The Purple Sox have query marks in heart discipline and at shortstop, and Ceddanne Rafaela might finally be the reply at both place. Or each. Certainly one of Boston’s high prospects, the 22-year-old native of Curaçao profiles because the group’s finest defender on the grass, and he’s almost as adept on the dust. Furthermore, he can swing the bat. Taking part in at Excessive-A Greenville and Double-A Portland, Rafaela put up a 134 wRC+ whereas logging 32 doubles, 10 triples, and 21 dwelling runs.
How quickly he’s deemed big-league-ready is a query that looms each bit as giant as that of his main place going ahead. Rafaela is coming off of a season the place he performed 92 video games in heart, versus simply 21 at quick, however alternative is knocking far louder on the latter. With Xander Bogaerts leaving for San Diego and Trevor Story going underneath the knife, Boston has an enormous void to fill. Enrique Hernández might match the invoice, however he’s higher fitted to second base or heart discipline.
What does the unhealthy information the Purple Sox acquired on Story earlier this week imply for Rafaela’s near-term future? I requested that query to Chaim Bloom.
“I believe we might ill-served by sidetracking correct growth for him in response to this,” Boston’s Chief Baseball Officer replied. “He’s a extremely thrilling participant, and we’re excited for him to affect us, however there may be nonetheless growth left.”
Following up, I requested the under-fire government if the plan is for Rafaela to proceed to play each positions.
“I don’t assume we’ll change something together with his growth,” replied Bloom. “He’s excellent in heart; he took to that place properly. A few of our employees inform me this man is likely to be each the most effective defensive centerfielder and the most effective defensive infielder within the group. Opinions will range relying on who you ask, however we now have individuals who consider that.”
Rafaela’s introduction to the outfield got here in 2021, the identical yr Boston drafted highschool shortstop Marcelo Mayer fourth total. Signed in 2017, Rafaela debuted the next yr and performed 44 video games at third base, and one other 11 at shortstop, as a 17-year-old within the Dominican Summer time League. When he got here stateside the next yr, he added second base to the combination and performed an analogous variety of video games at every of these three infield positions. In keeping with Ben Crockett — on the time Boston’s farm director, and now their Senior Vice President, Baseball Operations — the group needed to benefit from the teen’s athleticism and increase his positional resume.
With Bloom’s “opinions will range” remark in thoughts, I requested Crockett what the outcomes is likely to be if Purple Sox scouts and player-development personnel had been introduced with this ballot: Is heart discipline or shortstop Ceddanne Rafaela’s finest place?
“I’m undecided,” responded Crockett. “I don’t need to communicate for different individuals, as a result of he has the potential to do each, however I do assume that places him in a extremely good place. But when all else was equal, and it wasn’t about becoming in — if it wasn’t a few path to the large leagues — I’d love him in heart. However once more, he might do each, and never only one or the opposite.”
I requested the identical query to Brian Abraham, who now serves because the group’s Director of Participant Improvement.
“I believe you’d get some completely different solutions,” mentioned Abraham. “They’re clearly two premier positions. I might lean centerfielder, however I can promise you that there are individuals in our group who most likely really feel that he’d be a greater shortstop. Clearly, the power to play each is fairly precious.”
As for the chance that Rafaela will affect the Purple Sox roster as quickly as this season — at the very least early within the season — Abraham primarily echoed Bloom.
“You possibly can’t take the offense with out the protection, and you’ll’t take the protection with out the offense,” Abraham advised me. “He’s a plus defender at a number of spots, so I believe when he involves spring coaching, [Alex Cora] gained’t have any downside placing Ceddanne on the market. And hear, he has actually good at-bats on the plate — I don’t assume there’s any doubt that he can face major-league pitching — however doing it persistently is one thing he nonetheless has to work on.”
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RANDOM HITTER-PITCHER MATCHUPS
Al Martin went 1 for 4 in opposition to Luther Hackman.
Junior Felix went 5 for 14 in opposition to Eric King.
Jim Ray Hart went 5 for 16 in opposition to Dick Selma.
Darrin Jackson went 1 for five in opposition to Jeff Montgomery.
Johnny Temple went 2 for 8 in opposition to Marshall Bridges.
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Matt McLain had a considerably sudden first full skilled season in 2022. As Eric Longenhagen defined earlier this week, the No. 7 entry on our Cincinnati Reds High Prospects checklist noticed his profile do a 180, and is now “roughly a slam dunk shortstop with a power-over-hit offensive talent set.” Taking part in at Double-A Chattanooga, McLain left the yard 17 occasions whereas slashing .232/.363/.453.
The infielder whom our lead prospect analyst assigned a forty five FV was glad together with his summer time.
“I discovered quite a bit,” McLain advised me throughout his subsequent stint within the Arizona Fall League. “There have been rising pains going from faculty to Double-A, so it was lot of fine, some unhealthy, and a bunch of stuff in between. Whenever you’re taking part in in opposition to older, extra skilled guys, you’ve bought to adapt. You’ve bought to develop into a greater participant your self as a way to succeed. Total, it was an excellent season.”
That the 23-year-old infielder performed three collegiate seasons is a part of his story. McLain was drafted twenty fifth total in 2018 out of an Irvine, California highschool, however somewhat than signal with the Arizona Diamondbacks, he opted to attend UCLA. Trying again, he feels that he made the precise choice.
“I grew quite a bit, each as an individual and with baseball,” mentioned McLain, who advised me that the Diamondbacks supply had been for slot. “Not signing was mainly that the quantity I put on the market was what’s it going to take me to go up UCLA. It was some huge cash, and on the finish of the day they didn’t supply that. I moved on and bought higher. I did what I did at UCLA.”
As for what he’ll go on to do in professional ball, McLain doesn’t essentially see himself as profiling as power-over-hit.
“I need to be a gap-to-gap man, hit line drives, and get on base to attain runs,” he mentioned. “I’d wish to steal bases. I’d additionally wish to strike out much less — I struck out an excessive amount of this yr — and do a greater job of controlling the strike zone. I need to be a greater all-around hitter. I need to be a greater participant total.”
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A quiz:
Stan Musial’s 3,630 hits are probably the most in St. Louis Cardinals franchise historical past. Who ranks second?
The reply might be discovered under.
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NEWS NOTES
The Chicago White Sox have employed former Washington Nationals Assistant Normal Supervisor Sam Mondry-Cohen as an analyst. Mondry-Cohen was featured right here at FanGraphs in January 2020.
Josh Herzenberg is becoming a member of Driveline within the newly-created position of Supervisor of Participant Personnel. The previous FanGraphs contributor was with the San Francisco Giants final yr as Assistant Director, Participant Improvement, and earlier than that spent two years with the KBO’s Lotte Giants.
Nicholas Badders has been employed as the brand new play-by-play voice of the Triple-A Omaha Storm Chasers. The graduate of Arizona State College’s Walter Cronkite Faculty of Journalism and Mass Communication spent the final two seasons with the Double-A Northwest Arkansas Naturals.
Lee Tinsley, a switch-hitting outfielder who performed for 3 groups from 1993-1997, died earlier this week at age 53. The Shelbyville, Kentucky native had 210 big-league hits, together with a profession excessive 97 for the Boston Purple Sox in 1995.
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The reply to the quiz is Lou Brock, who logged 2,713 of his 3,023 profession hits with the Cardinals.
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One of the best base-stealer you’ve possibly by no means heard of? It’d very properly be George Case. Taking part in for the Washington Senators, the speedy outfielder led the American League in stolen bases for 5 straight seasons (1939-1943), and he did so once more in 1946 with Cleveland. Case’s 61 thefts in 1943 had been a profession excessive, however the 51 luggage he pilfered in 1939 had been much more notable. Nobody else within the junior circuit had greater than 23 steals that yr.
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Andrew Miller and Spencer Strider had been co-guests on Friday’s episode of FanGraphs Audio, and never surprisingly, every was entertaining and informative. The dialog lined quite a few subjects, baseball and non-baseball alike, and included pitch utilization. Addressing a query from the previous big-leaguer, the runner-up in final season’s NL Rookie-of-the-Yr balloting advised how trying to increase a repertoire isn’t all the time the most effective concept.
“I believe the entice is to attempt to get extra difficult,” Strider mentioned to Miller. “In actuality, it’s the simplification of sticking to your strengths. I completed the 2020 yr on the alt website. I used to be throwing tougher. We recognized — we lastly had good evaluation on my fastball — to say, ‘Sure, throw a four-seam fastball; it’s very efficient, it’s a plus fastball.’ However I made a decision to attempt to throw a cutter, curveball, slider, changeup, and sinker that offseason. I got here into spring coaching and in my first bullpen I might need thrown one strike. They mentioned, ‘Hey, you’re horrible. What the heck’s happening?’ So, the simplification based mostly on the info that mentioned, ‘You may have one actually good pitch, why wouldn’t you throw that probably the most?’ allowed me to form of get again on monitor.”
Notable among the many non-baseball subjects was Miller’s and Strider’s mutual love of music. The latter shared that he’s begun accumulating vinyl, and that Mac DeMarco’s “This Previous Canine” presently tops his playlist. The previous advised how he’s wanting ahead to a Jason Isbell live performance, and the way he beforehand noticed the artist carry out at Purple Rocks.
The whole section —it additionally contains why Strider initially felt intimidated by Charlie Morton, and why Ivan “Pudge” Rodriguez despatched Miller on a espresso errand — is properly well worth the hear.
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FOREIGN AFFAIRS
The Brisbane Bandits are dominating the Australian Baseball League with a file of 28-8. The highest hitter has been Brisbane’s T.J. Bennett, who has a 1.058 OPS and a league-best 16 dwelling runs. A 29-year-old infielder who was within the San Francisco Giants system from 2016-2018, Bennett spent the 2022 season with the unbiased American Affiliation’s Lake Nation DockHounds.
Otto Lopez is slashing .304/.353/.380 in 88 plate appearances for the Dominican Winter League’s Leones del Escogido. The 24-year-old infielder within the Toronto Blue Jays group had six hits in 9 big-league at-bats in 2022.
Brandon Waddell has signed with the Chinese language Skilled Baseball League’s Rakuten Monkeys. The 28-year-old southpaw, whose 11 MLB appearances have include 4 completely different groups, pitched for the KBO’s Doosan Bears final yr.
NPB’s Yomiuri Giants have reportedly reached an settlement with Lewis Brinson. The 28-year-old outfielder performed with the San Francisco Giants final yr after spending the earlier 5 seasons with the Milwaukee Brewers and Miami Marlins.
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Who was/is best, Xander Bogaerts or Nomar Garciaparra? I requested that query in a Twitter ballot this week, and whereas the pattern dimension was small — solely 151 individuals bothered to supply an opinion — I’ll share the outcomes anyway: Garciaparra garnered 55.6% of the votes forged, whereas Bogaerts bought 44.4%.
By means of his age-29 season (he turned 30 on October 1), the Purple-Sox-turned-Padres shortstop has 34.2 WAR and a 118 wRC+. By means of his personal age-29 season, Garciaparra — these numbers all coming with Boston — had 38.5 WAR and a 134 wRC+. To that time of their respective careers, who the higher participant is appears fairly clear.
That Garciaparra proceeded to fall off the proverbial cliff makes the general comparability a bit muddier. Due primarily to accidents, Garciaparra had simply 3.0 WAR and a 104 wRC+ from his age-30 season onward. The downward spiral was unhappy to see. Followers at Fenway Park used to chant “Nomah’s higher” when Derek Jeter was on the plate, and the numbers again that up. Jeter clearly went on to be an excellent participant by means of age 40, which is a giant motive why he was a first-ballot Corridor of Famer.
What is going to Bogaerts do going ahead, and the way will he finally examine to Garciaparra (and Jeter)? Time will inform.
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C. Trent Rosecrans and I each put ten checkmarks on our Corridor-of-Fame ballots this yr, and so they had been for a similar gamers. A handful of different ballots I’ve seen have been an identical: Bobby Abreu, Carlos Beltrán, Todd Helton, Andruw Jones, Jeff Kent, Manny Ramírez, Alex Rodriguez, Scott Rolen, Gary Sheffield, and Billy Wagner. The alternatives themselves aren’t what’s prompting this word. What’s, is seven phrases Trent wrote when addressing his alternatives at The Athletic:
“I err on the facet of inclusion.”
As a self-identifying big-Corridor voter, that concisely-expressed sentiment resonates with me. As has been acknowledged many occasions, by many individuals, there are various levels of greatness; not each participant with a plaque in Cooperstown is a Willie Mays or a Walter Johnson. Nor ought to they be. Whereas some voters are comfy placing a checkmark subsequent to solely a handful of names — and even sending in a clean poll (ugh) — that merely doesn’t really feel proper to me. All ten of the gamers that I voted for had improbable careers. Had been they Corridor-worthy? Once more, what Trent wrote resonates with me.
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LINKS YOU’LL LIKE
Félix Hernández will likely be inducted into the Seattle Mariners Corridor of Fame throughout a pregame ceremony at T-Cellular Park on August 12. Ryan Divish has the story at The Seattle Instances.
The Cleveland Guardians introduced they are going to be renovating Progressive Discipline over the following couple of off-seasons. Mandy Bell has the story at MLB.com
The Detroit Tigers are planning to vary the outfield dimensions at Comerica Park. Brandon Day has the small print at Bless You Boys.
The Midwest League’s West Michigan Whitecaps are set to embark on an formidable, multi-year modernization of their ballpark. Particulars are supplied on the group’s web site.
Coop Daley advised the story of Yutaka Fukumoto, Japan’s best base stealer, at JapanBall.
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RANDOM FACTS AND STATS
Henry Aaron, who wore the quantity on his again, hit precisely 44 dwelling runs in 4 completely different seasons. In considered one of them he had a .978 OPS, 369 complete bases, and one stolen base. In one other, he he had a .977 OPS, 370 complete bases, and 31 stolen bases.
Bobby Abreu had 5 seasons with precisely 20 dwelling runs. In considered one of them, he had 22 steals, 100 runs scored, and 100 RBIs. In one other, he had 22 steals, 99 runs scored, and 101 RBIs.
In 2004, Ichiro Suzuki had 262 hits, together with 24 doubles, 5 triples, and eight dwelling runs. In 1920, George Sisler had 256 hits, together with 49 doubles, 18 triples, and 19 dwelling runs.
Bobby Grich drew 1,087 walks and dedicated 189 errors.Shawon Dunston drew 203 walks and dedicated 205 errors.
Steve Finley had 304 dwelling runs and 320 stolen bases.Reggie Sanders had 305 dwelling runs and 304 stolen bases.
Prince Fielder had 319 dwelling runs and 18 stolen bases.Cecil Fielder had 319 dwelling runs and two stolen bases.
The Detroit Tigers signed Cecil Fielder, who had spent the earlier yr with NPB’s Hanshin Tigers, to a free-agent contract on in the present day’s date in 1990. Fielder homered 258 occasions over the following seven seasons, twice main the league.
The Cincinnati Reds bought Wally Pipp’s contract from the New York Yankees on in the present day’s date in 1926. New York’s main first baseman from 1915-1924, Pipp misplaced his beginning job to 22-year-old rookie Lou Gehrig in 1925.
Gamers born on in the present day’s date embrace Tony Solaita, a left-handed-hitting first baseman who homered 50 occasions whereas taking part in for 5 groups over components of seven big-league seasons. A local of Nu’uuli, American Samoa, Solaita went deep 16 occasions for the Kansas Metropolis Royals in 1975, and 14 occasions for the California Angels in 1977. Per his SABR BioProject biography, he died of a gunshot wound in 1990.
Additionally born on in the present day’s date was Georges Maranda, a right-hander who appeared in 17 video games for the San Francisco Giants in 1960, and in 32 video games for the Minnesota Twins in 1962. The native of Levis, Quebec is a member of the Quebec Baseball Corridor of Fame.
