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Hello everyone! Welcome to Saturday. Here’s what you need to know to get your weekend started.
In Mariners news...
- Taylor Williams has a really unique pitch.
According to Savant, #Mariners reliever @twillyflash is throwing a slider that could be considered a pure gyroball; >10% efficiency with short-form movement of 0.5" sweep and 0.1" drop. #TrueToTheBlue
— Michael Augustine (@AugustineMLB) August 21, 2020
With BallR to visualize, the example below had no sweep & dropped 34" inches. pic.twitter.com/FZUmsaN3TK
- Since family members can’t physically watch debuts, this is really cool.
A special night capped off by a special message.
— Mariners Player Development (@MsPlayerDev) August 21, 2020
After Ljay Newsome made his @MLB debut last night, his family wanted to make sure he felt their support. pic.twitter.com/GuIXRXsOJY
Around the league...
- We saw our first significant trade of the year as the Phillies acquired relievers Brandon Workman and Heath Hembree from the Red Sox.
- The Yankees and Phillies swapped a pair of right-handed pitchers in a minor deal.
- The Orioles have called up top prospect Ryan Mountcastle.
- Rays right-hander Yonny Chirinos will get Tommy John surgery, likely shelving him until 2022.
- Awful news for Major League Baseball as the Yankees announced they’ve furloughed 60 player development staff. The storm just continues.
- Joey Bart introduced himself to the league with a bang.
109.5 mph off the bat for his first MLB hit. That's the hardest-hit ball in tonight's Angels-Giants game and the seventh hardest-hit ball by any #SFGiants player this season.
— Sam Dykstra (@SamDykstraMiLB) August 21, 2020
Major League pitchers, this is Joey Bart.pic.twitter.com/85gZZqMdGG
- With the Mets having two positive tests on the team, this was inevitable.
Breaking: MLB has postponed Yankees-Mets this weekend, sources said.
— Tim Healey (@timbhealey) August 21, 2020
No game Saturday and no game Sunday, in addition to no game today.
- Kyle Glaser at Baseball America discussed how teams are preparing for a strange trade deadline.
- It’s not all bad for James Paxton.
Hear James Paxton got good news. No Tommy John recommended. Issue is believed to be muscular in nature. #yankees
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) August 21, 2020
- Sometimes you forget that some teams have never had a legendary designated hitter.
Nelson Cruz has played just 146 games with the Twins and is already their all-time WAR leader at DH
— High Heat Stats (@HighHeatStats) August 21, 2020
CRUZ 5.6
Paul Molitor 5.2
Chili Davis 5.2
Jim Thome 4.5
David Ortiz 2.6
Jim Dwyer 0.9
Dave Winfield 0.3
If I keep going, Twins fans are going to start crying.
- Tony Wolfe at Fangraphs wrote about James Karinchak, the strikeout machine in Cleveland.
- Jay Jaffe at Fangraphs broke down the Battle of the Seagers.
- Stephen Strasburg is likely done for the season and may require surgery for carpal tunnel syndrome.
- It took a long time but the Tigers finally got a win over Cleveland, snapping a 20-game losing streak to the Indians.