Mack’s Apples - Jarred Kelenic, Logan Davidson, Eric Kratz, Baseball Needs Fixing, Matt Harvey

Jarred Kelenic took unique path to Queens –

Going back to eighth grade, Kelenic determined that he wouldn't play for his high school team at Waukesha West High School, instead opting to play for the Rawlings Hitters out of nearby Caledonia, about 25 miles away in the Milwaukee suburbs. Because of the ability he'd shown from a young age, Kelenic had already played up two levels with his travel teams as a middle-schooler and thought that pro ball could be a reality if he took the right steps to develop.

MLB Draft 2019  -

         

   Logan Davidson, SS, Clemson

Davidson arrived at Clemson a highly decorated recruit, winning 2016 North Carolina Gatorade State Player of the Year honors and being drafted by the Philadelphia Phillies in the 30th round — and he’s done nothing but cement his status as one of the best players in college baseball since that time. After hitting .286 with 12 home runs and 41 RBIs in 2017, he was named to the Freshman All-American First Team by D1 Baseball and Perfect Game. This season, the 6-3, 185-pound switch-hitting shortstop continued his excellent play, batting .292 for the year while adding 15 homers and 46 RBIs to the Tigers’ offense, earning him Second Team All-ACC and Third Team All-American honors. While he’s yet to hit above .300 in his collegiate career, scouts love Davidson’s power — from both sides of the plate — and his natural ability at short. He will spend his second straight summer playing for the Falmouth Commodores of the Cape Cod League this year, so big-league clubs will have plenty of opportunity to see him perform against elevated competition before his junior season.

10 of the best quotes from the first half of the 2018 season –

       

    "We were discussing the Canadian dollar and flawed systems in our two governments. He was coming from a different side of it, and we were just discussing those kinds of things." - Erik Kratz with the best explanation for an on-field argument that we've ever heard. 

Baseball needs fixing and it starts with the courage to think radically –

      

     We can talk all we want about the length of games, and baseball is wise to keep tabs on that aspect of its health. Through the weekend, nine-inning games averaged two hours, 59 minutes 44 seconds. That’s long, for sure. But it’s also down nearly five-and-a-half minutes from a year ago.

You know what else is down? Attendance, to 28,052 per game, off by more than six percent from last year and would be the lowest average, should it hold, in 15 years.

Matt Harvey Is Getting It Together –

        

   Lately, though, Harvey has been pitching better — if not at the same level of his dominant 2012-15 form, then certainly better than the latter-day palooka who was tagged for a 5.93 ERA and 5.01 FIP in 212.1 innings from the start of 2016 to the point of the trade. On Sunday in Cincinnati, on the heels of two increasingly promising starts, he recorded his best outing yet as a Red, taking a perfect game into the fifth inning against the Brewers and finishing with his longest scoreless appearance since August 28, 2015.