Mack’s Apples - Joey Bart, Latin Age, Brandon Belt, Noah Syndergaard, Bryan Brickhouse

Baseball America’s  Top 500 Prospects –

       

    7 – (Last: 7):  Joey Bart   4YR C   School: Georgia Tech

Ht: 6-3 | Wt: 225 | B-T: R-R | Committed/Drafted: Rays '15 (27)

Scouting Report: Bart became the first player ever drafted out of Buford (Ga.) High when the Rays selected him in the 27th round of the 2015 draft, but Bart chose to instead attend Georgia Tech, following in the footsteps of major league backstops like Jason Varitek and Matt Wieters. Since then, Bart has established himself as the top catcher in the 2018 class by a wide margin and there are more than a few people wondering if he’s the best catcher to come through the program—high praise considering the talent and major league success of Varitek and Wieters. Listed at 6-foot-3 and 225 pounds, Bart has all the tools necessary to become an above-average defensive catcher at the pro level. He has a strong arm that’s at least above-average and likely plus, as well as strong and quiet hands, footwork that’s online to his target during throws and exceptional game-calling abilities for an amateur. Prior to this spring, scouts questioned Bart’s effort behind the dish, but the recent feedback has been exceptional. When he’s locked in and focused, he looks the part. Offensively, Bart has plus raw power to all fields and has a solid track record in the ACC, hitting 13 home runs during his sophomore season and hitting 11 home runs through his first 37 games this spring. Bart also has a solid wood bat track record, hitting .309/.389/.433 with two home runs in the Cape Cod League in 2016, which should help ease the worries of teams who might knock him for a poor summer in 2017, when he was dealing with a groin injury while playing for USA Baseball’s Collegiate National Team. Bart does have a history of striking out a bit too much, and most evaluators put the hit tool at fringe-average at best, but the combination of his defensive tools and his ability to get to his power in-game at a position that is incredibly scarce should have him flying off the board early.

Age Isn’t Everything On The International Market -

          

Major league organizations spend years scouting and eventually invest millions of dollars signing Latin American amateurs each year, primarily from the Dominican Republic and Venezuela. The highest bonuses go to the youngest international amateurs, who become eligible to sign professional contracts at age 16.

Yet even though signing bonuses correlate strongly with youth, future success is hardly guaranteed when it comes to signing 16-year-old players, and the reasons are myriad.

Players develop at different ages, both physically and emotionally. Some develop or refine skills more than expected. Some players just plain outwork the others.

Joe Torre calls Giants' Brandon Belt after criticism of umpire -

Belt was upset with a game-ending called third strike by Eddings in Wednesday's 6-3 loss to the Cincinnati Reds. Belt said afterward that he thought the pitch was clearly outside and that Eddings called a strike because he was eager to end the game.

"It's tough, because you hope that an umpire doesn't affect a game like that. But he did, and I'm not sure if it was on purpose either," Belt said. "You've heard that guy multiple times insinuate he's trying to get through the game fast. And then he makes calls like that that I can't imagine that he really thought was a strike. You've got to wonder.

          

Mets pitcher finally unblocks long-blocked fan on Twitter -- but with stern warning -     

       New York Mets pitcher Noah Syndergaard was apparently in a forgiving mood Saturday, unblocking a fan on Twitter whom Syndergaard had blocked more than a year and a half ago.

The fan, Connor Jagemann, 21, told the New York Post that he found out that the pitcher, known as “Thor,” had blocked him when he received a message saying “Noah Syndergaard has blocked you.”

Depressed and broken, this Royals minor-leaguer quit.  A year later, his dream is alive –

       

   A little over a year ago, minor-league pitcher Bryan Brickhouse left the Royals’ spring-training complex in Arizona with no intention to return for the foreseeable future.

He’d spent the better part of three years there, toiling in the heat as he rehabbed from Tommy John surgery and stress fractures in his throwing elbow. He was often alone, surrounded by coaches and coordinators but none of his family, friends or teammates. The routine had grown old: Train, complete a throwing program, see live action, feel like his right elbow would snap in half and start rehab all over again.