Easy Call

A friend of mine recently pointed out that I have lived in three cities during different baseball eras and seen some generational stars – Pete Rose, growing up in my hometown of Cincinnati; Albert Pujols, where I spent most of my adult life in St. Louis; and now in my senior years in Chicago, Pete Crow-Armstrong, known simply as PCA. I’ve been truly blessed to live just a short drive away to see these great stars in action. Rose won the NL MVP in 1973, while Pujols took the honor in 2005, 2008, and 2009. The current debate in baseball is whether PCA or Shohei Ohtani should be this year’s NL MVP. I think it’s an easy call, but first let me set it up. Read on.

Rose in his playing career compiled eye popping numbers – games played (3,562); at-bats (14,053); singles (3,215); and a 44-game hitting streak (3rd longest in MLB history). Baseball fans remember him as the “Hit King”, as he broke Ty Cobb’s all-time hits record (4,191) with an incredible 4,256 hits in his career. How about the awards – 3 World championships; three NL batting titles; two Gold Gloves; and 17 All-Star appearances! And even during his tenure as manager of the Reds (1984-1989), Rose had a winning percentage of .525. But for me, the memories extend well beyond the numbers – his patented head-first slide into third base; his sprinting to first base after being walked: and his spiking the baseball into the turf when he fielded the last out of an inning. Loved by his Reds fans, despised by all others. He brought excitement to the game like no other.

Pujols is the best natural hitter I’ve ever seen. Great numbers – 703 HRs, 2,218 RBIs, 3,384 hits, and a .296 lifetime batting average for a power hitter.  He was an 11-time All-Star, and twice led the NL in HRs and once each in batting average, doubles, and RBIs. Albert was also a two-time Gold Glover at first base. What I remember most about him is that you stopped what you were doing to see him bat. When he strolled to the plate, it was not the time to be in a concession line at Busch Stadium nor was it the time to run to the kitchen to grab a snack at home. His batting stroke was a thing of beauty. At his retirement from the game in 2022, he had moved into second place all-time for career RBIs and total bases. A generational talent to say the least.

PCA is now my player to see play every chance I get. The problem is that he is just exciting as a defender than as an offensive talent, allowing little time for in-game snacks. Selected in the first round of the 2020 MLB Draft by the Mets, New York sent him to Chicago in exchange for Javier Baez in 2023. In both of his first two full seasons with the Cubs (2025 and 2026), PCA made the NL All-Star squad. His offensive numbers this season with a month to go are impressive – 38 HRs, 91 RBIs, .284 batting average, and 32 stolen bases. Recently, he became the first player since 1957 with a leadoff HR on the first pitch he saw and a walk-off HR on the last one. Defensively, there’s no one better in the game. If an opposing player hits a ball anywhere between left center and right center, count it as an out. PCA is the ultimate five tool player.

There have been some other great, five tool players – Roberto Clemente, Ken Griffey, Jr., and Barry Bonds, to name the best of the best. It’s certainly early in PCA’s career, but his comparable centerfielder in baseball history is Willie Mays. The “Say Hey Kid” is the best example of five tools, a rare combination of hit for power and average, speed on the basepaths, and exemplary fielding and throwing. All you need to do is to check Mays’ career statistics – 660 HRs (led the NL four times); 1,909 RBIs (5-time leader in slugging percentage); 3,293 hits; lifetime batting average of .301 (batted over .300 with 100+ RBIs ten times); led the league in stolen bases four times and triples three times; and 12 Gold Gloves (even though there were no gold gloves handed out in Mays’ first five seasons). For PCA to be mentioned in this group is quite the compliment.

So what’s the case for Shohei Ohtani’s bid for his fifth Most Valuable Player award (previously, twice in the AL in 2021 and 2023, and in his only two seasons as a Dodger, 2024 and 2025)?  In 2026 Ohtani’s numbers also jump off the page – 30 HRs, 80 RBIs, .280 batting average, and 10 stolen bases. Shohei though adds another dimension, pitching! In 2026, he has an 8-2 record and a 1.79 ERA. Detractors might point out though that he has pitched only 85.2 innings this year due to injury. Defense isn’t really playing a part since he is the LA designated hitter. Until Ohtani gets back on the mound which is expected in the next week or so, PCA has the clear advantage from the five tool lens.

It doesn’t have to be just an eye test though, because baseball experts like to lean on a widely accepted, advanced baseball statistic, wins above replacement, or “WAR”.  This is an estimate of the total number of wins a player contributes to a team compared to a hypothetical, replacement-level player. WAR measures batting, fielding, and positional adjustments into a single number. As baseball heads into September this week, PCA’s WAR is at the top of the league, at 9.1, while Ohtani trails in second place at 6.9. Lots of baseball left to play, but WAR gives the nod to PCA.

Draft Kings (yes, an interesting source, but it does show how the betting public feels) has the PCA vs. Ohtani NL MVP race as “neck to neck”. In one of my prior articles on this blog, titled “On the Fence”, I discussed whether Pete Rose should be admitted into Baseball’s Hall of Fame posthumously. Even with my Reds hometown background, I remain on the proverbial fence on the issue. But as to this year’s NL MVP race, it is for me an “easy call”.  Put me in the MVPete corner!

Until next Monday,

your Baseball Bench Coach

Debuts

In February 1999 I attended the Reds baseball fantasy camp in Sarasota, Florida. The camp provided me with the opportunity to be coached by and play against former Reds players. Every day that week I pitched during the day and did some sort of social event at night with the former Reds. It was truly Baseball Heaven (the name of the camp). All 72 campers were invited to a reunion that August at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati and given the chance to play on an actual MLB diamond. About 300 people were in attendance that morning, including my young family. I pitched one inning in the game and didn’t allow a run. Admittedly, I was awestruck at being on a Big league mound.  I remember at first thinking home plate was farther from the mound than usual then realizing it was the 50,000 seats of the ballpark that were intimidating me. I’ll never forget that one time debut.

About a month later, on September 18, 1999, Jim Morris of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, made his MLB debut. His story, captured in one of my favorite baseball movies “The Rookie”, was one of a promising pitcher who didn’t get a chance early in life but found redemption and a 95 mph fastball at 35 years old. Morris, portrayed by Dennis Quaid in the movie, was a high school science teacher and baseball coach when his players became quite amazed at how hard he could throw during batting practice. The players proposed that if the team made the state playoffs, Morris would attend a Devil Rays tryout. They did, and he did, and he quickly moved up the ladder in the minor leagues. His MLB debut was in front of about 30,000 fans, including about a hundred family members and friends from his Texas hometown. One of the best lines in the movie is when he arrived on the mound and said that he “never even played in a stadium that had an upper deck”.  He too was awestruck.

Last weekend a Memphis Redbirds outfielder, Joshu Baez, was called up from the Cardinals AAA team to the Big leagues. Going from 10,000 seat AutoZone Park in Memphis to a sold-out Wrigley Field to play against St. Louis’ long-time rivals, the Cubs, was clearly not too big for Baez. In his first three at-bats against Chicago’s ace Matthew Boyd, he hit a four-seamer, changeup, and curveball, all for home runs. Joshua became the first player in MLB history to hit a home run in his first three at-bats in his MLB debut. Quite a debut it was, as Baez led his Cardinals to an 8-4 win with his three homers and five RBIs. Two players previously, Bob Nieman and Keith McDonald, each had  homered in their first two MLB at-bats, but nothing like this. Baez’ cleats, borrowed from Cardinals teammate, Blaze Jordan, were shipped off to Cooperstown that night to memorialize the feat.

In researching the list of MLB players who hit a home run in his first MLB at-bat, I saw some very unfamiliar names. Indeed, it’s not a who’s who of MLB legends. I did see one name though that stood out, Aaron Judge (as I guess he always does). A first-round selection by the Yankees in the 2013 draft, he debuted on August 13, 2016, by crushing a 446-foot HR at Yankee Stadium against Tampa Bay. Quite a debut by the 6 feet, 7 inches New York star. It was a sign of good things to come, as Judge hit 52 homers in 2017 and won the AL Rookie of the Year Award. Five years later, in 2022, the big slugger set the all-time AL single season home run record with 62, surpassing Yankee great Roger Maris’ 61 HRs record set in 1961.

Of the many MLB debuts of note, there is of course the story of a player on the other end of the height spectrum, the diminutive Eddie Gaedel in 1951. St. Louis Browns’ owner, Bill Veeck, who went on to become the owner of the Indians and White Sox as well, was always up for a good gimmick. Veeck signed 3 feet, 7 inches Goedel for one plate appearance in the second game of an August doubleheader. Eddie, whose jersey number was “1/8”, walked on four consecutive pitches and was quickly replaced by a pinch runner. It would be quite a debut, but certainly a short stint, in baseball for him as it would be his only appearance in MLB. His jersey, not his shoes, landed in the St. Louis Hall of Fame. 

On the north side of Chicago there was another debut of note, albeit a very tragic one. Adam Greenberg, a Cubs player who had risen in the ranks of the Chicago farm system, debuted on July 9, 2005, at Wrigley Field. Unfortunately, Greenberg was hit in the head on the first pitch of his first plate appearance, resulting in a compound skull fracture. He became one of two players in MLB history to be hit by a pitch in their only plate appearance without ever taking the field. Over the years Greenberg struggled to get back on the field, signing a one-year contract with the Miami Marlins for a three-pitch strikeout in 2012. He later signed a minor league deal with the Orioles but never returned to the field.

Amazingly, on the Sunday following Joshua Baez’ debut last weekend, a Detroit Tigers’ outfielder, Brett Callahan, also made quite an MLB debut splash. Callahan tripled and drove in two runs on the first pitch of his career. He became the first Detroit hitter to triple in his first at-bat since Bill Irwin accomplished the feat on May 18, 1912, against the Philadelphia Athletics. Irwin would be playing in his only MLB game of his career, since he was one of the Tigers’ emergency players when the team went on strike that day to protest the suspension of Tiger legend, Ty Cobb. Quite a way to get into the record books.

On August 13, less than two weeks ago, we witnessed the debut of the newly improved Field of Dreams in Dyersville, Iowa. The Phillies defeated the Twins in a lopsided game, 7-1. Philadelphia slugger Kyle Schwarber, who always has a flair for the dramatic, clobbered two home runs into the corn fields, bolstering his MLB lead in HRs. The moment I’ll remember most though is the entrance of the players and 26 Hall of Famers walking out of the corn fields into the ballpark in vintage uniforms.

Those same corn fields were the scene of a final debut of note from another great baseball movie, the “Field of Dreams”.  I’m sure you will recall the storyline of Archibald “Moonlight” Graham. Graham, a physician, appeared as a right fielder in a single major league game on June 29, 1905, for the New York Giants.  Burt Lancaster played the role in the movie, as he made a second debut of sorts in one of the great time-travel scenes in film writing. Another successful debut in baseball folklore.

Until next Monday,

your Baseball Bench Coach

Too Much

Fifty years ago, a high school baseball manager relied on some simple data inputs. He brought to the game a sheet divided with a line down the middle for balls and strikes. There were also seven columns for the seven innings of the game. The last day’s pitcher who was tasked with charting the pitches would tabulate the pitches in the various columns and make it available to the manager between innings. The manager might also have the team’s scorebook to scour if there had been a matchup between the teams earlier in the season. Sometimes he might get lucky if the local newspaper ran a scoreline about the other team in the past couple weeks. Pretty basic stuff, but they learned to work with what information they had.

MLB managers back then didn’t have a whole lot more in term of data analytics. It was very old school. Teams would have a couple advance scouts to see opposing teams play in the weeks leading up to the series at hand. Managers would see who’s hot and who’s not in those reports, but not that much more. Some of the greatest managers the game has ever seen, Walter Alston, Gene Mauch, and Sparky Anderson would manage primarily by experience, baseball intuition, and sometimes just plain hunches. One of the all-time best, Baltimore’s Earl Weaver, a three-time Manager of the Year and 1970 World Series champion, described his role as staying out of the players way. Indeed, he was famous for playing for the big inning, a big home run to win the day. Earl might have fit in nicely to today’s cadre of managers.

Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, written by Michael Lewis in 2003, changed the game from an analytical standpoint. Billy Beane served as the Oakland Athletics general manager from 1997-2015. He was in a word, revolutionary. The book illustrates how Beane’s approach took a low-budget team to the playoffs in 2002 and 2003. He brought sabermetrics and statistical analysis to the game, replacing old school theories. For Beane, it was all about finding players who could add value to winning games. Hitters should be measured by on-base and slugging percentages, not the traditional batting average, RBIs and HRs. Teams began to use data analytics in drafting players, game preparation, and game management. Team executives, managers, and coaches who could effectively use the new data points became the norm.

Baseball has come a long way in the last twenty years in terms of data analytics and use of technology. With the advent of the automatic balls strikes (ABS) system this year, we now have a new dynamic in calling balls and strikes. Technology is literally looking over our shoulders. MLB has had to rewrite the strike zone to accommodate ABS. The zone starts at 27% of a batter’s height and stretches to 53.5%, top to bottom. In width, the ABS zone is, of course, 17 inches wide, matching the width of home plate. It’s incredibly precise, as evidenced by the strike zone box you see on television and on ballpark scoreboards. And with just about 40 games left in the season, it seems to be really working. Catchers and hitters for the most part know just when to use it, saving the challenges for key at-bats later in the games. It’s time sensitive, dramatic, and kind of fun.

Players prepare themselves for game day action with an assortment of technology to give them an advantage. Biometric arm and leg sleeves measure joint angles, movement symmetry, and muscle load. There are “smart garments” to use, including shirts and shorts embedded with ECG and breathing sensors. GPS vests track speed and acceleration, while multisport watches (Garmin Fenix is an example) can be worn to map running routes, pace, and elevation. Smart insoles are inserted into shoes to track stride. And after a workout, recovery compression is utilized to boost circulation. The players are athletes with several data points to track performance. It’s a whole new ballgame. 

As a fan, I’m sure your head is spinning like mine when the commentators themselves use new lingo to describe performance. Indeed, ballparks now have launch monitors which are portable radar or camera devices that track hitting and pitching metrics and give the commentators loads of information to relate. There is no such thing as a “hard hit ball” anymore, but rather you get the exit velocity of the baseball and the speed of the bat. Home runs are not just measured in feet but in launch angles. My favorite one is spin rate, a measure of how fast a pitched ball rotates in revolutions per minute upon release. It’s no longer just a “sinking fastball” but you need to know the rpms involved. Crazy, new info.

One of the more interesting ESPN baseball analysts is Rob Friedman, aka the “PitchingNinja”. His new book published just this year, Unhittable: How Technology, Mavericks, and Innovators Engineered Baseball’s New Era of Pitching Dominance, is the current rage in the game. In his book, Friedman explores how data, AI, high-speed cameras, and modern training labs have transformed pitching in baseball. Pitching experts like Tom House are leading the technological surge, and today’s stars, such as Paul Skenes, are following closely.

There are aids for managers and coaches as well. The best-known product is the Edgertronic High-Speed Camera, which can capture 500 to 1,000 frames per second, giving pitching instructors information on finger pressure, release points, and seam orientation in ultra-slow motion to optimize pitch design. The more I explored this topic, I found myself asking, is this too much? Can’t we just play and watch the game of baseball I used to know?

Most recently, two divergent answers to the “too much “ question came into play. MLB decided to put limits on iPad use in the dugout. I’m sure you’ve seen your favorite players between innings or after an at-bat go immediately to an iPad to see what went wrong. The Mets, not that they were getting an advantage in the win-loss column, were using the iPads to run AI to assist in strategy decisions. MLB has said no to that for now.

Meanwhile, the Angels this past week fired one of the most respected pitching coaches in the game, Mike Maddux, along with his assistant and the bullpen coach, seemingly for not being up to speed with the technological advances in pitching.  When I read the story, I was reminded of Mike’s brother, Greg Maddux, who effectively used his own baseball savvy, not technology, in his pathway to the Hall of Fame.

One of my favorite baseball expressions is that games are won or lost based upon “how you play between the lines”.  I’m not too sure anymore.

Until next Monday,

your Baseball Bench Coach

Open Arms

One of the great joys in working at Wrigley Field is seeing the smiles of guests as they experience, maybe for the first time, the beautiful infield diamond, the green grass of the outfield, and the wonderful smells of the ballpark (grilled hotdogs and onions) that await them. We call it America’s pastime for a reason; in Chicago fans have been entering ballpark gates with amazement for 150 years now. For those who are bringing with them a senior, family member, friend, or child with accessibility needs, the smiles seem even wider because today ballparks are open for everyone to experience. And speaking of joy, another one of mine has been working with a great colleague, Chuck Young, former president of the Hadley School for the Blind. Chuck has taken much pride in overseeing the accessibility programs of Wrigley and Sloan Park in Mesa, Arizona. Let’s take a walk with Chuck as we open our arms to guests at the ballpark.

Your tickets to the game pave the way to a day of fun. If you have accessibility needs, it’s more important than ever to make the right choice. MLB teams are staffed with Fan and Guest Services personnel ready to answer questions about seating. They pride themselves in helping guests find the accommodations needed to enjoy a game. Before hitting that purchase button, you will want to know the basics – where is the wheelchair-accessible seating; can companions sit together; how close are the nearby elevators, restrooms, and concessions; is there parking for those with accessibility needs; and are there steps or ramps to navigate. If you do hit the purchase button and your ticket choice was not the best one for you, there’s always the possibility to make changes. Just ask.

When I think of going to a ballgame, what I truly want is to have some time to relax. If you have accessibility needs, that needs to be front and center on your pre-game planning efforts. Bottom line, allow some extra time. The ballpark parking lots and entrance gates will be very busy close to first pitch. Most ballparks open gates 90 minutes before game time, so the best approach might be to arrive early. This will enable you and your companion not to worry about being rushed and truly take advantage of ballpark personnel ready to assist you. Never say no to ride share services that will drop you off at the ballpark gate. When you are in the ballpark, it’s also a good idea to get acclimated to the new surroundings, grab some food and drink, and take in the pre-game festivities. Just relax.

There are numerous accessibility considerations, but let’s start with the most recurring one, mobility. Going to a ballgame means navigating distance. Whether you are in a wheelchair (ballparks have them at the gate for employees to assist you), power wheelchair, mobility scooter, walker, or cane, getting around is key. You need to take into account the realities of attending an event with thousands of others – concourse traffic can be heavy; restrooms may require long waits in line; elevators are crowded between innings; and ramps are often lengthy. Importantly though, ballpark personnel are there to help. Ballparks, such as Wrigley which was named “Best in services with guests with disabilities” in a 2024 MLB survey, train personnel to recognize instances when help is needed. Just speak up.

For guests with autism or sensory sensitivities, a ballpark can be challenging with crowd noise, music, flashing lights, and the suddenness of the cheering as part of the environment. You will find some helpful aids at most ballparks, including quiet or sensory rooms, sensory bags, noise-reducing headphones, and fidget items. Nowadays, ballpark personnel are trained in this area to at least recognize the issues and point the guests in the right direction. Guests are encouraged to bring with them headphones, favorite comfort items, and sunglasses and hats.  The goal is to make every fan’s experience a welcoming one.

Often, guests have hearing and vision accessibility needs. Many ballparks provide accommodations for fans who are deaf, hard of hearing, blind, or low vision. You might find closed captioning or sign language interpretation if requested in advance, audio descriptions, and braille or large-print materials. Some other services include listening devices to hear “play by play” in real time and even captioning on scoreboards. Ballparks have come a long way in addressing these needs. You might be surprised what is indeed available.

There are an assortment of other accessibility needs as well. Guests with medical conditions are permitted to bring oxygen equipment, insulin supplies, EpiPens, CPAP-related equipment, feeding supplies, and prescription medication. And not everyone’ s diet can withstand two hotdogs and a 20-ounce beer. Food and beverage options at the ballpark can most often accommodate dietary restrictions of guests. In addition, accessible restrooms (family or gender neutral) are offered throughout the ballpark, and you may even find adult changing facilities and companion-related restrooms in some. If you need your service animal to come to the game with you, please check the team’s policy beforehand just in case. 

I call ballparks my “happy place”, and that usually means something different for every fan. Your happy experience might include things outside the lines. If you have accessibility needs, just pace yourself. Take as much in as you can but don’t overdo it. Maybe watching batting practice, visiting the team store, or just snapping some fun photos is your version of a happy time. That’s okay, not everyone can be there for every pitch. Leave early if you want. There will always be a next time for ballpark personnel to welcome you.

Every disability is different, and every person’s needs are unique. Planning ahead, communicating with team personnel about your needs, taking advantage of a ballpark’s accessibility accommodations, and simply being flexible will make your day one to remember. Every fan cherishes “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” but in different ways. Let us open our arms to you.

Until next Monday,

your Baseball Bench Coach (with sincere gratitude to my wonderful co-author, Chuck Young)

Big Name Hunting

One of my former clients was a big game hunter. His favorite office photo was of his African campsite one night with around 30 sets of eyes peering from the nearby trees. They were cheetahs ready to pounce. At 5:00 p.m. Çentral today, August 3, those will be the eyes of MLB fans evaluating  trade deadline moves made by the 30 MLB general managers. Let’s take a look at some Big Name Hunting at or around the trade deadline in MLB history:

Johnny Cueto and Ben Zobrist. After Kansas City’s somewhat lackluster first half in 2015, GM Dayton Moore acquired Johnny Cueto from the Reds on July 26 and Ben Zobrist from  the Athletics on July 28 for prospects. It’s exactly what his Royals needed. Cueto had a brilliant second half leading the KC pitching staff and Zobrist stabilized the team with clutch hitting and sensational defense. Cueto threw a complete game gem in Game 2 of the World Series against the Mets. Kansas City was soon celebrating its 5-game dominance of the Mets, capturing the Royals’ first world championship in 30 years.

Max Scherzer. At the Trade Deadline in 2021, the Nationals dangled their ace righthander, Max Scherzer, out there looking for a big return. Washington was still fresh off its 2019 world championship behind Max but looking to rebuild. The Dodgers landed Scherzer on July 30 with a boatload of prospects in return. Scherzer led LA into the NL playoffs and finished third in the NL Cy Young. The eventual world champs, the Braves, ended Dodger hopes in the NLCS. Scherzer’s tenure with LA was short lived. Among the notable players Washington received in the trade were its current star catcher, Keibert Ruiz, and pitcher Josiah Gray. Gray made the 2023 NL All-Star team but has suffered from arm injuries since then.

CC Sabathia. The big lefthander had a wonderful MLB career, spanning 8 seasons with the Indians (2001-2008) and 11 seasons with the Yankees (2009-2019). It’s what happened in between that matters here. Cleveland, knowing that CC’s free agency was pending at the end of 2008, sent him to Milwaukee at the trade deadline for prospects. Sabathia had quite the second half, incredibly delivering 7 complete games out of the 17 he started. He led the Brew Crew to the NL playoffs, Milwaukee’s first postseason appearance in 26 years. The next season CC went to the Yankees and led them to a World Series title.

Lou Brock. In 1964 the Trade Deadline, June 15, was a lot earlier than it is today. That day will always go down in Cardinals history as one to remember, but in Chicago one to forget. The Cubs traded Brock to St. Louis as part of a six-player trade. Chicago’s highlight player in return was a pitcher named Ernie Broglio. Brock would take the Cardinals to three World Series in the 1960s (winning two, 1964 and 1967), become an all-time great base stealer (938 total), and a first ballot Hall of Famer. Broglio, not so much. When you hear “Brock for Broglio” nowadays it is simply the catchphrase for a lopsided deal.

Justin Verlander. I will always have strong reservations about how the Astros captured the 2017 world championship. There is a good, non-trash can story that came out of it though involving Verlander. Justin had spent his first 12 ½ seasons with the Tigers, capturing the AL Rookie of the Year Award in 2006 and first of three Cy Youngs in 2011. He was dealt to Houston at the Trade Deadline in 2017, and quickly became the anchor of the Astros pitching staff. Houston beat Boston in the ALDS and the Yankees in the ALCS (as Verlander was named ALCS MVP). In a thrilling seven-game World Series with the Dodgers, the Astros won it all. It would be the first of two world championships for Verlander (the other, in 2022).

Manny Ramirez. Manny will always be a legend in Cleveland where he started (1993-2000) and in Boston (2001-2008) where he helped the Red Sox end a long Series drought out in 2004 and then again in 2007. What you might not remember is that Ramirez is a key figure in Dodger blue history as well. He was traded to LA at the 2008 Trade Deadline and his bat became instantly hot. In just 53 games after the trade, Ramirez hit .396 with 17 HRs.  Manny sparked the Dodgers to its NLCS appearance.

Tom Seaver. I’ll never forget this one. On the night of June 15, 1977, I was at Cincinnati’s Riverfront Stadium with friends when the news arrived that the Mets had traded Seaver to the Reds for four players (one of whom, the late Pat Zachary, would be my fantasy baseball coach in 1999 and a great friend). The Big Red Machine was fresh off its World Series wins in 1975 and 1976.  Cincinnati celebrated big time landing Seaver. It no doubt meant that a three-peat would happen in October. While Seaver enjoyed a very good second half in 1977 ultimately winning 21 games for the season, the Dodgers spoiled all of the joy by winning the NL West and National League.

Pete Crow-Armstrong. Sometimes you just have to know when to say goodbye. The Cubs won the Series in 2016 behind its core of Rizzo, Bryant, and Lester, but there were some new faces that helped as well. One of them was Javier Baez. Baez in his early years played shortstop exceptionally,  batted with power, and ran the bases like no one else in the NL. His soft spot was clearly a slider away. In a 2021 Trade Deadline deal, Baez was sent to the Mets with others for an unknown centerfielder, PCA. Pete has become one of the great stars in baseball today, a prime candidate for the 2026 NL Most Valuable Player award.

Jake Arrieta. One of the most important mid-season trades that led to the Cubs 2016 world championship happened three years earlier on July 2, 2013. In a non-descript trade Chicago sent Scott Feldman and Steve Clevenger to Baltimore for pitchers Jake Arrieta and Pedro Strop. In 2015, Arrieta led the MLB in wins with 22, pitched a no-hitter, and won the NL Cy Young. He followed that with a  2016 All-Star appearance and helped lead the Cubs finally to baseball’s promised land. You just never know when that non Big Name Hunted might become a linchpin to success.

Tarik Skubal. You might have thought that this Big Name would be closer to the top of the list. I just couldn’t do it. Before landing with the Dodgers in a trade with the Tigers on Saturday night, Skubal might have been the biggest pitching option we have seen available at the Trade Deadline in quite some time. Tarik has won the last two AL Cy Young awards. This year he is sporting a 2.79 ERA with 116 strikeouts in 96 innings and just 14 walks. He’s literally at the top of his game. The Tigers received in return three prospects from Los Angeles, including their number one, outfielder Zyhir Hope. I guess hope is the key word for MLB teams not named the Dodgers. LA is certainly playing by the rules with this star-studded team and enormous payroll, but it leaves a disappointing taste in the mouths of all baseball fans. The end result might just be that the other MLB owners simply say enough is enough, and we won’t see baseball until long after the December 1 expiration of the collective bargaining agreement.

You just never know which side of the Big Name Hunting your favorite team might be on! Good luck at the Trade Deadline today!

Until next Monday,

your Baseball Bench Coach

Smoke

When my oldest daughter was a sophomore in high school, the senior boy across the street played on the varsity baseball team. His family knew I loved baseball, so they invited me to attend a game.  What none of us knew then was that the junior starting pitcher that day would become one of the great stars of his generation, Max Scherzer. At the game, I saw several people behind the home plate backstop with “jugs” radar guns, measuring the speed of this young phenom’s pitches. It was a mismatch throughout as the opponent’s hitters would shake their heads returning to the dugout with another strikeout. Max could really throw “smoke”.

A fastball has always been the most common pitch thrown by a baseball pitcher. In addition to being called smoke, an overpowering fastball has been deemed “heat”, “gas”, and even “cheese”. There are different types of fastballs. A four-seam fastball is when a pitcher places his fingers across all four seams of the baseball with his thumb to the side. A lot of hurlers use it to get ahead on the count as a first pitch or often to get a much-needed strike when the count is 3-0. A four-seamer tends to rise upward and is typically thrown at the highest speed of any pitch in one’s arsenal.

A two-seamer, by contrast, is when a pitcher grips the ball with their index and middle finger parallel to the seams instead of perpendicular to them. The ball tends to sink since you are throwing it with more of a downward motion. It’s a great pitch with runners on base, especially first, because the sinker often causes batters to hit ground balls resulting in double plays. Nowadays, you often hear baseball broadcasters talk about “cutters”. It’s thrown with a four-seam grip but slightly to the side of the ball. A cutter is not thrown as fast as a four-seamer but its spin causes more movement at the plate.

MLB history has had a full plate of fastball flamethrowers. Two of the legends had some pretty cool nicknames. Walter Johnson, who played his entire 21-year career with the Washington Senators (1907-1927), was known as “Big Train”. Among his baseball accomplishments, Johnson is the all-time leader in shutouts (110), led the American League in strikeouts for 12 seasons, and is fourth all-time in complete games (531). Big Train could blow it by you. I recall several years ago visiting a small baseball museum in Van Meter, Iowa, the home of Bob Feller. Among his nicknames were “Bullet Bob”, “Rapid Robert”, and “the heater from Van Meter”. The museum shared the story of this Hall of Fame pitcher for the Indians (1936-1956) who led the AL in wins six times and in strikeouts seven times. Stan Musial deemed him the “fastest and best pitcher I ever saw”.

Growing up, my pitching hero was Jim Maloney of the Reds. He was one of the hardest throwing pitchers in the 1960s, a decade that included fireballers Sandy Koufax, Juan Marichal, Bob Gibson, and Ferguson Jenkins. One of my keepsakes is a Maloney autographed baseball bat. Not only could he bring the heat, but he could hurt you at the plate as well. And in the next decade, the 1970s, the fastball that every MLB hitter feared was thrown by J.R. Richard, who starred for the Astros. He was a dominating presence on the mound at 6’8”. Johnny Bench found him to be the toughest pitcher he ever faced.

More recently, two names stand out, Nolan Ryan and Roger Clemens. The “Ryan Express” was just that, a pitcher who consistently threw fastballs clocking over 100 mph well into his mid-40s. His 28-year career set all kinds of records – 5,714 strikeouts, a lifetime batting average against of .204, 11-time strikeout leader, and 7 career no-hitters. Clemens, who played 24 MLB seasons mostly with the Yankees and Red Sox, also had a remarkable career. In 1986 and 1996, he struck out 20 batters in a single game. He finished his career with 4,672 strikeouts, third all-time.

It’s impossible to go through the list of fastball aces without mentioning a couple relievers. I guess it starts with Mariano Rivera, who starred for the Yankees for 19 seasons (1995-2013). Rivera’s out pitch was his 95 mph cut fastball, one of the toughest pitches to hit in baseball history. It paved a path to his MLB career leading saves (652), games completed (952), and the only player to be elected unanimously into the Hall of Fame. Another reliever, Aroldis Chapman, who has starred for the Reds, Yankees, and other teams, is the hardest throwing closer ever. The “Cuban Missile” is still active, but among his accomplishments to date is that he struck out a batter in 40 consecutive relief appearances. In 2010, he recorded the fastest pitch officially recognized by the MLB at 105.8 mph.

Pitching today is all about speed. Over the last 20 years at first glance the trend was subtle for the average MLB 4-seam fastball – 92 mph (2008), 93 mph (2015), and 94 mph (2023). It’s now exploding. Right-handed pitchers are averaging 95.2 in 2026, and right-handed relievers are at 95.6 mph. The Mets’ Marcus Semien said: “Definitely expecting anybody you’ve never heard of to throw a 95-plus.” Jacob Misiorowski, the Brewers’ ace at just 24 years old, is averaging 100.5 mph this year, up from 99.3 mph as a rookie.

During the 2012 season, I happened to be at a restaurant in the Banks close to Cincinnati’s Great American Ballpark when a red sports car pulled up in valet with the license plate 105 mph. We all knew who would be stepping out of the car, Aroldis Chapman! If you happen to be at a restaurant near Milwaukee’s American Family Field someday soon and a car pulls up with the plate 110 mph, you’ll know that Mis is dining with you.

Until next Monday,

your Baseball Bench Coach

Cycles

Not many baseball fans are treated in person to a pitcher’s no-hit performance. Indeed, there have been to date only 327 no-hitters in MLB history. When one is going on, ESPN flashes the news as does your favorite sports apps. It’s a pretty big deal. Yet, there is a similar feat in baseball, which has happened just over 350 times since 1882 without as much fanfare, a cycle! And in the span of less than a month this season, Chicago fans were treated to one on both the North and South sides.

What is a cycle? It’s when one batter in the same game hits a single, double, triple, and home run. MLB stat gurus project that the probability of an average MLB player hitting for a cycle against an average team in a game is about 0.0059%. With 30 MLB teams, this equates to around 2 and ½ cycles in a season. The most ever cycles hit in an MLB season was eight (1993 and 2009).

There are a couple cycles which have garnered names: (1) a natural cycle, where the batter hits a single, double, triple, and home run in that order; and (2) a reverse cycle, hitting one in reverse of that order. More often not, a batter doesn’t accomplish a cycle in any exact order. The key to even thinking a cycle might be on the way is when a batter triples early in the game, by far the most difficult of hits in a game.

Hitting one cycle in your MLB career is quite a feat, but how about multiple times? Three well known players have done it three times, two of whom are still active. Hall of Famer Adrian Beltre, whose 21-year MLB career as a third baseman with the Dodgers, Mariners, Red Sox, and Rangers (1998-2018), heads the list for retired players (there are two others). His career statistics are eye popping – 3,166 hits, 477 HRs, and five Gold Gloves. His crowning achievement though is hitting for the cycle in 2008, 2012, and 2015.

Two current players, Christian Yelich and Trea Turner, already have three cycles, and may someday soon achieve four or more. Yelich began his career as a Marlin (2013-2017), but has donned the Brew Crew uniform since 2018 where he has starred for Milwaukee. A powerful lefthanded hitter, who is leading off nowadays, can spray the ball to all fields. His 2018 NL MVP season found him hitting for two cycles, and a third one came in 2022. Çrazily, all of his cycles were against the Reds. Turner, who has played for three teams (Nationals, Dodgers, and Phillies) in his 12-year career, also bats lead off but hits for power from the right side. His last of three cycles also came in 2022. 

Most recently, we can add Cubs centerfielder Pete Crow-Armstrong to the cycle list. On June 15, in a game against the Rockies at Wrigley Field, PCA became the first player to hit for a cycle in 2026 and the 13th in Cubs history. His cycle was Chicago’s first reverse cycle, an HR leading off the game, a triple in the 3rd inning, a double in the 5th, and a clean single to right in the 7th. As he accepted the crowd’s standing ovation while on first base, one play later he was picked off the bag by Colorado pitcher, Brennan Bernardino. In a word, humbling.

As PCA so often does, he rebounded from his baserunning error later in the game in his last at-bat. With the Cubs down 4-2 in the bottom of the eighth, he came to the plate with runners on second and third. Fighting off pitch after pitch, he finally lifted a fly ball to the outfield scoring a run. Chicago walked off the win against Colorado in the ninth, 5-4. Cubs manager Craig Counsell praised PCA’s sacrifice fly over his cycle in post-game remarks: “Just having a good at-bat and trying to hit the ball, square the ball up and see what happens. That was the right at-bat.”

There might have been even a better story on the South Side on July 10. White Sox centerfielder Tristan Peters, who basically has come out of nowhere to lead Chicago in the first half of the season, hit for the cycle in a 14-1 win over the Athletics. His cycle-saving triple came in the seventh inning as he slid headfirst into third base to beat a throw. Quite an accomplishment for a player whose path to the big leagues included a stint with the Savannah Bananas. Talk about bananas, less than 48 hours later, he received a call naming him to the American League All-Star squad.

No-hitters and cycles, both less than 400 times in MLB history, yet treated in different ways. With pitchers now throwing more and more pitches per inning and pitch limits staring in the eyes of managers, it might be that no-hitters become even less common. Maybe your apps will soon start buzzing after only one hit remains for a cycle instead of in the sixth inning of a no-hit game. Like everything in life, baseball goes in cycles.

Until next Monday,

your Baseball Bench Coach

2026 Midsummer Classic

About every summer growing up my family would take a vacation at a small resort in central Tennessee.  My Dad became good friends with the owner.  In 1970 we watched the All-Star Game (ASG) in our cottage.  The game was being played in our hometown, Cincinnati, and at our two-week old ballpark, Riverfront Stadium.  Tied 4-4 going into the bottom of the 12th inning, the game ended when the Cubs’ Jim Hickman singled to centerfield and Pete Rose of the Reds came charging toward home.  The ball beat Rose to the plate but Pete bulldozed the AL catcher, Ray Fosse of the Indians, who dropped the ball allowing the winning run to score.  The next morning at breakfast the resort owner sat down at our table and remarked that Rose was “one hard-nosed guy”.  None of us knew then that the game-ending play would be one of the more controversial moments in ASG history, an All-Star catcher suffering a career-changing injury in a seemingly meaningless game.

Tomorrow night the American and National Leagues face off in Philadelphia for the 96th edition of the All-Star Game. One can’t actually deem it the “annual” game. Just six years ago, due to the pandemic and travel restrictions, there was no ASG at all, the second time that the game wasn’t played since the first game in 1933 at Comiskey Park in Chicago.  Travel restrictions during World War II also played a part in cancelling the 1945 game. Two All-Star games were played each season from 1959 to 1962.  Amazingly, the AL holds a slim 48-45-2 advantage in the 95 games played.  All-Star wins have come in streaks.  The American League won 12 of the first 16 encounters.  From 1950 to 1987, the NL ruled with a record of 33-8-1, including 19 of 20 wins from 1963 to 1982.  The AL has turned the tables since 1988, including a 13-game unbeaten streak from 1997 to 2009. Out of the 95 games played to date, the American League holds just a 388 to 380 run advantage.

The early years of the Midsummer Classic featured star players playing for the pride of their respective leagues.  The only other times when AL and NL players would match up against each other before the modern era of interleague play were during spring exhibitions and the World Series.  The AL’s adoption of the designated hitter rule in 1973 threw a wrench into the All-Star Game with its new breed of player, the DH. It wasn’t until 1989 that an official DH role was  adopted by MLB into the ASG format, but for several years, until 2010, only in games where the American League was the host team.  Nowadays, the DH has its rightful place in the game since it serves as an easy means to get more pitchers and position players involved. 

In 2002, the All-Star Game, due to the shortage of players, most particularly pitchers, available to continue play, was called a tie after 12 innings by Commissioner Bud Selig.  The decision caused a great uproar at the Milwaukee ballpark that night and a reckoning in baseball.  Were the players and managers still competing for league pride as in the past?  In order to give ASG encounters a competitive boost, it was decided shortly thereafter to give the winning league’s representative the home field advantage in the World Series.  Thinking that this incentive had run its course, MLB abandoned the practice in 2017.

There have been some classic All-Star Games, but two marathons stand out.  During the last season of old Yankee Stadium, 2008, the NL and AL All-Stars battled it out in New York in a back and forth game that lasted 15 innings.  In the 10th and 11th innings, three AL players were thrown out at the plate attempting to score the winning run.  It was not until the bottom of the 15th inning that the American League was finally able to break through with a 4-3 win, as Twins first baseman Justin Morneau raced home on a sacrifice fly.  It tied the 1967 All-Star Game as the longest one played, another 15 inning, low scoring affair.  The ’67 game was one of my earliest images of watching ASG, probably because Tony Perez of the Reds was the MVP.  He hit the game-winning home run as the NL triumphed 2-1.  The pitching stars shone bright that day, as Don Drysdale of the Dodgers got the win and a young New York Mets pitcher, Tom Seaver, recorded the save.

Following the tradition established in 1934, this year the NL will be managed by Dave Roberts, the World Series champion Dodgers skipper, and the AL will be led by pennant winner Toronto Blue Jay’s manager John Schneider.  One interesting exception was in 1965, when Gene Mauch of the Phillies and Al Lopez of the White Sox were tagged to manage their league’s All-Stars, since the 1964 World Series managers (Yankees’ Yogi Berra and Cardinals’ Johnny Keane) left their jobs after their pennant-winning seasons.  The player rosters today (34 players on each roster) are selected in this way:  two phases of fan voting for the starters (8 position players and 1 DH); players vote for 16 players (eight pitchers that includes 5 starters and 3 relievers, and one backup player for each position); and the MLB Commissioner’s office selects 9 additional players for each league, ensuring that every MLB franchise has at least one All-Star player to be showcased. 

Both the AL and NL teams this year are pretty top heavy. The Yankees, Blue Jays, and Rays dominate the American League roster, while the Dodgers, Braves, and hometown Phillies players comprise half of the NL squad. That’s nothing compared to what we’ve seen in the past. In 1957, Cincinnati fans were able to elect 7 Reds players to the NL starting lineup, with the only non-Reds players being Cardinals great Stan Musial.  After a quick investigation by the Commissioner’s office concluded that over half of the fan voting came from Cincinnati and pre-marked ballots were used, MLB removed 2 Reds players and gave starting slots to Willie Mays and Hank Aaron. MLB also removed fan voting for starters until 1969 when it was reinstated.  More recently, Kansas City Royals fans came out in full force with internet voting in 2015, with all eight of its starting position players leading in voting prior to the release of the final vote tally.  MLB stepped in, and cancelled 65 million votes deemed to be fraudulent, and the final AL starting roster included just 3 Royals.

The venue for All-Star Games is another interesting topic.  MLB chooses the site based on a variety of factors – whether there is a new or renovated ballpark; how often and when the team has hosted a game; and until recently, what year it is, odd or even.  Historically, AL teams host in odd-numbered years and NL teams in even.  That has changed somewhat in the past decade, given that the NL hosted four straight games from 2015 to 2018 and will do so again this year, in Philadelphia, and next year, fingers crossed, in Chicago. The Cubs last hosted the ASG in 1990 and its fans outside the ballpark on Waveland Avenue are looking forward to the Home Run Derby in particular. That is, of course, if a 2027 player lockout doesn’t intervene. 

And then there’s the matter of the uniforms for the players. The longstanding tradition has been for the players to sport the uniform of his own team, a display of pride for every fan to know that his or her team is represented in the All-Star Game. The “Tradition Era” began in 1933 and ran to 1996. As MLB apparel sales became a big focus over the past thirty years, game-specific uniforms were made for other ASG events, such as the Home Run Derby. In 2021 we entered the “Nike/Fanatics era” where teams sported themes based on the city locales (the worst was the Arlington, Texas sand/blacked sets). Thank goodness the “Tradition Era” returned last year and going forward.

For me, the All-Star Game is about the big moment, the game or play to remember.  In my mind that’s the 1979 All-Star Game in Seattle and one play in particular. There were 2 outs in the eighth inning with the Angels’ Brian Downing on second base.  The Yankees’ Craig Nettles lined a single to right field, Dave Parker of the Pirates fielded the ball, and Parker threw an absolute rocket to the plate, nailing Downing.  This was just an inning after Parker threw another arrow to third base, retiring a surprised Jim Rice of the Red Sox.  Parker showcased his arm that night, and won the Most Valuable Player award for his defensive efforts. It’s like yesterday to me.  Let’s see what tomorrow night’s showcase of stars brings.

Until next Monday,

your Baseball Bench Coach

P.S.  What’s your favorite All-Star Game moment?

Building Memories

You probably have seen the term “stadium chaser” recently, a fan whose goal is to visit all 30 MLB ballparks. I admit that I have chased some ballparks over the years, but I like to include minor league ballparks on my list as well. In fact, years ago I planned three separate, Midwest baseball trips for each of my three daughters when they became ten years old. Oh, the memories we made, much of it placed in a journal for each of them as a keepsake. Most recently, my ten-year-old grandson and I embarked on a trip of our own. Follow us as we build memories together.

The first stop was in Cincinnati, my hometown. Our afternoon tour of the Reds Hall of Fame and Museum next to Great American Ballpark was memorable. The Reds are celebrating the 50th anniversary of the 1976 World Champions. As you enter the front corridor of the museum, you see many displays about the ’76 team as well as its predecessor world champs, the ’75 squad. Featured are stories about the “Great Eight”, the Reds lineup that dominated baseball during this era. Ascending the staircase to the third level, the arrangement of 4,256 baseballs on the walls is striking. That is the total number, of course, of all-time hits by Pete Rose, a record that is doubtful to be broken. On the third floor you can interact with many of the displays – calling a game from the broadcast booth, building your own electronic baseball card, and listening to advice of former players. Jim Maloney, who was my pitching hero as a little boy, made it very simple in his taped recording – always hold the ball the same way and throw it in the zone.

It was soon time to “play ball”, as the Reds took on the Brewers in a night game at GABP. Our seats were six rows behind the Cincinnati dugout, a fabulous view. My grandson loves to get autographs so he snagged the signature of Reds second baseman Matt McLain about fifteen minutes before first pitch. The proximity of our seats to home plate allowed us to see how important William Contreras, Milwaukee’s All-Star catcher, is to the first place Brewers. He is one of the most baseball savvy players in the game. The Brewers took an early 3-0 lead and seemed to put the game away in the seventh inning when Andrew Vaughn hit a bases clearing three-run pinch hit triple. Down 6-1, the Reds began to chip away and trailed just 6-5 going into the bottom of the ninth. With bases loaded and one out, the Reds hit into a double play to end it. It was the story of the game. The Reds had left 18 runners on base. The result didn’t matter though. We loved every minute of the experience.

The next day we rode to Louisville and toured the Louisville Slugger Museum in the afternoon. It was the highlight stop of the trip. Our guide took us and just four others on a “sweet spot tour” through the baseball factory to see firsthand how bats are made. We learned so much. Louisville Slugger bats were the first to be used by MLB players over a hundred years ago. Although Louisville Sluggers have been made at other spots in the country, nowadays every single one of them is made at the Louisville factory. And get this, it takes only 28 seconds now to make one. Players contract with Louisville Slugger on an exclusive basis or sometimes have other manufacturers make their models as well. The “Bat Vault” holds the 3,000 original, player-model bats. Since Babe Ruth was the 43rd player in MLB with a last name beginning with R who had a Louisville Slugger bat, his model is “R43”.  I could go on and on about this topic, but perhaps will save it for a future blog. It’s a can’t miss tour for baseball fans.

That evening we took a short walk from our hotel to see a Triple-A game between the Louisville Bats (Reds affiliate) and St. Paul Saints (Twins affiliate) at Louisville Slugger Field. Our tour guide at the museum told us to look for Bats employees with red shirts upon entry into the gate so that my grandson could nab a kids on-field activity at the game. We found one, and she selected him as the first ball delivery guy to the mound prior to first pitch.  He was thrilled, but unfortunately the first pitch never happened since the game was called after a two-hour rain delay. We had a blast in any event. My grandson once again did some autograph seeking and secured one for the Saints starting pitcher, Grant Hartwig. The staff entertained the crowd during the rain delay with on top of the dugout dancing and giveaways galore. We received a Bats baseball and jersey launched into the crowd. No game, but a visit to Ehrler’s Ice Cream Parlor (established in 1867) on the way back to the hotel made the evening a success.

Next stop, St. Louis! We arrived early afternoon for a tour of Busch Stadium. Our tour guide took us and about 20 others onto the field for a photo, a visit to the Cardinals dugout, a stop at the Mike Shannon broadcasting booth, and a walk through the Cardinals suites that contain several of the St. Louis world championship trophies. We took a photo in front of the 1982 trophy since I actually attended the series winning Game 7 game 44 years ago. We also visited the Cardinals Hall of Fame museum and listened in on a presentation given by Jeff Suppan, former Cardinals pitcher who was the guest speaker. Suppan was incredibly gracious, signing an autograph for my grandson and discussing pitching with him. His theme was throw strikes, sound familiar?

We waited anxiously for night to fall, as rain storms again threated the start of a Cardinals game vs. the Miami Marlins. Miraculously, the system moved on and first pitch was right on time. Our seats were in the 15th row behind home. Miami was on a hot streak (they led MLB in winning percentage in June) and started one of their aces, Max Meyer. He threw seven shutout innings. We also got to see Otto Lopez for Miami, who leads MLB with a .332 batting average. The Cardinals countered with one of their own top starters, Michael McGreevy, and their star rookie second baseman, JJ Wetherholt. The game was very well played, a pitcher’s duel, going into the eighth inning with no score. Suddenly, we witnessed the grounds crew sprinting onto the field to put the tarpolin on as a downpour came. After a less than 30-minute delay, the teams were back on the field. The storm seemed to turn the tide of the game, as Miami struck for four late inning runs. Another wonderful night at the ballpark.

The next day we took the last leg of our 1,000 mile road trip back to Chicago (with side trips to St. Louis’ famous Arch and the Lincoln Museum in Springfield, IL, my personal favorite).  We talked about all of the fun we had in the past four days, and I asked my grandson the proverbial question, “what was your favorite part of the trip?” My heart was warmed when he simply responded “being with you”.  If you’ve never done a baseball trip with one of your loved ones, think about doing one. There’s nothing better – baseball, bonding, and simply being together. I’ve been blessed to have had that feeling many times over.

Until next Monday,

your Baseball Bench Coach

Baseball and Dogs

I have three passions in life – baseball, dogs, and coffee, in no particular order. I was drinking my morning coffee this past week while our new golden retriever watched me turn on my laptop. It was time to write my weekly baseball blog but I felt that my pen (or mouse) was running a bit low. I turned to her, “any ideas”? Her warm gaze clearly expressed, “write about me”.  Okay then, let’s give it a shot, “Baseball and Dogs”!

Let’s tackle the subject on the diamond from a pure baseball perspective. There have been a handful of great MLB players with dog nicknames. How about the best of the pack, Fred “Crime Dog” McGriff, a perennial All-Star first baseman who played for six teams (1986-2004).  Nicknamed after “McGruff the Crime Dog”, McGriff was a prolific power hitter, driving in more than 80 RBIs for 15 consecutive seasons. His all-time playoff stats are outstanding – batting average of .303 with 10 HRs and 37 RBIs. Lifetime, he maintained a .284 average while belting 493 HRs and 2,490 RBIs. He had a quite a few tricks in his bag, completing his career third overall in fielding double plays and ninth in assists as a first baseman. McGriff was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2023.

A dog who made the Hall for his pitching exploits was of course Greg “Mad Dog” Maddux, who pitched in 23 seasons for the Cubs and Braves. His overall career was truly remarkable, highlighted clearly by a four-year span (1992-1995) when he won the Cy Young each season, had a 75-29 win-loss record, and recorded an ERA of 1.98. The 1995 season culminated with an Atlanta world championship. Mad Dog (named that for his aggressive style) is only one of ten pitchers who ever achieved more than 300 wins (355) and 3,000 (3,371) strikeouts. Not known as a power pitcher, his crafty way of working pitches around the plate baffled not only batters, but caused home plate umpires to widen the zone often to his benefit. He too was not a one trick show dog, as he won a record 18 Gold Gloves on the mound. Maddux is in the Cubs, Braves, and MLB Hall of Fames, and has his number retired (31) by both the Cubs and Braves.

There are a number of MLB players with strong attachments to their dogs, most notably Shohei Ohtani and his dog “Decoy”, a Kooikerhondje. The Dodgers have made Decoy a fixture at Dodger Stadium, naming him the team’s Most Valuable Pet. You might recall Ohtani receiving the MVP award in 2023 with a young pup Decoy sitting in his lap. Decoy has gone on to have his own line of merchandise and even received an honorary visa by the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo. Decoy has “thrown” a ceremonial first pitch, and was also the subject of a bobblehead giveaway day. I guess you might say he is clearly a Top Dog. 

We even have seen some famous bat dogs. My dog’s personal favorites are Chase, Derby, Rookie, and Dash, four generations of golden retrievers with a minor league team, the Trenton Thunder, formerly a Yankee affiliate.  The dogs are trained to perform all sorts of tasks – retrieve bats from the home plate area; get water for the umpires; and play catch with the fans. Chase, the first of the breed, has always been the most famous. Before his retirement in 2013, Chase was honored at Yankee Stadium. The Thunder threw him a retirement party with the first 2,000 fans receiving a Chase bobblehead. Chase’s offspring have now picked up the pace as bat dogs in his honor.

And then there’s the dog you actually didn’t want to see on the playing surface, “Schottzie”, a huge Saint Bernard who was the Reds mascot during the late 1980s and early 1990s. Schottzie was the family dog of Reds then owner, Marge Schott, who made her money in the car business and came upon the MLB ownership scene with lots and lots of fluff, shall we say. Schott was often seen smoking a cigarette in the on field ownership seats and proudly watching her pup on the field. While Schottzie was cute, there was way too much of him, as he was eventually banned from the game by MLB executives due to complaints from players. Who let the dog out? I guess Marge did.

Nowadays, many ballparks, including MLB ones, host “Bark at the Park” or “Pups in the Park” games, where fans are invited to bring their beloved dogs to the game. It’s always a big hit at Cincinnati’s Great American Ballpark and Chicago’s Rate Field. The games include pet-friendly seating areas, dog parades, giveaways, and pre-game on field activities. My favorite one happens to be at nearby Impact Field, which is the home of an independent league team, the Chicago Dogs. The team opened its gates in 2018 to the fans and dogs, but interestingly, wasn’t named after a dog but rather a hot dog. It’s an easy mistake to make.

Speaking of “hot dogs”, is there a better smell in the world than the aroma of a hot dog freshly made on the grill at a ballpark? I don’t think so.  A couple of the more famous ballpark dogs are the “Chicago-style hot dog” at Wrigley Field and the “Dodger Dog” at Dodger Stadium. The Chicago hot dog has seven toppings with a poppy seed bun – mustard; onion; relish; peppers; tomatoes; pickle; and celery salt, but most importantly, NO KETCHUP! The Dodger Dog is a 10-inch hot dog wrapped in a steamed bun. And please don’t forget the famous sausage races in Milwaukee where Brewer fans are treated with a mascot race among Brat, Polish Sausage, Italian Sausage, Hot Dog, and Chorizo!

So this summer when you are having one of those “dog day afternoons”, think of me and shoot me a topic that you would like me to discuss in an upcoming piece. My dog and I would be grateful.

Until next Monday,

your Baseball Bench Coach

Error Free

My scan of the box scores each morning often focuses on how many earned runs a pitcher gave up or whether there was a key error that changed the game. I’m a huge believer in defense wins or loses games. I think it goes back to a city tournament game I played in at age 11 when I made a throwing error on a critical play. I still hear my manager saying “we just can’t beat ourselves”. If you take a close look at the error column in today’s box scores, you might be surprised about how few errors are made in MLB now. This year MLB teams are on a pace to set the all-time record in fielding percentage. It’s been a trend over the last several years that errors are decreasing in the game. Let’s take a look at error free defense.

It hasn’t always been that way. On May 6, 1903, the White Sox and Tigers combined for a record 18 errors in a game played at South Side Park in Chicago. The Sox tied the team record that day with 12 errors and despite that, still won the game 10-9. Historians look back and discount the number of miscues citing that the gloves used by the fielders were modest and that the baseballs themselves were uneven due to overuse. Yet, that still is a lot of errors and will easily be a record never to be broken. The Chicago Daily Tribune called it “the craziest game that ever disgraced a major league diamond”.

An historical look at most errors by players at their respective fielding positions focuses on names in the early to mid 1900s, most of whom are unknown to me. The 20th century record of a whopping 711 errors is held by Rabbit Maranville, a shortstop who played for 23 seasons with the Braves, Cardinals, and Pirates. Rabbit also happened to be elected to the Hall of Fame in 1954. I was surprised to see Ty Cobb on the all-time position lists, 271 errors as an outfielder. On the flip side though, Steve Garvey, first baseman, holds the record for the fewest in a season, zero.

Why has baseball been more error free in recent times? There are a handful of obvious answers. Baseball fields today provide much better playing surfaces leading to truer bounces. I’m constantly amazed at how well the grass is maintained at Wrigley Field. Of course, the modern baseball glove helps as well. There is no comparison between the mitt you used as a youth to the gloves of today – wider, softer, and deeper. With advanced analytics, the defense is provided with an assortment of charts suggesting the tendencies of hitters and where the ball will most likely be hit.

MLB players today think it is more than that, pointing to official scoring as making a difference. When the rules changed in 2023 not allowing extreme shifts (two infielders need to be on each side of second base), some players, especially pitchers whose ERA is impacted, believe that scorers have leaned too much on granting hits. Angels’ then pitcher Patrick Sandoval in 2023 went so far as saying: “I have a little conspiracy about it: That they (MLB) are telling the scorers to be more lenient with the hits so they can be like, ‘Oh, the new rules work. You have more hits.’” Chris Marinak, MLB’s chief operations and strategy officer, denies the theory and maintains that what qualified as routine in 2022 prior to the rules change was no longer routine now, and when in doubt scorers default to leniency. 

Most of the excellence in team defense is recent. Fielding percentage is basically the rate at which fielders successfully handle defensive chances without making an error. Last year’s Texas Rangers are the best ever with a fielding percentage of .99112, followed by the 2013 Baltimore Orioles (.99104), and the 2025 Atlanta Braves (.99102).  A story is developing in Los Angeles as the 2026 Dodgers are on pace to set an all-time defensive record with a current fielding percentage of .993. The Padres and Royals are following on their heels, both with fielding percentages of .991.

As I often do, I like to look back and compare the Big Red Machine of the 1970s in some key categories. Just like the Dodgers of today, you think of that team as an offensive powerhouse but not necessarily defensive wizards. But they were, especially up the middle with catcher Johnny Bench, second baseman Joe Morgan, shortstop Dave Concepcion, and centerfielder Cesar Geronimo. The 1975 Reds team had the fewest errors in the NL that season, along with a team fielding percentage of .984. Bench himself maintained a .989 fielding percentage, best ever by a catcher. Yes, defense wins games.

Defensive excellence in today’s game is not just measured by fielding percentage. There are all sorts of comparative standards – defensive runs saved; how often a team turns a ground ball or bunt into an out; how often a team turns a ball in the air into an out; and outfield arm runs saved. I’m sure there are others as well. And of course it’s not a surprise which 2026 MLB team leads in all those categories, the Dodgers!

Another indicator of winning baseball is having a pitching staff that limits walks to opposing batters. Now, more than ever with the kind of team defense we are seeing, it makes sense for pitchers to focus on having the batters put the ball in play. As my manager years ago would say, “we just can’t beat ourselves”.

Until next Monday,

your Baseball Bench Coach

Droughts Along the Great Lakes

While sailing in the Great Lakes this past week, I had little access to streaming baseball games. Yeah, I missed them.  It’s not a good sign for me personally when baseball might be in a lock out next year with no baseball at all. I looked longingly ashore and imagined baseball being played at some of the ballparks along the lakes. When I took a closer look it hit me that the teams had something very much in common, a drought at some point along the way, some longer than others. Here’s what I found:

Toronto Blue Jays (Lake Ontario). The club was founded in 1977 and is owned by Rogers Communications, one of only two teams in MLB under corporate ownership (the other, Atlanta). Since 1989, the team has played at Rogers Centre in downtown Toronto. You will probably recall the heyday of the team, its two world championships in 1992 and 1993, featuring star players like Roberto Alomar and Joe Carter. What you might not know is that following those seasons, Toronto failed to qualify for the playoffs in 21 consecutive seasons. Finally, the Blue Jays won the AL East in 2015 and have sustained success for the last ten years. Last season, they battled the Dodgers in a seven game World Series only to fall short.

Travel Tip: Journey 128 km on the Queen Elizabeth Hwy to breathtaking Niagara Falls!

Cleveland Guardians (Lake Erie).  When the American League was founded in 1901, Cleveland landed one of the original franchises, the Cleveland Bluebirds. For a decade they were the Cleveland Naps (named after team manager Nap Lajoie). In 1914 they became the Cleveland Indians, and they won the World Series in 1920 and 1948. The ’48 team featured the greatest Indian of all time, fireballer Bob Feller. While the Indians, now Guardians, landed some AL titles since then (1954, 1995, 1997, and 2016), let’s just say Cleveland is in the “mist” of a huge World Series drought, the longest active one among all 30 MLB teams.

Travel Tip: Visit the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame while you are there!

Detroit Tigers (Lake Erie).  Another AL charter member, the Tigers are the only founding American League team with their original name. They have captured four world titles, 1935, 1945, 1968, and in 1984 behind the leadership of manager Sparky Anderson. They have had some baseball names in Tiger uniforms, crossing the spectrum in terms of integrity – the controversial, ruffian Ty Cobb and the greatest baseball gentleman of all time, Al Kaline. It’s been a long 42 years since the last world title. Fans in downtown Comerica Park are hoping that two-time Cy Young winner, Tarik Skubal, might lead them to another one.

Travel Tip: Explore the Henry Ford Museum in nearby Dearborn.

Milwaukee Brewers (Lake Michigan).  Milwaukee has its baseball MLB heritage in the Braves, which left for Atlanta in 1966. This franchise began in 1969 as the AL Seattle Pilots, as part of the MLB expansion in 1969. After just one season, the team moved to Milwaukee and became the Brewers. The Brewers only World Series appearance was in 1982 against the Cardinals, losing in seven games. In 1998, the team moved to the National League and it wasn’t until 2011 when it won its first NL division championship. While the Brewers have never won the World Series, the recent squads are highly competitive, winning the NL Central the last three seasons. American Family Field is Milwaukee’s home ballpark.

Travel Tip: Get on your bike and motor around the Harley-Davidson Museum.

Chicago Cubs (Lake Michigan). Chicago finds its NL roots in 1876, a founding franchise named the White Stockings. Over the next three decades the North Siders had several names, Colts, Orphans, before officially becoming the Cubs in 1903. While another name for the team has been the “Lovable Losers”, the Cubbies actually had much success in the first half of the 1900s, winning 10 NL pennants and two world championships, 1907 and 1908. The most known Cubs player is Ernie Banks, “Mr. Cub”. Of course, the long World Series winning drought spurred by the “Curse of the Billy Goat” lasted 108 years until the 2016 edition, led by Anthony Rizzo and Kris Bryant, ended it.

Travel Tip: In front of Wrigley Field snap a pic at the Marquee, Chicago’s second most popular photo.

Chicago White Stockings (Lake Michigan).  Also an AL founding member in 1901, the White Stockings won the first American League pennant that year. The South Siders had early success, winning the World Series in 1906 and 1917. Unfortunately they may be best known in the early years for the Black Sox Scandal in 1919, losing the Series to the underdog Cincinnati Reds as gambling charges abounded. One of the greatest players ever, Shoeless Joe Jackson, and seven other players, were banned from baseball as a result. The 1959 team, known as the “Go-Go White Sox”, captured baseball fans’ attention, but lost to the Dodgers in the Series. The White Sox 88-year drought ended in 2005, when the team, led by Frank Thomas, swept the Astros for the world title.

Travel Tip: Venture into the Loop and visit the Bean, Chicago’s top photo.

The fortunes of these six teams have been quite treacherous, much like the waters of the Great Lakes that surround them.

Until next Monday,

your Baseball Bench Coach

Back on June 15!

The Baseball Bench Coach will be back on June 15.

Until then,

your Baseball Bench Coach

Cooperstown

Twenty years ago I visited for the first time the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York (HOF). I spent parts of three days in the Museum reading all of the plaques in the historic, first floor Plaque Gallery, and viewing, often twice, the exhibits on all three floors of HOF. This past week I made a second pilgrimage to baseball’s promised land. I was invited to participate in the 37th Annual Cooperstown Symposium on Baseball and American Culture (Symposium). It was one eventful, action-packed day, a once in a lifetime type experience. Let me share it with you.

Where did American baseball find its beginnings?  In 1905 the president of the National League, Abraham Mills, chaired a group to answer the question. The Mills Commission Report, issued in late 1907, concluded that baseball was invented by Abner Doubleday at Cooperstown, New York, in 1839.  Most baseball historians have depicted the Report’s conclusion as a myth.  Indeed, Doubleday, a Union general in the Civil War, never made the claim in his lifetime nor do his memoirs even mention baseball.  Most historians believe baseball is based on a game British children played called “rounders”, involving a pitcher, batter and four bases.  In “New York town ball”, just like in cricket, there were no actual foul lines such that every batted ball was in play. Outs could be made by simply fielding the ball on one hop.

The origin of American baseball can indeed be traced to New York state. I found an exhibit on the second floor of HOF explaining that the United States Congress on June 3, 1953, officially credited Alexander Joy Cartwright, a bookseller in Manhattan, with inventing the modern game of baseball. Cartwright founded in 1842 the Knickerbocker Base Ball Club of New York, baseball’s first organized club. By 1857 there were sixteen area clubs, forming the National Association of Base Ball Players. Teams played the “Knickerbocker Rules” requiring fielders to tag or force the runner to record an out. To commemorate baseball’s beginnings, HOF was established in 1939 at Cooperstown by Stephen Carlton Clark, who was an heir to the popular Singer sewing machines. His idea was to make the town a tourist spot. While the town remains today quaint in every sense of the word, HOF is the home to thousands of visitors annually.

My day this past week at HOF began as a moderator for a panel discussion at the Symposium. One of my panelists presented a paper on the Bud Harrelson—Pete Rose fight during the fifth inning of Game 3 of the 1973 NLCS. She was a lifelong Mets fan, and her favorite all-time player is Harrelson. We joked about how differently I, as a 14-year old Reds fan, saw that fight than she did. The teams split the first NLCS two games in Cincinnati with the Reds scoring just two runs due to New York’s dominant pitching. Harrelson remarked to the media that the Reds were hitting like him (.236 lifetime batting average). This fueled the tension between the teams in the fifth inning of Game 3 as Rose slid hard into second base to break up a double play, resulting in a bench clearing brawl. A second panelist shared the touching story of Reds third baseman Todd Frazier delivering on a promise to hit a home run for Reds batboy Teddy Kremer in 2014. Teddy and I went to the same high school in Cincinnati. It was a perfect panel for me to moderate.

After the Symposium panel, my wife and I had several hours to visit the Museum. We started in the Plaque Room on the first floor. The centerpiece, of course, are the plaques of the first class of inductees in 1936 -- Ty Cobb; Honus Wagner; Babe Ruth; Christy Mathewson; and Walter Johnson. What you might not know is that Cobb received the most votes and Wagner the second most that year. The plaques are placed around the room in the order of the induction year grouped in five-year periods. I spent most of the time reading about the players that I grew up idolizing – Mays; Aaron; Clemente; Banks; Koufax; Gibson; and Marichal, just to name a few. In one corner the plaques of Johnny Bench and Joe Morgan were placed side by side. I proudly took a photo there. This summer baseball will add three more players to the Plaque Room, Carlos Beltran, Andruw Jones, and Jeff Kent.

At the Museum entrance you could get a scorecard of your favorite teams and players and where they are referenced in the HOF. I chose the Cubs and Reds, of course, and marveled at how up to date the Museum was with exhibits mentioning Shota Imanaga and Elly de la Cruz. My favorite spot at the Museum was clearly the trip through baseball history on the second floor, called “The Game”.  I experienced the joy again of a journey through baseball’s early history and all of the decades since. I basically lost track of time exploring the Dodgers and Cardinals NL teams in the 1960s, Oakland and Cincinnati dominance in the 1970s, Whiteyball in the 1980s, and on and on. I relived my baseball life, and it brought tears of joy.

After the Museum closed at 5:00 p.m., it was time for the annual baseball game in the adjacent park. I was prepared for my first game in twenty years, wearing a 1914 Chicago Federals jersey, 1915 Chicago Whales baseball cap, and knickers. There were about 40 players participating, and we counted off by two’s to choose sides. Our umpire, Peter Young, wore a top hat as he explained that we would be playing “The Rules of the Massachusetts Game, Town Ball, as of May 13, 1858”.  At that time in New England, teams had not yet adopted the Knickerbocker Rules of New York. Every inning, called a hand, was marked by a single out. To get an out, a fielder had to catch the ball on a fly or throw the ball at and hit the baserunner before the runner reached one of the sticks (bases). A batter could not strike out. I pitched one inning with no “tallies” scored and had three hits in my three plate appearances. The game only ends when one side has 100 tallies! We called the game with my team leading 18-10. Everyone had a blast. One of my teammates saw me on Main Street the next day passing by and said “great game”.

That night we assembled for the annual dinner, a night of great food, laughter, and sharing of stories. The dinner was held in the Plaque Room which I found almost sacrilegious. We were gathering in the most sacred place in baseball. I had an overwhelming feeling of happiness knowing that I was with people who share the same passion and love as I do. My people! At the conclusion of dinner, we sang all five verses of “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” and were entertained by a longtime Symposium attendee with his version of “Casey at the Bat”.

Before I left for Cooperstown, I had friends tell me that “you are going to be like a kid in a candy store” and “this will be right in your wheelhouse”. It was all of that and more. I felt like a 14-year old boy again, if not just for a day. To steal a question from a famous baseball movie, “is this Heaven?” No, it’s Cooperstown!

I’ll be back in two weeks!

Until June 15,

your Baseball Bench Coach

Tools of Ignorance

Years ago, I coached fast pitch softball with a good friend who just loved the game of baseball. He was a former catcher and spent a lot of time working with our catchers, including my niece. I can still hear him say when there was a pop up behind home plate, “get that pot off your head”. The pot, or protective mask, is part of the equipment a catcher uses to play his position, along with shin guards, chest protector, and a mitt. In baseball terms, catching equipment is often affectionately referred to as the “tools of ignorance”. You need a lot of courage to crouch behind the plate with a high speed missile coming at you. Let’s take a look back at the art of catching, some great catchers in MLB history, and the evolution of the position.

In the early days of baseball (circa 1850), pitchers threw the baseball underhanded to home plate. Catchers stood about 20 to 25 feet behind the plate and did not have any protective equipment at all. In 1858 with the advent of the called strike, catchers were forced to move closer in since a strikeout could only happen if a catch were made. By 1870, when pitchers began to introduce curveballs to the game, catchers were forced to move even closer in to catch the pitch. Catchers began to use padded, fingerless gloves and protective masks. It wasn’t until the 1880s when padded chest protectors became popular. In 1907, shin guards were introduced and completed a catcher’s tools of ignorance.

Catching is much more than just receiving the pitch and throwing it back to the mound. Most agree that the catcher needs to have the best understanding of game strategy than any other position player. From his position he sees the entire field. Importantly, he sees firsthand the speed and spin of the pitches from a particular hurler. Calling the game used to be the biggest skill for a catcher, although input from the dugout and now PitchCom has chipped away at it. The art of framing pitches is a talent as well. The pitcher’s best friend is a batterymate who can make a pitch look better than it really might be. The toolset of a catcher is multifaceted – blocking pitches in the dirt; signaling the infield what play is on; throwing to the bases; tagging a runner at the plate; and oh, I forgot, contributing to the offensive side of the game, hitting!

We’ve seen some great catchers in MLB history, each exhibiting one or more of these special skills. On the top of many lists is Yogi Berra, who spent 19 seasons in the MLB (1946-1965), all but one of them with the Yankees. Those who saw Berra play credit him with having a great feel for calling the game and situational play. He holds the all-time record for shutouts caught with 173, among those Don Larsen’s perfect game and Whitey Ford’s remarkable 45 of them. Berra could also flat out hit with a lifetime batting average of .285 with 358 HRs. Yogi, most of all, was a winner, a 13-time World Series champion. Like many other catchers, Berra ended his career as a manager, serving on the top step of the dugout for both the Yankees and Mets.

On the top of my list is Cincinnati’s Johnny Bench who spent his entire career with the Reds (1967-1983). He received his NL Most Valuable Player awards in the two seasons he had monster home run and RBI seasons (1970 – 45 HRs and 148 RBIs; and 1972 – 40 HRs and 125 RBIs). Bench was so much more than that. His defensive prowess was remarkable – blocking pitches; catching foul balls at the screen; and throwing to the bases. My Dad used to take me to Reds games early so we could watch fielding practice and see Bench throw bullets right on the bags. To illustrate his arm, during Lou Brock’s record-breaking 118 steals in 1974, Brock made four attempts against Bench, only one successful one!  And in one of the highlights of my life, he hit a game-tying home run off Dave Giusti of the Pirates in the ninth inning of Game 5 of the 1972 NLCS into the green seats at Riverfront Stadium 12 rows in front of me. He was the best!

A little later in life I had the pleasure of also seeing in person Yadier Molina play numerous games for the Cardinals (19-year career spanning 2004 to 2022). While “Yadi” did bat over .300 in five seasons and was known as a clutch hitter, the bulk of his acclaim concerns his defensive skills. He won nine Gold Gloves, and in doing so, put up some amazing numbers. He ranks first all-time in putouts for catchers and second overall among catchers with 130 defensive runs saved. Remarkably, he threw out over 40% of runners on steal attempts during his career. Together with his longtime fellow Cardinal, pitcher Adam Wainwright, he has the record all-time for most games started and won as a battery. Molina absolutely mastered the skill of framing pitches, something that Wainwright and other St. Louis pitchers took great comfort in.

Many catchers have gone on to become great MLB managers – Bruce Bochy, Mike Scioscia, and Bob Melvin, in most recent history, to name a few. What you might not know is that one of the greatest managers in MLB history, Joe Torre, started off as a catcher for the Braves. Torre’s baseball talent though was clearly at the plate, not behind it, as he maintained a lifetime batting average of .297. In his NL MVP year In 1971 with the Cardinals as their third baseman, he led the league in hits, RBIs, and batting average. His first few stints as a manager (Mets, Braves, and Cardinals) ended with disappointing records, but as the Yankees skipper, he won four World Series titles and two Manager of the Year awards (1996, 1998). Torre went on to become a special assistant to the MLB Commissioner.

With the advent of ABS this season, there is another task for catchers – deciding whether to challenge a called ball. In addition to having an educated feel for the strike zone, a catcher needs to have a good understanding of game situations. Since you only get two wrong attempts, you need to challenge during the right spots. Some catchers are better at it than others. With a league wide average of 53% correct challenges, the Tigers are setting the standard at 83% correct challenges from their catchers and the Cubs are close behind at 71%.  Indeed, the Cubs Carson Kelly was correct in 18 of his first 20 challenges. Kelly has gotten eight strikeout calls so far with successful challenges. Shea Langeliers, catcher for the Athletics, ranks high on the list as well. Is it a new skill? Kelly’s skipper Craig Counsell and Cubs pitcher Jameson Taillon credit Kelly for having a good feel for it and adding this new dimension to the team.

I’ve always thought of the “tools of ignorance” to be a complete misnomer. Catchers add a layer of on-field strategy, direction, and steadiness under pressure like no other position player. We often joke about “Yogi-isms”, Berra’s fun expressions that had an element of contradiction. My favorite one has always been: “Baseball is 90 percent mental. The other half is physical.” With catchers in mind, that makes perfect sense.

Until next Monday,

Your Baseball Bench Coach

Small Ball

I’ve never been a fan of home run baseball. You know what I mean, batters/runners going from station to station, playing it safe, and waiting for a slugger to drive them home with the long ball. For me, the most exciting play in the game is when a hitter lines a ball down the right field corner or in an outfield gap, sprints for a triple, and arrives safely with a headfirst slide. I also just like manufacturing runs – hitting behind the runner, stolen bases, and gasp, even bunts! In today’s game with the low batting averages and flame throwers from the mound, a team needs to find ways to score somehow. After the first quarter of MLB play this season, we have seen that many managers are returning to small ball!

Whitey Herzog, the late manager of the Cardinals during the 1980s, revolutionized baseball with his focus on small ball. The star of “Whiteyball” was of course Ozzie Smith, the “Wizard of Oz”, who started his career as a weak hitter but soon matched his defensive play with a high on-base percentage, stolen bases, and runs scored. Outfielder Willie McGee used his speed to the max, hitting line drives into the outfield gaps for triples, and stealing bases. Speaking of base stealing, how about left fielder Vince Coleman, who came to the squad in 1985, and set an all-time record for stealing 100+ bases in each of his first three seasons. The line drives were plentiful, but the HRs, not so much. In 1982, “power hitting” cleanup guy, George Hendrik, led the team with just 19 HRs.

So far this season we’ve seen an emphasis on bunting for the first time in decades. The bunt rate is 40% higher than it was in 2023. There have been some great bunters in MLB history. Brett Butler, whose 17-year career spanned six different MLB teams from 1981 to 1997, is widely thought of as the best bunter in modern history. Butler led off for most of his career and played center field. He led the National League in triples and runs scored in two seasons, batted .290 overall, and garnered 2,375 hits. 188 of those hits were bunt hits.  Most notably, Butler reached base on a bunt hit in just less than 50% of his attempts.

Also on the modern day list of top bunters is my second favorite Dodger of all time, Maury Wills (my first is Sandy Koufax). In watching LA in the 1960s, you needed to be a fan of speed and defense. Wills embodied both. In his 14-year career, Maury stole 586 bases (setting the season stealing record at one point with 104 in 1962), batted .281 with 2,134 hits, and won two Gold Gloves at shortstop. Wills was known as a master craftsman of bunting. His 124 career bunt hits were gained with a success rate of 47% attempted bunts.

On the not so great bunter list is current Dodgers manager, Dave Roberts. In 2004, Roberts attempted to reach base via a bunt 33 times and was only successful in seven of them. In his 10-year playing career with five different MLB teams, he batted a modest .266 and stole 243 bases. Roberts’ MLB success, of course, is helming LA for the last eleven seasons. The Dodgers have won three World Series (2020, 2024, and 2025) with Roberts as manager. While his teams are known for hitting, pitching, and exceptional defense, they are in the bottom of the league in bunting. Of course, the Dodgers feature an expensive lineup of the top sluggers in the game (Ohtani, Freeman, Betts, Tucker, and Smith) and can score without small ball.

Which teams in 2026 top the MLB list in bunting? It’s mostly the lower payroll lineups. Brewers, Rays, White Sox, Athletics, and Diamondbacks lead baseball in sacrifice bunts. And don’t look now, but they are all near the top of the standings in their respective divisions. It makes sense in a lot of ways as the game continues to change. It’s certainly a lot easier to bunt a 100 mph + fastball than hit one. With what many believe to be a league-wide deficiency in defensive fundamentals, why not put more pressure on the defense by putting the ball in play. It’s hard to score when position players are now sporting batting averages at a rate lower than we’ve seen in the modern era (.243).  Use small ball to score some runs!

A couple, somewhat unknown players have stood out so far. Milwaukee’s second baseman David Hamilton is leading the way by putting down successful bunts (bunts for a hit and sacrifice bunts) in about half of the games he’s played in 2026. Hamilton attributes his success to hard work and team emphasis. In the last three years playing for the Red Sox, he attempted just 11 total bunts in 204 games. In his first 30 games with the Brewers, Hamilton had 14 bunt attempts, all successful. He saw honing his bunting skills as a way to keep him in the major leagues, and made great strides in the offseason and spring training to perfect them. He credits his manager, Pat Murphy, for encouraging him to contribute to the team in this way.

In the American League, White Sox outfielder Tristan Peters is quickly establishing himself as the next Brett Butler. Peters has an interesting background, coming up through the Milwaukee system and also spending time with the Savannah Bananas. He finds himself on a White Sox team that is doing everything possible to win some games and turn around their dismal win-loss records of the past few seasons. Despite having some big bats in the lineup with power, Murakami, Montgomery, and Vargas, Chicago has turned to small ball when the games are on the line. Peters’ contributions have included game winning RBI bunts.

Like everything in life, if you want to be good at something you need to practice it. The White Sox, Brewers, and the other low payroll teams have emphasized bunting and small ball this year to compete. Chicago manager Will Venable noted: “We’ve been talking about bunting as a weapon starting in Spring Training and how important that was going to be for guys in certain slots.” Milwaukee’s David Hamilton emphasized the point: “It was Murph (skipper Pat Murphy) in spring always telling me to bunt and use the speed and just practice it every day.” You never know, the renewed focus on small ball may lead to the same kind of success Whiteyball experienced 40 years ago!

Until next Monday,

your Baseball Bench Coach

Blame the Manager

I must be the last one who can complain about managerial firings. You see, in October 1969, as a ten-year-old, I wrote to the Reds then general manager, Bob Howsam, to state my dismay about the firing of manager Dave Bristol. Mr. Howsam replied three weeks later that while he appreciated my fan interest, his new hire, Sparky Anderson, would be a capable replacement in 1970. He was clearly right; I was clearly wrong. But late last month, two managers, the Phillies’ Rob Thomson and Red Sox’ Alex Cora, were both relieved of their duties less than 30 games into the season. Talk about a short leash!

The late April dismissals of Thomson and Cora were surprising. They were not, however, the earliest firings in recent history. In 2018, the Reds dismissed skipper Bryan Price after just eighteen games. Their 3-15 start was their worst one since 1931. The Tigers management in 2002 acted even more quickly.  Phil Garner, a major leaguer for 16 seasons, managed the Brewers for eight seasons prior to helming Detroit in 2000.  After an 0-6 start to the 2002 season, Phil was given the heave-ho. Last month’s cannings of Thomson and Cora were the third and fourth earliest in an MLB season.

We saw a similar story in Philadelphia in 2022. The Phillies fired manager Joe Girardi after the team’s 22-29 start. Girardi was in his third season as the Philadelphia skipper. Joe, a former major league catcher, started his managerial career in 2006 with the Florida Marlins, leading a team with the lowest payroll in baseball to playoff contention and his Manager of the Year award. Girardi also led the Yankees to the 2009 world championship. But below .500 was not good enough for the Phils’ GM Dave Dombrowski in 2022 and he gave Rob Thomson the early nod. Thomson then led Philadelphia to the World Series in 2022. Now, as Phillies president, Dombrowski hopes his lack of patience pays off again this year. He’s called on former Yankee great Don Mattingly, the 2020 Manager of the Year (also with the Marlins), to lead the team on an interim basis. Interestingly, Mattingly now reports to his son, GM Preston Mattingly.

Yes, some crazy goings on in Philadelphia, especially when Dombrowski admitted that his first choice, Alex Cora, had declined the position. Cora had been dismissed two days earlier by the Red Sox and already had made it to the top of the manager in waiting list. Why so? Many in the baseball world think of Cora as one of the top skippers in the game. After a 14-year playing career ended in 2011 with the Nationals, Alex turned to coaching. In 2017, he was the bench coach for the Astros when Houston won the World Series, and then managed the Red Sox to the World Series championship in his first season as a manager in 2018. His .534 winning percentage as a manager is top notch.

In Boston, in addition to losing Cora at the helm, most of the coaches were let go as well. Reportedly, Boston chief baseball officer Craig Breslow spoke to the players briefly about his spring cleaning in a clubhouse meeting before introducing new manager Chad Tracy. Unusually, the players reacted harshly and went to the media with their concerns. Star shortstop Trevor Story questioned the direction of the franchise. Pitcher Garrett Whitlock noted that “they made it very clear that we get paid to play baseball, and we need to just focus on playing baseball”.  Rising star Roman Anthony, just 21 years old, had this to say: “At the end of the day, when we take the field, it’s on us. It’s not AC’s (Cora’s) job to go out there and do the things that we’re expecting to do as players”.

From the front office perspective, blaming the manager is the name of the game. Both the Phillies and the Red Sox were pre-season favorites to contend for their respective division crowns and two of the top five highest paid teams in the game. A dreadful April needed some short of a shake-up. In a 2025 article written by Will Leitch called “Skipper Review: In Baseball, Blame the Manager”, Leitch takes a deep dive into the history of managerial firings in baseball. He notes that the very name of the position, “manager”, suggests the “inherent powerlessness” of the position. Baseball managers, in Leitch’s view, are essentially middle managers carrying out the whims of the owners and executives. If there are more losses than wins, show the middle managers the door.

Leitch makes another interesting point about the change in who now oversees managerial moves. The trend in baseball is to fill front offices with college-educated analytics, the so-called Ivy League GMs, instead of former players or those with scouting backgrounds. Gone are the days where managers answered directly to owners. One of the most controversial skippers in MLB history, Billy Martin, helmed six different MLB teams in his 20 years of managing, including five separate stints with the Yankees.  Billy’s Yankees had a winning record in all five of his stops with New York, but each time he was fired or resigned under fire due to a dispute with Yankee owner George Steinbrenner. Midway through the 1978 season he was forced to resign when he said this about Yankees star player, Reggie Jackson, and Steinbrenner:  “one’s a born liar, and the other’s convicted.”  Shortly thereafter, the Yankees announced that Martin would return as manager someday.  He managed the New Yorkers four times during the next four seasons, all for less than one year. 

It's also interesting how a manager gets to keep his job under the right circumstances. The two longest tenured managers in the AL today are Kevin Cash, Rays (since 2014), and Aaron Boone, Yankees (since 2017). Cash led Tampa to the 2020 World Series against the Dodgers, and by all accounts made a critical mistake by pulling his star pitcher, Blake Snell, after only 73 pitches in an elimination game. Cash withstood the clamor, and is noted today as a manager who gets the most out of a squad with payroll deficiencies. Boone got the nod to manage the Yankees in 2017 due to his astute commentary on Yankees broadcasts. He had no prior managerial experience. Boone’s Pinstripers have never won it all despite having one of baseball’s highest payrolls. It’s just impossible to know why and when the axe might fall.

The colorful, late Yankees and Mets manager, Casey Stengel, summed up managing the best: “If you don’t win, you’re going to be fired. If you do win, you’ve only put off the day you’re going to be fired.” Yes indeed, blame the manager!

Until next Monday,

your Baseball Bench Coach

Challenge Me!

I remember that evening well. I was 15 years old and reporting to the pre-season umpire meeting for my first paying job. After a talk by the lead supervisor, I received a face mask, t-shirt, indicator (to record balls, strikes, and outs by hand), and scorecards (an umpire’s version of time sheets). One of the more veteran kids told me something to the effect that “remember, you get paid by the game, not by the hour”. Good advice. From that day forward, I always made sure that when I served as a home plate umpire, I called, when possible, a fair amount of strikes. Some might call it a wide zone. I thought of it as my gift to those attending youth baseball games.

In the early days of  baseball, there was no such thing as a “ball”. Pitchers were instructed to make sure the batters hit the baseball. Since pitchers didn’t always comply, organized baseball soon began to penalize a pitcher for throwing three unhittable pitches and deemed it a ball. A pitcher was allowed only three “balls” per batter.  In effect, it would take nine errant pitches to advance the batter to first base. By 1880 eight unfair pitches became a base on balls, and in 1884 six were required. It wasn’t until 1887 when the National League and its companion league, the American Association, actually agreed to a strike zone. In 1889, baseball finally mandated that four balls outside the strike zone would constitute a walk.

For a pitcher, it’s so important to throw strikes. I still remember the words from my managers in the dugout when I walked a batter, “we can’t help you if you walk them”. Indeed, how many times do you find yourself grimacing when your favorite team’s pitcher walks a leadoff batter to begin an inning?! Statistics bear out the importance of it. A key metric in “The Book: Playing the Percentages in Baseball” authored by three baseball historians is “run expectancy”. The metric looks at the 24 possible baserunner/out scenarios, for example, bases empty with no outs. In that case, a team has a 46.1% chance of scoring a run in any given inning. When the leadoff batter walks, the run expectancy jumps to 83.1% and the anguish for the fielding team begins.

With the advent of the automatic balls strikes (ABS) system this year, we now have a new dynamic in calling balls and strikes. No longer is the pace of the game solely in the hands of whether a home plate umpire is a “pitcher’s ump” or a “hitter’s ump”, but technology is literally looking over our shoulders. MLB has had to rewrite the strike zone to accommodate ABS. The Official Rules of Baseball has long maintained that the strike zone is from the middle of a batter’s torso to just below his kneecap, leaving much discretion in how an umpire sees the zone in the batter’s stance. Now, it’s much more precise. The zone starts at 27% of a batter’s height and stretches to 53.5%, top to bottom. In width, the ABS zone is, of course, 17 inches wide, matching the width of home plate.

What’s the impact of the new ABS strike zone? In April batters took walks in historic numbers. Walk rates were around 10%, a 16% hike over 2025. The trend indicates that in 2026 we may see the highest walk rate in 75 years. Some teams are clearly taking advantage of the new zone, including the Yankees, Brewers, and Angels, which are averaging over 12% of the team at-bats. And the craziest numbers are the individual ones. These MLB stars are walking an unbelievable amount of times to the plate – Mike Trout, Angels (73.9%); Ben Rice, Yankees (62.2%); Munetaka Murakami, White Sox (59.8%); and Nick Kurtz, Athletics (57.8%). 

What is the player’s reaction to the new strike zone? It depends on whom you ask. James McCann, Arizona’s catcher, believes that the zone is “tighter than usual” because umpires are receiving much feedback on whether a pitch is a strike or a ball.  Pitcher Paul Sewald, also of the Diamondbacks, admitted that “it is a tough time to be a pitcher”, joking that there are “balls flying everywhere”. The hitters see it a little differently. The Yankees’ Cody Bellinger calls the April increase in walks a “short sample size”. The Cubs’ Nico Hoerner noted that hitters are benefitting short term by laying off pitches at the top of the zone but adjustments will soon be made.

Have we seen a rules change similarly impact the game before? Most definitely. Reacting to the dominance of pitchers in the 1960s era, most particularly Bob Gibson’s record 1.12 ERA in 1968, MLB lowered the mound for the 1969 season. The walk rate increased from 7.6% to 9.1%. We all remember the effect of the new pitch clock rule in 2023. Stolen bases skyrocketed in 2023 and remain high, even after teams have had three years to adjust.

What’s interesting about the new ABS zone is that it seems to run counter to the MLB objective that triggered the pitch clock rule – speed up the game!  The early numbers, based on April play, show that games are being played on an average of 2 hours, 42 minutes, about six minutes more than the 2024 and 2025 pace. Yes, it’s slight, but something to be mindful of, especially when baseball is doing all it can to spur fan interest.

I’ve seen most recently a couple videos of home plate umpires responding to dugouts disputing called balls and strikes with the words “challenge me”! Yes, if the team hasn’t run its course on the number of challenges it has that game, the batter, catcher, or pitcher could have certainly challenged the call. But, for me, it seems like umpires are thinking of the ABS system as overreaching and they are more brazen than usual.  Maybe the new advice to umpires is not that you aren’t paid by the hour, but rather call the game in a way that they won’t challenge you.

Until next Monday,

your Baseball Bench Coach

Upside Down

Yeah, I’m still one of those. I get the newspaper delivered to my driveway each morning. Every good day starts that way. Sometime during my second cup of coffee, I make it to the Sports section, and in particular, page 4. You see, that’s where I find the NL and AL Standings, the pitching lineups for the day, and many of the box scores from the night before. It’s not a casual glance, mind you, but 15-20 minutes of poring through the material, thinking about the what ifs, and finding my favorite teams in the standings. After the first month of MLB play, it seems to me in many ways those standings are upside down.

One of the fun stories at my happy place, Wrigley Field, is the history of the team flags flying on what looks to be a ship’s mast on top of the manual scoreboard. Those flags, or pennants, are placed in order based on the current standings. Prior to 1962, when there were only 8 National League teams, the four teams on the left side were in the “first division” (first four places) and the four teams on the right side in the “second division”.  Five flags on each side proudly flew when the NL expanded to ten teams in 1962. Then in 1969, division play began with six pennants on the left exhibiting the NL East standings, and six teams on the right, the NL West. Nowadays, with 15 teams in the league, there are five pennants on the left (NL West), five in the middle (NL Central), and five on the right (NL East), all trying to reach the top spots. This is how the term “pennant race” in baseball was coined.

With the Dodgers’ 15-4 start, it’s been no surprise which pennant has remained atop the left side for most of this season. It’s difficult to keep your pennant flying at the top for the entire season. Indeed, there have been only five teams in MLB history that have gone “wire to wire”.  The first such team was the 1927 Yankees, widely considered the best team ever with their “Murderer’s Row” lineup and a roster that included nine future Hall of Famers, Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig among them. The ’84 Tigers are on this list as well, along with the 1995 Brooklyn Dodgers, 1990 Reds, and 2005 White Sox. I know that much of baseball is hoping that the Padres continue their hot streak of the past two weeks and replace LA at the top of the NL West.

Does a hot start mean a stand-out season and a championship awaits in October?  Sometimes, but certainly not always.  Of the ten hottest starts in MLB history, two were by American League teams that set regular season win records, first by New York in 1998 with 114, and then topped by Seattle three years later with 116. The ’98 Yanks won the World Series, but the ’01 Mariners fell short.  My favorite two hot starts had one thing in common.  Both the 1970 Reds (starting 22-6 with a 70-30 record at the All-Star Break) and the 1984 Tigers (starting with a blistering 35-5 record) were managed by Sparky Anderson.  While Detroit captured the crown in 1984, a very hot Orioles team dominated the Reds in the 1970 Series.

Positioning the pennants in the NL Central race so far this season is driving the Wrigley manual scoreboard operator crazy. All five teams have been over .500 for much of the season and essentially switching spots at the top (and bottom) of the standings daily. Before the season, most experts predicted the Cubs to win the division, but the Pirates and Reds were given some of the ink as well. One should never count out the Brewers. All four teams show much promise. And what about the Cardinals?! My St. Louis blog followers are basking in their early season surprise. No division race has ever ended in MLB history with all five teams above .500. Maybe this is the year!

The NL East? Clearly upside down. In March the question baseball analysts discussed was whether the Phillies or the Mets would win the division. Now the discussion turns to which team will finish in last place. New York, with baseball’s highest payroll at $364 million this season, just came off of a 12-game losing streak and Philadelphia almost matched it with ten straight. The Mets have clearly missed Juan Soto who just returned this past week, while the Phillies’ pitching staff has been decimated by injuries. At the top of the division with the only winning record sits Atlanta whose winning ways have featured clutch hitting, team defense and speed, and a solid bullpen. Their flag is faltering a little this week with the news that their closer, Raisel Iglesias, was placed on the Injured List.

Moving to the American League, it’s topsy turvy as well. How many of you would have thought that four weeks into the season the teams in last place in the division races would be Boston (AL East), Kansas City (AL Central), and Houston (AL West)? There is only one team in the American League that appears to be separating themselves from the others, and of course it’s the Yankees. The Pinstripers have the league’s best record, eight games over .500 at 18-10.

I heard a commentator say recently that you can’t win a division during the first month, but you certainly can lose one. In my mind, the outcome of each game, whether in April or September, has the same impact on the standings. It’s a long 162, and may the best pennants rise to the top. 

Until next Monday,

your Baseball Bench Coach

Tommy John

I attended my grandson’s baseball game last week and overheard that his pitch count was 38 after two innings. What that means nowadays is that during the next inning he would need to be replaced since the 50-pitch limit would be enforced. The care and concern for youth pitchers today is on high alert. When I was about his age, there was no such thing as pitch counts or innings limits. If you were the team’s pitcher, you got the ball. The only care we received was through home remedies. I recall my Dad putting in a chin up bar in our basement so that I could stretch out after outings. I didn’t care for that bar very much. In addition, I would take salt pills to restore the weight I lost pitching in a game during hot summer days. One name changed the rules for all of us who have had the enjoyment of pitching – Tommy John.

In 1974, after years of study by Dodgers’ team physician and orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Frank Jobe, Dodger pitcher Tommy John became the first patient of Jobe’s to undergo ulner collateral ligament (UCL) reconstruction (now known appropriately as “Tommy John Surgery”).  Dr. Jobe took a tendon from John’s wrist, drilled holes into his ulna and humerus bones, and grafted the tendon in a figure-eight design held together by anchors. It was truly experimental surgery meant to counteract John’s persistent pain in his left, throwing elbow. It wasn’t until 1978 when the next Tommy John Surgery would be performed by Dr. Jobe.

The surgery was very meaningful in John’s pitching career. In 1961, at 18 years old, Tommy John was signed by the Indians because of his dynamic curveball. He debuted in the MLB with Cleveland in 1963, and then was traded to the White Sox. 1965 was his first year as a full-time starting pitcher. His career took off in 1968 when he was named an AL All-Star and posted a 1.98 ERA.  Traded to the Dodgers in 1972, John led the National League in winning percentage in 1973 (.696) and 1974 (.814) before his ’74 season abruptly ended when he tore his UCL. You might recall another Dodger pitcher with a terrific curveball a decade before whose career prematurely ended with elbow ailments, Sandy Koufax. Dr. Jobe often remarked that if the surgery had been developed years earlier, it would have been known as “Sandy Koufax Surgery”. In any event, the 1974 surgery prolonged Tommy John’s career for 15 more years, as he retired in 1989 with a career 288-231 win-loss record, 3.34 ERA, and four All-Star nods.

Tommy John Surgery has been a career saver for many MLB pitchers. Foremost among them is Hall of Famer John Smoltz. Smoltz played in 21 MLB seasons, all but the last one with the Braves. Smoltzie began his career in 1988 as a starter, one of Atlanta’s dominant three along with Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine. The threesome led the Braves to the 1995 World Series championship. The next year Smoltz won the NL Cy Young with a record of 24-8. In 2000, he underwent Tommy John Surgery. His mound comeback in 2001 saw him outside the Atlanta rotation and in a new role as the team’s closer. Close, he did, recording 55 saves in 2002, becoming only the second pitcher in MLB history to have both a 20-win season and a 50-save season. Dennis Eckersly is the other one.

Another HOF’er who had successful Tommy John Surgery was actually a position player, Paul Molitor. Molitor’s 21-year playing career (1978-1998) included fifteen years with the Brewers, but also three years with both the Blue Jays and Twins. Most of his acolades occurred after his Tommy John Surgery in 1984. Molitor was a 7-time All-Star and the World Series MVP in 1993. Throughout his career he was known for his hitting prowess (lifetime batting average of .306) and speed (504 stolen bases). The only other Hall of Famer who had Tommy John Surgery was relief pitcher Billy Wagner, who starred principally for the Houston Astros.

While rare, some players unfortunately never recovered from Tommy John Surgery. Jose Rijo of the Reds tops that list. From 1988 to 1993, Rijo was one of the supreme pitchers in baseball, on the leaders’ lists in ERA, strikeouts, and wins each year. He is most known for leading Cincinnati to an upset, four-game sweep of Oakland in the 1990 World Series, where Jose’s Games 1 and 4 dominance secured him the Series MVP award. Elbow injuries sidelined him in 1995 and he had the surgery in August that year. While Rijo came back to pitch in portions of 1997-2001, he was never the same.

Since the first Tommy John Surgery in 1974, almost 2,500 professional baseball players have undergone the procedure. Indeed, approximately 38% of active MLB pitchers today have had it. The percentage continues to grow; about 27% of MLB pitchers a decade ago had it. Those numbers don’t even including the individuals who have had more than one procedure. 30% of the patients need a second one along the way. While those are alarming statistics, the prevalence of the surgery on our youth is staggering. Around two-thirds of Tommy John Surgeries are performed on athletes between 16 and 20 years old. Some patients have even been in Little League.

The rise in these surgeries is the result of many things, but mostly due to the intensity of higher velocity pitching. Throwing a baseball, especially pitching one, is not a natural motion. In one of the leading medical articles, “What Doctors Wish Patients Knew about Tommy John Surgery”, Sara Berg in 2024 points to the prevailing research that the harder one throws a baseball, there is more torque and stress on the elbow. Yet, we keep upping the game and demanding that pitchers throw harder and harder. And the fix just can’t be to just have the surgery. Dr. Vasilios Moutzouros, an orthopedic surgeon at Henry Ford Health and a leading expert, says this in Berg’s report: “It’s not the easiest surgery because the elbow is a really difficult joint to operate on.” While the success rate is high (90% get back to throw), outcomes are worse with each additional procedure and the recovery time is lengthy (12-16 months).

How does baseball prevent the injury? For our youth, warming up properly, rest, limiting pitches and innings, and playing other sports are part of the recipe. At the professional level, the careful development of pitchers through the system is at the forefront of everyone’s mind. Yet, the injuries continue to mount and seasons are lost. Most recently, the Cubs’ pitching phenom, Cade Horton, underwent his second Tommy John Surgery and is projected to be out of action until sometime late next summer. It’s a plight that many pitchers and teams at all levels continue to have.

Until next Monday,

your Baseball Bench Coach