10 Biggest Takeaways from Week 12's MLB Action
The 2015 Major League Baseball season has now been going on for 12 whole weeks, and yet it keeps giving us fun and exciting things to talk about.
How do we know this? Mainly because—duh and/or hello—it's baseball! But we also know there are fun and exciting things to talk about because talking about fun and exciting things is what we're here for.
As we do every week, we're going to break down the biggest MLB takeaways from the latest week. There are 10 of them to get to, and they range from breakout stars to hot teams to one manager who just couldn't take it anymore.
We'll go in order from least interesting to most interesting. Step into the box whenever you're ready.
10. J.D. Martinez Is Alive and Dangerous Again
1 of 10His name is J.D. Martinez, and did you know that the J.D. stands for "Just Dingers"?
No, that's not actually true. But the way Martinez is swinging it, it might as well be.
The Detroit Tigers right fielder grabbed headlines on Sunday when he launched three home runs in a 12-4 rout of the New York Yankees, and he's kept the dingers coming this week. His go-ahead home run on Friday night against the White Sox was his third in as many games.
For those scoring at home, that's six home runs in a span of just five games for Martinez. But the homer-hitting binge he's on now actually stretches back a bit further. He's hit 10 home runs in his last 16 games, bumping his season total from nine to 19 in no time at all.
What's his secret? It helps that he's getting the ball in the air more often. Martinez had a 41.1 fly-ball percentage through his first 56 games. In 16 games leading into Saturday's action, his fly-ball rate was a whopping 54 percent. That's a pretty good way to maximize your odds for dingers.
Martinez is looking like the guy who broke out with 23 home runs in only 123 games in 2014. And knowing how inconsistent the Tigers have been with their offense, they'll surely take it.
9. Maikel Franco Is a Glimmer of Hope in a Hopeless Place
2 of 10As we'll discuss in more depth later on, the Philadelphia Phillies do not belong in the file labeled "good." They are a bad and soulless team that deserves your pity.
But hey, at least they have Maikel Franco.
The rookie third baseman has been a bright spot all season, but he was especially bright earlier this week at Yankee Stadium. In leading the Phillies to a pair of blowout wins Monday and Tuesday, Franco went 6-for-8 with a double, three homers, 10 RBI and some nifty defense at the hot corner.
For the season, Franco is now hitting .303 with a .922 OPS and 10 home runs. As Rob Tornoe of the Philadelphia Inquirer pointed out, these figures make Franco a legitimate Rookie of the Year contender in the National League.
The one flaw in Franco's game appears to be his aggressive approach. But as Craig Edwards of FanGraphs wrote, that doesn't have to be a career-killing flaw:
"Adrian Beltre has made a career out of hitting like Franco did in the minors.[...]And despite Beltre going through some ups and downs offensively in his career, Franco can look to Beltre's overall body of work as a hitter as an example of success with an aggressive, powerful approach.
"
First, Franco took it to the Yankees, and then he got compared to a third baseman who should wind up in the Hall of Fame. So, he's had a pretty good week.
8. Chris Sale Is Human...Sort of
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When Chris Sale took the mound at Target Field against the Minnesota Twins on Wednesday afternoon, he was going for his sixth straight start with at least 12 strikeouts.
That would have been really impressive. But alas, the slender White Sox lefty wasn't up to the task. Sale got shelled, surrendering six runs (five earned) on nine hits and a walk in 6.2 innings in a 6-1 loss.
Thus did Sale show that he's human after all...sort of.
He didn't make it to 12 strikeouts, but he did make it to 10 for a seventh start in a row. As ESPN's Baseball Tonight pointed out, that makes him one of only four pitchers since 1900 to record double-digit strikeouts in seven straight starts. The others are Randy Johnson, Pedro Martinez and Nolan Ryan.
That's some awesome company, and Sale hardly looks out of place in it. This is a guy coming off a 2.17 ERA in 2014, and this year he's leading the American League in strikeouts and generally pitching a lot better than his 3.02 ERA indicates.
Sale may be human, all right. But he definitely leans more toward "superhuman" than most.
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7. The Mets Offense Is the Bad Kind of Offensive
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If you happen to be in the mood for a good, old-fashioned head-desking, one thing you can do is fix your eyes on the offense of the New York Mets.
If you missed it, the Mets lost seven games in a row between June 17 and June 24, mainly because they scored a grand total of nine runs along the way. And though they've snapped out of it with two straight wins, they've scored only four runs in the process.
All this sounds bad, but we can make it sound worse. According to Baseball Savant, the Mets are hitting just .167 over their last nine games after collecting only two hits Friday night. With production like that, they wouldn't be losing much if they just let Bartolo Colon take all their at-bats.
As for how the Mets are going to fix this, that's the tough part. David Wright, Daniel Murphy and Travis d'Arnaud are all on the disabled list, and as Andy Martino of the New York Daily News argued, it would take a trade for more than just one good hitter to get the Mets offense moving.
On the bright side, at least the Mets have added hard-throwing left-hander Steven Matz to an already strong collection of power arms. As long as they have those, there's a chance.
6. Josh Donaldson Is a Freakin' Superhero
5 of 10Full disclosure: Half the reason this slide exists is so we can all enjoy a repeat viewing of the catch that Josh Donaldson made to preserve Marco Estrada's perfect game on Wednesday afternoon.
[Takes a second to watch it again. Pumps fist. Nods contentedly.]
That right there is some good stuff. In fact, Gregor Chisholm of MLB.com tells us that the official opinion of Statcast is that Donaldson "couldn't have played it any better," as that catch was a product of a quick reaction, impressive range and, obviously, a well-timed leap.
But now for the other half of the reason this slide exists: to properly celebrate Donaldson.
There are all sorts of guys in the league who don't get their due, and the Blue Jays third baseman is arguably at the tippy-top of the list. Catches like that one and his infamous tarp grab highlight how good of a defender he is at the hot corner. Add the fact that Donaldson's having another huge offensive season with an .894 OPS and 17 home runs, and you get an awesome player.
This isn't the first time this has been said, as fans of the Blue Jays and Oakland A's are well aware. But really, it can't be said enough.
5. Marco Estrada Is Unhittable...Somehow
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Marco Estrada gave up a league-high 29 home runs as a member of the Milwaukee Brewers in 2014, and up until a week ago he had given up 50 hits and seven dingers in eight starts as a Blue Jay.
But then everything changed. Estrada took a no-hitter into the eighth inning against the Baltimore Orioles last Friday and took a perfect game into the eighth inning against the Tampa Bay Rays on Wednesday. According to ESPN Stats and Info, he's the first pitcher to go that far with no-nos in back-to-back starts since Dave Stieb in 1988.
So...what's going on?
Even Estrada doesn't seem to know, as he told Gregor Chisholm of MLB.com after Wednesday's outing that there are "days when you feel better than others." And best I can tell from digging around on Brooks Baseball, Estrada hasn't drastically altered his pitch mix or location patterns.
As such, maybe Dayn Perry of CBS Sports is right about Estrada still being Estrada. If so, the explanation for his last two outings is the same one that works for most weird things that happen in baseball.
It's baseball, yo.
4. The A's Aren't Going Quietly
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A couple of weeks ago, the Oakland A's were 25-39 and seemingly ticketed for a trade-deadline fire sale followed by a long and depressing crawl to the finish line.
But their current status? Literally on fire.
Well, not literally. But you get the idea. Before falling to the Kansas City Royals on Friday night, the A's had won five in a row, nine out of 11 and 20 out of 31. They're not exactly breathing down the necks of the competition in the AL West just yet, but they're gaining steam and may actually be able to keep it up.
In Sonny Gray, Scott Kazmir, Jesse Chavez and the red-hot Kendall Graveman, the A's have four excellent starters. It's no wonder their rotation entered Saturday with a 2.86 ERA over the last month, good for third-best in the majors in that span.
Oakland also has an offense with a spark plug in Billy Burns and three rocks in Stephen Vogt, Ben Zobrist and Josh Reddick, and they're surrounded by a decent cast of supporting characters in Marcus Semien, Brett Lawrie, Ike Davis and Billy Butler.
Not that long ago, it was easy to give up on the A's. But now, it appears they're planning on a classic A's-type finish to the season.
3. Ryne Sandberg Rage-Quits the Phillies
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As we mentioned earlier, the Phillies are nothing even remotely resembling a good baseball team. They own a big league-worst 26-49 record and have allowed 125 more runs than they've scored.
And evidently, their skipper just couldn't take it anymore.
It was announced on Friday that Ryne Sandberg had decided to step down from his post as the manager of the Phillies. As reported by Fox Sports on Twitter, Sandberg said the main reason he stepped down is because, while fans only have to watch the Phillies being bad at baseball, he had to live it.
"I do not like to lose," he said. "I hate to lose. I think that's the biggest thing that weighed on me."
So, there's that. But there's also this, via the Associated Press (h/t ESPN.com): "With some changes at the top looming, I did not want to be in the way of anything happening and progress going forward."
Call it a hunch, but this might have something to do with the recent report by Jon Heyman of CBS Sports that the Phillies will soon be putting veteran executive Andy MacPhail in charge of everything. Because new management upstairs tends to lead to new leadership on the field, Sandberg must have sensed he was doomed no matter what.
So, Sandberg did what many people would have done in his situation. There are times when you just have to say, "Well, screw this!" and walk away.
2. Max Scherzer Regresses and Still Flirts with History
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On June 14 against the Milwaukee Brewers, Max Scherzer pitched a shutout on one hit, one walk and 16 strikeouts. His next time out, he no-hit the Pittsburgh Pirates with 10 strikeouts and no walks, with the only baserunner coming courtesy of a suspicious hit-by-pitch with two outs in the ninth.
So on Friday night against the Philadelphia Phillies, Scherzer was looking for his third straight excellent start and second straight no-hitter. And given that he was facing the Phillies, Scherzer joining Johnny Vander Meer as the only two pitchers to throw back-to-back no-hitters actually seemed realistic.
And for a while there, it looked like Scherzer was actually going to do it. Through the first 5.1 innings of his outing, he was perfect.
But then Freddy Galvis, who apparently hates fun, ruined everything with a double. Scherzer allowed five hits and two earned runs with seven strikeouts in eight innings. Relative to his prior two performances, the only word to say is "meh."
Put all three starts together, however, and here's what you get: 26 innings, two runs, six hits, one walk and 33 strikeouts. And all told, Scherzer has 130 strikeouts and a 1.79 ERA in 110.1 innings.
What are the Nationals paying him again? $210 million?
Yeah, that's not enough.
1. Is the Nationals' Rotation Ready to Live Up to the Hype?
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Before the season began, most everyone was looking at the Nationals' starting rotation and drooling like Homer Simpson. There was just so much talent. Certainly too much to fail, anyway.
So, of course it all went up in flames in the early portion of the season. Scherzer has been awesome all year, but Stephen Strasburg and Doug Fister have spent a lot of time on the disabled list, and Jordan Zimmermann and Gio Gonzalez have been varying degrees of inconsistent. It was a mess.
Until now.
After their 5-2 win over the Phillies on Friday night, the Nationals have won seven games in a row. And for this, they have mainly their starting pitching to thank. Before Scherzer finally broke the streak, Nationals starters had hurled a club-record 48 consecutive scoreless innings.
"It's been as good as it gets," said outfielder Clint Robinson on Thursday, via Jacob Emert of MLB.com. "They're just throwing up zero after zero, night after night and taking the pressure off the offense so we can go out there and put up some runs for them. When they don't, they can't win."
This, certainly, is more like what everyone was expecting from the quintet of Scherzer, Strasburg, Zimmermann, Fister and Gonzalez. And given that their recent dominance is nothing they haven't done before, the Nationals' rotation might actually be ready to be what it was supposed to be.
Note: Stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com and FanGraphs unless otherwise noted.
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