Mariners Moose Tracks, 4/18/18: David Freitas, Shohei Ohtani, and Francisco Lindor

Good morning and happy Wednesday! Although I’m back today, I’ll be missing again tomorrow. Either way, we’ve got you prepared for the day with some fresh hot links. Check it out, y’all:

In Mariners news...

• David Freitas has really impressed the Mariners so far, writes Corey Brock at The Athletic.

Around the league...

• Former Mariner alert:

• Apparently both the Dodgers and Red Sox were close to signing Shohei Ohtani when he was a high schooler.
• Ohtani left yesterday’s start against the Red Sox due to a blister.
• The Mariners are back in the black!

• What do you think of this glove?

• Sounds like bad news might be on the horizon for Taijuan Walker.

• Zach Crizer at Baseball Prospectus takes a look at the unique way in which Lance McCullers does his work.
• Jay Jaffe at Fangraphs outlines one of the many ways in which Jackie Robinson impacted the sport.
• Bryce Harper already has his own t-shirts from the broken bat home run he hit on Monday.
• Camden Chat thinks it’s time to cut the chord on starter Chris Tillman.
• Talking Chop gives some thoughts on Alex Anthopoulos’ decision to keep Ronald Acuna down in Triple-A.
• Adam Ottavino is turning into a special kind of reliever, writes Jeff Sullivan.
• Giancarlo Stanton got booed again in a game against the Marlins.
• Fans at the Puerto Rican stadium where the Twins and Indians are playing went nuts for Francisco Lindor after the infielder hit a home run.

Anders’ picks...

• Obviously congratulations are in order to the Huskies and Ducks, but my Hofstra Pride are popping in at the bottom there.

• Alright, some more self-promotion: here’s my a cappella group performing our award-winning set that we performed at the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia (obviously this video was not taken at the Kimmel Center).