Random News From Around Dodgertown Noah Syndergaard says he feels good physically but that his delivery is still out of whack. It may take him a few starts before he finds his delivery and/or release point (if he ever does). But never fear, Gavin Stone will ride in on his white horse. BTW, he has faced 27 batters and struck out 14. The Dodgers assigned Jake Reed, Gavin Stone, and…
By design, Bobby Miller has not pitched in a Major League Spring Training Game, and I do not think he has played in any minor league or B-Games either, as he allegedly had a “sore shoulder” when he arrived at Spring Training. Allegedly, it is OK now, but the Dodgers are ramping him up slowly. It seems unlikely that he will pitch in the Freeway Series as he did last…
You know the rest, but in case you forgot: It’s how they finish! Sometimes we get caught up in the hype, and we believe that small samplings mean something when in reality, they mean nothing. A lot of you have criticized me because while you believed that James Outman was the second coming, I believed that his fantastic start (in 13 ABs) was more like “Lucky.” And while I am…
Almost Zero! Almost Zip! Almost Nada! In case you haven’t been paying attention to the Cactus League, the KC Royals have scored 110 Runs and given up 67 Runs. They have a 12-2 record, and if you think Spring Training means something, then march yourself right up to the nearest sports book and bet your life savings on the Royals because they are going to win the World Series. However,…
Eight games into Spring Training… and James Outman is seizing the day. Of course, there are three weeks left, but if it ended today, James Outman would be in the squad. All he has done is hit the ball, run the bases and play excellent defense. In other words, he has done EVERYTHING! James Outman was a dark horse to make the team, but so far, he is forcing his…
Yesterday, Dave wrote this: “Last year you posted your stats predictions for the season. As it turned out they were pretty accurate. So looking forward to that again. But I think we need to wait until end of Spring training for that.” So, I am going to do it a little differently this year. I am going to it now, and I might revise my predictions at the end of…
Pinkie Problems The first casualty of Spring Training occurred a few days ago when Miguel Vargas took a bad hop to his right pinky finger, which caused a hairline fracture. Since he is a RH hitter, his right hand is not his bottom hand, and he would likely play if it were the playoffs or an important game, but he will likely miss a couple of weeks. He thinks he…
Never doubt statistics. This is especially true when looking at minor-league players. You can always predict for a certainty how a player will perform in Major League Baseball by looking at what they did in the minor leagues. We don’t need scouts, GMs, Baseball America, or MLB Pipeline, and we don’t need any stinking Keith Law.. All we need are statistics. Statistics are King – they are God-like. Statistics will…
I am fully resigned to the fact that Gavin Lux is going into Spring Training as the starting SS. I did not believe that he could play SS at the MLB level, but I will have to defer to Andrew Friedman, who knows “a thing or two I don’t!” Lux has added 15 pounds of muscle which might bring his arm up to average. The first time he makes an…
I see similarities between Jason Heyward and players like Tyler Anderson, Andrew Heaney, Thor, JDM, and others. Anderson and Heaney came to the Dodgers hoping that the Dodgers could “fix” them. JDM didn’t come to the Dodgers to get “fixed…” maybe to get better, but in the past, he did work with Robert Van Socyoc, who is now the Dodgers’ hitting coach and credits RVS with making his career!. The…