Two weeks down in the baseball season. Only 24 left to play. I miss Bauer. Not Trevor but Jack. Why do some shows have to end? I mean, Hollywood doesn’t have a problem milking the crap out of other garbage. Excuse my French, but C’mon man! Anyways, the point I was trying to make before I took a trip down nostalgia lane was that there’s a lot of baseball games to be played. The sample sizes are small. You all know what Grey would say. With that said, mining the waiver wire and taking advantage of the emotionally unstable will help you say the most beautiful sounding word in the English language.
In this weekly column, I will highlight some players that performed well over the past week and give my insights on them. Making it rain is good. Whammies are… well, they will make you feel like this.
Mark Trumbo – Hotter than the flute that Michelle from American Pie played with at band camp. Multiple TrumBOMBS being launched in a short period of time is a story that we’ve seen before. We’ve also seen other side, which basically equates to North Korea trying to launch ballistic missiles. We drafted him for cheap power late in drafts (25th first baseman and 175th overall player). He’s definitely been delivering and some. The parks in the AL East are great and the Orioles lineup is stacked. With that said, let’s not get carried away folks. He’s a .260/.295/.450 hitter with the potential for 30 TrumBOMBS, but he’s going to go through stretches that will have you questioning if he could hit the ball off a tee. Regardless, power is power and the upside is there.
Jeremy Hazelbaker – As a Dodgers fan, the one team I hate almost as much as the Giants is the St. Louis Cardinals. All they do is win and beat us when it counts. Yeah, I’m hating but I have the utmost respect for that organization, even if they do cheat. Hacking, stealing signs, etc…Someone called me “salty” the other day. Hell yeah I am. But seriously, the Cardinals are a great organization and run a well-oiled machine in St. Louis. They find guys, develop them. then…POOF. Baller. Is Hazelbaker their newest creation? He was in the Dodgers organization the last two years? Of course. He gonna be an All-Star. You can book it. So what do we have here in Hazelbaker? He popped 19 home runs in 2012 and stole 63 bases in Single-A (2010), so there’s power and speed. He doesn’t walk often (less than 10%) and strikes out around a quarter of the time. It all comes down to opportunity. He’s been playing almost every day, but Thomas Pham is returning soon and the outfield will get mighty crowded with Pham, Holliday, Moss, Grichuk and Piscotty all vying for playing time. Moss is the lone left-handed bat out of the group so that’s definitely a plus. As long as he’s playing and batting second, Obama will continue to make it rain.
Vincent Velasquez – Wow. 25 strikeouts in 15 innings to begin the season. Before we crown him with the Cy Young award, let’s remember that he went against two teams that are feeble against right-handed pitching so far this year, the San Diego Padres and New York Mets. Oh, he also plays for the Philadelphia Phillies, has some injury concerns, control issues, and could be on an innings limit. The stuff is electric, though. Mid-90’s fastball with a changeup, curveball, and slider. As for injury concerns, if it happens it happens. Every player has that risk. The control issues are real, but most young pitchers have that problem early in their careers. Even the great Ricky Vaughn had his issues. 2013 was the only year Velasquez had a BB/9 over 4. For perspective, Clayton Kershaw had four seasons with a BB/9 over 4. The innings limit is the main concern for me. Velasquez has never thrown more than 125 innings in a season. With the Phillies in basement mode, there is going to be no reason to push him. As I said in the opening, there are 24 weeks of baseball left. It’s too early to think about playoffs. Get there first.
Jay Bruce – So Bruce is batting .310 so far on the young season. His OBP hasn’t been at those levels since 2013. We know who Bruce is. The human windmill machine in Cincinnati. To be fair, though, I did look at his numbers a bit and he’s pulling the ball less and going up the middle and opposite field more. Is this is a new approach at the plate for Bruce? It’s possible, so I do not want to discredit the possibility, but there’s a reason the cliche A leopard doesn’t change its spots exists. Those things take time. If it didn’t, then companies like Weight Watchers would be out of business. Imagine if people just said, I’m just going to eat less and exercise more. Change takes time.
