The Pirates are making their move.
Good morning fellow Mariners fans! Let’s explore the happenings from around the league.
In Mariners news…
- You have to wonder if this partially sparked Julio’s strong showing at the plate yesterday.
Julio Rodriguez and Carlos Santana are having a lengthy conversation on the field. Carlos is doing most of the talking. Never a bad thing.
— Ryan Divish (@RyanDivish) May 8, 2024
- Cal Raleigh is on a tear.
Dorktown: Cal Raleigh! pic.twitter.com/P5pNgQMtEZ
— Secret Base (@secretbase) May 8, 2024
Around the league…
- Ippei Mizuhara — Shohei Ohtani’s former interpreter — plans to plead guilty to accusations of tax fraud.
- It’s finally happening: The Pittsburgh Pirates are calling up top pitching prospect Paul Skenes to make his MLB debut this weekend.
- Dan Szymborski at Fangraphs dives into what has gone wrong for young outfielder Wyatt Langford in his first several weeks with the Rangers.
- Meanwhile, Jay Jaffe at Fangraphs digs into the early-season struggles for last year’s National League MVP, Ronald Acuña, Jr.
- The 44-year-old Rich Hill, who is still a free agent, is holding out hope that he can sign a big league deal with a team sometime this season.
- FoI all of you statheads out there, a new dimension is being added to Baseball Savant.
Blasts ✴️ Swords ⚔️
Measuring each player’s average bat speed, squared-up rate, and much more!
Bat Tracking comes to Baseball Savant on May 13. pic.twitter.com/8h4uJiUeyT
— MLB Stats (@MLBStats) May 8, 2024
- Enjoy some wonderful baseball history from our good friend Amanda Lane Cumming who wrote about the Colorado Silver Bullets, which was of course the all-women’s squad Angie Mentink played for.
Anders’ picks…
- This has long been one of my favorite videos on the internet, but now learning the lore of it all — that he was trying to roast a kid — makes it all the better.
Pete Weber was not trying to go viral when he won the 2012 PBA U.S. Open. All he wanted to do was to show up a 12-to-14 year old who jeered against him “a little too loudly” for his liking.
When he put up a strike on his final shot, he meant to tell the fan “Who do you think you… pic.twitter.com/QJY0iL8TBG
— Fascinating (@fasc1nate) May 7, 2024