Overlooked No More: Jackie Mitchell
Who Fanned Two of Baseball’s Greats –
Women have cleared many barriers in sports, but few exploits
have been as stunning, and steeped in mystery, as the day Jackie Mitchell struck out two of baseball’s giants, Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig.
It was April 2, 1931, and Mitchell, all of 17, was on the
roster of the otherwise all-male Tennessee minor league team the Chattanooga
Lookouts, which had signed her to a contract just a week before. The Yankees
were in town for an exhibition game as they made their way from spring training
in Florida back to New York, and 4,000 people had filled the Lookouts’ stands.
Mack – Hobie and I were at this game.
Amed Rosario’s final Japan All-Star stats: .471, 1.265-OPS
This is the real 'cancer'
in baseball. And it's not low attendance due to weather –
Peter Alonso final AFL numbers: 27-G, .255/.339/.510, 7-doubles, 6-homes, 27 runs batted in.
Seven of baseball's best ridiculously silly pickles and rundowns
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Fangraphs Post-2018 Farm Team
Rankings –
Farm System Rankings Post-2018
| Team | 70 | 65 | 60 | 55 | 50 | 45 | 40 | Total Prospects | Present-Day WAR | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SDP | 1 | 4 | 7 | 8 | 26 | 46 | 50.9 | $458 M | ||
| ATL | 1 | 5 | 6 | 2 | 13 | 27 | 45.0 | $405 M | ||
| CHW | 1 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 2 | 15 | 28 | 41.0 | $369 M | |
| TBR | 2 | 1 | 6 | 10 | 17 | 36 | 39.6 | $356 M | ||
| TOR | 1 | 1 | 3 | 7 | 20 | 32 | 33.1 | $298 M | ||
| CIN | 2 | 0 | 4 | 9 | 7 | 22 | 28.4 | $256 M | ||
| MIN | 2 | 3 | 7 | 24 | 36 | 28.2 | $254 M | |||
| DET | 3 | 4 | 10 | 14 | 31 | 27.8 | $250 M | |||
| HOU | 2 | 2 | 3 | 21 | 28 | 23.5 | $212 M | |||
| LAD | 2 | 3 | 6 | 13 | 24 | 23.1 | $208 M | |||
| PIT | 2 | 3 | 5 | 14 | 24 | 22.4 | $202 M | |||
| LAA | 1 | 3 | 7 | 11 | 22 | 19.7 | $177 M | |||
| PHI | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 18 | 26 | 19.7 | $177 M | ||
| OAK | 2 | 1 | 9 | 11 | 23 | 19.5 | $176 M | |||
| TEX | 1 | 4 | 4 | 26 | 35 | 19.0 | $171 M | |||
| CLE | 4 | 8 | 15 | 27 | 18.5 | $167 M | ||||
| NYM | 1 | 4 | 3 | 15 | 23 | 17.8 | $160 M | |||
| WSN | 1 | 1 | 4 | 11 | 17 | 17.8 | $160 M | |||
| STL | 1 | 2 | 6 | 20 | 29 | 16.1 | $145 M | |||
| MIA | 5 | 7 | 14 | 26 | 16.0 | $144 M | ||||
| NYY | 3 | 6 | 22 | 31 | 16.0 | $144 M | ||||
| MIL | 1 | 2 | 4 | 14 | 21 | 15.0 | $135 M | |||
| COL | 1 | 1 | 8 | 16 | 26 | 14.5 | $131 M | |||
| SFG | 2 | 4 | 17 | 23 | 10.6 | $95 M | ||||
| CHC | 3 | 6 | 18 | 27 | 10.4 | $94 M | ||||
| ARI | 2 | 3 | 18 | 23 | 10.0 | $90 M | ||||
| KCR | 1 | 6 | 18 | 25 | 9.1 | $82 M | ||||
| BAL | 7 | 24 | 31 | 8.5 | $77 M | |||||
| BOS | 7 | 13 | 20 | 6.1 | $55 M | |||||
| SEA | 4 | 13 | 17 | 4.8 | $43 M |
Most prospects at a grade
1st
2nd
3rd
FOX
, Major League Baseball Strike New Rights Pact –
The
fees are believed to increase by 30% early on and by as much as 50% later in
the term of the contract, according to people familiar with the matter. The
cost of the overall package could come to as much as $5.1 billion, one of these
people said, with the annual fee possibly increasing to $675 million early in
the deal and more over the term of the contract.
$5.1 Billion? Will that pay for the contracts of Machado and Harper? 😁
ReplyDeleteThose Fangraphs articles are quite revealing. I wonder where Cecchini and Dom would fall, if they were included also. 40 rating?
ReplyDeleteJackie Mitchell may be have fanned Ruth and Gehrig, but Jeff McNeil would have taken her deep.
Good to see Rosario excel while playing with talented peers. Likely a confidence booster for 2019.
Bill -
ReplyDeleteOn the surface, there sure seems to be enough money in this game to field anyone you want as well as line your own pockets.
Tom -
ReplyDeleteThe best thing about your love for Alonso is the lack of Tebow mentions.
:)
Good info, Mack........I find it humorous that Satan, I mean Scott Boras is complaining about the competitive balance in baseball, yet he is partially responsible for the out of control salaries that are causing the disparity in the first place!
ReplyDeleteI am a fan of a hard salary cap AND a hard minimum salary floor. That way, the big market teams cannot outspend other teams by 2 or 3 times the amount (ridiculous), yet the smaller market teams HAVE to spend a decent amount, too. I am sure the players would balk at such a suggestion, but it would be healthier for the game and the lack of parity in the league right now.
On a side note, good to see our farm system is slowly climbing the ranks.......in another year or two, it could be near the top of the list with our younger players developing, etc.
Mike
ReplyDeleteIf...
we bite the apple until 2020 and NOT trade off the chips we have now
Yes, I was there.
ReplyDeleteTried to pick up Jackie M, but struck out too, :-)
Interesting blogs today.
ReplyDeleteI concur with Tom Brennan on keeping Noah Syndergaard UNLESS some team makes the NY Mets an offer that they simply could not refuse.
The notion of the Mets trading Noah does not thrill me actually. I have Noah slated in as the very capable 2019 third starter behind Jacob and Zachary. It's hard to find in MLB top three starters better than this, since all three are now proven gamers and have shown how good they can be in the past with the Mets.
Why mess with it really, it certainly is not broken.
Noah is only 26 years old at current, so his performance curve is still rising and not declining. I do (however) love the idea of adding in free agent Patrick Corbin into the rotation mix. Maybe move Jason Vargas into the lefty long relief spot, since the Mets do need more competent left-handed relievers. It is precisely why I mentioned doing this last week here. It just makes ample sense I thought.
On the sports television networks and online, the team that once again appears to be the most interested in Noah Syndergaard is the San Diego Padres. They do have catcher/3B switch hitter Francisco Mejia who has already shown hitting ability at each level, power, and a tenacious arm. They also have three really decent lefty young starters in Mckenzie Gore, Kyle McGrath, and Logan Allen. The Padres also have a convincing 6'7' relief pitcher in Trey Wingenter (24) also with an impressive stat sheet.
This too...
Fourteen of the San Diego padres Top 30 Prospects are all pitchers. How in the world are they going to be able to protect them all from the Rule 5?
Sure Noah Syndergaard would clearly be their rotation's 2019 ace, but with so many really impressive young starters, why in the world would a team trade one or two of them away when they could have (right there from within) a solid rotation all their own?
Overall speaking, I would much rather the Mets watch this Rule 5 Draft and maybe then add in a young lefty starter using someone like a Seth Lugo or Robert Gsellman as trade bait, if they have to. And no, I don't see the Padres trading away Francisco Mejia anytime soon after all they have already done just to get him in San Diego.
Also with San Diego...
ReplyDeleteForget to mention this. With Francisco Mejia and Austin Hedges at the cather position, one guy on their team who has some MLB experience with Texas, and has gone rather unnoticed is Brett Nicholas (age 30). In 2018, Brett hit .291 BA, 16 HR, 83 RBI's. He has a very decent MiLB stat sheet, and batted .275 with the Texas Rangers in 2016.
Since very few are playing MLB catcher these days that can hit much, this guy maybe should get a look. He most likely won't be protected either in The Rule 5 Draft, with Hedges and Mejia ahead of him. They also have a younger catcher there with the Padres named Luis Torrens as well.
Just throwing out ideas.
I simply cannot believe how this San Diego team is so loaded with good young arms. It's almost Sandy Alderson like doing that. Worth a look. Cannot hurt.