Page 48 - Eric Longenhagen News Today

Notes Macko was a 2019 seventh round high schooler who was drafted because of his proclivity for spin and physical projection. His fastball sat 87-90 during his first pro summer but it’s been parked closer to 94, and topping out at 98, so far this spring. The increased velocity has really impacted Macko’s fastball control. He’s got a scaled down version of the Clayton Kershaw build, with a thick lower half and short levers, but Macko’s delivery looks more like Ryan Buchter’s. His swee...

May 6, 2021 Prospect writers Kevin Goldstein and Eric Longenhagen will sometimes have enough player notes to compile a scouting post. This is one of those dispatches, a collection of thoughts after another week of college baseball and the return of minor league play. Remember, prospect rankings can be found on The Board. Kevin’s Notes After nearly 600 days without them, it was sure nice to have minor league boxscores. It was also overwhelming in terms of thinking about who to highlight for to...

George Carlin once said, “Inside every cynical person, there is a disappointed idealist.” I’m reminded of this quote whenever a new rule change is proposed or implemented in baseball and is largely (and predictably) followed by outrage from outspoken purists. Of course, we all know that rule changes themselves are nothing new; it’s been about a century since the ball was first brought to life and decades since the mound was lowered, both changes that were met with contemporaneousskeptic...

May 4, 2021 Through the first four starts of his season, Dustin May looked as though he’d put it all together. The hard-throwing, high-kicking ginger mop top was getting the strikeouts to match his elite stuff, and putting together a performance that fit right in with the rest of the Dodgers’ top-notch rotation. Unfortunately, it’s going to be a long while before May gets to build upon his strong showing. After leaving Saturday’s start against the Brewers in obvious pain, he’ll underg...

There’s Going to be a Lot of Velocity from the High-A South Bend Cubs This Year The South Bend Cubs also announced their preliminary 30-man roster on Friday morning, as new Cubs minor league manager Michael Ryan will lead the squad beginning at home on Tuesday night. The first thing that jumps out at me: there is a lot of 96+ MPH velocity here. The velocity will be headlined in the rotation by 2019 first-round pick Ryan Jensen and darling of Cubs blogdom Max Bain. The bullpen will have it in ...

April 29, 2021 Prospect writers Kevin Goldstein and Eric Longenhagen will sometimes have enough player notes to compile a scouting post. This is one of those dispatches, a collection of thoughts after another week of college baseball, minor league spring training, and big league action. Remember, prospect rankings can be found on The Board. Kevin’s Notes John Baker, RHP, Ball State: 9 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 8K When I saw John Baker’s line from Friday’s game against North Illinois, my first r...

April 28, 2021 Heading into the season, the Milwaukee Brewers were a popular pick to win the NL Central, with half of the writers here at FanGraphs expecting them to emerge victorious. The strength of the team is its pitching, with a rotation spearheaded by Brandon Woodruff and Corbin Burnes as well as an excellent bullpen anchored by Josh Hader and 2020 NL Rookie of the Year Devin Williams. But there was a good deal of uncertainty about where the offense would come from and how much run suppor...

April 28, 2021 Karl Kauffmann is flying under the radar. Drafted 77th overall by Colorado out of the University of Michigan in 2019, the 23-year-old right-hander is ranked an anything-but-eye-catching No. 23 on our Rockies Top Prospects list. Recent opportunities to impress have been scant. Thanks to the pandemic, Kauffmann’s last game-action came two summers ago when he helped lead the Wolverines to the finals of the College World Series. But he may not be under the radar much longer. Kauffm...

Royals Rumblings - News for April 23, 2021 Share this story Photo by Ed Zurga/Getty Images Boy, Wednesday was a really fun game. That was definitely a 2013-2014 Royals game. But this team just lost their first series and is going to come back to earth. The rebuild isn’t far enough along and I’m not even sure this one will be a good enough rebuild. In short, this team just isn’t ready to win yet. Time to go read my morning Fangrap- Holy Szymborski! This is not a drill!! RED ALERT! ...

#Rangers Kohei Arihara threw 7! different pitches in the first inning. pic.twitter.com/X86J6NpvFH Partially it was because I was already intrigued by Kohei Arihara, but the pure absurdity of this fact stands out, too. He threw seven different kinds of pitches in his most recent start against the Angels. Seven! In one inning! The only other player to accomplish this feat in 2020 was Arihara’s countryman Yu Darvish, who coincidently did so in seven different innings last season. Since 2008 (the...