Salty swing in San Diego, plus the Canes’ latest trade deadline info

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The Missing Bats Project takes a trip into the Wayback Machine, Ken Lewis explains the complex market of Robert Jr., Things got testy in San Diego and this isn’t the Subway Series we expected a few weeks ago. I am levi weaverwith here Ken RosenthalWelcome to The Windup!

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Absolutely Salty: Clear Benches (and Bases) in San Diego

The Padres have been looking for a spark lately. If the last two nights didn’t do it, she might be unhappy.

In the bottom of the 10th inning on Monday night, the Nationals intentionally chose to walk Luis Arraez (who raised his June OPS to just .561 with the walk) to reach Jurickson Profar, who is having a stellar season. .

Profar hit a ground-rule two-run walk-off. alone (We can explain), by the way, increasing his June OPS to .795. As part of their celebration, they appeared to shouting at the national dugout, although he claimed he was inciting the home crowd. Still, this post-game quote made that claim a little questionable:

“I felt humiliated.”

The previous night, before Profar took an at-bat, Nationals catcher Kibert Ruiz provoked a lengthy conversation with Profar at home plate in the bottom of the first inning. This went on long enough for Manny Machado to step in to break it up and the benches cleared. There was some yelling, but no pushing and shoving, and a warning was issued to both dugouts.

Mackenzie Gore used to pitch for the Padres. He and Profar were teammates in 2022. If you think this will make him kinder, you don’t know your gore. Gore hits Profar in the leg With the very next pitch.

Automatic removal, right? No wait?! Padres manager Mike Shildt was, predictably, furious, which led to His Expulsion. But here’s what happened on the next pitch, Machado’s first pitch:

https://twitter.com/MLB/status/1805782733899080116?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

Oh, he’s salty.

Later, when the Padres gave up – and then regained – the lead, Profar got his revenge, hitting a grand slam that ultimately was the difference in the Padres’ 9–7 victory.

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Missing bats: Progenitors of the fastball

Before Trackman, before Statcast, before Drivelines, spin efficiency or shifted seam wakes, there were footballs.

Cody Stavenhagen is next in our Missing Bats Project, and in today’s third installment, he tells us about the “Galileos” of pitching analytics.

Tom House and Brent Strome were teammates at USC before they began big-league pitching careers in the 1970s. After retirement, each entered the coaching field. There was a unifying belief among them: Perhaps the generally accepted truth about sports was not Handed down from the top?

For House, the focus was on technology, as he began analyzing pitching mechanics using slow-motion cameras during his tenure as the Texas Rangers’ pitching coach (1985–1993).

For Strom, the revolution was more viewpoint-based. Here’s my favorite part of the story:

As Strom remembers, the official informed the room that major league batters hit .222 on groundballs but .417 on fly balls.

Strom, always contradictory, raised his hand. ,That’s bulls—,” he said.

Strome asked whether the line drive should count as a fly ball. The officer said yes. And here, Strom realized, was one of the sport’s most prevalent logical fallacies. In 2008, major-league batters actually hit only .222 On fly balls and pop-ups. On groundballs, they hit .241, Drive on line, they hit Dazzling eyes .728.

Include Ron Wohlforth, who founded the Texas Baseball Ranch to train pitchers to throw harder – something that was previously thought impossible – And you had a trio of true disruptors. As you might expect, he was not immediately hailed as a visionary.

That has changed since then. Strome is considered one of the best pitching coaches in the history of the game. House focused his attention on working with NFL quarterbacks, including Tom Brady. And the Baseball Ranch has trained more than 100 draft picks.

Sometimes it takes some fearless experts to find the future.

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Ken’s Notebook: An eye on the trade deadline

The White Sox have assigned top scouts to focus on the Padres, Dodgers and Mariners farm systems in recent weeks, according to sources briefed on the scouts’ activities. Those three clubs have shown interest in several White Sox players, but they are far from the only clubs linked to Chicago.

Then again, perhaps the White Sox’s scouting activity is an indication of how they will approach the deadline. If they rely on field scouts, that means they probably want prospects with larger equipment. The Padres, Dodgers, and Mariners all have an ample supply of these types of players.

• As previously reported, White Sox left-hander Garrett Crockett is the Padres’ target.
• Reliever Michael Kopech and outfielder Tommy Pham are among other potential fits, and Padres GM AJ Preller remains perhaps the game’s most aggressive — or is it impatient? – executive.
• The Dodgers also like Crockett and center fielder Luis Robert Jr., sources said. The Mariners, whose combined outfield OPS ranks 23rd in the majors, could clearly use Roberts. But Until Robert gets hot, the White Sox fear that if they trade him at the deadline, they will be selling short.

Robert, who would have turned 27 on Aug. 3, was sidelined for nearly two months by a strained right hip flexor. As of Sunday after his return, he had batted just .191 with a .265 on-base percentage. His seven home runs raised his OPS to .737, but he has been inconsistent, not a game-changer. That could all change over the next month, but Robert’s persistent injuries, low walks and high strikeout rate remain a concern for interested clubs.

Teams will probably want to see more of what the White Sox want for a player who hit 38 homers and stole 20 bases last season before giving up. Roberts is owed $12.5 million of his salary in 2024 and $15 million in ’25. His deal also includes $20 million club options for 2026 and ’27.

While many in the game are speculating that Preller is trying to strengthen his roster in an effort to save his job, this supposedly desperate version of Preller and the way he acts as a GM in general, What would be the difference between them?

A litmus test for Preller will be whether he moves 17-year-old shortstop Leodalis De Vries, whom the Padres signed for $4.2 million from the Dominican Republic last January.

De Vries and catcher Ethan Salas are considered as close to untouchable as any players in the Padres system. The Padres are telling clubs they don’t want to trade him. But as with De Vries, is it possible that Preller is only taking this stance to whet the appetite of interested clubs? As Preller has shown before, if he can get the right player, no possibility is off limits.

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New York, New York: Mets, Yankees streaking

What better time than the Subway Series for both New York teams to do something they haven’t really done all year?

• For the Mets, it’s an extended hot streak that takes them to within a game of .500, a place they haven’t been since May 7.
• For the Yankees – 3-7 in their last 10 games – this has been the first real slump in a fairly dominant season.

The Yankees’ issue isn’t just injuries. The guys on the field (Aaron Judge and his 29 home runs notwithstanding) have also struggled recently. It was easy to overlook Gleyber Torres’ disappointing season when the Yankees were winning at a league-best rate.

The absence of Gerrit Cole was not a major issue as the rest of the rotation performed admirably in his place. However, his return has become a matter of concern. In last night’s 9-7 loss to the Mets, he did something that had never been done in 18,000+ games in team history: He allowed four home runs and four walks without a single strikeout.

We have not yet reached the point where any change in fortunes will necessarily make a big difference. The Mets are still 13 games behind the Phillies (although they Are Now just 1 1/2 games out of wild-card position). And the Yankees’ cold streak coincides with a similar cold streak in Baltimore, where the Orioles are on a five-game losing streak.

More Yankees: How Juan Soto’s relationship with Aaron Judge has been important so far with the Yankees.

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(Photo: Orlando Ramirez/USA TODAY)