MLBits: DET-NYY Benches Clear, Conforto Goes Down, PIT Pushing for Kang, HR-Reliance, More

Aug 25, 2017

You mean it’s Friday, but I have to wait all the way until 6:05 PM for a Cubs game?!

Here’s some news from around the leauge to hold you over until game time …

Uhm … there was a fight yesterday. Actually, I think we can just about call it the fight, even with McGregor and Mayweather’s bout scheduled for tomorrow evening. It all started with one of MLB’s active, future Hall-of-Famers Miguel Cabrera and Yankees catcher Austin Romine. And by the end of the day, five players, both managers and a bench coach were ejected, four players were hit by pitches, and the benches cleared on three separate occasions. It was ugly and one of the worst baseball fights you’ll see.

Here’s the worst of it:

Benches clear, punches thrown in Yankees-Tigers game with Miguel Cabrera and Austin Romine at the center of it. https://t.co/g32ygLF1cz pic.twitter.com/QMsJ5fEDQO

— MLB (@MLB) August 24, 2017

Later in the game Dellin Betances threw at Tigers’ catcher James McCann … and hit him in the head. Betances claimed he wouldn’t throw at a guy in that situation, but given the entire day, it’s much tougher to buy. McCann was ultimately okay, but frankly, this is the most disgusting part of the whole thing. AT LEAST in a scrum both sides have somewhat of a fighting chance. What are you proving by throwing a 90+ MPH rock at someone’s head? And I certainly don’t care for the he wasn’t aiming for his head argument, because that’s precisely the problem: you don’t know what’s gonna happen when you let it go. Just play baseball.

You can read many comments about the fight here at Tigers.com or here at NBC Sports, and watch a bunch of post-game interviews here at MLB.com.

During yesterday’s MLBits, we pointed out a recent Mets Press release, which recited TEN (fairly major) player injury/rehab updates, which seems to just be par for the course over the past few years for the Mets. And then this happened …

Conforto left the game with a dislocated shoulder after swinging threw a pitch in the bottom of the 5th inning. It looked scary and it looked painful. And unfortunately, an MRI revealed a tear in his shoulder so surgery may be necessary. “It turns your stomach,” Mets manager Terry Collins said. “Young player who’s having a tremendous year, really making a name for himself, to go down with an injury like that, it’s tough to watch.”

Conforto, just 24, was having a huge breakout season at the plate, slashing .279/.384/.555 with 27 home runs and a 145 wRC+. By WAR he was the 17th most valuable position player in baseball and the fourth best for anyone his age or younger (behind only Corey Seager, Bryce Harper, and Mookie Betts). I don’t love the Mets, but damn you gotta feel for their fans. This is just getting ridiculous.

Remember Pirates’ infielder Jung-Ho Kang? He’s still in South Korea after the US denied him a visa because of his three recent DUI offenses (including fleeing the scene after his most recent offense in Seoul last December). The Pirates are not on the hook for Kang’s salary right now, because of his presence on the restricted list, but they are actively trying to get him into the Dominican Winter League, which begins on October 20. If he can get into that league and eventually get a visa somehow, the Pirates think he could be in the mix for Spring Training 2018. We’ll see.

After going 52-39 in the first half of the season, the Rockies have gone just 16-19 in the second half and have even dropped down to the second Wild Card spot behind the Diamondbacks. And during that time, their closer, Greg Holland, has earned a 9.00 ERA with a 6.05 FIP. He’s also blown three saves and allowed 13 earned runs over 13.0 IP. Which, yikes (and you thought the Cubs’ had a bullpen problem). For now, Rockies’ manager Bud Black plans to stick with Holland in the ninth.

Through a series of extremely interesting graphs, Jeff Sullivan discovers that the league is more reliant on home runs for scoring than ever before (well, since 1950, when the data ends, at least). Indeed, right now, about 43% of all runs scored come from homers, which is the highest in MLB history … since 2016, which was also the highest … since 2015. Before the home run spike, that number was at 33% in 2014. As for individual teams, the Blue Jays are the most reliant on homers, while the Cubs are the 11th most. As Sullivan points out, this isn’t exactly a bad thing, but it does sorta dampen the “offense is back” narrative, because it’s not “offense,” exactly. It’s just homers. Really interesting stuff in this one.

Speaking of homers – the Cubs are heading to Philadelphia, and heads up, because they’ve got someone doing something special:

PHI rookie Rhys Hoskins just hit 8th homer in 15 games. .510 ISO, .188 BABIP, .286 BA. Those don't even make sense. pic.twitter.com/IYrPEpT3hb

— Baseball is Fun (@flippingbats) August 24, 2017

With that homer, Hoskins became the third player in MLB history to collect eight in his first 15 career games (Carlos Delgado and Trevor Story are the others). It took him 64 plate appearances, and here’s how long it took some of the young Cubs to hit their first eight:

118 PAs – Ian Happ

119 PAs Kyle Schwarber

161 PAs Javier Baez

213 PAs Willson Contreras

246 PAs Kris Bryant

Also, OH YEAH, remember when Kris Bryant didn’t hit like any home runs when he first came to the Majors?

Brett is one of those hard-nosed baseball fans, obviously:

Today's pitchers can't even pitch through a hangnail.

Posted by Baseball Is Fun on Friday, August 25, 2017

And finally, it’s Players Weekend! Get ready to see some fun uniforms (and be happy the brawl in Detroit didn’t happen this weekend):

Players Weekend is here! https://t.co/o6jldErwvl pic.twitter.com/hfDSuCXX8m

— Baseball is Fun (@flippingbats) August 25, 2017

I know Kris Bryant is like the best (or whatever), but they shoulda went with “El Mago,” for the promo. After all, that’s the jersey we’re all going to get isn’t it?

written by

Michael Cerami

Michael Cerami began covering the Chicago Cubs for Bleacher Nation as a part-time contributor in 2015. One year later, he joined Bleacher Nation full-time, covering the Chicago Cubs and Major League Baseball. Today, Michael runs Bleacher Nation, contributing as a writer (Cubs, MLB) and an editor for all sections of the site, including the Chicago Bears, Bulls, and Blackhawks, as well as MLB, NBA, NHL, and NFL. In 2019, Michael was the co-host of NBC Sports Chicago's Cubs Post-Game Show Outside the Ivy. You can find him on Twitter/X @Michael_Cerami

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MLBits: DET-NYY Benches Clear, Conforto Goes Down, PIT Pushing for Kang, HR-Reliance, More

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