Baseball Notes for June 17, 2013: MLB and Its Hypocritical Stance on Brawls

Posted on June 17, 2013 by Andrew Martin

MacWilliams

Although a major brawl last week between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Arizona Diamondbacks resulted in eight suspensions and a dozen fines, the incident is yet another reminder of what a joke on-field fights and the subsequent reaction of Major League Baseball have become.

Tempers flared after Dodgers’ rookie sensation Yasiel Puig was hit in the face by a pitch, followed by a back-and-forth retaliatory actions by both sides.

Managers Don Mattingly and Kirk Gibson were banned for one game each, while Dodgers’ hitting coach Mark McGwire earned two games because of behavior which resembled an enraged rhinoceros. The punishments are more of a show than punitive in nature. It seems that MLB’s reaction to such incidents is really an unsaid acceptance that brawls are good for business because of the attention they draw. If baseball truly wanted to crack down on on-field fighting, they could do so very easily. Their insistence in staying with the status quo indicates a sanctioning of loosely-controlled violence that spices up games. No matter how egregious brawls are, suspensions and fines are generally light and often reduced upon appeal (although it is rare that an explanation is given in such cases). (more…)

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Baseball Notes for March 31, 2013

Posted on April 1, 2013 by Andrew Martin

JoseFern

Major League Baseball’s 2013 Opening Day is finally here! With another season comes the return of Baseball Notes. Without a single regular season game having yet been played, there is already plenty to talk about. (more…)

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NL West Players To Watch

Posted on February 25, 2013 by Daniel Marino

Rutledge

Dan Marino’s long journey trekking through each division in the major leagues is over. Now, in part six of six, he brings you the National League West’s Players to Watch:

Part 1: AL East Players to Watch.

Part 2: NL East Players to Watch.

Part 3: AL Central Players to Watch.

Part 4: NL Central Players to Watch.

Part 5: AL West Players to Watch.

Arizona Diamondbacks (more…)

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Bryan Shaw Overlooked in Indians-Reds-Diamondbacks Trade

Posted on December 12, 2012 by Jonathan C. Mitchell

BShaw2

The Cleveland Indians, Cincinnati Reds, and Arizona Diamondbacks completed a three-way trade yesterday that sent Shin-Soo Choo to the Reds, Trevor Bauer, Drew Stubbs, and Bryan Shaw to the Indians, and Didi Gregorious to the Diamondbacks.

The key components of this trade were Choo, Bauer, Gregorious, and Stubbs, for obvious reasons. Choo is an All-Star caliber player, Bauer is a top pitching prospect, Gregorious was highly coveted by Kevin Towers, and Stubbs in a plus defender in center. But Bryan Shaw, who has been completely overlooked, may be a better part of this trade than many people realize. (more…)

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The Reds Acquire Shin-Soo Choo in a Blockbuster Move

Posted on December 11, 2012 by johnczech

In an offseason that has saw the Tampa Bay Rays dump off frontline starters, Jeffery Loria selling anyone in a Miami Marlins jersey making any kind of money to the Toronto Blue Jays, the madness continued on Tuesday night.

According to Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports, the Cleveland Indians, Cincinnati Reds and the Arizona Diamondbacks have completed a three team trade.

The Indians will acquire Trevor Bauer, Matt Albers and Bryan Shaw from the D-Backs and get Drew Stubbs from the Reds. The Reds receive Jason Donald and Shin-Soo Choo, and the Diamondbacks will get Tony Sipp, Didi Gregorius, and Lars Anderson. (more…)

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Charles Brewer Scouting Report

Posted on October 24, 2012 by Michael Schwartze

When you think of Arizona Diamondbacks pitching prospects, the first names that come to name are Trevor Bauer, Tyler Skaggs, Archie Bradley. The list goes on. One guy that many might not have heard of though is Charles Brewer. He may not have a ceiling that is even somewhat close to those other guy’s I listed but he does have a shot of having an impact at the big league level sometime soon.

Brewer was drafted in the 18th round of the 2006 draft out of high school by the Angels but chose to go on to play at UCLA. At the age of 21, he was drafted again, this time by the Diamondbacks, in the 12th round of the 2009 draft. He would go on to make his professional debut that year in the Pioneer League. He went on to post a 2.45 ERA between High A and Low A in 2010 while throwing just about 150 innings. Brewer opened the 2011 campaign with AA Mobile posting great numbers before he was struck in his pitching hand in June by a line drive hit back at him that sidelined him until the very end of the season. He was able to bounce back for a few starts though and posted a 2.58 ERA with an 8.3 K/9 and a 3.3 BB/9 that year at AA. He opened 2012 at AA Mobile, pitching in only 17.1 innings before being promoted to AAA Reno where he would spend the remainder of the year. After posting impressive numbers up until 2012, Brewer struggled a bit in Reno. His ERA with them on the year was 5.99 despite still posting solid strikeout and walk numbers (BB/9 of 2.3 and K/9 of 7.0). I had the chance to see the right-handed starting pitcher this season when Reno came to Tacoma and the scouting report that I came away with can be seen after the break. (more…)

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My Rookie of the Year Award Ballot

Posted on October 14, 2012 by Jonathan C. Mitchell

The Rookie of the Year Award, also referred to as the Jackie Robinson Award by the BBWAA and the Willie Mays Award by the BBA, does not have strict voting standards other than the fact that the player must be a rookie. The award, though, has caused many arguments thanks to the way some perceive the standard at which the award should be voted. (more…)

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Picking the 2012 MLB Award Winners

Posted on October 12, 2012 by Andrew Martin

With the focus in baseball being on the fantastic matchups being waged in the playoffs, the intense debate about the end-of-season awards has been tempered for the time being. It’s a temporary lull that will heat up again once the announcement of the award winners near, as many will try to get in their opinions in the form of parting shots, in the attempt to support the various candidates. There have been some truly incredible performances this season, and there are literally no categories without multiple candidates having legitimate chances to have their name drawn from the proverbial envelope. That being said, here are my picks for the 2012 baseball awards. (more…)

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A.J. Pollock Scouting Report

Posted on September 24, 2012 by Michael Schwartze

One of the last teams that I scouted this minor league season was the Reno Aces when they came to take on the Tacoma Rainiers. I previously wrote up outfield prospect and minor league average leader, Adam Eaton, over at Bullpen Banter. Now I’ll take a look at his teammate, A.J. Pollock.

Pollock was the 17th overall pick by the Diamondbacks in the 2009 draft. He made his professional debut in 2009 in the Midwest League where he hit .271/.319/.376 in 277 plate appearances. Pollock’s development took a step backwards though in 2010 when he missed the entire season with a fractured elbow. He bounced back in 2011 and spent all of the year at AA Mobile putting together a solid year. He posted a .307/.357/.44 triple slash in 608 plate appearances with 8 homeruns. He opened up the season at AAA Reno and got a call to the bigs in April when Chris Young hit the DL and he spent about a month with Arizona where he hit .250/302/.339 and a homerun in 63 plate appearances. Pollock would be sent back down to AAA Reno when Young came of the DL and he spent the rest of the year down there. His line on the year at AAA was .318/.369/.411 and 3 homeruns.

On to the report following the break. (more…)

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Jose Martinez Scouting Report, Arizona Diamondbacks

Posted on August 31, 2012 by Michael Schwartze

I have had the opportunity to see a handful of teen pitchers in the Northwest League this year and I had the chance to see another one — Jose Martinez — last week. Compared to the other guys I’ve seen, Martinez is not nearly as well known. Going into the start, I had no clue who he was and could find hardly anything online. So who is Jose Martinez? Well he is a right-handed pitching prospect in the Arizona Diamondbacks system. He made his professional debut in the Dominican Summer League this year and dominated. He had a 1.72 ERA in 73.1 IP with a 2.7 BB/9 and an 8.7 K/9. He was promoted to short season Yakima on August 24th and made his NWL debut the next day. Unlike some of the other teen pitchers I have seen in the NWL this year, Martinez actually looks like an 18 year old. He’s small and looks very young. His final line on the night was 5IP 4H 3R 3ER 5BB and 5K. He threw a total of 82 pitches on the night. After seeing Martinez though, he is definitely an interesting arm and a name to watch moving forward. (more…)

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