Category: MLB (Page 360 of 448)

Clearly what Hank Steinbrenner wants, Hank Steinbrenner gets.

The Senior Vice President and part owner of the New York Yankees made it clear in late April that he wanted promising stud reliever Joba Chamberlain to be a starter. Not even a month later, Yankee manager Joe Girardi began prepping Chamberlain to join the rotation and with an injury to Ian Kennedy, it appears Joba will make his starting debut sooner rather than later.

On the left coast, the Los Angeles Dodgers had a similar situation with one of their young pitching prospects. Well, okay, so the two situations are actually quite different. The Dodgers don’t have an overbearing part-owner meddling in the team’s affairs. But they do have a top pitching prospect in Clayton Kershaw, who made his much-anticipated debut last Sunday against the Cardinals.

The 20-year old held St. Louis to two runs while striking out seven in six innings of work. He earned a no decision, but the outing proved he has loads of potential and his 96 mph fastball is nasty. What was even more promising was that he only gave up one walk since he had battled command issues in the minors.

Chamberlain and Kershaw are just two of baseball’s next generation of talented pitchers. Below is a look at 10 of baseball’s top young guns. To make the list, the pitchers could only be 24 years old or younger. For a look at baseball’s best young guns of 2007, click here.

1. Joba Chamberlain, 22, New York Yankees
Everyone is waiting on pins and needles to see what Chamberlain can do in a starting role. His 0.38 ERA last year as a setup man was ridiculously good and his four-pitch repertoire is filthy. An 83-87 mph slider, an 11 to 5 curve and a solid changeup complement his 94-98 mph fastball. Even though he’s battled some weight issues in the past, at 6-foot-2 and 230 pounds, he has great size and is durable. Now that the “Baby Boss” has demanded him to be in the rotation, it’s only a matter of time before manager Joe Girardi stretches out Chamberlain’s arm so that he’s ready to start. While ranking Chamberlain No. 1 might be a reach since he has zero starting experience, his work in the bullpen has been proof enough of his vast potential.

2. Cole Hamels, 24, Philadelphia Phillies
Hamels hasn’t looked as dominate this year as he did last season, but he’s been solid nonetheless. He’s currently 5-3 with a 3.18 ERA and a fantastic 1.07 WHIP. More importantly, the Phils are 6-0 in his last six starts and he’s made quality outings, averaging almost 7.0 innings per game. The only issue has been inconsistency and he’s had problems staying healthy over the course of an entire season. Hopefully his last outing (4.0 IP, 6 ER, 0 K) isn’t an indication that he’s suffering from some kind of aliment.

3. Tim Lincecum, 23, San Francisco Giants
“The Franchise” has been absolutely dominating in his first full season in the bigs. (He started 24 games last year after being called up from Triple-A Fresno.) Thus far in 2008, he’s 7-1 with a 2.33 ERA and 1.28 WHIP. At only 5-foot-11 and 170 pounds, scouts have always worried that he’ll eventually breakdown. But his unique throwing motion (designed by his father) doesn’t put a ton of strain on his arm and creates less torque when he pushes off the mound. His devastating 93-98 mph fastball has given batters fits this year, but even more damaging has been his changeup – a pitch he worked on during spring training and is starting to perfect.

4. Scott Kazmir, 24, Tampa Bay Rays
If Kazmir could ever stay healthy, he could be one of the more dominant pitchers in the league – especially now that the Rays are winning and scoring runs. After missing all of April with an elbow injury and struggling against the Red Sox in his first outing off the DL, Kaz has been lights out. In his past four starts, he’s 4-0, has only given up two earned runs and has struck out 27 in 26 innings pitched. He’s truly one of the more underrated ace pitchers in the league and once again, if he can stay healthy he’ll win 12-plus games.

5. Fausto Carmona, 24, Cleveland Indians
Carmona recently suffered a left hip strain that landed him on the 15-day DL, but apparently it’s nothing major and he’ll return in a couple weeks. Some were concerned that his 19-8 record in 2007 was a bit of a fluke, but thus far in 2008, Carmona is 4-2 with a 3.10 ERA and 1.59 WHIP. In his last start before the injury, Carmona was dominant through seven innings, but took the no decision after the Tribe lost to the Reds on a walk off dinger. If he bounces back from the injury, he should have no problem totaling 10-plus wins again.

6. Felix Hernandez, 22, Seattle Mariners
“King” Felix is another young pitcher that just can’t stay healthy. While he’s pitched better than his 2-5 record indicates, it’s clear that the soreness in his calf has bothered him of late. Hernandez has one of the best arms in all of baseball and his power curve is outstanding. But if he can’t stay healthy, then he’ll never reach his full potential. Still, at only 22, he’s got plenty of time to mature and hopefully he’ll be more durable with a refined in-season conditioning program.

7. Clayton Kershaw, 20, Los Angeles Dodgers
Kershaw has only one major league start, but it’s easy to get excited about the youngster’s potential. He has a great fastball that tops off at 96 mph and an outstanding curve. He’ll need to work on his changeup, but once that develops, he’ll have an evil three-pitch repertoire. The Dodgers can’t rush the 20-year old, but he has a good, live arm and there’s always a high demand for lefties so they’ll be tempting to keep him in the majors.

8. Matt Cain, 23, San Francisco Giants
Don’t look at his overall record, because it’s not pretty. If the Giants could ever give him some run support, Cain could easily be a 15-win pitcher every season. He has one of the best live fastballs in the league and he’s incredibly durable. He’s been more inconsistent this year than in his two previous seasons, but his strikeouts are always high and at only 23, he hasn’t even sniffed his potential. It would be interesting to see what he could do on a team that averaged more than three runs per game.

9. Edinson Volquez, 24, Cincinnati Reds
Where did this guy come from? In three seasons with the Rangers, Volquez was 3-11 with an ERA just south of 10.0. Now in his first season with the Reds, he has a major-league best 1.31 ERA and a 7-2 record. He also has 76 strikeouts this year and has only walked 33 batters. Is he a one-year (or even half-season) fluke? Maybe. But the same could have been said about Fausto Carmona this time last year and he looks like the real deal. Maybe a change of scenery and a chance to be a full-time starter has inspired the youngster, either way, Volquez has been one of the best surprises in 2008.

10. Clay Buchholz, 23, Boston Red Sox
Buchholz is off to a rocky start in his first full season as a starter, recording a 2-3 record with a 5.53 ERA, but as evidence from his no-hitter in his major league debut last year, he has excellent stuff. And he arguably has a higher ceiling than teammate Jon Lester, as well as other top prospects Franklin Morales (Rockies) and Homer Bailey (Reds). He’ll go through growing pains, but Buchholz is in a great situation in Boston and will have plenty of opportunity to succeed.

Terence Moore of the Atlanta Journal Constitution doesn’t want to see instant replay in baseball because he thinks it would take away from the essence of the game.

No instant replay, please. Not in baseball, where breath-to-breath squabbles between umpires, managers, coaches and players are as much of the game’s soul as the seventh-inning stretch, the national anthem and a box of Cracker Jack.

Quick. How many blatantly wrong calls do you recall in baseball history? Before you answer, the last few days don’t count, because they were a fluke.

For good reason. With instant replay, there aren’t highlights for the ages of Ralph Houk, Billy Martin and Earl Weaver kicking dirt and slinging caps. With instant replay, there isn’t Bobby Cox adding to his record each week for ejections from a game. With instant replay, there aren’t blown-calls legends, ranging from Don Denkinger to Jeffrey Maier to Ken Burkhart.

So baseball shouldn’t adopt instant replay because we wouldn’t get to see managers scream at the umpires? That’s a pretty ridiculous take on this whole debate.

You know when you’re sitting around with a couple buddies watching a game and one of you says, “Freaking Dave Roberts! I would seriously trade him for a pack of Big League Chew and a roll of Charmin extra-soft toilet paper.”

Well, that actually happened, only instead of gum and TP, it was 10 baseball bats.

During three years in the low minors, John Odom never really made a name for himself.

That sure changed this week—he’s the guy who was traded for a bunch of bats.

“I don’t really care,” he said Friday. “It’ll make a better story if I make it to the big leagues.”
For now, Odom is headed to the Laredo Broncos of the United League. They got him Tuesday from the Calgary Vipers of the Golden Baseball League for a most unlikely price: 10 Prairie Sticks Maple Bats, double-dipped black, 34-inch, C243 style.

“They just wanted some bats, good bats—maple bats,” Broncos general manager Jose Melendez said.

According to the Prairie Sticks Web site, their maple bats retail for $69 each, discounted to $65.50 for purchases of six to 11 bats.

“It will be interesting to see what 10 bats gets us,” Melendez said.

I feel for Odom, but that’s freaking hilarious, I’m sorry.

Batting average can be a deceptive figure sometimes. Guys like Tony Gwynn always hit for a very high average but didn’t drive in as many runs as you might think. But average is still a great indicator of a player’s offensive skills, and some hitters have both home run power and the ability to spray base hits all over the field as well. Here, we take a look at the Top 10 active batting average leaders in Major League Baseball today:

1. Albert Pujols, St. Louis Cardinals (.332)—Okay, so Albert might look like he has a little too much air in the tires, if you know what I mean. But chemical enhancement of any kind isn’t really going to make you hit for a higher average. You have to have natural talent for that, and Albert just oozes it. It’s amazing to think he’s only 28 years old too.

2. Ichiro Suzuki, Seattle Mariners (.331)—Ichiro came over from Japan in 2001 and won the AL MVP AND Rookie of the Year honors as a 27-year-old MLB rookie. And he really hasn’t stopped hitting since then.

3. Todd Helton, Colorado Rockies (329)—Helton has played his whole career in Colorado (since 1997), which means he has had roughly 800 at-bats in the thin air of Coors Field. But thin air isn’t going to help your batting average, so clearly this dude can see the ball and hit the ball as well as anyone in the game today.

4. Vladimir Guerrero, Los Angeles Angels (.322)—Thankfully we’re done hearing about Roger Clemens and Barry Bonds, because now we can focus on some of the guys like Vlad. He’s truly one of the greatest hitters of our generation, but he’s only played in Montreal (baseball purgatory) and Los Angeles (plays too late for most of the country to watch), so he’s gone largely unnoticed.

5. Derek Jeter, New York Yankees (.316)—Mr. Yankee, Mr. Clutch, Mr. Everything. Derek Jeter represents everything that is good about the game. He plays hard, he plays fair, he plays to win, and he consistently delivers.

6. Nomar Garciaparra, Los Angeles Dodgers (.314)—I don’t know about you, but it’s still odd to me seeing Nomar in anything but a Red Sox uniform. I sort of feel bad for the guy that he left Beantown right before the Sox won a World Series in 2004, but then again, maybe he’s like A-Rod. You know, for whatever reason, the team he’s on can’t seem to win.

7. Manny Ramirez, Boston Red Sox (.312)—“Manny being Manny” bas become a catch phrase that follows this animated player around, but it has meant different things over the years. Here, we’ll just pay homage to the fact that Manny can mash. Always has, probably always will. Dude is inching toward 500 homers and still has a career batting average of .312. That’s ridiculous.

8. Magglio Ordonez, Detroit Tigers (.311)—After battling injuries for a couple of seasons, Ordonez has had a renaissance of sorts with the Tigers, helping them win the AL pennant in 2006, and then leading all of baseball with a .363 average in 2007.

9. Miguel Cabrera, Detroit Tigers (.310)—Maybe Miguel Cabrera hasn’t figured out American League pitching yet, but he’s still hitting .310 for his career, and he’s only 25. I have a feeling this guy’s best is yet to come, and that there is an MVP Award in his future.

10. Chipper Jones, Atlanta Braves (.309)—Chipper is the epitome of consistency, and he’s now in his fourteenth full season. And he gets better with age, having batted .337 last season, and currently at .415 through 45 games in 2008. And if you’re a Mets fan, you surely don’t want to hear his name.

Source: Baseball Reference