Higher velocity but fewer fastballs part of pitching evolution
Earlier this week, Padres pitching coach Ruben Niebla referred to Mason Miller as the best pitcher in baseball. That may incite debate, but Miller certainly belongs in the conversation -- his early-season dominance (including a 0.79 ERA and a 51.7% strikeout rate) already has us wondering about his potential Cy...
Wheeler keeps evolving, and it's all in the angles
A good Major League starting pitcher has to figure out how to neutralize the platoon advantage. Zack Wheeler is a great starting pitcher. And over the years, he has gotten very, very effective at getting left-handed hitters out.
That is a big part of Wheeler's evolution over the course of...
Zack Wheeler
An unprecedented FIFTH 50-homer season? Judge has it in reach
All stats through Monday's games....
Aaron Judge
Chandler Simpson's huge defensive turnaround isn't just about speed
Chandler Simpson pulled off a difficult and unfortunate trick as a rookie last year, which is to say that despite being one of the fastest players in the sport (97th percentile in Statcast’s sprint speed, at 29.6 ft/sec), he rated as one of baseball’s weakest outfield defenders (11th percentile in...
Chandler Simpson
We're watching the hardest-throwing starter to ever live (probably)
Jacob Misiorowski is the hardest-throwing starting pitcher in the hardest-throwing season on record, which means we can start right off here with the big, flashing premise: Misiorowski is (probably) the hardest-throwing starting pitcher of all time, and you get to see him, right now.
That’s good news for you, the...
Jacob Misiorowski
Does Roki Sasaki throw a forkball or a splitter? ... Why not both?
For a while, whether you called it a forkball or a splitter, Roki Sasaki threw one signature offspeed pitch.
You could quibble over what name to give it. You might think that it fit under the broader "splitter" umbrella -- the pitch that Sasaki's fellow Dodgers Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu...
Roki Sasaki
He's only a rookie. But his 'hold-your-ground' approach is already elite
A lot of baseball dads tell their kids to hit line drives right back up the middle. Not Kevin McGonigle's.
"Growing up, my dad always taught me to pull the ball down the line," McGonigle said. "The whole contact thing came as I grew older in the game."
And that's...
Kevin McGonigle
Watch Walls at shortstop -- even before the pitch is thrown
This story was excerpted from Adam Berry's Rays Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox....
Taylor Walls
Walk, then run: The philosophy making the 1st-place Guardians tough to face
No one is going to mistake the Guardians for an offensive juggernaut. But that doesn’t mean they’re an easy lineup to face.
Although they rank 27th in batting average (.228) and slugging (.365) this season, the Guardians’ approach at the plate and on the bases has been putting plenty of...
Travis Bazzana
64 batters faced. 1 hit allowed. This veteran reliever is on a historic run
Twenty appearances. Sixty-four batters faced. Only one hit allowed.
When you hear about a stretch like that, your mind immediately goes to Padres flamethrower Mason Miller. Not 32-year-old right-hander Rico Garcia, who has played for seven teams and entered this season with a career 5.27 ERA.
And yet, that's exactly...
Rico Garcia
