Notice: There are a ton of end-of-season group opinions I have to get by. Right here is spherical one. As soon as I get by this group of articles, the information cycle dries up.
American League
Angels
• Brandon Drury blames his struggles on migraines, nagging accidents, and makes an attempt at including exit velocity.
Migraines and a few nagging accidents performed a task in these struggles, however Drury informed Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register that some swing adjustments final offseason would possibly’ve been the largest wrongdoer, as his makes an attempt so as to add exit velocity backfired badly.
Blue Jays
• The group needs Yariel Rodríguez to optimize his pitch combine.
“Routines positively have developed in between,” supervisor John Schneider mentioned of Rodriguez’s progress. “The very last thing we’re type of in search of is simply pitch combine, you already know what I imply? That’s one thing that’s been talked about over the past month, however that’s the following step for him. The maturity, the common stuff that he’s doing in between begins has been the largest half.”
The Blue Jays need him to throw extra fastballs and splitters and rely much less on a slider that was his second-most used pitch Saturday (21 of 82 pitches) and all through the season at 28.4 per cent. His least used pitch was the splitter at 10 per cent and he recognized that as “my key pitch,” whereas including that, “I’ve bought to get it higher.”
• Leo Jiménez and Ernie Clement are out of choices.
Ernie Clement and Leo Jimenez are out of choices …
• Bowden Francis’s rotation spot is safe in accordance with the supervisor.
Schneider referred to as Francis’s efficiency “the spotlight of the second half for me” and strongly hinted Francis has secured a spot within the rotation subsequent season.
Orioles
• Colton Cowser used a much bigger bat within the second half to assist hit off-speed pitches.
Cowser:…I suppose the one factor I did change was go as much as a 34-inch bat [from a 33 1/2] throughout the second half of the yr.
MLB.com: How did the 34-inch bat provide help to?
Cowser: Generally with a few of these off-speed pitches — I nonetheless sometimes do — I felt a bit fast to the zone and I wished to sluggish myself down a bit bit due to the best way I used to be getting attacked. I knew I may get to fastballs. I used to be swinging and lacking lots of off-speed pitches within the zone. I felt I wished to place the ball in play extra.
Rangers
• Kumar Rocker will compete for a 2025 rotation spot.
Rocker finally made three huge league begins, posting a 3.86 ERA throughout 11 2/3 innings. Bochy mentioned Rocker will enter Spring Coaching totally primed to compete for a spot within the rotation.
Rays
• Yandy Díaz performed with patellar tendinitis however gained’t want offseason surgical procedure.
Actually, Diaz’s most efficient month (.879 OPS) got here in September, though he mentioned he was coping with patellar tendinitis in his left knee. Diaz isn’t anxious that the harm would require any surgical remedy, and mentioned “I have to work on my energy, my knee and workouts, and prepare for Spring Coaching, and hopefully all the things’s going to be OK.”
Purple Sox
• Masataka Yoshida has been coping with a sore shoulder and would possibly want offseason surgical procedure.
Purple Sox designated hitter Masataka Yoshida precipitated one thing of a stir Sunday when he informed Japanese reporters (together with Carlos Yamazaki of Tokyo Sports activities Press) that he [might] endure proper shoulder surgical procedure shortly after the season. So what’s really happening?
Each Yoshida and Sox supervisor Alex Cora acknowledged after Sunday’s season finale that Yoshida has been coping with nagging shoulder soreness all season.
Nationwide League
Diamondbacks
• Eugenio Suárez modified his pregame routine to incorporate high-intensity reps.
Suarez made changes to his pregame routine, together with taking higher-intensity reps off the pitcher-mimicking Trajekt machine within the batting cage.
Dodgers
• Anthony Banda now has among the best sliders within the sport.
Creating one of the crucial unhittable sliders within the sport has unlocked all the things else. Amongst pitchers who’ve thrown at the least 200 sliders this season, solely three — Josh Hader, Andrew Chafin and Michel Otañez — have gotten a better price of swings-and-misses on a pitch that Banda didn’t even throw earlier than touchdown in Los Angeles. No less than, he didn’t throw a slider fairly like this.
Banda had fiddled with grips for years. Every cease, every failure introduced with it a pivot. Every tried change had a domino impact on the following one. An prolonged run of success in Triple Some time on a minor-league cope with Cleveland (a 2.12 ERA in 17 innings) popped him on the relief-starved Dodgers’ radar. Inside 24 hours of arriving in Los Angeles, Banda stood on the bullpen mound surrounded by Edgertronic cameras and a collection of potential pitch grips and psychological cues at his disposal to discover a pitch apart from his changeup to maintain hitters off his mid-90s fastball.
Dodgers assistant pitching coach Connor McGuiness famous Banda’s unorthodox slider grip — one which had simply three fingers on the baseball — and tried his first suggestion.
He instructed Banda to attempt to grip the baseball with a “spike,” digging the nail of his index finger into the seam to affect motion and spin. The instruction was easy: Purpose down the center, throw it like a fastball and let it rip.
Giants
• Heliot Ramos has performed by plantar fasciitis.
Bob Melvin mentioned Heliot Ramos has a decent hamstring and has been enjoying by plantar fasciitis. No issues past immediately, he mentioned he may DH if wanted.
— Alex Pavlovic (@PavlovicNBCS) September 29, 2024
