Ben Rice led all New York Yankees minor leaguers with a 183 wRC+ this previous season. Given the diploma to which he’s flown below most prospect radar, it wouldn’t be unreasonable so that you can learn these phrases and ask, “Who the heck is Ben Rice?“
Here’s a snapshot reply to that query:
A 24-year-old left-handed-hitting catcher, Rice grew up in Massachusetts and went on to attend Dartmouth Faculty, from the place the Yankees chosen him within the twelfth spherical of the 2021 draft. His first full skilled season was stable however not particularly notable; in 68 video games with Low-A Tampa, he logged an .810 OPS and went deep 9 instances. This 12 months was significantly notable. Taking part in at three ranges — nearly all of his video games had been at Double-A Somerset — he slashed .324/.434/.615 with 20 residence runs in 332 plate appearances.
My very own information of Rice was admittedly subsequent to nil previous to speaking him in Portland, Maine in early September. Somerset broadcaster Steven Cusumano advised Rice as a deserving interview topic, and as circumstances would have it, that dialog got here moments later. Outdoors of getting been informed that the backstop had been tearing up the Jap League — I later noticed that his OPS was north of 1.000 — I mainly went in blind.
I requested the erstwhile psychology main about his breakout. Extra particularly, why was he was having fun with such a boffo season with the bat?
“I imply, I don’t actually know had been to start out,” replied Rice. “I acquired off to a great begin at Hudson Valley, missed a pair months with [a back] harm, then acquired despatched as much as Double-A after a rehab project. I assume I’ve simply been in a position to get on a great roll right here.”
Elaborating, Rice mentioned that merely gaining extra expertise has been a main driver to his success. COVID led to the cancellation of all however the first seven video games of the 2020 Ivy League season, and subsequently the entire 2021 season. He had simply 110 collegiate plate appearances when he entered professional ball.
His changes since signing embody simplifying his setup and stroke.
“Nothing loopy,” Rice mentioned when requested about his development. “Possibly a bit bit with how I used to be positioning my bat in my launch place. That was one factor, simply making it a bit flatter, giving myself a bit extra room for error by being extra on aircraft with the baseball. That’s only a small factor, although. I don’t suppose an excessive amount of about mechanics. Once I do, that’s when it begins to get a bit funky.”
How does the emerging-from-under-the-radar prospect determine as a hitter?
“I’d name myself a contact hitter with energy,” mentioned Rice. who had a 13.3% stroll charge, an 18.7 strikeout charge, and a .462 wOBA to go together with his aforementioned numbers. “That’s perhaps higher than an influence hitter that makes contact? I’m unsure.”
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RANDOM HITTER-PITCHER MATCHUPS
Stephen Vogt went 7 for 11 in opposition to Jeremy Guthrie.
Sean Casey went 7 for 11 in opposition to Dave Mlicki.
Dick Allen went 11 for 23 in opposition to Jim Bunning.
Don Demeter went 6 for 11 in opposition to Jim Brewer.
Rip Repulski went 6 for 10 in opposition to Ron Mrozinski.
Rogers Hornsby went 16 for 36 in opposition to Pol Perritt.
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Voting for the Corridor of Fame is an honor that I’ve for the fourth time this 12 months — my colleague Jay Jaffe does as properly — and as all the time, tough choices loom. Not solely do numbers have to be assessed (as an example, how a lot weight must be placed on peak?), points resembling PEDs, dishonest scandals, and off-the-field accusations make the method extra difficult that it in any other case can be.
There’s the “fame issue” to think about. Whereas not practically as necessary as on-the-field accomplishments, it might’t be totally discounted. I’ll use Invoice Mazeroski for instance. Many really feel that the Pittsburgh Pirates legend wasn’t worthy of enshrinement, as he logged simply 2,016 hits, an 82 wRC+, and 30.9 WAR. I do think about him worthy of the consideration he acquired in 2001 by way of the Veteran’s Committee. Mazeroski was lengthy thought-about the most effective defensive second baseman in baseball historical past (on no account a farfetched perception) and he additionally occurred to hit what’s arguably essentially the most well-known residence run in World Collection historical past, a Sport 7 walk-off that gave the Pirates a 10-9 win over the vaunted New York Yankees in 1960. Mazeroski’s “fame” bona fides are actual.
Which leads us to a reputation I’m not at the moment planning to place a checkmark subsequent to on my forthcoming poll … regardless that I’m not 100% satisfied I shouldn’t. First-time eligible Bartolo Colon definitely has fame on his aspect. It’s not Mazeroski-type fame, nevertheless it’s protected to say that “Huge Attractive” is likely one of the hottest gamers of our era. The rotund right-hander pitched his final sport at age 45 in his twenty first MLB season, and his lone residence run is a factor of legend. Hit two weeks earlier than his forty third birthday, it made Colon the oldest participant ever to hit his first-ever dinger.
As for his total numbers, let’s simply say there are pitchers within the Corridor of Fame who achieved much less. Colon logged 247 wins, 2,535 strikeouts, made 4 All-Star groups, and gained a Cy Younger Award. Whereas not fairly Cooperstown-worthy numbers, they’re solely a part of the story. Possibly Colon truly does deserve my vote?
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A quiz:
Andy Pettitte’s 19 postseason wins are essentially the most in MLB historical past. Which pitcher has essentially the most postseason losses?
The reply may be discovered under.
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NEWS NOTES
The Chicago White Sox have named Paul Janish as their new director of participant growth. The 41-year-old former big-league infielder has spent the final two years as an affiliate head coach at Rice College.
The San Diego Padres are planning to rent Mike Daly to handle their Triple-A affiliate, the El Paso Diablos. Daly has been serving as San Diego’s assistant farm director. (Per The Athletic’s Dennis Lin).
Mike Sarbaugh reportedly gained’t be returning to the Cleveland Guardians subsequent season. The 56-year-old erstwhile infielder had been within the group for over three many years. He performed within the system from 1990-1994, served as a minor-league hitting coach and supervisor from 1995-2012, and since 2013 he’s been on Terry Francona’s big-league workers, primarily as third base coach.
Dick Drago, a right-hander who pitched for 5 groups in a profession that spanned the 1969-1981 seasons, died on Thursday at age 78. A Toledo native who attended the College of Detroit Mercy, Drago went 17-11 as a starter with the Kansas Metropolis Royals in 1971, and later had a number of double-digit save seasons with the Boston Pink Sox. All informed, he went 108-117 with 58 saves and a 3.62 ERA over 519 appearances.
Dick Bremer is retiring after calling Minnesota Twins video games for 40 years. Within the press launch saying the transfer, the venerable play-by-play voice acknowledged that he had broadcast 4,972 Twins video games, and over the previous 12 months he’d thought of how it will be cool to make it to five,000 — solely to comprehend that may be egocentric. As Bremer put it, “A broadcast ought to NEVER be concerning the announcer. It ought to ALWAYS be concerning the sport and people who play it.” Amen to that.
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The reply to the quiz is Tom Glavine, with 16 postseason losses. Greg Maddux has the second-most postseason losses with 14.
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Frank Howard’s passing away this previous Monday at age 87 deserves extra a point out in Information Notes. Not solely did the hulking 6-foot-7, 270-pound slugger log a 140 wRC+ from 1958-1973, he twice led the American League in residence runs and totaled 383 for his profession. Over a five-year stretch with the Washington Senators, “The Capital Destroyer” averaged 40 lengthy balls yearly with a 164 wRC+. In 1968, he had a six-game stretch the place he went 13-for-24 with 10 residence runs.
Together with tape-measure homers, Howard was often called a mild large. Humility was considered one of his traits. Once I had the pleasure of interviewing him in 2010, Howard informed me that he didn’t think about himself worthy of the Corridor of Fame. He additionally mentioned that he “can’t be vital of something within the sport of baseball… The sport of baseball has been an absolute delight to be part of.”
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Earlier this week I learn a baseball column that rubbed me the improper manner. Written by a veteran scribe with a status of disliking the trendy sport, it included his saying that he was planning to look at basketball, and never World Collection Sport 5, later that evening. He additionally advised that nobody knew who two particular gamers had been within the respective Arizona and Texas beginning lineups.
In the event you don’t respect the sport and the individuals who play it, you in all probability shouldn’t write about it. For my part, baseball is to be embraced, not trolled.
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FOREIGN AFFAIRS
The Hanshin Tigers gained this 12 months’s Japan Collection in seven video games over the Orix Buffaloes. Sheldon Neuse went 2-for-5 with a house run and 4 RBIs. Kōji Chikamoto went 4-for-5 and was named Collection MVP.
Marwin Gonzalez turned the fifth participant in baseball historical past to homer in each the World Collection and the Japan Collection when he went deep for the Orix Buffaloes earlier this week. Andruw Jones, Johnny Logan, Hideki Matsui, and Roy White had carried out so beforehand.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto gained this 12 months’s Eiji Sawamura Award — NPB’s equal to the Cy Younger Award — for the third straight season. The Orix right-hander, who’s broadly anticipated to signal with an MLB workforce this winter, went 16-6 with a 1.21 ERA.
Yuto Akihiro slashed .273/.318/.402 with 10 residence runs in 439 plate appearances for the Tokyo Yomiuri Giants. One of many tallest gamers in NPB historical past, the 6-foot-6 outfielder/first baseman was among the many youngest this season. Yuto turned 21 in mid-September.
The KT Wiz beat the NC Dinos 3-2 yesterday to advance to the KBO’s championship sequence, the place they face the LG Twins. The Korean Collection begins on Tuesday.
Ed Howard, whom the Cubs drafted sixteenth total in 2021 out of Chicago’s Mount Carmel Excessive College. will play for the Australia Baseball League’s Canberra Cavalry this winter. The 21-year-old infielder spent this summer time with Excessive-A south Bend the place he slashed .199/.239/.244 in 188 plate appearances.
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Baltimore Orioles reliever Shintaro Fujinami led final Sunday’s column, and at the moment he’ll occupy area towards the underside. Not included from our September dialog in final week’s Notes had been his ideas on a former Hanshin Tigers teammate, and a distinction in how MLB and NPB gamers are considered by their respective groups and leagues.
“I consider that an Ichiro [Suzuki] or [Norichika] Aoki sort of hitter — a outfielder with good contact expertise and velocity — has a greater likelihood coming right here than an influence hitter,” opined Fujinami. “Koji Chikamoto is perhaps a great match. He’s a left-handed-hitting centerfielder who makes good contact and is absolutely quick. I believe he might perhaps steal 50 bases if he performed right here.”
Chikamoto, who turns 29 on Thursday, slashed .285/.380/.429 with 24 doubles, 12 triples, eight residence runs, and 28 stolen bases in 31 makes an attempt for this 12 months’s Pacific League champions. A .291/.348/.402 hitter over 5 NPB seasons, he went 14-for-29 on this 12 months’s Japan Collection.
Fujinami’s tenure in Japan was at time tenuous. Regardless of stable total numbers, which included a 3.41 ERA and 1,011 strikeouts in 994 NPB innings, he was briefly demoted to Hanshin’s minor-league affiliate on just about a yearly foundation. As not too long ago as 2022 — this whereas displaying sufficient uncooked stuff and upside to convey him to MLB — Fujinami made 16 appearances with the Tigers and 9 extra within the Japanese Western League.
“How Japanese baseball evaluates gamers in comparison with how US baseball evaluates gamers is totally different,” mentioned Fujinama, who debuted in NPB at age 19 and went on make 189 of his 252 appearances on the highest degree. “In the midst of my profession, I didn’t have ok numbers. Right here it’s extra about your potential capacity. American baseball form of has an unpolished-diamond [approach]. Over there, you need to put up good numbers, conventional numbers like wins, homers and RBIs. I nonetheless haven’t put all of it collectively.”
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FARM NOTES
David McCabe is slashing .271/.435/.357 with a circuit-best 21 walks in 92 plate appearances for the Arizona Fall League’s Salt River Rafters. A local of Oshawa, Ontario, the 23-year-old third baseman within the Atlanta Braves group had 17 residence runs and a .276/.386/.450 line between Low-A Augusta and Excessive-A Rome.
Victor Scott II is slashing .272/.366/.407 in 94 plate appearances, and has 16 stolen bases in 18 makes an attempt, for the AFL’s Scottsdale Scorpions. The 22-year-old outfielder within the St. Louis Cardinals system had 94 steals and a .303/.369/.425 line between Excessive-A Peoria and Double-A Springfield.
Dominic Keegan is 18-for-50 with three residence runs for the AFL’s Peoria Javelinas. The 23-year-old catcher within the Tampa Bay Rays system slashed .287/.386/.467 with 13 residence runs between Low-A Charleston and Excessive-A Bowling Inexperienced. The Methuen, Massachusetts native was drafted out of Vanderbilt College in 2022.
Emiliano Teodo has thrown 11 scoreless innings whereas fanning 19 batters and permitting simply three hits and three walks for the AFL’s Shock Saguaros. The 22-year-old right-hander within the Texas Rangers group had a 4.52 ERA and 84 strikeouts in 61-and-two-thirds innings with Excessive-A Hickory.
Jordan Leasure has fanned 13 batters whereas permitting simply two hits and a pair of walks over eight-and-a-third innings for the AFL’s Glendale Desert Canine. Acquired by the Chicago White Sox from the Los Angeles Dodgers on the commerce deadline as a part of the five-player Lance Lynn deal, the25-year-old right-hander had a 3.91 ERA and 79 strikeouts in 48-and-a-third innings between Double-A Tulsa and Triple-A Charlotte.
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The mailbag in Baseball America’s most-recent print version included a fan asking if there’s a likelihood that one other 30 minor-league groups will reduce within the subsequent few years. (Seeking to enhance revenue margin, MLB’s billionaire homeowners conspired to contract the minors following the 2020 season.) Based on BA’s J.J. Cooper, the reply isn’t any. The present working settlement, which runs by way of 2030, stipulates that there may be no such discount of groups. What occurs seven years from now could be after all anybody’s guess.
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Talking of inquiries to J.J. Cooper, one thing I not too long ago learn in Bob Ryan’s 1974 e-book Wait Until I Make the Present: Baseball within the Minor Leagues prompted considered one of my very own. Quoted inside was the next from a workers member of the 1972 Nice Falls Giants (future big-leaguers on the workforce included Ed Halicki and Bob Knepper), which competed within the rookie-level Pioneer League:
“[Manager Dick Wilson] doesn’t even keep in the identical lodge, as a result of he doesn’t need to get too personally concerned together with his gamers. That’s as a result of he’s the one who should determine who will get launched.”
I contacted Cooper to ask what he might inform me about this. To what extent did managers truly make such choices within the Seventies?
“As greatest as I perceive from my analysis over time and conversations with baseball lifers, I might think about {that a} supervisor was extra concerned in these choices, however groups had farm administrators (and often additionally a director of participant procurement who was the scouting director,” BA’s editor-in-chief informed me by way of direct message. “Technically at that time — additionally as greatest I keep in mind from analysis I’ve carried out — all strikes had been formally carried out by the MiLB groups, so if a Double-A workforce launched a participant, it was carried out by the MiLB workforce, regardless that it was the MLB workforce making the choice.”
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LINKS YOU’LL LIKE
At The Japan Occasions, Joel Tansey wrote about how this 12 months’s Japan Collection between the Hanshin Tigers and Osaka’s Orix Buffaloes is a story of two fanbases.
At Japan Immediately, Todd Wojnowski wrote an elegy to Tokyo’s doomed (and historic) Jingu Stadium and its followers.
Protecting The Nook’s Quincy Wheeler provided some offseason roster ideas that the Cleveland Guardians would possibly need to think about.
Purple Row’s Joelle Milholm checked out the Colorado Rockies’ Silver Slugger historical past, which this 12 months is sans a single finalist.
Pinstripe Alley’s Matt Ferenchick seemed again on the life and profession of colourful Sixties New Yankees outfielder Joe Pepitone.
Eric Nadel has referred to as Texas Rangers video games for 45 years, and final week he was behind the mic when the workforce gained its first-ever World Collection — this on the end result of a season the place the 72-year-old broadcast legend took a depart of absence to deal with despair, anxiousness, and insomnia points. Levi Weaver has the story at The Athletic (subscription required).
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RANDOM FACTS AND STATS
Bruce Bochy has managed 26 MLB seasons. None of his groups have gained 100 or extra video games in a single season, nor have they misplaced 100 or extra video games.
Connie Mack managed 5 groups that gained 100 or extra video games. He managed 10 groups that misplaced 100 or extra video games.
Boog Powell gained three World Collection enjoying with the Baltimore Orioles. The slugging first baseman went 26-for-77 (.338) with 4 residence runs and 13 RBIs over 20 postseason video games whereas doing so.
Aaron Sele made seven postseason begins, one through which he allowed one run over seven-and-a-third innings and acquired a no-decision whereas The proper-hander was tagged with a loss in all six of his different begins.
Boston Pink Sox batters mixed to hit 14 residence runs in 1916, all however considered one of them on the street. They then hit two, each by Larry Gardner and in addition on the street, whereas profitable the World Collection over the Brooklyn Robins in 5 video games. Twenty-one-year-old left-hander Babe Ruth went deep thrice for Boston that 12 months, whereas additionally going 23-12 with a 1.75 ERA.
All however two of the 14 pitchers who performed for the Kansas Metropolis Athletics’ Florida Tutorial League affiliate in 1964 went on play within the massive leagues. The workers included 18-year-old Catfish Hunter, who hurled 55 innings in what can be his solely minor-league season. Blue Moon Odom was additionally on the workforce.
Sadaharu Oh retired on at the moment’s date in 1980. Japan’s all-time residence run chief went deep 868 instances whereas slashing .301/.446/.634 for the Tokyo Yomiuri Giants over 22 seasons.
On at the moment’s date in 1963, the New York Mets traded Roger Craig to the St. Louis Cardinals in trade for George Altman and Invoice Wakefield. Craig, who later turned a supervisor and pitching coach — he was an early proponent of the split-finger fastball — had gone a mixed 15-46 with a 4.14 ERA for the Mets over the earlier two seasons. He went 7-9, 3.25 in his one season in St. Louis.
Gamers born on at the moment’s date embody Putsy Caballero, an infielder who logged 150 hits whereas enjoying for the Philadelphia Phillies from 1944-1952. The youngest participant in franchise historical past — he debuted at age 16 — Caballero fanned in opposition to Whitey Ford in his lone World Collection at-bat, in 1950.
Additionally born on at the moment’s date was Greasy Neale, an outfielder for the Cincinnati Reds, and briefly the Phillies, from 1916-1924. Neale had 10 hits in 28 at-bats for the Reds once they captured the 1919 Black Sox World Collection, and he later gained a pair of NFL titles because the coach of the Philadelphia Eagles. Neale is a member of the Professional Soccer Corridor of Fame.
