NEWSLETTER
Today was supposed to be the first day all 30 MLB teams were in action in over three weeks, but alas, a positive COVID-19 test on the Reds and a much more aggressive approach to positive tests (good!) means that today’s and tomorrow’s Reds/Pirates games have been postponed. That will provide enough time to be much, much more confident that there isn’t additional latent infections that weren’t caught in the same testing round. Hopefully this was just a one-off positive test that impacted no one else, and that player – currently unidentified – will be OK.
Meanwhile …
• It might’ve been the first very mild head-scratching move of the David Ross Era last night, pinch-hitting little-used back-up-back-up catcher Josh Phegley with the bases loaded and the Cubs down one in the 8th inning. Phegley subsequently struck out swinging at a fastball near face-level. There were two outs and Jason Kipnis, the DH, was due up. Normally, swapping out a lefty bat against Hader is a pretty easy call, because lefties do nothing against him. Of course, righties more or less do nothing also. Sahadev Sharma digs into the options (Kipnis, Phegley, Albert Almora, Victor Caratini (Kris Bryant was actually not available despite pre-game comments to the contrary)), and it’s a great read. There are plenty of on-paper reasons that Phegley was the right choice, and this isn’t one of those moves I’m actually gonna beef about. I probably stick with Kipnis in that moment, since he wasn’t coming in cold, but it was close enough.
• By the way, remember not to judge a moment like that based on the outcome in isolation: regardless of the choice, 85ish% of the time, the outcome is going to be bad! That’s the deal with Hader, not the batter. You’re just trying to choose the 83% option instead of the 87% option. Maybe Ross did just that.
• The expectation, per David Ross, is that Jose Quintana will continue his normal ramp up, which means a sim game tomorrow, and no availability for the doubleheaders this week. That’s a bit of a bummer, especially given the Chatwood injury. If Chatwood can’t go Monday or Wednesday, the Cubs will have to find TWO fill-in starters, not including today’s fill-in starter, Colin Rea.
• Last night we got to see Craig Kimbrel get a meaningful inning (down by one, 9th inning) and look much better in the process. He still wasn’t what you’d want him to be – there were some dickballs at 96 mph, and some way overthrown fastballs that were completely non-competitive up – but the fastball was touching 98 mph and was frequently well located down and up. He even got five whiffs on the fastball, including two for strikeouts. The curveball looked much sharper than it has, and it was swung at three of the five times he threw it. All very good signs. One of those was a whiff that literally hit Justin Smoak in the foot:
Craig Kimbrel, Back Foot Knuckle Curveball…Literally. pic.twitter.com/m2VWMWQefw
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) August 15, 2020
• In total, 6 whiffs out of 20 pitches for Kimbrel? Yeah, clearly, he was doing something right last night, especially compared to the rest of this season. Progress, progress, progress.
• Something to keep an eye on, as I’ve noticed these rates creeping up, up, up:
Smal sample so far(but the whole season is a small sample):
Báez 31.5% K rate
Schwarber 34% K rate
Contreras 39% K rateThis is a problem from your 3-5 hitters.
— WhenClarkMetAddison (@ClarkMetAddison) August 15, 2020
• Alec Mills was so much better than his results last night. The first run he gave up came after a hit that very easily could’ve been an error. And then the three subsequent runs were a three-pitch sequence: single, a HBP, and a hanger to Christian Yelich. Obviously making a mistake to Yelich will often earn you some punishment, but sometimes it looks pretty disproportionate in the results. It was an impressive outing, even without considering that he only got a few hours heads up that he was starting that day.
• Hoping that Kris Bryant feels OK today:
Kris Bryant — out the past two games due to left wrist/finger soreness (from a dive in left on Wed) — scheduled to go through some baseball activities pregame this morning. Ross will have an update on his status pregame.
— Jordan Bastian (@MLBastian) August 15, 2020
