Manny Banuelos started for the Trenton Thunder last night. Being as he has had a breakout season after starting the year on the DL because of an appendectomy, I felt it appropriate to take some video.

I believe the hitter in the first video had an infield single, although I was interrupted halfway through the video to, uh, win a promotion (this is what happens when you arrive at a minor league park too early…friends and readers Brent and Mark ended up doing the Dizzy Bat Race!).

The hitter in the second video hits a clean single.

Banuelos had a couple really nasty pitches in there; sat 92ish according to the scouts sitting in front of us (Waterfront Park doesn’t display a gun), and hit 94; however, he threw a ton of pitches and had to leave the game relatively early, after 4.2 innings.

If you want to see photos from the game, you can do so here

(in this one I embarrissingly confess that yes, I am really bad at pitch identification. Part of it is that my eyes are not great, but it’s mostly that I’m just flat-out bad at it)

Share on Facebook

A quick post, hope you don’t mind, but some thoughts:

• Mark Teixeira started the year in an awful-beyond-awful slump, remember?  Well, his since-June has been so good that his average is now higher than Derek Jeter.  As one tweeter put it, I’m not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing.  (Really, it’s both–good for Teixeira, bad for Jeter).

• Kerry Wood likes to toy with our emotions…I’m a little scared to look at the strand rate. (For the month of August it was 100%).

• I don’t want to contemplate life without Mariano.  I really don’t.

• It always feels like there’s a ton of season left to play until they bring back the Magic Number countdown.  It’s kind of crazy to think that the Yanks’ magic number is 22, and yet the Rays are still right there, with them.  Talk about a race…

• It’s amazing what a really good signing Marcus Thames remains as long as he stays far away from the field.

I’m headed down to Trenton tomorrow to see new uber-pitching prospect Manny Banuelos, who, despite having an appendectomy this year, has still emerged as a possible top 100 candidate.  Very intriguing, indeed.

Share on Facebook

One of the most repeated bits of managerial wisdom by bloggers, play-by-play crews and fans in baseball has been common knowledge for a very long time: never walk the lead off batter, because it will come back to bite you.

Late last night (okay, really early this morning), a discussion on Twitter between my co-writer at “You Can’t Predict Baseball” @jordansmed and @richardiurilli on the subject emerged; most notably, they were looking for the actual number as to how many lead off walks actually do come around to score.

So, of course, I thought it’d be a good idea to go try.

Here’s the thing, though: Baseball Reference will tell you how many times a team walked to lead off an inning, and you can use the play index to find a list charting all of a team’s walks, including the date, game, inning, bases/outs situation, etc…but if you want to find out if that actual walk came around the bases to score, you have to go to the game log to look it up. It’s doable, but tedious.

Of course, I’m, uh, stupid inquisitive enough to do it anyway.

So. Here’s the criteria I used:

1) I looked at ONLY Yankee walks in 2010. I did not count walks by an opponent that came around to score.

2) Walks had to occur with no one on base and no one out in the inning (thus, a lead off walk). ONLY walks were counted–no HBP, no hits, no errors; just walks.

CAVEAT: I included ONLY walks that truly led off an inning, not walks that occurred with no one on and no one out after a lead off home run.

3) The runner that walked had to be the runner that scored. For example, if Teixeira walks and scores on a Canó double, that counts. If Teixeira walks, Canó grounds into a force at second and then Canó scores on a Granderslam, I didn’t count it because it wasn’t Teixeira that scored.

4) ONLY the batter that walked is counted; any subsequent runs are not counted.

5) All box scores and play-by-play can be found on Baseball Reference (as well as a host of other sites, but I used baseball reference). The Play Index’s chart of 2010 Yankee walks can be found here. You may need a subscription to access the entire thing, I’m not sure.

So, the Yankees, so far in 2010 have had a total of 95 walks that led off an inning.

Of those 95, 41–or 43%–came around to score, and this doesn’t include leadoff HBPs or innings in which the lead off walk was forced at second, but the next runner came around to score.

Forty-three percent is, of course, much less than the oft-cited 60%, but I would include two caveats:

1) It’s still a very significant number, and
2) These are just the Yankee numbers for 2010–across a whole host of seasons or different teams, the number might be different. That said, the 2010 Yankees have one of the best offenses in baseball (with 679 runs, they’ve scored more than any other team in the league), so take that as you will.

If you’d like to know which leadoff walks did, in fact, come around to score, I jotted them down below:

You can find individual game logs here/

So yeah, don’t walk the lead off hitter.

Share on Facebook

It’s all fun and games, is it?

(Well, no. Go read Mike Ashmore’s piece on life in the minor leagues if you haven’t already. That’s an order.)

Gary Sanchez goes Boom! It’s his first home run in the NYPL, and he still doesn’t turn 18 until December. To put this in perspective, Bryce Harper is older than Gary Sanchez.

Kramer Sneed pitching. I haven’t heard the name, but he pitched quite well–five innings of a seven inning (double-header) game, more strikeouts than innings pitched, just one run on a home run in the first inning.

Share on Facebook

It’s been a long time since Kerry Wood struck out twenty as a Chicago Cub.

A long time, filled with injuries and disappointments and ultimately relegation to bullpen duty. Many point to Wood’s struggles, and that of another one-time Chicago Cub, Mark Prior, in being the impetus towards today’s obsession with young pitchers and doing everything possible shy of actual bubble wrap to protect them (see “Strasburg, Stephen” and “Joba Rules” (the latter under 2007/2008 entries) ).

It’s been a long time and I’m not sure how many ever thought he’d find himself playing for the Yankees–certainly not as a late inning reliever, and one fourth on the pecking order, after Mariano, Robertson and Joba–and yet, here his is, quickly becoming Cashman’s best mid-season acquisition of the year.

Just think about where the Yankees’ bullpen was before the deadline: outside of Mariano, and possibly Robertson, there was perhaps no one in whom Yankee fans had much faith. Joba may not have been blowing leads left and right, but it felt like it, and Logan pitched so poorly he was optioned to the minors.

Enter Wood, who as a Yankee has an ERA under one and thirteen strikeouts in 10.2 innings pitched (before Tuesday’s game). In fact, the only run Wood has allowed as a Yankee, inherited or otherwise, came on a solo home run–that on August 3rd, Wood’s second ever game in pinstripes.

He’s not allowed a run since.

In fact, if one looks at Wood’s gamelogs, one will see that 1/3rd of all runs Wood has given up this year came in one third of one inning against Kansas City on May 19th*

That’s not to say he hasn’t allowed baserunners–seven walks and nine hits as a Yankee (as of Tuesday afternoon) say otherwise–but no runs is still no runs.

When Sergio Mitre and Chad Gaudin seem to be battling to find out who wants to get DFA’d first and the starting rotation is such that only 2/5ths of it are healthy and pitching as they’re supposed to be pitching, Wood’s performance is a breath of fresh air.

*Thanks to blog reader JGS (http://twitter.com/jordan_smed)

Share on Facebook

Cito Culver, the Yankees’ 2010 first round draft pick from New York State.

Gary Sanchez, international signee, 2009. He’s just seventeen years old.

View the entire set of photos here.

I will try to have something more substantial for you all mañana.

Share on Facebook

A few days ago, über-writer Joe Posnanski published a piece in which he asked which Yankee was more valuable throughout his career: Derek Jeter or Mariano Rivera?

The common answer I came across was: “head says Jeter, heart says Mo.”

The answer I came across that made me want to come here and go blog? “Jorge Posada”.

It’s almost funny, really, how spoiled we Yankee fans have been with Jorge Posada the entire length of his career. As long as Posada’s been playing, he’s been overshadowed by the likes of Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez, Mariano…even other ‘core’ members of the Dynasty teams, like Bernie Williams, Tino Martinez and Paul O’Neil.

One can argue that it wasn’t until 2008, when Posada missed most of the season with a shoulder injury and the Yankees were left with the workings of Jose Molina and Chad Moeller, that the fans got any idea of how important Posada’s bat was to the team. Even then, though, the lack of Posada from that line up was perhaps overshadowed by the Yankees having Sidney Ponson and Darrell Rasner starting way too many games, as well as the absence of Matsui and the less-than-stellar years from Robinson Canó and Melky Cabrera.

Yet if you step back and looks at Posada’s numbers, you realize the Yankees haven’t just been lucky with their starting catcher of the past decade and a half; they’ve been downright blessed, sent a gift from the baseball gods on high.

How does it stack up?

You could look at it two ways: you could compare Posada’s numbers to all of those who caught or are still catching during the length of Posada’s career (the sheer longevity of Posada is probably one of the most underrated aspects of his career), or you could compare Posada’s numbers to those in the Hall of Fame.

Since I’ve got too much time on my hands, and B-Ref’s play index is that awesome, I went ahead and did both.

Comparison One: Posada vs. MLB catchers, 1995-2010.

Search parameters: 50% or more games played at catcher, minimum 3000 plate appearances, results sorted by my favorite offensive stat (despite its faults), OPS.

What do you notice?

Of the players listed, only Piazza–almost a Hall of Fame shoo-in–and Mauer have posted better OPS numbers. That’s not bad company, and Posada has had, by far, the longer career.

Among active catchers, Posada ranks second in these categories, behind only Joe Mauer (yes, that’s right, Posada outranks Pudge Rodriguez). Posada has more walks than any other active catcher meeting the search parameters, and trails Rodriguez by just two home runs, a virtual deadlock, if you will.

Okay, you say, but what about the game’s historical elite? How does Posada stack up against them?

Comparison Two: Posada vs. MLB catchers in the Hall of Fame

Parameters: Min 3000 plate appearances, 50% or more games at C, sorted by OPS/

Posada’s career numbers, for comparison:

The HoF table:

Posada’s career OPS of 0.857 would sit him fifth on that list–well within Hall of Fame territory, and almost .30 points higher than the Yankees’ most iconic catcher, the great Yogi Berra.

If one sorts the table by other offensive factors, Posada’s career still rates him within the fold: he’d rank 10th in hits, fifth in doubles, fifth in home runs, third in walks, ties for fourth in on base average and virtually tied for fifth in slugging.

Even Posada’s Plate Appearances (6639) would rank him eighth out of the thirteen listed; on the lower end, perhaps, but unlike everyone else on the HoF list, Posada is still active.

Has Posada been more valuable to the Yankees over his career than Jeter or Rivera?

Posada doesn’t have the ‘face of the Yankees’ watchamacallit that Jeter does, or the Godliness of Mo (apologies to my religious readers), but that doesn’t make his contributions any less important.

Getting a decent starting catcher in Major League Baseball is hard. There’s a reason that the Yankees are arguably deepest at catcher in their minor league system (Montero/Romine/Murphy/Sanchez, to name a few): it’s a premium position, and a catcher that can hit can net you lots of goodies on July 31.

To get a decent starting catcher that plays for your team for fifteen seasons without bolting is even harder, even if you are the New York Yankees.

To get a starting catcher with incredible longevity and offensive numbers that say he might very well belong in the Hall of Fame (well, given recent inclusions, definitely belongs there), well, that’s just overkill.

Share on Facebook

This blog, when it was originally named, was called “This Purist bleeds Pinstripes” because a friend had been kind enough to point out that I am, at heart, a baseball purist.

I love watching the no-hit bid, the smell of hot dogs and crackerjacks, “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” played on an organ and….

…baseball players that rock the high socks, wearing them as the baseball uniform is meant to be worn.

With that in mind, and with some help from Twitter (especially @mikeaxisa and @richardiurilli), I was able to come up with a High Socks All Star Team, comprised of current MLBers who have been known to wear the High Socks.

Here’s how it breaks down:

The lineup, in a DH-league*:

Ichiro Suzuki, RF. Ichiro is headed to Cooperstown, should he ever retire, and is easily the most recognizable Japenese import to ever hit Major League baseball. Besides some locker room gems (Google it, trust me), Ichiro leads the league in hits consistently, and has never had a year in the States where he has batted under .300. He’d also never stolen less than 30 bases until last year–his age 35 season.

Johnny Damon, LF. Not many baseball players can say they’ve won World Series with the Red Sox and the Yankees; Damon is one of the few that can. Damon has been a Major Leaguer for fifteen seasons now–debuting the same year as Derek Jeter, among others–has a career OBP of .355, and with 2529 hits is only theoretically a few seasons away from a run at 3000. He may not elect to play that long (or find a suitor), but his help in securing a World Series ring for both the Red Sox in 2004 and the Yankees in 2009 is undeniable.

Miguel Cabrera, 1B. The five time All Star is the face of the Detroit Tigers, and has hit 25 or more home runs every year after his rookie season (2003, when he was a mere 20 years old), as well as four seasons (and then this one) posting a .900+ OPS. In fact, this season, Cabrera leads the Majors with a .427 OBP and an OPS+ of 178. Yeah, um, he’s kinda good. Just ogle it..

Alex Rodriguez, DH. To get a sense of A-Rod: there’s been talk of him having a down year, so what does he do tonight? Hit three home runs. The Yankees’ third baseman is something of a legend in odd years (’03, ’05, ’07, and what he did when he played in ’09), and really good the rest of the time. A-Rod is already the youngest player to 600 home runs, and one of just three (Barry Bonds and Mays being the others) to have 600 home runs and 300 stolen bases in his career.

David Wright, 3B. The face of the New York Mets is a five time All Star, a third baseman who has every year since 2005 posted a batting average of .300 or better and on base percentage of .380 or better. Although Citi Field has perhaps stifled his power numbers, Wright’s OPS+ numbers indicate that he has consistently still been one of the top hitters in all of baseball. Oh, and he plays a pretty good third base, too.

Ian Kinsler, 2B. Kinsler is one of the game’s best young stars. As a second baseman, he hit 31 home runs last year (and has even hit for the cycle, as well). While he’s only got six homers so far this season (partially due to time on the DL), his on-base percentage is up to .387–approaching Nick Johnsonian territory.

Jason Bartlett, SS. One would expect there to be more high-socks wearing shortstops, but alas, those currently manning the land between second and third are not an old school set. The Rays’ shortstop came out of almost nowhere last season to post a line of .320/.389/.490/.879, which is decent for any player but practically obscene for what is traditionally a weak-hitting position. There’s been a massive fall off this season, the result of which is somewhat less than his career norms, but the only other shortstop I could find wearing high socks is hitting .219.

Chris Snyder, C. It’s hard to find a catcher that wears high socks, and when your other options are a zombie Jason Varitek and no-longer-out-performing-expectations Francisco Cervelli, Snyder more or less wins by default. but if you have the desire to look, here are his numbers.

Brett Gardner, CF. Brett Gardner in the long run is most likely not a .300 hitter; that he remained so for so long this season is a testament to stepping up to the role and seizing the opportunity that was given to him via the departed Johnny Damon. The outfielder possesses enough speed to turn what should be routine ground balls into infield hits, and already has 33 stolen bases on the year. Whether 2010 is a true break out year or a fluke remains to be seen, but don’t ask the Yankees where they’d be without Gardner this season–they wouldn’t like the answer.

The Rotation:

Felix Hernandez: I’ll admit, it was really, really hard to choose a number one starter for the High Sox All Stars, but I’ve been a Felix fan for a long, long time. Felix debuted at NINETEEN, so while it feels like he’s been around forever, he’s only 24 years old. His numbers have, predictably, improved over time, and last year he perhaps emerged as the ace that everyone expected–and there’s no reason to feel he’ll let up any time soon. He finished second in last year’s Cy Young voting, and has a career ERA+ of 129. Oh, and he once hit a grand slam off of Johan Santana. That was cool, too.

Josh Johnson: I love him just for being my fantasy team’s savior two years running. He’s given up one home run every three games, basically (a HR/9 rate of 0.3) this season, and has an ERA of 2.27. You can argue the merits of ERA, but 2.27 is utterly ridiculous in mid-August. Especially since it recently just went up. You might–might be able to argue that Cliff Lee’s better in 2010, but only Johnson wears the high socks.

Ubaldo Jimenez: Alas, Ubaldo’s uber-start has cooled considerably, but what a fun first half of the season it was to watch, over two months with an ERA under one, and the season’s first no-hitter. Wins and losses are stupid, we know, but when you have 17 wins in mid-August, you still notice. Even if it’s just luck going your way, so much in the game of baseball is dependent on luck that you can’t discount it. How good was Ubaldo’s first half? On June 6th, his ERA was still under one; despite an ERA of 4.63 since then, it’s still at 2.27 for the season. I’m not sure any pitcher can do what he did the first half over the course of a full season, but at 26, Ubaldo’s as sure a bet as any to figure it out.

Tim Lincecum: When the two-years-running reigning Cy Young winner–the guy that’s won it two of his first three years in the Majors–is your fourth starter, you have your team a rotation. Lincecum is known for wracking up the strikeouts–265 in 2008, 261 last season, as much as he is for his unkempt hair and funky, gymnast-like delivery. His numbers are down fairly considerably this season–resulting in his demotion in this rotation–perhaps spawning questions as to whether or not previous workload has caught up with his small frame. Never fear though; even if it has, Lincecum’s teammate Matt Cain also wears the High Socks. Hrm. Maybe I should become a Giants fan.

Stephen Strasburg: You’ve already heard the phenom’s name, no doubt. Not many pitchers strike out fourteen in their Major League debuts while walking none over just six innings. Recently DL’d with shoulder issues, he’s healthy again and given gaudy college numbers and pitching number as a rookie in the Majors, Strasburg is very possibly headed for greatness. Wearing high socks from the get-go, Strasburg has made a lasting, good impression on this fan.

In the Bullpen:

Closer: Jose Valverde (hate the antics, but alas, until Mariano or Soria starts wearing high socks, this is the best I can do).

David Robertson (recently stopped wearing high socks on the current Yankee road trip, but as @bryanhoch, informs us, “They’ll be back on the homestand. He says they don’t go well with high tops.” The Yankees’ reliever had one of their most important playoff appearances in 2009, when in Game 2 of the ALDS he had the bases loaded and no one out (largely leftover by the previous reliever), and got out of the inning without allowing the run.)

Damaso Marte (On the DL, where he’s spent far too much time as a Yankee. That said, when he’s healthy, he’s one of the best LOOGYs in the game).

Casey Janssen (Plays for the Canadien team. Wears high socks. Good enough.)

On the Bench:

Todd Helton, Ryan Zimmerman, Brendan Ryan.

*How can I be a baseball purist and a fan of the DH? I don’t know *sobs*. I don’t know.

So there you have it, your High Socks team. They could probably use an upgrade at catcher, and some help in the bullpen, but all things considered, I’d pay to see these guys in a game against the All Fat Team.

Share on Facebook

Via River Ave Blues

Jesus Montero, C: 3 for 4, 1 R, 1 HR, 1 RBI – 13 for his last 30 (.433) with four doubles & three homers … that’s his third homer in the last four games … was pinch run for in the 8th, when they were down a run

Via @conorfoley: Interesting caught stealing stat: Cervelli – 16% CS, Posada – 17% CS, Austin Romine – 18% CS, Jesus Montero – 24% CS.

Via @bkabak: Since July 1, Jesus Montero is 40 for 106 (.377) with 8 HR and 9 2B.

Via @ledger_yankees Posada was unavailable to pinch hit due to a “cranky shoulder”.

Yeah. It’s time. Call up Jesus.

Share on Facebook

Since my Jeter-should-not-lead-off ultra-rant the other day that got called “stupid”, among other things, Jeter is batting .368/.455/.526/.981.

Sometimes, being wrong is nice.

As you were.

Share on Facebook