Mack’s Apples – Gerson Bautista, Travis Swaggerty, Noah Syndergaard, Ichiro Suzuki, Mike Trout

 Fangraphs  Top 18 Mets Prospects -

        15. Gerson Bautista, RHP

       Signed: July 2nd Period, 2012 from Dominican Republic

       Age   22       Height           6’2      Weight          170     Bat/Throw   R/R

Tool Grades (Present/Future)

                                                         Fastball       Slider    Changeup    Command

                                                          70/70          45/50         50/55          30/40

Bautista has the best arm among the relief prospects acquired from Boston for Addison Reed in 2017, and he should develop enough changeup to profile as a competent relief piece. If either the change or his slider otugrow expectations, he has late-inning potential because of the arm strength.

Draft Prospects Trending up  -

Travis Swaggerty (South Alabama) - Currently on a 9-game hitting streak, including 3 multi-hit games, in which he’s slugged 4 home runs and 11 RBI’s. He’s put himself in position to make those Andrew Benintendi comps much more realistic than he did earlier in the season.

Benintendi: .361 BABIP, .341 ISO, 17% BB-rate, 11% K-rate, 41% XBH-rate

 Swaggerty: .316 BABIP, .259 ISO, 26% BB-Rate, 13% K-rate, 41% XBH-rate

Still a half a season to go, so let’s see if Swaggerty can keep hitting the ball like he has lately.

These are the NL East's best pitches -

         

  The pitch: Noah Syndergaard's slider -

How he uses it: Typically ahead in the count, Syndergaard is capable of burying his slider down and away to right-handers as a wipeout pitch. His whiff rates (swinging strikes per swings) are off the charts with that pitch, and for a pitcher who can throw fastballs near triple digits, guarding against the slider makes for an uncomfortable at-bat for opposing hitters.

What it does: Syndergaard possesses skills never seen before for a pitcher, and his slider is the best example of that. Pitches are not generally thrown with such velocity that carry the same movement as his devastating slider, which has become one of the game's best put-away pitches. It dives more north and south than a typical slider, with breaking-ball movement instead of cutter movement, all while averaging from 91-93 mph and topping out at 95 mph.

What they say about it: "He just throws that pitch as hard as he can, and it's got good break," Mets catcher Jose Lobaton said. "I've faced him before and it's really good. It's different because it's so hard. You never expect somebody to throw 93- to 94-mph sliders."

Statcast™ fact: Since Syndergaard began throwing it routinely in 2016, his 47.82 percent whiff rate is sixth among starters who have thrown at least 100 sliders.

Baseball reflects on marvel of Ichiro's  career –

        

   The Mariners announced Thursday that Ichiro has transitioned out of a playing role and will serve as a special assistant to the chairman, providing input on outfield play, baserunning and hitting while serving as a mentor to players and staff. The move precludes Ichiro from rejoining the active roster in 2018, though Ichiro's agent, John Boggs, said Ichiro, who in the past has said he wants to still be playing baseball when he's 50, will keep his options open in 2019 and beyond.

The best player in baseball is still getting better at a terrifying rate –

       

    Mike Trout is the best player in baseball, and he has been for some time.

Since being called up at to the majors at the age of 19, Trout has won two AL MVP awards and finished second three times. His only other year eligible for the award was last season when he finished a disappointing — for him — fourth.

Trout's excellence is so high that many fans have almost become immune to it — like fish unaware of the water they swim in, we too can easily overlook the greatness that Trout plays with for 162 games a year.