Indholdsfortegnelse for April 2020 i Baseball America

@JJCOOP36 Miles Wolff seemed woefully out of place when he stepped into a Southern League meeting in 1971 as Savannah’s general manager. Fresh out of the Navy and in his first civilian job, Wolff was 26 years old, excited and full of ideas. He was also in a room where every other GM seemed to be ready to collect Social Security. Since he was 12 years old, Wolff had dreamed of running a minor league club. That might not seem like such an odd goal for a baseball fan today, but in the late 1960s and early ’70s it seemed as strange as a kid today telling his parents he wants to grow up to work for a newspaper. At that time, Minor League Baseball was an aging relic barely…

Max Muncy didn’t have it too bad as an Athletics rookie in 2015. Still, when he arrived in the Dodgers clubhouse as a newcomer in 2018, he could tell something was different. “When you walked into that clubhouse, you wouldn’t know who was a veteran and who wasn’t because everyone is acting the same,” Muncy said. “It was just one of those things (in Oakland) where if you were a rookie you knew not to do certain things. Whereas over here, they kind of welcome it. They welcome you to be yourself.” Arguably the signature characteristic of the Dodgers’ recent dominance is how quickly their rookies and new acquisitions become impact players. Most notably, Corey Seager and Cody Bellinger won back-to-back National League Rookie of the Year awards in 2016…

• A Braves first baseman looks like a 24th-round steal PAGE 36 • Brewers center field prospect faces pivotal 2020 season PAGE 37 • A Mets lefty relies on composure and conviction to get results PAGE 38 PAGE 36 Reds shortstop Jose Garcia accessed his power more frequently in 2019. Now he heads to Double-A to continue his development. ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS During his senior year at Parkview Baptist High in Baton Rouge, righthander Josh Green remembers a former player returning to campus to talk to the baseball team. His name was Blake Johnson, a former 10-year minor league pitcher, and he had a pitch grip suggestion for the young Green. “I threw it a couple of times, it didn’t really do anything,” Green said. “I waited probably about a year and was looking for…

This past offseason was considered to be the toughest most minor league teams had ever faced. Roughly a quarter of all Minor League Baseball teams were on the chopping block in a Major League Baseball proposal that headlined negotiations between MLB and MiLB on a new Professional Baseball Agreement for 2021. Those issues, while still significant, have faded into the background. They have quickly been replaced at the forefront by the novel coronavirus outbreak, which has waylaid the 2020 plans of Minor League Baseball—and all of sports. The PBA negotiations have been paused by both sides as they work to figure out how to adjust, adapt and answer the many questions raised by the suspension of the season. As of mid-March, the long-term health effects of COVID-19 in the U.S.…

With baseball suspended or canceled at all levels of the game in the wake of the novel coronavirus outbreak, one of the natural questions we asked at Baseball America was: What about the draft? It’s a natural question to ask because amateur baseball was canceled around the country, just before many college programs began conference play and MLB issued an order for all teams to halt scouting operations. One of the most basic assumptions that has been going around is that the draft will simply be delayed. The major league season was officially delayed, so why not delay the draft as well? While there could be benefits of postponing the draft to some date beyond June 10-12, the primary motivation would be to allow for eligible amateurs to take the…

CRISTIAN HERNANDEZ, SS DOMINICAN REPUBLIC If there were to be an international draft in 2020, Hernandez would be a strong candidate to be the No. 1 overall pick. The Cubs are expected to sign Hernandez, who trains in the Mejia Top 10 program, for a bonus of more than $3 million. With a lot of space left to fill out his 6-foot-1, 165-pound frame, Hernandez has big power, a fast bat and advanced swing mechanics from the right side. His most eye-catching abilities are in the batter’s box, but he’s also a plus runner who looks like he should be able to stay at shortstop. CARLOS COLMENAREZ, SS VENEZUELA While Hernandez was an early standout in the 2020 class, Colmenarez made a strong case to be the No. 1 player.…

Fantasy players are well attuned to differences in run environment between major league ballparks. Nowhere is that more evident than in the National League West, where Rockies hitters and Giants pitchers are targeted in fantasy leagues because of the extreme nature of those teams’ home parks. The Rockies scored and allowed 31 percent more runs at Coors Field last season than they did in road games. The home run rate and batting average on balls in play (BABIP) at Coors were roughly 20% higher. Thus Rockies hitters receive a superficial boost to their fantasy-relevant statistics. The Giants, on the other hand, scored and allowed 20% fewer runs—and hit nearly 30% fewer home runs—at Oracle Park than they did in road games. Thus Giants pitchers’ ratios tended to be shinier because…

All around the world, baseball people found themselves unmoored. For the players, coaches, front office officials and anyone else in the game, baseball is a life—not a 9-to-5, Monday-to-Friday job. Many view it almost as a calling. From the start of the season to the end, it’s a Groundhog Day-like existence where one day runs into another. But the schedule—the routine—is part of the attraction to baseball people. The schedule is similar day after day. You work at your craft every day, and you get better day after day, week after week. There is no routine this year. The annual rite of spring has been suspended indefinitely. In mid-March, just weeks before the major league and minor league seasons were scheduled to begin, and in the middle of the college…

To get a better understanding of the potential effects of Major League Baseball’s proposed plan to cut the minor leagues to 120 full-season clubs and to reduce the draft to 20 or 25 rounds while moving the draft date back from early June, we asked MLB front office officials for their reactions to the proposals. Everyone we asked was someone who is directly involved in scouting or player development, and thus will be directly affected by the potential changes. To ensure we were getting a wide variety of opinions, we talked to officials of small-market and low-revenue teams, mid-range teams and large-market, high-revenue clubs. All officials were granted anonymity to ensure candor because this is seen as a sensitive subject where many have not been given permission to speak publicly.…

When Rockies manager Bud Black addressed his team for the final time before they departed spring training in the wake of the novel coronavirus pandemic, he left his players with a simple message. “Go back home (and) stay sharp, because you don’t know when it’s coming back,” Black said. “Don’t over-train, but do it in a practical way knowing that you’re going to have probably at least three weeks to get ready for a season now. “Our message is sort of, ‘Do what you would do in a normal January to get ready for a February spring training start… Turn the clock back and relive January.’” Black, 62, can speak from firsthand experience. Black was an active player in 1995, the last time spring training was altered and the start…

AMERICAN LEAGUE Rays Of Light Tampa Bay’s Double-A affiliate shines with high-end talent Double-A Montgomery (Rays) POTENTIAL PROSPECTS SS Wander Franco 2B Vidal Brujan LHP Shane McClanahan 2B Xavier Edwards RHP Joe Ryan C Ronaldo Hernandez Unsurprisingly, the game’s best farm system will also have the minors’ must-watch team. The headliner is Franco, the No. 1 prospect in baseball who laid waste to the Class A levels in 2019 and could push his way to the big leagues if he does the same at the upper levels. He’ll play all season at age 19 and Franco will be joined by a pair of fellow up-the-middle talents in Vidal Brujan and Xavier Edwards. The latter was acquired from the Padres over the winter and, along with Franco, was one of just…

@JOE_SHEEHAN In the two-plus years that I’ve been writing for Baseball America, a recurring theme has been the lack of competitiveness in baseball, especially below the top of the pyramid. The 2012 change in postseason format that divided a single wild card slot into two halves and a one-game playoff made teams less interested in pushing hard to win a wild card berth. Parallel to that, league-wide revenue growth made it so teams can be in the black financially regardless of their on-field performance. The effects have been dire. Rob Arthur of Baseball Prospectus reported last fall that 2018 and 2019 were two of the three most unbalanced seasons in history, with 1954 being the most unbalanced. Last year, eight teams either won or lost at least 100 games, a…

@TRACYRINGOLSBY The American sporting world came to a standstill in mid-March. In response to the coronavirus pandemic, Major League Baseball joined with other leagues and colleges and put spring training on hold, while announcing that Opening Day would be delayed, possibly for two months or more. That marked at least the 11th time the game has been put on hold, the first time for medical reasons. Baseball was played from start to finish during World War II, president Franklin D. Roosevelt determining that it was good for the American public to have a sense of normalcy. Baseball was easily the most popular sport in the U.S. in the 1940s, and 500 major leaguers, including future Hall of Famers Stan Musial, Joe DiMaggio, Yogi Berra, Pee Wee Reese and Hank Greenberg,…

The acronyms CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) and COVID-19 (coronavirus disease) became uncomfortably familiar this spring as the novel coronavirus created a global pandemic and disrupted routines all over the world. This new strand of the coronavirus, the virus responsible for causing the common cold, was identified by Chinese scientists in January and by March had impacted life in the United States. The U.S. sports world’s first brush with coronavirus came on March 11 when NBA player Rudy Gobert tested positive for COVID-19. The situation escalated quickly from there, causing the suspension of play for virtually all sports leagues and enacting calls for citizens to practice “social distancing” and self quarantining to slow the spread of the virus. Here is a timeline of events through late March. March…

Each year since 1984 Baseball America has ranked the farm systems of all major league organizations. This year’s edition of the Organization Talent Rankings shuffles the order at the top and welcomes rising systems in Seattle, Miami and Arizona into the top 10. Most of the categories are self-explanatory. Exceptions are noted here. The Last five displays teams’ average standing from 2015 to 2019, and that is the period from which Recent graduates are curated. 1. TAMPA BAY RAYS Last year rank: No. 2. Last five: 10. Top 100 Prospects (8): SS Wander Franco (1), LHP Brendan McKay (14), 2B Vidal Brujan (51), RHP Shane Baz (71), RHP Brent Honeywell (80), LHP Shane McClanahan (83), 2B Xavier Edwards (85), RHP Joe Ryan (98) Recent graduates: LHP Blake Snell, SS Willy…

• A White Sox flamethrower looks forward after injuries PAGE 31 • A Royals lefty looks for a strong encore after leading minors in strikeouts PAGE 32 • A Mariners righthander feels like he belongs PAGE 33 PAGE 33 Rayn Jeffers’ explosive bat and new catching technique give the Twins reason for excitement. BALTIMORE ORIOLES Lefthander Bruce Zimmermann’s dreams of pitching for the Orioles, his hometown team, created a childhood baseball fantasy that came true during the first week of Grapefruit League games. Though he wore a spring training uniform, it was close enough to the real thing. The 25-year-old Zimmermann, a native of Ellicott City, Md., was acquired in the 2018 trade that sent righthanders Kevin Gausman and Darren O’Day to the Braves. Zimmermann was the Braves’ 2017 fifth-round pick out of Division…

Since his sons were just 3 and 4 years old, Tommy Davis was looking forward to this moment. This year his older son Chase was entering his senior baseball season at Franklin High in Elk Grove, Calif. For the first time, that meant Chase and his younger brother Jordan would play alongside each other on the same varsity team: the elder Davis in center field, the younger in right. “Well it was a collection of ideas, thoughts, emotions,” Tommy said, thinking back before the season began. “(Chase) put the work in. He did what he was supposed to do with what he was in control of. He was dedicated to what he was doing. He was actually living out his dream. We figured—like any of these draft parents—we figured he…

While much of the focus on the scouting and signing of international amateurs centers around the big-ticket players that occur every year on July 2, the rules from Major League Baseball issued in the wake of the coronavirus shutdown in mid-March will have a substantial impact on the current signing period. The commissioner’s office informed clubs in a March 16 memo that teams are under a temporary ban on all scouting activities, both in the United States and internationally, in response to the outbreak of the novel coronavirus. That ban prohibits club officials from going to events such as games, showcases or private workouts, but MLB’s memo also said that teams “may not conduct in-home or other in-person visits” with players. What it means for players eligible to sign in…