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Let's take a moment and recognize just how good 37yo Daniel Bard has been this year for a crappy 62 win Rockies teamComment -
How many more games left for Pujols to make it to 700?Comment -
The Diamondbacks have had a decent second half. Despite dropping five of their last six games, they carry a 26-23 record with a +31 run differential since the All-Star Break. It’s not enough to get them near the playoff picture, but they’ve shown some signs of life heading into the offseason.
An otherworldly stretch from ace Zac Gallen has played a key role in the team’s solid run, but they also rank fourth in the majors in runs scored in the second half. Young outfielders Daulton Varsho, Jake McCarthy and (in a more limited look) Corbin Carroll have been excellent, and they’ve gotten the continuation of what seems to be a late-career breakout season from first baseman Christian Walker.
Walker has popped 10 home runs and owns a .286/.348/.497 line since the All-Star Break, building off what was an already solid first half. While he only hit .204 through the year’s first few months, he connected on 22 longballs and walked at a robust 13.5% clip. His walks have come down lately, but he’s also trimmed his strikeouts and is now seeing much better results on balls in play. For the year, Walker owns a .235/.329/.474 line that’s a ways better than the .243/.312/.396 league average showing.
A former fourth-round pick of the Orioles, Walker developed into a fairly well-regarded prospect. He never got an extended look in Baltimore, and he eventually made his way around the waiver wire in Spring Training 2017. The South Carolina product wound up with the Diamondbacks after a nomadic few weeks, with Arizona finally succeeding in running him through outright waivers. After a year spent mostly in the minors, Walker made it back to the big leagues. He lost most of 2018 to injury but has played the past four seasons as the Snakes’ primary first baseman.
For much of that tenure, Walker has been a slightly above-average hitter. He connected on 29 longballs in 2019, but that came in the most homer-happy season in league history. His overall .259/.348/.476 line that year translated to a 111 wRC+ that indicates he was 11 points better than league average — solid, but not eye-popping production for a first baseman. Walker had similar results in the abbreviated 2020 season before stumbling to a subpar .244/.315/.382 showing through 445 plate appearances last year.
With rookie Seth Beer on the doorstep of the majors as a first base/DH option, it was fair to wonder whether the Diamondbacks would keep Walker around. Arizona’s front office maintained enough faith he’d right the ship to sign him to a $2.6MM arbitration contract, and he was back in the lineup as Torey Lovullo’s Opening Day first baseman. It was probably the 31-year-old’s last chance at everyday playing time, and he’s responded with the best season of his career.
Not only are Walker’s results better than ever when one accounts for the depressed offensive environment this year — his 121 wRC+ is a career high — he’s made some strides from a process perspective. He’s clearly set out to be more selective, swinging at only 43.7% of the pitches he’s seen after going after more than 48% of offerings in each of the past three seasons. That increased patience means bypassing some hittable pitches, of course, and Walker’s taking more called strikes than he ever has. Yet he’s also chasing pitcher’s pitches far less often, and it’s hard to argue with the results.
Walker is making contact on a career-best 77.6% of his swings, and he seems more comfortable working his way back into at-bats. He’s not expanding the strike zone as often as he had, even when pitchers are up in the count and/or working with two strikes. Walker’s making better swing decisions, and it’s manifesting both in a personal-low 18.4% strikeout rate and in the quality of contact he’s making when he does take the bat off his shoulders. After seeing his hard contact and barrel rates drop in the past two seasons, Walker is squaring the ball up with more consistency again, as he had back in 2019.
As a first baseman, Walker’s primary contributions are going to be in the batter’s box. Yet he’s also excelled on the other side of the ball, rating as MLB’s top defensive first baseman by a wide margin in terms of both Defensive Runs Saved and Statcast’s Outs Above Average. It’s hard to imagine he won’t secure his first Gold Glove Award a few weeks from now. He’s limited to the bottom of the defensive spectrum, but Walker has been one of the game’s better players at the position on both sides of the ball.
Whether Walker can sustain this kind of production over multiple seasons remains to be seen. There’s nothing in his underlying numbers to suggest he’s lucked his way towards the top of the first base leaderboards in 2022. If anything, batted ball estimators have been more bullish than his overall results, with Walker still sporting one of the league’s lowest batting averages on balls in play (.235). Nothing in this season’s production looks like a fluke, but he’ll need to prove he can maintain this kind of discerning approach every year. One can have “earned” excellent results for a few months and still not be able to continue playing at that level for multiple seasons. Walker probably needs another year like this before he cements himself among the five to ten best first basemen in the game.
Caveats aside, he’s performed as well as the Diamondbacks could have reasonably anticipated coming into the season. It’s now a no-brainer to tender him another arbitration contract, and the club can keep him around for two more years via that process. Arizona was open to trade offers on Walker at this past summer’s deadline, and they figure to receive a few more calls this winter after he’s doubled down with an excellent second half. General manager Mike Hazen and his staff presumably wouldn’t take him off the table entirely, but it’ll be harder for teams to pry Walker away now than it was just two months ago. Not only has the team taken some steps forward heading into 2023, their first baseman has cemented himself as an integral part of the lineup.Comment -
Pujols gets 700 this season for sure.Comment -
Hopefully he has a multi homerun day todayComment -
The Twins have designated righty Jharel Cotton for assignment, tweets Betsy Helfand of the St. Paul Pioneer-Press. The move is made in preparation for the activation of Bailey Ober from the 60-day injured list, which is expected to be finalized tomorrow.
Cotton is no stranger to DFA limbo, as he’s been on and off the Minnesota roster all year. Claimed off waivers from the Rangers over the offseason, the 30-year-old opened the year on the active roster but was DFA a week into the season. He cleared outright waivers and accepted an assignment to Triple-A St. Paul, kicking off a series of moves between the majors and Triple-A dependent on the Twins’ need for pitching depth. Minnesota has selected Cotton’s contract on four separate occasions, but he’s now been designated for assignment after each promotion.
On every prior occasion, the four-year MLB veteran has gone unclaimed and accepted an assignment back to the Saints. It’s surely frustrating not to carve out a permanent spot on the roster, but Cotton has navigated the constant shuffling and performed very well in Triple-A. Over 25 innings with the Saints, he has a 2.88 ERA with a massive 37.1% strikeout rate. He’s gotten swinging strikes on a whopping 16.9% of his offerings in the minors.
Cotton has had similar success keeping runs off the board in the big leagues this year, carrying a 2.83 ERA through 35 innings. Unlike his Triple-A production, he’s not posted especially promising peripherals against MLB hitters though. Cotton has a below-average 21.5% strikeout rate and an elevated 11.5% walk percentage. He’s benefited from a meager .182 batting average on balls in play, and Minnesota’s front office has clearly maintained justifiable skepticism Cotton can continue keeping runs off the board at his current rate.
He’ll yet again find himself on waivers in the next few days. If he clears again, it’s possible he accepts another assignment back to St. Paul, but he’ll have another opportunity to test the free agent market if no other team puts in a claim.
As for Ober, he’s slated to start tomorrow night to kick off the Twins’ biggest series of the season. Minnesota will play five straight against the AL Central-leading Guardians, including a doubleheader on Saturday. The Twins trail Cleveland by four games, with the White Sox sitting one game above Minnesota in a three-way battle for the division title. The Wild Card spots look likely to go to the Rays, Mariners and Blue Jays in some order, leaving the division as the best chance for any of the AL Central teams to secure a playoff spot.
It’s a key outing for Ober, who steps right into the fire after a three and a half month absence. First sidelined on June 2 with a right groin strain, the big righty was eventually moved to the 60-day injured list and didn’t head out on a rehab assignment until this month. He’s made two appearances in Low-A and one outing with St. Paul, working 4 2/3 innings and 66 pitches on Monday evening. He’ll presumably be on some kind of pitch count tomorrow, but it stands to reason skipper Rocco Baldelli would be happy if Ober’s capable of effectively turning the Cleveland lineup over twice.Comment -
The Cleveland vs Minnesota series should be interesting this weekend. Minnesota has a chance to catch Cleveland but I think the Guardians are still the class of a very weak AL Central. Nobody's talking about those teams because they're probably one and done in the playoffs but on today's slate that particular game is arguably the biggest because most of the other games are between teams that are out of it.Comment -
I still think the Padres will blow it and Brewers get in last wild card spotComment -
Brew crew won’t make it Peavy, they will choke. National 40 and over team event for me in Vegas. Trying to win some matches in the old man circuit, lol.Comment -
Padres will make it in.Comment -
Pujols will make 700Comment -
Hoping to find some good black jack! ThanksComment -
Dodgers are in trouble, Gonsolin not 100% healthy in coming backComment -
Frankie Montas is going to undergo an MRI after feeling some discomfort in his right shoulder during yesterday’s game. Montas told the New York Post’s Jon Heyman and other reporters that he is “feeling optimistic about” the injury and “I don’t think it’s anything crazy,” yet naturally any type of shoulder issue is a potential problem, especially this late in the season. Montas also missed time with shoulder soreness back in July when he was still a member of the Athletics, as he went 18 days (including the All-Star break) between starts while resting up.
An injury would only continue what has been a difficult beginning to Montas’ tenure in the Bronx. The Yankees acquired Montas in one of the most notable pre-deadline trades, yet the right-hander has posted a 6.35 ERA over eight starts and 39 2/3 innings in the pinstripes. Even if the MRI reveals nothing severe, the Yankees could opt to skip Montas for a turn in the rotation, or perhaps even place him on the 15-day injured list in order to get him fully recovered and perhaps on track in general heading into the postseason.
More from around the AL East…
- In better injury news for the Yankees, Anthony Rizzo is tentatively slated to return to the lineup on Sunday, The Athletic’s Chris Kirschner tweets. Rizzo hasn’t played since August 31 due to a epidural he received to try and alleviate nagging back pain, and Rizzo also had to deal with migraine headaches as a side effect of that epidural. With only a .200/.282/.371 slash line over his last 78 plate appearances before going on the 10-day injured list, it was clear Rizzo’s back was hampering his play, as the veteran has otherwise been one of New York’s top hitters all season. A healthy and productive Rizzo would be a huge boost to the Yankees in their push for a World Series title.
- Alejandro Kirk has missed the Blue Jays’ last four games due to hip tightness, but interim manager John Schneider told reporters (including Sportsnet’s Shi Davidi) that Kirk did some running and other baseball activities today. It is possible Kirk could return to action on Sunday, when Alek Manoah is the scheduled starter — Kirk has been behind the plate for every pitch Manoah has thrown this season. This brief absence could also serve as something of a reset for Kirk, whose big first half earned him an All-Star nod, but the catcher has a modest .261/.352/.338 slash line over 182 PA since the All-Star break.
- Initial x-rays were negative on Ryan Mountcastle’s left elbow after the Orioles first baseman was hit by a Jose Berrios pitch in the second inning of today’s game. Mountcastle was removed in the bottom half of the frame with what the team described as an elbow contusion. While Mountcastle’s .243/.295/.429 numbers over 542 PA represents a dropoff (especially in slugging percentage) from his 2021 production, his 103 wRC+ is still above the league average, and he has hit 22 homers this season.
- The Red Sox are facing a 40-man roster crunch this winter, and The Boston Globe’s Alex Speier takes a look at some of the names (some a lot more certain than others) to be added to the roster in advance of the Rule 5 Draft. For some of these players on the borderline, the remaining two-plus weeks of the regular season will serve as a chance to catch the eye of Red Sox brass.
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Clean, not sure what clean even means anymore.Comment -
He never got caught taking anything.Comment -
That’s because he got to play against Cubs pitching with the Cardinals.Comment -
Is deGrom gonna lose the Mets game???Comment -
Dodgers got to 100 wins easyComment -
That's true if you go by numbers then I guess you can make the assumption he did take something but there's plenty of guys that fell off a cliff when changing teams and leagues like Pujols did. So maybe he just declined as he got older and the Angels didn't get the best version of Pujols. Of course you could be right that he juiced early in his career and thats the reason his numbers were far better than when he got to Anaheim.Comment
