Cleveland Sports Forum

The Windup: A look at Myles Straw, MLB’s stolen base leader, and more trends CLEVELAND, OH - APRIL 08: Cleveland Guardians center fielder Myles Straw (7), at second base after sealing the base during the seventh inning of the the Major League Baseball game between the Seattle Mariners and Cleveland Guardinas on April 8, 2023, at Progressive Field in Cleveland, OH. (Photo by Frank Jansky/Icon Sportswire) (Icon Sportswire via AP Images)
By Levi Weaver and Ken Rosenthal
Apr 11, 2023


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It’s time to talk about speed! With stolen bases on the rise this year, we look at the league leader, a new leadoff strategy, some trends that might stick, and wow it did not take long before we had to apologize for a curse. I’m Levi Weaver, here with Ken Rosenthal — welcome to The Windup!
Kick my shoes off and run

The Guardians stole four bases Monday, which is noteworthy, but the interesting part? They did so without Myles Straw stealing one. Straw currently leads the big leagues with six steals in 10 games. That’s a little over a 97-steal pace for the Guardians’ center fielder. Let’s dig into that a little bit …

• Before this year, Straw had a total of 67 steals in 408 games over five years with the Astros and Guardians, with a career high of 30 back in 2021. It seems likely he’ll surpass that number this year.

• Helping his case in 2023: a whopping .489 on-base percentage. His career OBP before this season was a more-reasonable .322.

• OK fine, so he’s not going to steal 100 bases. But if he (or someone else — stolen bases are way up around the league, thanks to the new throw-over restrictions) can eclipse 50, he’ll be the first to do that since Dee Strange-Gordon stole 60 in 2017. The last to do it in the AL? Straw’s former Astros teammate Jose Altuve, who stole 56 in 2014.

• The last person to steal more than 90 bases in a season? C’mon, you know who it was: Rickey Henderson, who swiped 93 in 1988.

• And if someone goes nuts and hits triple-digits, they’ll be the first since Vince Coleman, who stole 109 in 1987, his third year in a row with over 100 steals.

• It uh, probably won’t be anyone from the Angels.

While we’re on the topic, here’s Ken …
Ken’s Corner: The story behind the story

I wrote a story today on a base-stealing technique that dates back more than 50 years, but only now is gaining wider acceptance in Major League Baseball. The Yankees are at the forefront of this particular movement, one I was completely unaware of until hearing from Mike Roberts, one of the central figures in the piece.

I’ve known Mike for many years, and in 2016 wrote for Fox Sports about how the Cubs supported him after he lost his wife of nearly 46 years, Nancy.

We’ve remained in touch, and shortly after the season started he sent me a text telling me about the technique, saying it “may dominate MLB in 2023.” He added, “Would love to discuss.”

To be honest, I was a bit skeptical. People who pitch me stories often have agendas. Mike, though, is someone I trust, a great baseball soul. I started checking with others on what he was talking about, and immediately grew intrigued. One contact led to another. I wound up talking to more than a dozen people for the story.

It was fun to work on. I hope people find it interesting to read. Thanks, Mike!
Some things last a long time

Yesterday, we told you about a few early-season surprises, and inadvertently set ourselves up to be accused of The Curse of The Windup. Pittsburgh and Houston, appointment television? The Astros smoked the Pirates, 8-2. Adam Duvall, unlikely league leader? Uhhh … sorry about your wrist, Adam, get well soon. At least the Rays were exempt: They won 1-0 to improve to 10-0 for the season.

Today’s All-30 eschews the surprises and focuses on more sustainable trends that our MLB writers think might last all season long. Here are a few highlights:

• The Rangers’ K/BB rate is 3.61, ranking them sixth in baseball after finishing 23rd in the sport last year. Signing three starting pitchers with absurd K/BB rates will do that, and Andrew Heaney illustrated the point marvelously last night when he tied an AL record by striking out nine Royals in a row, finishing with 10 Ks and two walks as the Rangers cruised to an 11-2 win.

• More steals: The Diamondbacks have a 94 percent success rate on stolen bases. They’re not leading the league on total steals — that would be Straw’s Guardians at 19 — but they’re in second, at 17. Having Corbin Carroll (100th percentile in sprint speed at 30.3 ft/sec.) certainly helps, but the whole team is built for speed.

• So, too, are the Orioles, with 16. They have two players — Cedric Mullins and Jorge Mateo — who are just one steal behind Straw, with five each.

• Two New York starters make the list, with both Gerrit Cole (Yankees) and Kodai Senga (Mets) jumping out to hot starts this year. Senga, who led the Japanese NBP last year in strikeout rate, has struck out 14 hitters in 11 1/3 innings thus far. Meanwhile, Cole has an 0.73 ERA (one run in 12 1/3 innings) with 19 strikeouts.
All the wrongs done to bodies

I know, I know. You thought we were all done talking about Carlos Correa’s health. But given the chaotic failed-physicals drama this offseason, even a minor injury is going to be noteworthy.

At least it’s not the ankle, right? This time it’s his back, something he’s dealt with when he was with the Astros. Here’s the explanation from Dan Hayes:

Correa initially felt the spasm when he was thrown out at home trying to score in the second inning of Saturday’s game. On the play, Correa, in order to avoid a collision with the catcher, awkwardly stopped running and moved to the side of the tag before resuming running.

Correa himself doesn’t seem too concerned, saying he “should be good in a couple of days,” so maybe it’s nothing. The Twins are currently 6-4 after a loss to the White Sox on Monday, which puts them just a half-game behind Cleveland in the division. Their starting pitching has been lights out, but a healthy Correa is a necessity if they want to compete with the Guardians all year.

For that matter, in the AL Central, the White Sox could also use a little more luck in the injuries category.
Baseball Card of the Week

What, like we were going to talk this much about stolen bases and not mention Lou Brock? When he retired after the 1979 season, he held the MLB records for single-season steals (118 in 1974) and in a career (938). Both were subsequently broken by Henderson, who swiped 130 bags in 1982 and passed Brock with his 939th steal in 1991 en route to 1,406.

That 118-steal season by Brock was in 1974, so this is the first card that was printed after he accomplished the feat, even though steals aren’t listed here — well, at least not on the right-side-up portion of the card.
Handshakes and High Fives

Yep, it’s Power Rankings time. Surely nobody can top the Rays, right? Well, yes and no.

Jordan Walker has started his big-league career with a 10-game hitting streak. He’s on the Cardinals, and somehow not the Rays.

Sorry, Giants fans: The Dodgers have a left-hander that seems to really enjoy beating your team. No, another one.

It’s time for Maria Torres’ college baseball week in review.

Is it time to be concerned about Max Scherzer? Ken digs in to a few notable reasons why the answer might be yes.

Podcast corner: Terry Francona joined the Starkville podcast, and was as entertaining as usual. You can listen on Apple, Spotify, or in The Athletic app.

Baseball America first weekly HOT SHEET

2. Nolan Jones, OF/3B, Rockies
Team: Triple-A Albuquerque (Pacific Coast)
Age: 24

Why He’s Here: .353/.476/.941 (12-for-34) 11 R, 2 2B, 6 HR, 13 RBIs, 7 BB, 9 SO.

The Scoop: Picking up Jones last offseason when the Guardians needed to clear 40-man roster space is exactly the kind of move the Rockies should be making. Jones has been a Top 100 prospect in the past, and at his best he’s shown he can hit for average and hit 15-20 home runs as well. He’s currently second in the minors with six home runs, and overall he still looks like a solid hitter with decent pop. Jones is unlikely to turn into a star, but the Rockies could use a hitter who can play four spots (left and right field, first and third base) and has a plus-plus arm. (JC)

Kluber may be a the end of the line.
Carrasco perhaps so too, but since he's come back from a month on the IL for the Mets he's improved his ERA from 8.56 to 5.71. Lucky to allow only 2 in 4 2/3 today on a yield of 6 hits and 3 walks.
Clevinger IL visit was only 2 weeks. He's looking OK with a 4.19 ERA and 1.38 WHIP. But I' d rather have Josh Naylor, Quantrill, Arias, [2 years of Hedges], Owen Miller for while [who has an OPS over 800 for the Brewers] and AAA prospect Joey Cantillo Or almost any of one of them.
Bauer seems to be on 2 Yokohama teams; overall Japanese ERA is 3.72 with 11 homers in 67 innings.

Frankie Lindor is currently hitting cleanup for the Mets and has 43 RBI but his average is a terrible 216 and OPS 713.
Shades of Pat Tabler he's 4-t with the bases loaded; 2 doubles a grand slam and 12 RBI
while the bases empty he's hit 183
his strikeout ratio has been growing since he joined the Mets; this year he has 64 K in 66 games

Now that I live half the year in Phoenix, this has become my other "favorite" team. Now I have a home team and a favorite team. Anyways, this team is very much like the Guardees with the team speed aspect. And former Cleveland front office guy Mike Hazen as their GM. Zac Gallen, their ace, is much like Bieber. A pitcher, not a thrower. Oh and they are Corbin Carroll and a bunch of role guys - just as we are Jose Ramirez and a bunch of role guys.

The Diamondbacks lost 110 games two years ago. Now they lead the NL West. How? PHOENIX, ARIZONA - JUNE 12: Evan Longoria #3 of the Arizona Diamondbacks celebrates his three-run home run with Ketel Marte #4 against the Philadelphia Phillies in the sixth inning at Chase Field on June 12, 2023 in Phoenix, Arizona. (Photo by Norm Hall/Getty Images)
By Cody Stavenhagen
3h ago

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It was the summer of 2021, and the Arizona Diamondbacks were losing. And losing. And losing some more.

“We were getting gutted every single night,” manager Torey Lovullo said. “It was like a hot knife getting driven into your belly after some of these games.”

On the bad nights, Lovullo reached for a pen. He attempted to conjure his feelings and put them to paper. He wrote down the words that floated in his head. As a sort of personal exercise, he intended to look back on all this at year’s end. His writings eventually became a sort of word collage. Embarrassing, he wrote after one particularly awful game.

The losses ate at him, so on his 25-minute drives home from Chase Field, he would crank up Led Zeppelin or Supertramp. He tried to escape the ruminations of that night’s game. He wanted to clear his mind and rest, to be able to attack the next day with a renewed sense of purpose.

His word collages morphed along that same route. He started with the agonies of losing. Unacceptable. And then he would work his way through the frustration, back to the surface. He kept returning to the things that drove him to this point in his career, emotional tentpoles. He wrote those words down, too.

“It came from a deep-rooted emotion,” Lovullo said, “almost like Jim Morrison writing one of his favorite Doors songs.”

On some nights, he studied his scribbles. As a UCLA alumnus who has long kept John Wooden’s Pyramid of Success framed above his desk, an epiphany eventually came.

“As I was writing these words I started to have this little pyramid,” Lovullo said. The priorities, however, were in the wrong place. His thoughts were starting with failure, then funneling down to purpose. Instead, he needed to start with his core motivations and build up from there.

“It was an upside-down pyramid,” Lovullo said. “I needed to turn it around.”

So at year’s end, he took his paper to Ken Crenshaw, the Diamondbacks director of sports medicine and performance.

What do you make of those words? What could we do with this?

Crenshaw looked at the paper and looked back at Lovullo. Let me spend some time with this.

Crenshaw returned with the Diamondbacks’ own Woodenesque creed, a motivational tool shaped like a baseball diamond. Lovullo’s most important tenants run through the middle: Love, trust, faith, commitment.

Those words shaped the way Lovullo communicates with his players and staff. They have become the values that define the Diamondbacks, a club that lost 110 games only two seasons ago but now leads the National League West.

What a flip it has become.

“We often talked about what it would look like when we came out on the other side,” Lovullo said, “and I think that’s what got us through some of those dark days.”

Welcome to the light.

Friday night against the Detroit Tigers, Corbin Carroll smacked a first-inning line drive over the right-field fence. In the seventh inning, he fouled off two tough pitches, stayed on the fastball and sent an outside pitch flying over the left-field fence. It was his first career grand slam.

“We were waiting for him to hit one to center in his last at-bat, because he hit one to right, then left,” outfielder Jake McCarthy said.

Watch Carroll — the 5-foot-10 frame, the bat he drops down over his shoulders, dangles near his back, then whips through the zone — and you are looking at one of the best young players in the sport. He is programmed like a machine — all baseball, all the time — but plays with an artist’s flair.

Carroll is the league’s leader in WAR, the 22-year-old main attraction on a club suddenly playing like a well-oiled machine. He was the No. 16 pick in 2019 and has blossomed into a megaprospect, so far meeting the highest of expectations while hitting .311 with 14 home runs and 19 stolen bases. Older teammates marvel at the ease and focus with which he carries himself. Lovullo, a former bench coach with the Red Sox, compared him to Mookie Betts.

Because every building block matters, Lovullo has spent the past few years fostering relationships with Carroll and other young players well before they ever reached the major leagues.
Torey Lovullo. (Matt Kartozian / USA Today)

“Years ago, the first time I met Sparky Anderson was when I went to his office when I was called up,” Lovullo said. “That just doesn’t happen anymore. I know every one of these players that have come through here. I’ve been texting them since they were in A-ball.”

Sunday in a comeback victory against the Tigers, Carroll smacked a single, a double, a triple and also hit a ball to deep center that would have been a home run in 19 MLB parks. In the postgame handshake line, starting pitcher Zac Gallen said he joked, for what seems like the millionth time, “I wonder who the player of the game was?”

In March, the Diamondbacks awarded Carroll with an eight-year, $111 million contract, despite the fact he still has less than one full year of MLB service time.

“Everybody probably had some questions as far as, ‘Was the extension worth it?’ and all the noise that comes along with signing that big of an extension,” pitcher Merrill Kelly said. “I think he’s proven to everybody that he’s worth every penny.”

Carroll is electrifying, yes. But he is far from the lone reason for the Diamondbacks’ success.

“I think it starts with our leadership, in terms of players and coaches,” Carroll said. “We’ve got a great group of veterans. They’ve kind of seen it all. Played some important baseball. They know when the right moment is to say something and when, in other cases, it’s just baseball.”

Their current roster is a masterful mix-and-match. There is the powerful prospect in Carroll, the underrated veteran in Christian Walker and the supposed defense-first shortstop in Geraldo Perdomo, who is now hitting balls that keep finding grass. There are also unknowns such as infielder Emmanuel Rivera, who has surpassed everyone’s expectations and is now hitting .333.

“We’re very diverse, and we can do it with a lot of different players,” Lovullo said. “You look up there and you have a lot of different players with an over .800 OPS, and that’s not by accident. They’re just good players, and they’re growing and learning and accepting the coaching every single day.”

The Diamondbacks lost notable names such as Paul Goldschmidt, Zack Greinke and Patrick Corbin in the late 2010s. But under general manager Mike Hazen, they steadfastly rejected the idea of a full-scale rebuild. This is what makes them such an interesting case study in contrast to the rest of the league.

“If you say you’re not rebuilding after you lose 110 games, it looks very suspicious, you know what I mean?” Lovullo said. “But I feel like they always had a master plan in place.”

Although they have suffered three consecutive losing seasons, the Diamondbacks never stripped things down to the floorboards. They invested in young talent without pawning off good players like Ketel Marte, the type of leadership now central in this club.

“There were some years where teams punted,” shortstop Nick Ahmed said. “It’s no secret that teams were not really putting their best foot forward and not really trying to go out and win each and every game that they could. … It unfortunately worked. Teams like the Astros and Cubs rebuilt and won the World Series. I’m very thankful that Mike Hazen and his group didn’t do that here.”

Coming off a 74-win season in 2022, Arizona’s front office remained aggressive. This past spring, the Diamondbacks traded one of their best young players in center fielder Daulton Varsho. It was a bold move, but in return, Arizona received young catcher Gabriel Moreno and the hard-hitting Lourdes Gurriel Jr. Although they parted with one good piece, they got two in return in a deal that has so far benefitted both clubs.

Gurriel is hitting .290 with 10 home runs, a powerful force in the middle of the order. Moreno’s rapid development has been another story entirely. In March at Camelback Ranch, catcher Carson Kelly fractured his right forearm. There was immediate concern.

“I felt like we were going to give a lot of responsibilities to a very young catcher, and we felt like we were gonna have some growing pains,” Lovullo said.

But in Kelly’s absence, Moreno has asserted himself as a cornerstone catcher. He is hitting .279 and making stellar grades for his blocking and throwing.

“He has exceeded our expectations in a lot of different areas because he accepts coaching and is willing to learn every single day,” Lovullo said. “Without him, I don’t know where we’d be.”

Kelly was activated from the injured list Monday, giving Arizona a dynamic catching duo.

They say good teams are built up the middle. And in Lovullo’s Pyramid of Success, you may remember, that’s where the strength also lies.

At his locker this past weekend, Evan Longoria deadpanned when a reporter asked what was working for his team.

“We’re good,” he said, laughing.

Longoria might have known this well before most. He sensed something brewing after spending the last five years playing with the Giants in the NL West.

Now in the latter days of his career, he was interested in playing for the Diamondbacks for two reasons: He lives in nearby Scottsdale, and he also saw Arizona as a place where he could win.

“Going into the tail end of my career, the only thing I’ve wanted to do was win,” Longoria said. “I didn’t want to go into a situation where I knew that wasn’t a possibility. I saw the talent that was coming in this organization, so that was the icing on the cake for me.”

Longoria’s mere presence shows how the secrets to the Diamondbacks’ success go beyond sheer talent. A former All-Star, Longoria now plays sparingly. Ahmed, a two-time Gold Glover at shortstop who is in his 10th season with the Diamondbacks, has also seen his playing time lessen. Yet these two players are integral parts of a club that seems to have set egos to the side.

“I feel like right now the vibe is just a bunch of role players,” said Walker, the first baseman who hit 36 home runs last season. “We’ve got guys who aren’t trying to be somebody they’re not.”

There are 11 players from the 2021 team still on this club. Ahmed remembers those long nights of that summer all too well. Talking about it in front of his locker, he inhaled. He exhaled. “That was a hard year,” he said.

Players found some motivation, perhaps, in understanding their front office was not conceding entire seasons even when things reached a low point.

“As a player, you don’t really want to (rebuild) either,” Walker said. “That’s a long time of some funny headspace years. I think honestly it’s impressive that we didn’t have to go to a five-to-seven-year rebuild. Even when it was lean, I think we always felt like we were a couple pieces away.”

Those experiences have shaped everything that’s happening now, though Arizona’s road this season has not been without mistakes or tension. In April, the Diamondbacks released veteran starter Madison Bumgarner after he posted a 10.26 ERA through four starts. It was no secret Bumgarner and the coaching staff had disagreements as Bumgarner struggled to cope with his diminished stuff. The Diamondbacks ultimately cut bait in what became a public divorce. They owe him the $34 million he was due to make on the remainder of his contract.

Their largest free-agent deal proved to be a mistake. But that serves as more of a testament to how the Diamondbacks have built this organization. Their $116 million Opening Day payroll was the lowest in the NL West, more than $100 million less than both the Dodgers and Padres.

Arizona, though, leads the division by 3 games. In shortstop Jordan Lawlar and outfielder Druw Jones, the Diamondbacks also have two top-15 prospects still rising up the system.

Before the season, veteran pitching coach Brent Strom was well aware of the schedule. Forgive him if he might have bristled.

“We had the Dodgers and the Padres early,” Strom said. “I was not sure if we were ready.”

The Diamondbacks opened with four games against the big-market Dodgers, then two against the big-spending Padres and four more against the Dodgers. Rather than falter, the Diamondbacks went 6-4.

“We held our own against them,” Strom said. “I think that was a big boost, to be able to compete with the best in the West.”

The Diamondbacks have gotten a wide array of contributions from their position players and formed a fearsome offense. But their pitching is an interesting component, too. This rotation is anchored by starters Zac Gallen and Merrill Kelly. For much of this season, they have also relied on three rookie starters in Brandon Pfaadt, Ryne Nelson and Tommy Henry.

They are all guided by Strom, the 74-year-old sage who has spent decades ahead of the times. Two years ago, he left the Houston Astros, thinking it was time to retire. Then Lovullo called and convinced him to forgo a waterfront condo and a cozy retirement in Mexico. At the time Strom took over the staff, the Diamondbacks, per one account, threw the lowest percentage of elevated four-seam fastballs in baseball.

Strom was a pioneer in viewing the strike zone as a vertical attack ground rather than a horizontal landing strip.

“The stuff I was teaching years back got me fired,” Strom said. “Now it’s the norm.”

The game has finally caught up to his teachings, but Strom has never slowed down.

“On numerous occasions I’ve heard he’s up at 3 in the morning, sending emails to whoever, trying to find ways to get one guy better,” Gallen said.

Arizona ranked 19th overall in ERA entering Wednesday, so there is room to improve the pitching at the trade deadline. But Gallen and Kelly have become formidable starters, and even as Bumgarner faltered and rookie pitchers stepped in, internal confidence in the staff has remained high.

“I think a lot of guys were like, ‘All right, we know what we have in here,’” Gallen said. “We know we have talent. It’s all coming to fruition. To be honest with you, I don’t think anybody in this room is really surprised with how well we’re playing.”

In Gallen’s view, the Diamondbacks faced their second major test in early June when they played the Braves in a three-game series. Arizona lost the series 2-1, dropping the final game on a two-out grand slam in the ninth. Gallen, though, saw the series as further validation his team could hang with the best.

Arizona then went on the road against Washington and Detroit, and the Diamondbacks won five straight.

“I’m not going to speak on other clubhouses, but maybe in years past it could be like, ‘Ah, we don’t have enough,'” Gallen said. “As opposed to now it’s like, ‘No, we have enough.’”

On June 4, the Diamondbacks held a press conference to announce Lovullo was receiving a contract extension through 2024. That day, the manager again talked of the hard times two seasons ago.

“It was real dark,” he said. “And I never imagined sitting here saying that I was going to be guaranteed another couple of years, you know? Two years ago, I didn’t know where I was. I was lost emotionally, but I couldn’t show that because I had a team to be in charge of.”

And that leads us back to the central question: After losing 110 games two years ago, how are the Diamondbacks doing this? How do you build something out of nothing?

In the clubhouse, players have listed many reasons for the team’s success. The lack of egos, the depth of the lineup, the contributions from young pitching, the dynamic play of Carroll.

The Diamondbacks ended last weekend ranking fourth in defensive runs saved and fifth in FanGraphs’ base running metric, indications of the small things they do well.

Players have also alluded to Lovullo’s pillars, all that faith and love and trust.

“It’s a very confident, trusting relationship,” Walker said. “He makes it clear to us that he trusts us on how we prepare every day. We know (the coaches) are doing the same things.”

Said Ahmed: “It’s kind of taboo in sports to talk like that, to talk about love. But every good team has it, even if they don’t talk about it.”

Lovullo, like any manager, gives the credit to his players. The Diamondbacks have many of the right building blocks. Now they’re starting to put them all together.

Impossibilities
Is Shohei … getting better?

This morning, The Athletic’s MLB staff published its annual Player Poll, a yearly ritual that yields piercing insights into the state of the game and some salacious details you’d never get in a regular interview. A win-win for all of us.

The focus of this year’s edition is, to no one’s surprise, Shohei Ohtani. Two takeaways:

If players were building a team, most would start with Ohtani. Duh.
A majority of players think he’ll be a Dodger soon.

Back to the poll in a second. Have you seen how good Ohtani has been this year? Here are the stats he leads the Angels in:

Runs
Hits
Triples
Home runs
RBI
OPS*
Batting average*
Wins
Strikeouts (as a pitcher)
WAR

*among qualified batters

He leads all those categories even though the Angels are currently good. This isn’t a star soaking up every stat lead on a bad team. Mike Trout is still here mashing, too. The Angels are 41-33, which could improve their chances of keeping Ohtani around. Maybe.

Our eyes sometimes glaze over these things, but we shouldn’t lose sight of what we’re witnessing. There has never been a player like him, and we probably won’t see someone like him for decades to come, if not more.

The most shocking part, considering the guy has an MVP award and a second-place finish in the last two years: He’s somehow better than before, especially at the plate. Look at the progression:

2021: .257 average, 46 HR, .965 OPS
2022: .273 average, 34 HR, .875 OPS
2023 pace: .300 average, 52 HR, 1.015 OPS

a highly usual development

Clevinger exited a game last Wednesday with right biceps soreness and later was placed on the injured list.

Elly De La Cruz is the hottest player in the MLB right now, and the Cincinnati Reds rookie showed exactly why on Friday as he made MLB history in front of the home fans in Ohio.

Against the Atlanta Braves, De La Cruz became the first player ever in the World Series era (since 1903) to record at least 20 hits, five stolen bases and three home runs in a player's first 15 career games, per ESPN Stats & Info. He entered the contest with 18 hits, six stolen bases and two homers, though it didn't take long for him to breach the 20-hit and three-HR mark during Friday's meeting.

De La Cruz has been sensational for the Reds, and he's a big reason why Cincinnati has established itself as a favorite to come out on top of the NL Central.

Even Joey Votto had nothing but immense praises for Elly De La Cruz when the Reds' veteran slugger talked about the rookie and his incredible run recently, sharing that the 21-year-old is unlike any player he has ever seen before.

“He's the best runner I've ever seen, and he has the most power I've ever seen. And he has the strongest arm I've ever seen. He has a chance to be something spectacular…I can not wait to see him in a Home Run Derby,” Votto said as he gushed about the Reds rookie.

The crazy stat line wasn't the only record De La Cruz made against the Braves. He also hit the Reds' first cycle since 1989, joining Cliff Heathcote and Gary Ward as the only players in AL and NL history to have a cycle within their first 15 career games.

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Reds are getting nice work from Will Benson, too. I would have been happy to keep him at least long enough for a second major league trial. He has always played better his second season at each new level.

It's impressive how team that is always short of OFs is able to feed them to other teams.
Anthony Santander left for the Rule 5 draft was long the prime example.

last winter the power starved Gs decided to give up on two past top round draft picks moments after their big leagues debuts

Will Benson is hitting 288 with an 842 for the Red Hot Reds
Nolan Jones is hitting 301 with an 896 OPS for the Rockies

I see the Rockies released Logan Allen Sr. who never pitched in the majors for them, just the minors.

For young MLB hitters learning strike zone, could best teacher be roboumps?
The Athletic MLB Staff
Jul 24, 2023

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By C. Trent Rosecrans, Cody Stavenhagen and Andy McCullough

In his 31 seasons as a minor-league manager, Pat Kelly has seen plenty of free swingers. But in that time only one of them, Vladimir Guerrero Sr., found success while frequently chasing pitches out of the zone. The laws of probability suggested that prospect Christian Encarnacion-Strand would not be the second.

Kelly, manager of the Reds’ top farm team, watched Encarnacion-Strand dominate Triple-A pitching. He also watched as other Reds prospects like Elly De La Cruz and Matt McLain earned promotions to the big leagues. Despite having a similar average to McLain and more homers than De La Cruz at the time of their promotions, Encarnacion-Strand’s 49.5 percent chase rate early in the season kept him in Louisville.

In Cincinnati, where a roster of young players who spent the early months of the season in the minors has powered a surprising postseason chase for a once-dormant franchise, the Reds are among the teams that have benefited from what some executives and coaches across the sport are touting as baseball’s latest developmental tool: Robot umpires. So Encarnacion-Strand spent extra time facing lesser competition in at-bats judged by automated arbiters. That additional seasoning, Reds officials insist, aided him before he earned a promotion last week.

“It’s helping them learn the strike zone, helping them learn what a strike is, what a ball is, and I think that it’s been good for all of our hitters,” Reds general manager Nick Krall said. “You look at our hitters in Triple A and what they’ve been able to do the first three days, second three days, how they’ve improved from year to year. I think it’s been really good for them.”

In the days before automated ball-strike, hitters moving from the top tier of the minors to the major leagues griped about the inconsistency of the strike zone. The complaints made intuitive sense. Minor-league umpires were themselves honing their understanding of the zone in hopes of graduating to the big leagues. But that process didn’t do the hitters many favors. Enter the roboumps, which have taken some of the guesswork out of the adjustment to the big-league zone.

The consequence, according to some players, managers, coaches and development personnel around the league, is that younger hitters are gaining a grasp of the strike zone a bit faster. And no teams in the sport seem to exemplify that trend better than clubs such as the Reds and Diamondbacks, the latter another example of a contending team with plenty of young hitters.

Diamondbacks hitting coach Joe Mather noted that in some instances, exposure to the consistency of robot umpires has helped in cases where young hitters lose their feel for the strike zone and recognize that they must find it again.

“Even though the stuff is probably a little bit better from pitchers, a little more late movement, stuff like that, it’s at least every other guy that comes up (and) says it’s benefited them to see it, feel it, and go from there,” Mather said.

Mets third baseman Brett Baty, who experienced the ABS in Triple A before returning to the majors earlier this year, said he has been helped by that level of standardization. He said the reason has been simple: A hitter can learn to make better decisions when there’s a clear understanding of the zone.

“Sometimes you don’t know what the zone is,” Baty said of human umpires. “Sometimes it might be two balls below, sometimes it might be two balls above. But when it’s electronic, there’s no guessing. It’s either a strike or it isn’t. I just like that aspect of it. You really know what the zone is, and you’re not trying to guess what it is.”
Brett Baty of the Mets. (Jim McIsaac / Getty Images)

The Pacific Coast League first tested ABS in 2022, when Diamondbacks rookie Dominic Canzone finished with roughly three times as many strikeouts (78) as walks (28). But by 2023, when the system was adopted by both Triple-A leagues, things were different. When Canzone was called up from Triple A earlier this month, he had just one more strikeout (40) than walks (39). He gave some of the credit to the roboumps.

“It took a while,“ Canzone said, “because I was a guy that did chase a lot and did not have a great idea of the zone.”

Not everyone is a believer in the power of the automated strike zone. During a recent trip to the Great American Ball Park, the fellow Diamondbacks rookie occupying the locker next to Canzone’s expressed outright skepticism.

“I’m not getting any help, I don’t think,” said Alek Thomas, who played with ABS in Triple A each of the last two seasons.

But the idea that automation makes it easier to learn the strike zone has its defenders such as Tigers prospect Parker Meadows, who has worked for years in the minors to cut down on strikeouts and chases. It is likely the final step in his development before he graduates to the big leagues from Triple A, where he said pitchers “like to pick at the zone and try to get chases, especially just off the plate.” Nevertheless, his 10.8 percent walk rate this season is the best of his minor-league career, and part of the reason may be the roboumps.

“I feel like it helps you lock in a little better when you know exactly what the strike zone is,” Meadows said. “So when it comes to that, it’s helpful.”

Where it’s most helpful may not be the space that defines the actual strike zone — but rather the space between the hitter’s ears.

At least that’s the belief of former Cubs hitting coach Anthony Iapoce, who is now working with Tigers prospects in his current role as manager at Double-A Toledo. Iapoce noted players have had access to similar technology in the cages for years now thanks to companies like Rapsodo and HitTrax. Those can be tools for more targeted training and theoretically allow players to look at pitch location after the fact. As far as robot umpires as a developmental tool, Iapoce thinks a large part of its appeal is strictly psychological.

A defined strike zone — assuming ABS is actually the same park to park — gives players one less thing to worry about.

“I think the part that we don’t talk about is guys come back to the dugout and there’s less complaining on these nights,” Iapoce said. “There’s less stress on the players. There’s no yelling at the umpire. They move on quicker, which is what you want them to do. The best players don’t always have the best swing or the most athletic bodies. They’re able to flush stuff and move on faster. The ABS I think helps the hitters do that.”

One day last week Royals hitting coach Alec Zumwalt scanned his lineup as players stretched in the grass before a game at Yankee Stadium. Kansas City has one of the youngest rosters in baseball. Zumwalt pointed out all the hitters who had spent time with the electronic system at Triple-A in 2023: Maikel Garcia, Nick Pratto, Michael Massey and Drew Waters, among others.

“They feel validation that they know the zone,” Zumwalt said. “I like to think that our hitters have a pretty good grasp of the zone. But when they’re down there, they know exactly what the boundaries are.”

When Zumwalt overhauled Kansas City’s minor-league hitting development program in 2019, he emphasized drills to learn the contours of the zone, in part because he felt amateur prospects on the showcase circuit weren’t incentivized to do so.

“We talk about all the mechanics and all the electronics and all of the new technology — but guys don’t know the strike zone,” Zumwalt said. “How do you teach the strike zone?”

The electronic zone aids that process.

“Our guys, they feel more confident,” Zumwalt said. “They’re like, ‘I know that’s a strike.’”
Will Benson. (Dylan Buell / Getty Images)

Reds outfielder Will Benson has always had a pretty good idea of what was a strike and a ball. Still, he wasn’t exempt from enduring struggles, which he navigated with the help of the automated zone.

Last season, before the advent of ABS all throughout Triple A, Benson ranked second in the International League with an 18.7 percent walk rate among hitters with at least 400 plate appearances while playing in Cleveland’s organization. After an offseason trade sent him to the Reds, Benson made the big league team out of spring training, though he struggled and was sent down with just one hit and one walk in 21 plate appearances.

During a stay in Triple A, Benson focused not on what was a strike, but what was his strike.

“I was really able to hunt the middle of the zone just because I knew I didn’t have to worry about the B.S. on the corners,” said Benson, who has a 1.075 OPS and a 16.7 percent walk rate since his return to the big leagues, both by far the best marks on the team over that span. “So it just kind of helped me hone in on the middle of the plate.”

In the case of Encarnacion-Strand, his extra time with the roboumps might have expedited his own eventual arrival in Cincinnati. In his last 23 games at Triple-A Louisville, he had 23 strikeouts but 12 walks in 107 plate appearances. He cut his chase rate to 38.5 percent. As he sat at a podium to address the media before his major league debut last week, he tied his improvement to the automated strike zone.

“I think it’s good timing,” Encarnacion-Strand said of his callup. “I got enough time down there with that ABS to learn the strike zone, to learn my strengths, my weaknesses.”

Benson was always very good at not swinging at pitches outside the zone and drew walks. And hit homers. And ran well. And played good defense.
He struck out too much and didn't hit for a good average most times and places and apparently Cleveland had no idea that he could improve. Terrible decision again on a position player

Do not see it as a terrible decision. Benson was terrible in AAA this season. Let's see what happens.

Benson should have been given more time to prove himself in the majors; they pulled the trigger too soon. Not sure his success will continue but he has a history of doing better as each new level he reaches in his 2nd year there. For a team short of outfielders I didn't see the logic of dumping hm already.
We got a very young OF who is hitting below 200 and now hurt; and a 2nd round starter who was hurt and now doing OK in Class A. We;ll see.

the potential disaster is Cimenero for Myers.