All-Star Game
The AL won the All-Star Game last night 5-3. Starlin Castro and Anthony Rizzo were both Doolittle’d.
The game was mostly a Derek Jeter fawning session. Adam Wainwright did his best to undermine that narrative by saying that he grooved one to Jeter to start the game. It might have worked, too, had he not been quoted on the record. Instead, Wainwright was called out by Ken Rosenthal and the broadcast booth, shifting the focus squarely to his lack of integrity. He then quickly issued a sputtering, incoherent retraction to Erin Andrews in the dugout.
I don’t mind the idea of a single midseason game determining home field advantage in the World Series, but the All-Star game doesn’t really work for that. Managers can’t bring themselves to actually try to win the game. There is too much “everyone must play” inertia, which, when combined with the sprawling roster sizes, makes the game a difficult watch. Furthermore, fan allegiance to a particular league is weak. You will never hear Mets fans chanting “NL East” in the vein of “SEC.” I like the style of play in the NL, but if the Cardinals make the Series, I would prefer that they didn’t have home field advantage. I’m sure the same goes for Giants fans with respect to the Dodgers and Red Sox fans with the Yankees.
What I think might work is a separate HFA game featuring players from the teams with the two or three best records in each league. Maybe take the best from the three division leaders. Between them, the Orioles, Tigers, and Athletics have about a 60% chance of making the Series. A game with limited rosters featuring the best players on those teams against its NL counterpart might have a chance of turning into an actual competitive game.
All-Star week is interminable and vacuous. The only event scheduled for Wednesday is the No-Futures Game (aka the AAA All-Star Game), and Thursday is an off-day. Move the All-Star game to Monday, play the HFA game on Tuesday, and use Wednesday for a combined Futures Game/Homerun Derby. Something like that.
Prospect List Updates
The latest batch of midseason prospect lists are being released this week. Both John Sickels and Marc Hulet have Kris Bryant at #1 overall, which is pretty neat. Sickels has Javier Baez falling to #15. Keith Law will round out the bunch with his release tomorrow.
The Rise of the Switch-Pitcher
A few years ago I messed up something in my throwing shoulder playing softball. In the several months afterward, I experimented with throwing left-handed. It didn’t go well. As a result, there is nothing I’m more impressed with than professional players who can throw competently with either arm. So count me completely on board with John Sickels, who wants the Yankees to free Pat Venditte. Jacob Emert at BA points out another amby, Ryan Perez, who is currently pitching in the Cape Cod League.
In case you are wondering about switch hitter/pitcher matchups, the Umpires have ruled that the pitcher must declare which arm he will throw with before the at-bat, which I think is silly. Not only does it marginalize a skill that is vanishingly rare, but also seems antithetical to baseball’s precepts. The defensive team holds the ball in baseball, unlike in other sports, and it decides how to initiate the action.
Bryant and Baez BP Videos
Baseball America has posted some videos from batting practice at the Futures Game, including good looks at both Kris Bryant and Javier Baez.