On July 17, 2022, MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred announced that with the first overall pick, the Baltimore Orioles selected shortstop Jackson Holliday, son of Matt Holliday. A few moments later, Manfred made an announcement that the Arizona Diamondbacks selected outfielder Druw Jones, son of Andruw Jones. Two sons of former MLB players were selected with the first two overall picks of the draft, that’s the first time in MLB history.
Kumar Rocker was selected by the New York Mets in the first round of the 2021 draft. In the end, Rocker didn’t sign with the Mets. However, in the 2022 MLB draft, the Texas Rangers selected Kumar Rocker with the third overall pick and they reached an agreement. His journey in professional baseball has just begun and I was just curious whether there are many players who were selected in the first round but decided not to sign.
A few weeks ago, I was watching a game with some friends and Clayton Kershaw was on the mound. Kershaw’s performance wasn’t very solid in that game, but for me, he’s one of the best pitchers this generation. My friends and I were discussing some top pitchers in the majors. And, I was thinking of three pitchers.
Last postseason, Joc Pederson crushed 3 home runs and collected 9 RBI. Moreover, Eddie Rosario won the 2021 NLCS MVP. In that series, Rosario hit .560/.607/1.040 with 3 home runs and 9 RBI. These two left-handed batters were traded to the Braves last July and they became key players to help the Braves win the World Series title.
A few days ago, I watched a game with a great friend who really likes baseball. It was an exciting game. The home team was behind, but rallied from the 7th inning. By scoring several runs, the home team eventually won the game. After watching the game, I was just thinking about a question. Which teams do score more runs in the 7th inning or later?
A couple of months ago, I was watching a baseball game. On the mound, a pitcher, who was dominant last year, threw his curveball several times in an at-bat. As I remember, he didn’t use his curveball that often last season. So, I was just wondering whether his curveball usage has increased in 2022. Additionally, is he leading in curveball usage this season?
I was watching some interviews on YouTube a couple of days ago. One interesting interview was that a great pitcher shared his career story and he indicated that he didn’t like to pitch in a 1-run game, in particular, his team was leading by just 1 run. Watching 1-run games is always one of the most exciting things because a solo home run can tie the game. And, this season, there are several teams that enjoy playing in 1-run games.
A few days ago, I watched some baseball highlights. In a video, a batter was hitting a lot of foul balls. That really made the opposing pitcher work a lot. In the end, the batter crushed a home run. After watching the video, I was just wondering which batters have made opposing pitchers work a lot.
In June, the White Sox manager Tony La Russa decided to intentionally walk the Dodgers’ Trea Turner with a 1-2 count in the sixth inning. Well, the result wasn’t a great one because the next batter Max Muncy crushed a 3-run home run and the Dodgers won the game. There are a lot of discussions on La Russa’s decision. But, La Russa’s decision made me think about one thing.
A couple of days ago, I was watching a baseball game and on TV, a pitcher threw a curveball. The batter was ready to swing and he crushed it. The ball was long gone and it was a home run. The batter seems quite satisfied with that swing and that made me think whether he’s hitting curveballs very well this season.
Bullpen usage has played a very important part in today's baseball games. We have seen that a solid bullpen can help a team to win the World Series title. For example, the Royals’ bullpen was very solid in the 2015 postseason. They posted a great 2.51 ERA in 64.2 innings. By far this season, there are several teams with a solid bullpen.
