Jocko87

This will be a good game to refer back to when Buxton comes back. Even if he isn't hitting, this stuff will be cleaned up.

That's what I see as well. The strikeout isn't the problem, its one of the indicators of not executing to the plan. Sure, their plan will involve some strikeouts but when the strikeout is the result of a poor at bat it's the poor at bat that's the problem, not the strikeout. I don't really know what the best indicator of quality at-bats is, but they feel much better to my eye. The several times aforementioned Jeffers looks like he is controlling the at bats rather than the pitcher.

As an aside, awhile back I looked through all the Dbacks Daily websites I could find and not one post about what they missed out on in Duran. Even at the time of the trade, nothing. Water under the bridge, as they say. We can't keep everyone.

Watching him score from first on a full healthy gallop was sweet. Same feeling I get watching Buxton run, oddly.

Almost like you guys expect to give up no runs all season.

I don't know about coaching, but the umpiring gets easier as the skill level increases. In short, anticipating what a 14yo will do is very hard in the best conditions. When they aren't very good at baseball, they throw it weird places, struggle with pitching control (lobbed pitches are the worst) and the parents don't really know what they are cheering for. I think this has some effects at the MLB level as well, When the highest level pitchers are constantly coming up with new pitches, sweepers/103, it's pretty tough to anticipate what crazy pitch you might see. Not an excuse, they need scouting reports as much as anyone, but it makes it tougher. The sides of the that stupid strike zone box are only as accurate as the tech in the truck can make it. The camera angle will distort it and you'd be amazed how many fans think the ball has to be in the box for a strike. I'd bet the evaluation box is plate plus a ball width on each side but the TV box tries to be plate size. I'd love to get some tech so I can learn where I'm good and not. Don't get me started on coaches/fans and what they will try to put over on my teenage or college age partners compared to what they will try with me. I'm a grown man, and carry 250lbs pretty well. I've got a grumpy biker look even as a big teddy bear. The difference between my conversations with coaches compared to the crap they try to put over on a 17yo partner makes me want to break things. Being willing to take advantage of someone just because you think you can is a red line for me.

Was at the Wind Surge game tonight and it was pretty fun. Ugly, but fun. Raya was not sharp. Decent but not sharp. The home run he gave up was an absolute bomb. It just felt like he was nibbling a bit. Solid cruise at 96 but apparently he's made out of fine china. He gave up a triple in the first that Emma had in his glove and popped out but it was at the 400' marker. Nice try by Emma banging the wall but the glove didn't hold it. Impressive was Jaylen Nowlin, 5 1/3, 8K's into extra innings on 75 pitches. Nothing hit hard and just good solid pitching, his run was the Manfred man. I would like to nominate him for pitcher of the day. Most of the comeback was fueled by a wild Arkansas pitcher, some decent at bats to take walks but the Arkansas game thread had to be a mess. Wichita offense was offensive mostly, they had very good chances to win three innings in a row. Carson McCusker is a very large human. His double to right was hit hard but slightly misplayed to get over the right fielders head. It's a loud out in the bigs. He does look like a ballplayer though, moves well, decent arm the one time he really tried to get someone. Emma didn't do much with the bat, took a called strike three with a runner on third to end the 9th. It was right down the middle from my seat. Then in the 11th, they obviously pitched around him and blew gas past everyone else. Cardenas HPB was in the head, looked like the bill of the helmet. The helmet flew 20 ft. He jumped up right away and waved off trainers.

If I could get one thing out of this conversation it would be to remove that stupid box from the telecasts. It is probably 90% of the reason we are in the position we are in. It's not official in any way, not at all accurate but accurate enough so the fan thinks it means something, not standard by network and doesn't adjust from Altuve to Judge. It's an F'in abomination. I'm a working umpire, about 100 plate games a year, working mostly 12-14u travel ball. I'm not trying to make a career, or even anything more than beer money doing it. I have one of those super fancy suburban baseball complexs within walking distance and I love ball and working with the kids. Last Sunday, I had to intervene after my partner tossed a dadfan and when I told him the game would not continue until he left the complex he told me he would be waiting for me in the parking lot. (A true first for me) Five games later, behind the plate for a semifinal, I stone blew a tag at the plate. During a comeback when they were down two. I was in good position and I called what I saw. I remember being stunned by how fast the ball came in from centerfield and while the catcher had to reach for the catch and swipe tag I had the throw making up the time and called out. After reflection and discussion with my partner, I'm pretty sure I missed it, but not nearly by as much as the fans thought. The accuracy of the throw and catcher motion made it look horrible, but I'm confident on replay most would say "whoa, much closer than I thought." The fans were already on me as they had a pitcher that couldn't control his body language and they were not happy. I don't think my pending parking lot date effected my performance, but I'm pretty sure the jeering in this game did. As an aside, I'm sure all the parents out there always act out on whatever body language their kids exhibit, right? The reality was that it was one bratty 14yo that hadn't been taught not to upstage an umpire. I'm good with the zone I called for him, but if he disagrees on a pitch here or there fine-next pitch. Honestly, I would have been perfectly justified to eject him, but I'm not here for an ump show either. At this point, you must be thinking what the heck does any of this have to do with MLB umpiring? For one, they are humans and are effected by the same things we all are. I certainly agree that some need to go. There are enough good umps working that the "not good" ones need cycled out. We do have the tech to do that and it doesn't need to be public. For another, I want everyone to look at that stupid strike zone box on your screen and think of it as a bratty 14yo that wants to cause trouble. When the 14 yo gets worked up, the fans get worked up, when the fans get to feeling their oats they say things they don't mean and umpires get rattled and make bad calls. When fans see an inaccurate measurement, they get worked up. For the MLB strike zone, at least, MLB allowing an inaccurate representation of the zone has unnecessarily cost them credibility. Everything else is downstream of that. I like the umpire scorecard account as much, probably more, than anyone. But if you can look at a scorecard for a game that Altuve and Judge both played in and say something about that umpires zone as displayed on a static square, I don't know what else to say.

But these conversations are happening in baseball too. Before, during and after the games, they have the same umps for a series. I'll have the same teams 3 straight days in youth ball as well. These conversations are had. The slow flow of baseball makes a lot of altercations seem sudden but almost every one of them is a slow burn boiled over.

Mostly.

Obviously shortstop, quit being hyperbolic. If Miller makes a single all star game it'll be one of the most amazing prospect success stories we have seen in years. Meanwhile, I'm looking at Cole Young, the Mariner's top prospect. He's 20, at AA and a shortstop. Miller is a nice enough player, but there's guys like this all over the place.

I'm at the Wind Surge game and I've seen at least three better shortstop prospects in person tonight.

Unplug it and plug it back in first.

I would like to see a deep dive article on it but generally the banter in the comments is pretty pointless without even having an agreement on the definition of the term. It's a topic that's fascinating to me to the point of 3-4 spreadsheets and more screen time than I should admit in public. If you are nervous about our 3rd starter, you may have an issue. If you are nervous about our 7th starter, you have a pipeline. It's stunning how many championship contenders are more the former than the latter.

This can go either way, tbh.

Regarding the negativity, coming from one of the more positive people you might ever meet, I'm reminded of an old baseball truism that I've carried into life that is and always will be true. Baseball is a game of failure. 3 fer 10=hall of fame and all that. If our merry group of baseball sickos watch every play of every game with even a little bit of a tough graders eye, we are naturally going to be saying negative things. What, 80% of the time? I personally chuckle when someone makes a career ending prognostication on some absurdly small sample size, but to each their own. This is why the editorial staff has to err on the side of stupidly optimistic, in spite of their internal, eternally scarred Minnesota fandom. The negative will always be there. Speaking of sample size, baseball does not give us much daily or even weekly actionable data but by-golly, here's Twins Daily with several articles daily asking for a proclamation. So many of the conversations we already have the correct answer. Give it three weeks or a couple turns through the rotation. We need to be able to keep a good conversation at the top without it getting ran off the page by the daily game recaps and whatnot. What is we bisected the front page? One column for the daily reports, satire, pre-arb writers etc that scrolls off and one column for deeper topics that still scrolls off but much slower? We could even have a hot topic stay at the top of that column. Mobile phone view would be harder but could still be done.

Is this an SWR article or a pipeline article? I did a bunch of research on the Falvey pipeline in Cleveland and have made great strides getting more common acceptance of the actual makeup of that pipeline, ie majority trades for 22-24 year old AA/AAA types. They are doing the same thing here. If the difference between trading for a minor leaguer and writing his name on a draft card is the difference between a "pipeline" or not a pipeline, you are concerned about the wrong variables. The is no practical or meaningful difference. Just know that this team leads the major leagues in strikeouts and ask yourself, what are the chances any group of 2015 Twins pitchers could do that? Also, good on SWR. Keep it up.

Hard to string anything together when you only hit two balls over 100 mph, one which was 59 degree launch angle with a .010 xBa.

In Royce's interview he made a remark about the Pablo jersey "nice stitching too" or something like that. I may have heard a dig at fanatics that wasn't there but I chuckled. Can you confirm the non-fanatics quality?

YMMV, mind if I stay up for awhile?

Loved what Royce said about the streak, guys hitting line drives that happen to go out, like Jeffers just did.

Creeping up....

Wait. Are you saying there is grading going on?

What I was going to say. His face when they cut to him was pretty funny.

I did not realize that Max was up to a 921 ops.