53 HRs, 134 RBIs, in 241 High Minors Games Over Past Two Years
Nice.
Time in Majors? Zero Days. Not Nice.
Every so often, I think back to the Mets’ championship years of 1969 and 1986.
Those were the days of 10 pitchers and 15 position players on teams' 25 man rosters. Those were also the days where, come September 1, rosters could expand up to 40 players.
Nowadays, with so many pitchers getting hurt, and the dramatic shortening of starting pitcher outings, teams carry 13 pitchers.
The owners did expand a few years back to 26 on a roster instead of 25, but the offset to that increase was a decrease, only allowing September rosters to expand to 28. Who loses in that scenario?
The Hitters Do.
Essentially, each team carries just 13 position players now, as compared to 15 back in 1969 and 1986. You have 30 major league teams. Do the math:
2×30 = 60 jobs for aspiring minors hitters that simply no longer exist.
If you’re a halfway competent pitcher, you will be given the opportunity to pitch in the major leagues, even when in many cases, it is for a relatively short period of time. For the latter marginal cohort, the reason is that they are only marginal pitchers when it comes to major league skill sets. Good enough for an emergency call up.
The fact that starters go much shorter these days and injuries are more frequent has added three more jobs for pitchers on each roster (10 then, 13 now). And with so many pitchers getting hurt, at a rate which clearly seems much higher than back in 1969 and 1986, there’s much more dipping into the minor leagues to pull a pitcher up for a while to fill in.
All those pitchers get the chance to play in the big leagues(!) and make some lucrative major league dough.
A guy like Luke Ritter, who as a hitter has his contact flaws, but is more skilled baseball-wise than some of those marginal called-up pitchers, never gets called up. Why? Because of what I said above. Was 15, now 13.
Usually teams have the 13 hitters that are on the roster, and perhaps three or four guys that they will want to utilize in the minor leagues, should some hitter get hurt or be brutally slumping.
You also have prospects who continue to develop, who are catching up to guys like Luke Ritter.
So the Luke Ritters of the baseball world essentially see and experience a very thick, almost impenetrable glass ceiling.
What’s the solution? Here’s mine:
You expand the roster by two hitters to 28, and also, instead of capping September rosters to 28 players, cap September at 32 players, with the specification that at least 2 of those added 4 September call ups need to be hitters.
This would mean added costs to owners for expanded payrolls.
How to minimize? No, no need to call Elon. I got this:
In expanding the roster by two players during the year, for budgetary reasons, those two spots should only allow a salary of $1 million or less, annualized. And, I would expand the teams' salary thresholds for those additional players by $2 million, so that there would be no luxury tax impact on any team from doing so.
I don’t think about it a lot, but when I do, it doesn’t make me the most interest in man in the world, but it always bothers me that so many guys that are good minors hitting talents and who, back in 1969 or 1986, would’ve been on a major league roster now just can’t get there.
Because there’s only room for 13. Not 15, like in the old days.
Any team could add a 3rd catcher for defensive purposes, allowing the team to pinch hit for their catcher without worrying that the 2nd catcher gets hurt and no one is skilled to catch. A fast guy with good defense like Acuna? Much more of a no-brainer to include on a roster.
Ex-Mets prospect Aderlin Rodriguez, now 33 years old, has never gotten to the majors, in part due to "13, not 15".
His career key minors/winter/international numbers?
294 HRs, 1,102 RBIs. Nearly 300 HRs, over 1,100 RBIs.
Not one day on a major league roster. 294 HRs, 1,102 RBIs. Very sad.
And spring training at bats? Up 72 times, .236, 4 HRs, 16 RBIs. Decent. Showed he most likely wouldn’t have embarrassed himself in a MLB cameo.
More recently and relevantly, Jose Iglesias was stuck in the minors at the start of 2024, due to "13 not being 15".
He got called up to the majors and hit .337. Not enough at bats to qualify for the title, but the highest qualifying average in the majors in 2024? Bobby Witt, .332. So, Iglesias led the majors in hitting. But missed being in the majors for a few months due to “13 not being 15.”
Talented hitters throughout baseball are being shoved down into the minors that really belong in the big leagues.
Those are my thoughts.
What do you think?
ANTHONY GOSE, THE HITTER
Years ago, back when the west was very young, Mr. Gose was once almost traded to the Mets, but the Mets smartly insisted on a pitcher instead...
Noah Syndergaard.
Little did the Mets realize that Gose would eventually switch from hitting to pitching. And be signed by the Mets more than a decade after the Syndergaard trade.
Gose this spring, thru Wednesday, had thrown 2 perfect innings.
There is a very good chance the Mets will call up the 34 year old Gose as a fireballing lefty reliever at some point, or points, during 2025. And...
...he can also hit. And field. And run.
Yes, he has not batted in the major leagues since 2016.
But his MLB career slash line in a statistically significant 1,252 plate appearances was .240/.309/.348.
By comparison:
Brett Baty? .229/.306/.327
Tyrone Taylor? .241/.296/.438
Pretty comparable.
Gose has not batted in years, but was a career .252 minor leaguer.
A former 2nd rounder who first played professionally in 2008.
Did I mention he has 290 professional steals?
As a pitcher, just 31 MLB innings, and in 141 minors innings and 36 winter innings, 17-11 with 225 Ks.
Probably a marginal reliever if the lab doesn't fix him, but his advantage is that hitting ability in a pinch, as a lefty hitter.
And he can play in the outfield or pinch run in a pinch, too.
In this day and age of runners starting on 2nd base in extra innings, the frequency of using him on offense is less than prior to that rules change, but he is an offensive fallback if needed. And certainly could be a pinch baserunner.
Gose is perhaps a little more intriguing than you might have recollected, huh? In essence, a substandard version of Shohei Ohtani. Huge gap there, but intriguing nonetheless is this Anthony Gose.
But Gose just got more competition:
METS SIGN PITCHER JOSE URENA TO MINOR LEAGUE DEAL
One of Mack’s Mets other writers can fill you in. Good pick up, IMO.
THURSDAY GAME ACTION
Holmes and Kranick each went 3 scoreless in 5-0 win.
Baty and Clifford 2 run shots. Baty is a sexy 6 for 11 (.545) so far.
- Baty is my utility guy, Kranick is my #5 starter. Period, end of story.
- I ask myself…Will Holmes start the All Star game? Why not?
19 comments:
I'm sorry Tom, but I just don't agree.
Why delute the game in order for two more players to be on the roster, who shouldn't have been there in the first place?
And why sit two more players on the bench when they can be getting daily reps at the AAA level and are a phonecall and 24 hours away from a needed call-up?
I want guys like Ritter playing every day so if I need him, he's ready to continue to do the good things he is producing EVERY DAY in Syracuse.
Just me.
Jose Urena coming up at 11am
Madrigal out for the season
I like Tom's idea, which would allow more flexibility to mgrs, though with no PHers needed for pitchers who bat, the need for more bench is lower.
I wonder why more fringe Minor Leaguers like Ritter, don't increase their ML Bench chances by learning to catch. Imagine how much that ability would help Baty or Siri, so the "official" Catchers could be used to PH or to be ruun for if they get late inning hits/walks.
Sorry for Madrigal, but I don’t understand these signings to begin with.
As for the pitching:
Manaea is expected back in mid April. How many starts would he miss? Can we all relax?
Montas is a roll of the dice anyway. He is Severino II. I expect nothing so I don’t expect to be disappointed. Senga is better, Manaea and Peterson are better, Holmes and Megill are better. Why is everyone panicking over this reach of a pitcher?
Lastly, the bullpen will be better. Last year at this time, Michael Tomkin, Jorge Lopez and some other clowns were the main attraction. The team has stepped up and that’s before the hopeful graduations of Tidwell, Sproat, and Hamel.
I think the team will be ok.with their starting pitching as expected output being so low the perceived loss is minimal.
I feel bad for him, but I don't think his loss will hurt the team.
So do I
Madrigal will have time to travel to Madrid and Portugal while healing.
I think we are fine with Kranick until Manaea returns. He looks real.
My Yankee fan brother Jim and I spoke about Montas. He watches all the Yankees games - he said he is a batting practice pitcher and we will be disappointed.
I like the Urena pick up. The bullpen is indeed of good quality. I read that Diaz was limited in pre-season 2024 preparation as a precaution. He expects better of himself this year.
I actually agreed with Tom...sorry Mack. I would like at least 1 more position player available on the bench. It doesn't have to be 2 players; I would take 1. I feel the bench is too short.
On Macks point, I actually agree. It should not be used for a prospect, thus hurting his development. It should be used on a journeyman major leaguer; minor leaguer no longer considered a top prospect (like Ritter). It would leave 14 position players/13 pitchers.
Mack, you and I will have to disagree on that. I think making it 15 will give more flexibility and make 60 more fellas happy. Acuna would definitely be on the club opening day just for his scampering skills. And only $2 million extra salary and whatever benefits and travel costs are involved. But the great game will go on, one way or another.
On Mets South, the Rays have Vasil and Gervase, both hit hard in debuts, and Orze, who pitched very well. I bet Orze has a very solid year for the Jays.
I like the idea of expanding the roster by either 1 or 2. And I love Tom’s idea of limiting the salary on those spots. That should make it easier for the owners to swallow. Also, if I were GM with a 28-man roster, I’d be scouting the NCAA sprint championships looking for a guy to do nothing but pinch run, and put that guy on 2B every time I got to the 10th inning. I know that Young (I can never remember which Young is the lefty that we kept) has no options remaining, but I have a feeling that Gose has a pretty good shot to make the show as our second BP lefty, whether on OD or soon after. Hoping the lab can help him put that 99mph in the strike zone more regularly. Lefties who throw that hard don’t grow on trees.
Adam, we'll see how it Gose.
You wonder if they boosted 13 to 15 how excited borderline minor league hitters would be to not retire and keep trying to grasp the ring.
If that is too expensive for owners, why not have a one-time career call up for a few guys like Ritter each September, just for Fri, Sat, Sun. I think getting to the big leagues would be a true thrill for a few of these guys. It might only be 3 days, but after several years in the minors, it would feel like a real reward.
Tom, even before your article, I always thought the teams should have a 3 man taxi squad. Paying these 3 players the MLB minimum. This way you can plug someone in if a player really isn't set to go on a particular day. Then you can stash a player for 3 days before having to place someone on the 15 day disabled list.
How many times has a team been left shorthanded when one their better players is possibly hurt. Just plug someone in for a day or two before making a determination. I'm sure a lot of fringe players would die for a chance.
I thought a while back if MLB had some kind of roster where you have 28 players on it, but for a game you could only have 23 eligible players. That way, a couple of pitchers who start can be then stashed on the non game day list. So I guy who started or is going to start the next day would not be using a game day spot. Maybe a reliever who has pitched 2 or 3 days in a row could be sat down. You could then have 14 position players and 9 pitchers for your roster or 13 and 10. The way it seems to me now, you really only have 22 players for a game if you don't include starters.
JoeP, good idea
Shawn, good point.
That would work for me Shawn
It kind of follows the 'healthy scratch' concept they have in hockey.
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