Innholdsfortegnelse for October 2024 i Baseball America

Twice a month at BaseballAmerica.com, subscribers get exclusive access to BA writers to ask any question they want. Below are recent BA Mailbag excerpts. What might explain Tigers righthander Jackson Jobe’s high walk rate this year? It looks like it could hurt him as he transitions to the majors. I don’t think it’s actually a problem. Jobe’s strike rate in the minor leagues was 66%, against an average of roughly 63%. And that has remained consistent across levels. It was 67% at High-A, 65% at Double-A and 66% at Triple-A. Jobe locates his fastball and cutter extremely well. His slider and changeup are a little more hit-or-miss, especially because his changeup tends to be a chase pitch. But the main thing is: Jobe doesn’t give in, so he’ll get some…

The ability to analyze a full season of data and identify strengths across a variety of metrics allows us to understand which prospects have a well-rounded set of skills which point to future big league success. This year’s group shows an outlier combination of contact, approach and power. We’ve factored in ball flight quality and batted-ball angles to further refine our search for the top names to target in fantasy for 2025. All of these players shined in Class A or Rookie ball and have backed impressive performances with outstanding underlying data. KEVIN McGONIGLE, SS, TIGERS This season, McGonigle showed he has more than just strong bat-to-ball skills. In 60 games at Low-A Lakeland, he hit .326/.407/.470 with 24 strikeouts to 34 walks. He appeared in just 16 games for…

Shohei Ohtani is no stranger to making history. His exploits as a two-way player with the Angels may never be equaled. Not since Babe Ruth a century earlier had one player been so dominant in two disciplines. From 2021 to 2023, Ohtani hit .277/.379/.585 while averaging 41 home runs and 97 RBIs a season. On the mound, he recorded a 2.84 ERA while averaging 181 strikeouts in 143 innings a season. But after having elbow surgery late in the 2023 season, Ohtani was out of commission as a pitcher in 2024. That didn’t stop the Dodgers from signing him to a record 10-year, $700 million contract. Nor did it stop Ohtani from creating a different type of history this season. Because the 30-year-old couldn’t pitch or play the field, he…

Each fall, Baseball America takes stock of new faces in new places in college baseball. To get the most accurate read on which college programs have the best incoming talent on their rosters heading into 2025, BA has combined each program’s transfer haul and recruiting class—as determined by the 2024 BA 500 draft ranking—to come up with an overall ranking of newcomers. #1 LSU Top 100 transfers: 9 BA 500 freshmen: 9 As they have done every season, the Tigers again dominated the transfer portal to bring in the deepest class of any school in the country. The pitching LSU brought in—headlined by righthander Anthony Eyanson (6-2, 3.07 ERA at UC San Diego)—is their biggest strength, though second baseman Daniel Dickinson (.367/.469/.661 at Utah Valley) is also a potential day one…

Wayne Graham, the winningest coach in Rice history—and the only coach to lead the program to a national championship—died on Sept. 3. He was 88. Graham led the Owls for 26 seasons from 1992 to 2018. In that time, he led Rice to 23 NCAA Tournament appearances, 11 super regionals, seven trips to the College World Series and the 2003 national championship. Prior to Graham taking the reins, the Owls had made a regional just twice. He accumulated an all-time record of 1,173-528-2. Prior to his time at Rice, Graham was responsible for turning San Jacinto Junior College, outside Houston, into a national powerhouse. His first team in 1981 included Roger Clemens before he transferred to Texas. Later he would coach Andy Pettitte before the Yankees drafted him in 1990.…

When Reds righthander Rhett Lowder made his MLB debut on Aug. 30, he became the eighth 2023 draftee to play in the majors this year. Relievers Seth Halvorsen and Andrew Walters later made it nine and 10 debuts from the 2023 draft. It’s yet another data point that shows just how special the 2023 draft is shaping up to be. No other draft from the 21st century has seen this many draftees reach the majors so quickly. Seven 2023 first-rounders played in the major leagues in 2024. All were drafted out of college. They are listed here with overall draft number. Paul Skenes, RHP Pirates (1) Dylan Crews, OF Nationals (2) Wyatt Langford, OF Rangers (4) Jacob Wilson, SS Athletics (6) Rhett Lowder, RHP Reds (7) Nolan Schanuel, 1B Angels…

From the stands or the couch, it’s difficult to fathom just how difficult the game is for hitters these days. Current players and coaches are happy to discuss this if you ask them. Pitchers are nastier. Weaknesses are exposed more quickly. And just when you think you have a pitcher figured out, the next time you step to the plate, he’s been replaced by a reliever who throws 98 mph. We can compare two MVPs from recent history to illustrate just how tough it has become for modern hitters to actually hit. From 2009 to 2012, Tigers first baseman Miguel Cabrera was arguably the best hitter in baseball. He hit .332/.414/.590 over those four seasons and won two batting titles. Cabrera averaged 36 home runs a year, won an MVP…

A decade ago, the path to a dogpile in Omaha, a spot in the NCAA regionals or a conference title, was paved through many hot summer days in East Cobb and Lakepoint, Ga. College head coaches and recruiting coordinators would camp out for weeks to see their future cleanup hitters and Friday starters at showcases. Their goal? Get the best high school recruits to campus, get them some modest playing time as freshmen, move them into the everyday lineup as sophomores and watch them star as juniors. Do so year after year, and you could build a powerhouse. That now seems as quaint and old-fashioned as an umpire using a bal-loon-style chest protector. A program focusing entirely on that formula in the 2020s might find that they are doing a…

Mayo Keeps Solving Problems In Minors It’s fairly common these days for Orioles prospects to demonstrate they’re ready for the next challenge by overwhelming the competition at Triple-A. Few have done so as emphatically as Coby Mayo did this year. The 22-year-old third baseman slugged 22 home runs in 89 games for Norfolk, with his .287/.364/.562 batting line showing the kind of overall profile that makes him the next potential young Orioles offensive star. “He’s just continued being this superstar in the minor leagues for us,” Orioles farm director Anthony Villa said. “Any challenge that pops up, he works pretty diligently at and finds a way to problem-solve and continue being an elite player. He did that on both sides of the ball this year with Norfolk.” Mayo’s breakout 2023…

MLB DEBUTS WITH THEIR SIGNING SCOUTS We highlight the scouts who signed this year’s major league debuts, with this installment covering the period July 31 to Sept. 29.…

Justin Masterson is probably one of the few people who can say that a nasty bout of food poisoning was the first step on a path to success. A late bloomer from the Indiana high school ranks, Masterson had shown enough promise in his 6-foot-6 frame during his 2003 senior year to attract the interest of Division I schools. He entertained a few offers from Mid-American Conference schools, but when Notre Dame came calling, Masterson was set on South Bend. All he needed to do was attend a campus visit to sign his scholarship paperwork, and he would be a member of the Fighting Irish. The night before his visit, he went out to eat with his cousins, students at nearby Bethel College, a Christian school with a strong NAIA…

1. AIVA ARQUETTE, 2B Washington to Oregon State Arquette entered the portal in the wake of Huskies head coach Jason Kelly taking the pitching coach job at Texas A&M. Arquette broke out as a sophomore, hitting .325/.384/.574 with 12 home runs. The 6-foot-4 middle infielder has above-average raw power that he was able to tap into in 2024. 2. DANIEL DICKINSON, 2B Utah Valley to LSU Dickinson hopped in the portal after a career year in which he hit .367/.469/.661 with 18 home runs and 32 stolen bases. He has a hitterish look in the box with advanced feel to hit and sound pitch-recognition skills. 3. GAVIN KILEN, SS Louisville to Tennessee Kilen had been an everyday player for the Cardinals since stepping onto campus as a freshman. He enjoyed…

Del Castillo Breaks Through With Big Year For the past two years, coaches in the Diamondbacks’ system were quietly confident about catcher Adrian Del Castillo’s future, believing there was more in the tank than what he had showed. Del Castillo this year went about proving them right, putting together a dominant offensive season at Triple-A Reno, then swinging the bat well in the majors following a late-season callup. The 24-year-old hit a robust .312/.399/.603 with 26 home runs in 105 games. He led the minor leagues in slugging percentage and with a 1.002 OPS. “He catches four times a week, which taxes the body,” D-backs farm director Shaun Larkin said. “But what he did offensively while in conjunction with working on his craft behind the plate and all the things…

In every sport, every team is looking for an advantage. Until he recently announced he was leaving to go to Aston Martin, Adrian Newey had created an almost unfair advantage for Formula 1’s Red Bull Racing. Newey has been acclaimed as a car designer who can “see air.” He has designed Formula 1 championship-winning cars for three different teams. He’s seen it all. So when Formula 1 adopted new rules for its cars for 2022, Newey’s skepticism and his ample real-life experience as a car designer left other teams needing to catch up. New rules allowed teams to adopt “ground effect” aerodynamics to stick their car to the road. Other teams saw great results in their wind tunnel and computer simulations, but when they took the car to the track…