation Class with interest in playing or continuing to play baseball. Registration for the MLB Tour (the “Tour”) does not guarantee participation in all activities offered on the Tour. An athlete’s participation may be limited to certain activities within the Tour as determined is MLB’s sole discretion, based on the volume of participants. Parents and coaches must stay off the field unless authorized by MLB staff and personnel. Have questions about MLB TOUR? Please email mlbdevelopsinfo@mlb.com.…

Alan Zinter’s career—a life in baseball that has spanned more than 30 years—changed instantly because Jeff Suppan wasn’t home. A first-team All-American catcher at the University of Arizona, Zinter was the 24th overall selection in the 1989 draft by the Mets, and he seemed primed for a quick rise to the major leagues. Six years then flew by in a flash, and Zinter felt about as far away from MLB as a guy coming off a Triple-A season could feel. After a couple of middling seasons, Zinter found himself a minor league free agent, with few job opportunities. To that point in his pro career, Zinter had struggled with the mental side of baseball. Playing carefree at Arizona allowed him to do damage at the plate, but the professional version…

After nearly 100 days, Major League Baseball lifted the lockout on March 10 when the owners and players’ union agreed on a new Collective Bargaining Agreement. The 99-day lockout was the second-longest work stoppage in MLB history behind only the 1994-95 strike that resulted in the cancellation of the 1994 World Series. The new CBA lasts five seasons and expires Dec. 1, 2026. While most of the core economics remain the same, the agreement features a series of changes that touch on nearly every facet of the game, including the postseason, playing rules, player compensation and the draft. Here, we highlight the primary changes to the new CBA. EXPANDED POSTSEASON The postseason expands from 10 to 12 teams beginning in 2022. The top two division winners will receive byes while…

1. Normalcy returns Welcome to a needed return to normal around the minor leagues. For fans who caught a few games late last season, they may not have even noticed, but for players, coaches and especially minor league operators, 2021 was anything but a routine season. There were a wide array of coronavirus mitigation measures, some of which changed throughout the season. Many teams had significant attendance restrictions, especially during the first months of the season. The season started a month late because of coronavirus as well. Even if the 2021 season had been normal, it wouldn’t have been normal because of the pandemic-canceled 2020 season. Front offices were gutted by furloughs and layoffs, and teams were unable to staff back up for a normal offseason because of the uncertain…

2015 • Sept. 28: Jerry Dipoto is hired as general manager, marking beginning of new regime. Farm director Andy McKay is hired shortly after. 2016 • Scott Hunter is promoted to scouting director. Seattle had drafted College Player of the Year Kyle Lewis , an outfielder from Mercer, in the first round. He wins AL Rookie of the Year in 2020. 2017 • July 2: Mariners sign Dominican OF Julio Rodriguez , who will ascend to the system’s No. 1 prospect and one of the best in baseball. 2018 • The Mariners enter the season with the No. 30 farm system in baseball. • June 4: Mariners draft Stetson RHP Logan Gilbert 14th overall. He makes his MLB debut three years later. • July 2: Mariners sign Dominican SS Noelvi Marte, who blossoms in 2019 pro…

For many Latin American players—and the occasional American—offseason development means participating in professional winter leagues in the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Mexico and Puerto Rico. Playing in those winter leagues is a great way for young Latino players to gain experience in a high-pressure environment where the stakes are high, the competition skews older and playing time is distributed on merit, not simply pedigree. For many young Latino players, the winter leagues represent a chance to prepare for the following season as they seek to win big league jobs and establish a foothold in MLB. In this piece, we highlight six young hitters who stood out in Latin American winter leagues. Not all are still prospects, but none is an established MLB player. Jesus Sanchez, RF, Marlins 84 PA: .324/.429/.465 (181…

Ninety-nine That’s how many days fans had to endure baseball’s coldest winter ever. Major league owners locked out the players on Dec. 2, following the expiration of the Collective Bargaining Agreement. That triggered a freeze on MLB transactions and cast doubt on whether the 2022 season would begin on time. December and January passed without much movement on the CBA front. Only in late February did negotiating sessions intensify between MLB and the players’ union, and after a frequently contentious back-and-forth, the two sides ratified a new CBA on March 10. With the lockout lifted, transactions were once again permitted, 40-man roster players began reporting to spring training and Opening Day was scheduled for April 7, only a week later than its intended start date. Our winter of discontent is…

The Triple-A season opens April 5, with all remaining full-season leagues following suit on April 8. This will be the first full minor league season in three years following the canceled 2020 minor league season and the delayed 2021 minor league season. It also represents the first chance for many of the game’s top prospects to showcase their tools over the course of a full season. Here are the prospects with the best tools in the minor leagues for the 2022 season. Players must still have prospect eligibility to qualify. Best tools winners were chosen in consultation with pro scouting directors. BEST HITTER BEST POWER BEST SPEED BEST DEFENSIVE CATCHER BEST DEFENSIVE INFIELDER BEST DEFENSIVE INFIELDER Non-Shortstop Division BEST INFIELD ARM BEST DEFENSIVE OUTFIELDER BEST OUTFIELD ARM BEST FASTBALL BEST…

If Darlene Parada had her way, her son Kevin would never have become a catcher. Parada remembers his mother telling him when he was about 7 or 8 that he couldn’t be a catcher. He was insistent on trying the position, however, so his mother relented. “My mom was like, ‘You know what, he’s probably going to block his first ball and realize he doesn’t want to be a catcher,’” Parada said. “I was the total opposite of that.” Parada’s stubborn insistence on catching paid off. This year, the Georgia Tech sophomore was voted as a Preseason All-American catcher by MLB scouting departments and could be drafted in the top 10 picks in July. He is the latest star to come out of Georgia Tech’s catching pipeline, which has also…

Marty Scott was a baseball lifer, a phrase that is attached to those who can’t ever leave the game behind. Instead, they do what they can to make baseball better for the next generation. It’s probably more accurate to say that Scott lived multiple baseball lives. He died on March 9. He was 66. His stint as the Rangers’ farm director from 1984 to 1994 came at a time when the Rangers produced one of the best crop of prospects the game has seen. Ivan Rodriguez, Sammy Sosa, Kevin Brown, Juan Gonzalez, Ruben Sierra and many others all came up through the Rangers’ minor leagues at the same time. Scott then became the St. Paul Saints’ manager from 1995 to 2000, when he led the team to two independent Northern…

Timeliness counts for a lot in life—and in fantasy baseball. Knowing when to draft or trade for a player is an essential skill, especially in dynasty leagues, where a player’s value over a longer period of time than a single season must be considered. I’ve always approached the question of player value in three-year windows. This helps put into perspective prospects and young major leaguers versus productive veterans on the back nine of their careers. With this in mind, I have identified 10 players I feel will provide a strong return on investment in dynasty leagues over the next three years. Framber Valdez, LHP, Astros Last season, Valdez returned from a finger injury to his pitching hand—one sustained during his first spring training start—and produced a 70% groundball rate that…

As baseball continues to get younger and younger, the importance of having impact rookies grows every year. The Rays won 100 games and the American League East last year with rookies Randy Arozarena and Wander Franco leading their lineup and rookie lefthander Shane McClanahan fronting their rotation. Astros righthander Luis Garcia and Cardinals outfielder Dylan Carlson played critical roles leading their teams to the playoffs, and Braves righthander Ian Anderson pitched to a 1.59 ERA in four postseason starts— including throwing five no-hit innings in his lone World Series start—to help lead the Braves to a World Series title. That’s to say nothing of Reds second baseman Jonathan India, Marlins lefthander Trevor Rogers, Orioles first baseman Ryan Mountcastle, Guardians closer Emmanuel Clase and Tigers starters Casey Mize and Tarik Skubal,…

Wander Franco, SS, Rays Franco finished third in the American League Rookie of the Year voting in 2021. For an encore, he could be generating votes for MVP. We’ve seen just how big of an impact that special players like Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Ronald Acuña Jr., Juan Soto and Fernando Tatis Jr. can have in their early 20s in the big leagues. Franco has that type of talent to be one of the game’s biggest stars this year. Ke’Bryan Hayes 3B, Pirates Hayes hits the ball hard but on the ground far too often. If he can elevate more frequently this season, Hayes has the power to be an impact bat—and his glove will keep him in the Pittsburgh lineup every day to get the reps. Dylan Carlson OF, Cardinals…

To get an idea of why Siena’s Tony Rossi is still coaching at 78 years old and after 53 years in the job, you have to go back to when he was 12, growing up not too far from where he now coaches outside Albany, N.Y. Like many baseball-mad youths, he played in his local Little League, but that wasn’t enough baseball for him, so he joined a second league called the Grasshopper League. Still not satisfied and out of other options, he simply started his own league. Not only did he find players for one team, but he went out and got sponsors lined up on his own, got shirts made for four teams, gathered the equipment, assigned three other 12-year-old kids to recruit players for other teams and…