After I talked to him eventually 12 months’s GM conferences, J.J. Picollo instructed me that an offseason precedence was so as to add “guys with expertise” to a Kansas Metropolis Royals roster that was lengthy on promising younger expertise however brief on veteran presence. Picollo did simply that — Seth Lugo, Hunter Renfroe, Will Smith, and Michael Wacha had been amongst these introduced on board — and whereas the additions solely instructed a part of the story, the top outcome was a greatest vendor. One 12 months after successful simply 56 video games, the 2024 Royals went 86-76 and performed October baseball for the primary time in a decade.
What does the AL Central membership’s Government Vice President/Basic Supervisor see as the highest precedence going into subsequent season?
“We must be just a little extra dynamic offensively, and by that I imply we have to get on base at the next fee than we did this 12 months,” Picollo instructed me earlier this week in San Antonio. “We’re attempting to focus on gamers we are able to lengthen out our lineup with, whether or not it’s somebody on the prime, within the center, or towards the again finish. Our id is extra pitching and protection, base working, and situational hitting, so how can we add some guys that may complement what we have already got that can enable us to attain extra runs?”
The Royals crossed the plate 735 instances in 2024, the sixth-highest complete within the American League. Their .306 on-base proportion was ninth-highest, whereas their .403 slugging proportion and their 170 house runs ranked sixth and tenth respectively. As energy clearly helps present extra runs, I requested Picollo if OBP is certainly the precedence.
“For what we want, sure,” Picollo replied. “We expect it might result in extra run manufacturing based mostly on who else we now have on the workforce. We’re nonetheless banking on guys that possibly haven’t turned the nook but and may grow to be higher main league hitters. Whether or not that’s Maikel Garcia, Michael Massey, MJ Melendez — they’ve instruments to play the sport, so consistency on offense is the following step for them. If we are able to add guys who will take some stress off of them by getting on base, and from there be a workforce that places the sport in movement, I believe we now have a greater likelihood to attain extra runs.”
In Picollo’s view, simply how the added OBP is arrived at isn’t significantly essential.
“It come in several styles and sizes,” Picollo agreed once I introduced up how Luis Arraez does it in a different way than, say, a LaMonte Wade Jr. “Arraez is a really distinctive participant in that it’s all in batted ball. He will get lots of hits. After which there are guys who’ve the propensity to stroll extra. I don’t assume it issues which manner they do it, it’s simply that they’re in a position to get on base, and that’s what we must be a extra constant offense.”
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Al LeBoeuf would be the lead hitting coach in Milwaukee subsequent 12 months, the 64-year-old Putnam, Connecticut native having been promoted by the Brewers from Triple-A Nashville final month together with Eric Theisen. A former Phillies prospect who started his teaching profession in 1988, LeBoeuf will probably be supported by Theisen and the returning Connor Dawson.
In keeping with Matt Arnold, LeBoeuf is a mixture of progressive and conventional in relation to working with hitters.
“Buffy has expertise,” Milwaukee’s GM mentioned in San Antonio. “He’s been a hitting coach — a very good hitting coach — for a really very long time. Any individual with that sort of expertise who is ready to mix the old fashioned and the brand new faculty approaches… he’s been launched to lots of new faculty concepts, and he’s tremendous receptive to all that. He additionally has lots of elements that I believe assist our hitters in methods which were examined over the course of time. His skill to convey each of these faculties collectively is one thing we’re excited to have on the main league stage.”
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RANDOM HITTER-PITCHER MATCHUPS
Willie McCovey went 18 for 33 towards Bob Moose.
Willie Stargell went 24 for 57 towards Joe Niekro.
Willie McGee went 25 for 44 towards Mike Scott.
Willie Mays went 25 for 60 towards Roy Face.
Willie Davis went 32 for 75 towards Bob Buddy.
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The Cleveland Guardians hit 185 house runs this season, the sixth highest complete within the American League. That doesn’t sound like quite a bit, however it’s a massive enchancment over the previous two seasons. In 2022, the Guardians went deep 127 instances. In 2023, they went deep 124 instances.
To what extent was the uptick in dingers a focused objective, and to what extent was it merely natural?
“I’m undecided of your definition of natural, however lots of the elevated energy got here from guys who had been on the roster the prior 12 months and it was a part of their progress and growth,” Chris Antonetti mentioned in reply to that query. “A few of it was new faces, however lots of it was guys who had been already right here.”
The reality is within the numbers. José Ramírez jumped from 24 to 39, whereas Josh Naylor went from 17 to 31, Steven Kwan from 5 to 14, and David Fry from 4 to 14. Is Cleveland’s President of Baseball Operations happy with the present steadiness of contact and energy?
“I don’t assume we are able to ever be happy with the outcomes we obtain,”mentioned Antonetti, answering my query not directly. “We weren’t the very best offensive workforce in baseball, so there’s clearly room for us to enhance. We’ll work to attempt to determine ways in which we are able to enhance on that within the winter.”
The Guardians’ 708 runs scored had been seventh-most within the American League. The workforce’s 100 wRC+ ranked ninth.
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A quiz:
Dwight Evans had 605 extra-base hits within the Eighties, essentially the most of any participant. Who led MLB in extra-base hits within the Nineteen Nineties? (a touch: like Evans, he isn’t within the Corridor of Fame.)
The reply could be discovered beneath.
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NEWS NOTES
The Philadelphia Phillies introduced on Friday that they’re selling Preston Mattingly, who had been serving as farm director, to Vice President/Basic Supervisor. Sam Fuld, who has been the workforce’s GM, will probably be transitioning to President of Enterprise Operations. A Stanford grad and former big-league outfielder, Fuld is presently pursuing an MBA on the College of Pennsylvania’s Wharton College.
The twenty fifth annual SABR Jerry Malloy Negro League Convention will probably be held in Louisville, Kentucky from Thursday, August 7 to Saturday, August 9, 2025, Extra info could be discovered right here.
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The reply to the quiz is Albert Belle, who had 711 extra-base hits within the Nineteen Nineties. Should you guessed Barry Bonds or Rafael Palmeiro, they’d the third- and fourth-highest totals. Corridor of Famer Ken Griffey Jr. had the second-highest.
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A random obscure former participant snapshot:
Will Pennyfeather had a bunt single within the first of his 47 big-league plate appearances, all of which got here with the Pittsburgh Pirates from 1992-1994. The Perth Amboy, New Jersey native would log simply eight extra hits at baseball’s highest stage, however his skilled profession was removed from over. After a couple of seasons in Triple-A, Pennyfeather moved on to the impartial Atlantic League the place he performed from 1999-2006 (he additionally spent a part of 2003 within the Northern League). Pennyfeather was a large receiver and kick returner at Syracuse College earlier than turning his consideration to baseball and signing with the Pirates as a non-drafted free agent in 1988.
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The Cincinnati Reds underachieved offensively final season, whereas not precisely stellar, their pitching confirmed lots of promise. Is pitching presently the workforce’s power? In keeping with Nick Krall, the reply isn’t totally clear.
“I believe we now have some actually good, dynamic beginning pitching,” Cincinnati’s prime govt instructed me. “I believe we even have some actually good, dynamic place gamers. It’s simply attempting to get these guys wholesome. We had guys who received hit by pitches and broke their fingers and wrists. We had guys that harm their shoulders, beginning with Edwin Arroyo who’s a prime prospect, to Matt McLain, to TJ Friedl diving for a ball, to Blake Dunn in Triple-A. We had lots of place participant accidents that impacted us.”
As for the Reds’ projected beginning rotation, it contains 5 pitchers between the ages of twenty-two and 27. Is the employees primed to return into its personal? Krall wasn’t about to provide a definitive reply to that query, however he’s definitely bullish on the possibilities.
“I imply, you take a look at what Hunter Greene did final 12 months, the steps he took,” mentioned Krall. “You take a look at the place Nick Lodolo was earlier than he ended up getting harm (a sprained finger on his pitching hand) on the finish of the 12 months. Rhett Lowder pitched very well on the finish of his Double-A season, went to Triple-A and threw a shutout, then got here up right here to the large leagues and pitched very well. Andrew Abbott was stable earlier than he received harm (shoulder pressure) as properly. It’s a matter of those guys staying wholesome.”
Graham Ashcraft is the opposite pitcher that Roster Useful resource tasks to be within the Reds rotation.
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FOREIGN AFFAIRS
The WBCS Premier 12, which contains 12 groups from world wide, received underway yesterday. The event could be adopted right here.
The Dominican Winter League season started a couple of weeks in the past. Hitters off to a very good begin embrace 22-year-old (was once Oakland) Athletics infield prospect Euribiel Angeles, who’s slashing .323/.354/.371 over 65 plate appearances with Estrellas Orientales. Angeles cut up the 2024 season between Excessive-A Lansing and Double-A Midland.
The Fielding Bible named Chusei Mannami their NPB Defensive Participant of the 12 months. The 24-year-old outfielder performs for the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters.
The Yokohama DeNA BayStars, who gained this 12 months’s Japan Sequence, are owned by Tomoko Namba. The 62-year-old Harvard Enterprise College graduate is NPB’s first and solely feminine proprietor.
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Per stories, Roki Sasaki will probably be posted to MLB this winter as a world beginner free agent. Japan’s highest-profile (albeit not statistically greatest) pitcher, the recently-turned 23-year-old right-hander went 10-5 with a 2.35 ERA and 129 strikeouts in 111 innings for the Chiba Lotte Marines this season.
Sasaki has been talked about quite a few instances right here at Sunday Notes in recent times, together with on November 14, 2021 once I shared quotes from former MLB hurler Frank Herrmann, who had been the then-20-year-old phenom’s Chiba Lotte teammate. Herrmann agreed that Sasaki could possibly be NPB’s subsequent famous person, including that “If he was in A-ball he could be a Prime 10 prospect in MLB for certain.”
The earlier 12 months, Herrmann, who now works in participant growth for the Toronto Blue Jays, had requested Chiba Lotte pitching coach Masato Yoshii how Sasaki in comparison with Yu Darvish and Shohei Ohtani on the identical age (19). Yoshi mentioned that Sasaki was higher.
The subsequent younger Japanese pitcher to return stateside as a world beginner free agent? If MLB groups had their druthers, it will doubtless be Hiroto Takahashi. The Chunichi Dragons right-hander, who turned 22 in August, went 12-4 with a 1.38 ERA and 130 strikeouts, with simply 107 hits allowed, in 143-and-two-thirds innings this season. Whereas likelihood is small that Chunichi will submit him any time quickly, you possibly can safely wager that each MLB workforce has their eyes on him.
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FARM NOTES
Garrett Martin gained the Arizona Fall League’s house run derby on Friday. The 24-year-old New York Yankees outfield prospect outslugged 22-year-old Milwaukee Brewers third base prospect Brock Wilken within the closing spherical.
The Fall Stars Sport was performed final evening, with the American League beating the Nationwide League 6-5 due to a ninth inning, 437-foot bomb by Detroit Tigers catching prospect Thayron Liranzo. The 21-year-old native of San Francisco de Macori was acquired by Detroit from the Los Angeles Dodgers together with Trey Sweeney in trade for Jack Flaherty at his summer time’s commerce deadline.
With the AFL season winding down, I need to give props to this 12 months’s media coordinators. I used to be there for per week in October, and each Michael Marcantonini and Julia Walter went above and past. They had been skilled and attentive all through.
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Tony Blanco, Jr. is a prospect to look at within the Pittsburgh Pirates system. The 19-year-old son of former MLB and NPB infielder/outfielder Tony Blanco slashed .305.385/.505 with 4 house runs and a 138 wRC+ over 109 plate appearances this 12 months within the rookie-level Florida Complicated League. Listed at 6-foot-7, 243 kilos, the Boston-born, Dominican Republic-raised slugger can do big-time injury when he connects. Earlier this summer time, our prospect analyst duo opined that Blanco “had essentially the most current uncooked energy within the January 2022 worldwide signing class.”
Earlier this week, I requested Pirates GM Ben Cherington in regards to the raw-but-promising first baseman/outfielder.
“He’s an enormous human being,” mentioned Cherington, whose résumé contains scout and farm director. “The exit velo is already on the highest percentile of main league high quality — it’s elite — however what was spectacular this 12 months was the standard of his at-bats. The contact [Blanco’s strikeout rate was 28.4%] was higher than we anticipated for a man in his first 12 months within the States.”
Well being has been a problem.
“He’s had a sequence of nagging accidents since we signed him, and that’s the piece we now have to get him previous,” defined Cherington. “He’s not getting the quantity of at-bats he wants due to the time he’s missed. In all probability the most important objective going into 2025 is to maintain him on the sphere.”
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Of the eight gamers on the Traditional Baseball Period Committee poll, 4 performed into a minimum of the Eighties. Should you might vote for any (however only one) of the 4, who would it not be? I requested that query in a Twitter ballot on Friday, the choices being Steve Garvey, Tommy John, Dave Parker, and Luis Tiant.
The outcomes had been kind of what I anticipated. Garvey predictably trailed the sphere, garnering simply 6.9% of the votes forged, whereas Tiant led the pack with 41.6%. In between had been Parker and John, who obtained 29.6% and 21.9% respectively.
Depend me amongst those that really feel that Tiant is essentially the most deserving of the 4. Furthermore, he positively belongs within the Corridor of Fame.
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LINKS YOU’LL LIKE
On July 19, 1933, Corridor of Famer Rick Ferrell homered off of his non-Corridor of Fame brother, Wes Ferrell, who additionally homered that day (and was arguably extra deserving of a plaque in Cooperstown). Richard Cuicchi chronicled the 13-inning contest between the Cleveland Indians and Boston Purple Sox for SABR’s Video games Mission.
At In style Science, Laura Baisas wrote about how the “magic mud” used to rub up baseballs has lastly been analyzed by scientists.
Trey Mancini is hoping to return to MLB after not taking part in this previous season. Andy Kostka has the story at The Baltimore Banner.
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RANDOM FACTS AND STATS
Max Fried is a mixed 11-0 with a 1.15 ERA in his profession towards the Chicago Cubs and the St. Louis Cardinals.
Invoice Voiselle, a right-hander who pitched for 3 groups from 1942-1950, grew up in Ninety-Six, South Carolina. He wore uniform quantity 96 in a few of his MLB seasons.
Dennis Lamp went 96-96 with a 3.93 ERA. Mickey McDermott went 69-69 with a 3.91 ERA.
Ken Griffey Jr. had 2,781 hits, 524 doubles, 1,662 runs scored, and a .284 BA.Johnny Damon had 2,769 hits, 522 doubles, 1,668 runs scored, and a .284 BA.
Larry McKeon went 18-41 with a 3.50 ERA for the American Affiliation’s Indianapolis Hoosiers in 1884. One 12 months earlier, John Coleman went 12-48 with a 4.87 ERA for the Nationwide League’s Philadelphia Quakers.
The Chicago White Sox acquired 21-year-old left-hander Billy Pierce from the Detroit Tigers in trade for 33-year-old catcher Aaron Robinson on right now’s date in 1948. Pierce, a Detroit native, went on to play 13 seasons on the South Aspect, successful 186 video games and making seven All-Star groups.
Gamers born on right now’s date embrace Invoice Southworth, a 3rd baseman whose MLB profession comprised three video games with the Milwaukee Braves in 1964 when he was simply 18 years outdated. The Madison, Wisconsin native had two hits, one in every of them a house run, in 9 journeys to the plate. His a lot older cousin, Billy Southworth, performed within the massive leagues from 1913-1929.
Additionally born on right now’s date was Cal Ermer, a second baseman who in 1947 went 0-for-3 with the Washington Nationals in his solely big-league sport. Ermer went on to handle the Minnesota Twins in 1967 and 1968 as a part of a prolonged post-playing profession that included 26 years managing the minors, 4 teaching within the majors, and 5 as a scout.
