Category Archives: Baseball

One line each on every member of the 2022 Rochester Red Wings opening day roster

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One line (or at least a sentence- it could be longer than a line depending on your screen) on every member of the opening day roster of my hometown Rochester Red Wings. They range from statistics to trivia and everything in between. Of course, it’s possible that this roster will change drastically in just a few days once MLB begins its season.

  • Alberto Baldonado made his first MLB appearance late last season, striking out Bryce Harper during his debut.
  • Cade Cavalli is considered the Nationals’ top pitching prospect and should be the top man in the Rochester starting staff to begin the season.
  • Tyler Clippard was a two-time All-Star for the Nationals earlier in his career and will begin in Rochester primarily due to the fact he was signed late and needs more time to build his arm up.
  • Carl Edwards Jr. won a World Series title in 2016 with the Chicago Cubs.
  • Jace Fry played in the 2006 Little League World Series for Oregon.
  • Reed Garrett returns to North America after pitching two seasons in Japan for the Seibu Lions.
  • Hunter Harvey has pitched in 26 career games with the Orioles and joined the Nationals organization in late March.
  • Gabe Klobosits had a 2.45 ERA in 18.1 innings last season for the Wings while also spending time in Harrisburg and Washington.
  • Francisco Perez made his MLB debut last season for Cleveland.
  • Erasmo Ramirez has pitched in 216 career MLB games, primarily for Seattle and Tampa.
  • Luis Reyes was signed by the Nationals in Aug. 2012, when he was just 17.
  • Jefry Rodriguez split time between Rochester and Washington last season.
  • Seth Romero missed time this spring with a stiff back, hampering an attempt to start the season with the big club.
  • Aaron Sanchez was the 2016 AL ERA leader and made the All-Star Game that season for Toronto.
  • Curtis Taylor was acquired off waivers from the Toronto organization in December.
  • Lefty Carson Teel primarily played with Harrisburg in 2021 but did make five appearances for the Wings.
  • Jackson Tetreault threw all six innings in the Wings’ 4-0 rain-shortened loss to end the 2021 season.
  • Logan Verrett has pitched in 57 career games in MLB and has also had time in Korea and the independent leagues.
  • Jordan Weems split last season between the Oakland and Arizona organizations, including seven games in MLB.
  • Tres Barrera split time between Rochester and Washington last season, and actually hit better in MLB than he did in AAA!
  • Although he reportedly retired, longtime MLB catcher Welington Castillo is listed on the team’s roster, albeit not listed as not being with the team.
  • Chris Herrmann is no stranger to Rochester, having played here for parts of three seasons during the Twins era.
  • Wilmer Perez played some winter ball during the off-season in his native Venezuela.
  • Luis Garcia is once again the youngest member of the Red Wings (born: 5/16/00), and is considered one of the top prospects in the Nationals organization.
  • Bahamas-born Lucius Fox may be the fastest man on the team with 142 stolen bags during his minor league career so far.
  • Joey Meneses was the IL MVP in 2018 and played for Team Mexico in the Olympics last season.
  • Jake Noll was last season’s team MVP and was named to the league’s All-Star Team at the end of the season.
  • Adrian Sanchez hit well in Rochester last season while splitting time between here and Washington.
  • Richard Urena was with the Buffalo Bisons the last several years and so is likely familiar to many Red Wings fans.
  • Andrew Young played in 58 games for Arizona last season before being selected in the MiLB Rule 5 draft by the Nationals.
  • Nick Banks is from Chris Herrmann’s hometown of Tomball, Texas.
  • Donovan Casey was one of the player acquired in the Max Scherzer trade last season.
  • Matt Lipka hit .291/.352/.449 between AA and AAA in the Arizona and Milwaukee organizations in 2021.
  • Cole Freeman has twice been named to Washington’s organization All-Star Team by MiLB.com, but this will be his first season in AAA.
  • Andrew Stevenson has played 248 career MLB games, all with Washington.
  • Princeton grad Alec Keller is said to have retired according to MiLB.com, but is still listed on the team’s roster- albeit not with the team.
  • Manager Matt LeCroy returns for his second year as manager and third overall (he played for the 2007 team).
  • Hitting Coach Brian Daubach hit 20 or more HRs for four straight seasons in Boston from 1999 through 2002.
  • Pitching Coach Rafael Chaves has MLB pitching coach experience, as he held the Mariners job in 2006 and 2007.
  • Development Coach Billy McMillon was the skipper of the Worcester Red Sox last season

The grievous error made in Pixar’s “Turning Red”

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(The following is tongue-in-cheek.)

So, I saw Turning Red a few days ago. A good film. Probably not the top tier of Pixar, but it’s up there.

However, there is a horrible and grievous error made by the filmmakers. One that is inexcusable to someone who writes a baseball blog:

A major plot point is that there is a gigantic boy band concert scheduled at the Skydome for the night of May 25, 2002. We’re talking an all-out production with giant posters of the band members, special spotlights flashing the band logo in the sky, and the appropriate level of pyrotechnics and stage set-up for a big concert.

However, there is a major issue: The Blue Jays had a game there that day. So, Pixar is asking us to believe that the Blue Jays lost to Cleveland 3-0 in just over two-and-a-half hours, and then they put up all of the boy band stuff, from the giant posters to the elaborate stagecraft and presumably countless other logistical things?

Yeah, right. I can believe a teenage Chinese-Canadian girl can turn into a red panda as a metaphor for entering puberty, but this? This goes too far. This breaks the suspension of disbelief.

And it can’t be considered just some oversight. This is Pixar. They go insanely into detail in their research for their movies. The Incredibles referenced the quantum mechanical concept of zero-point energy to explain one of the villain’s devices. They consult psychologists for films regularly. One of the filmmakers of Finding Nemo outright admits in the audio commentary that they briefly included a lobster that isn’t native to Australia in the film simply so that someone could use a Boston accent, but that they made sure every other species featured was authentic.

They’ve done all of that in the past, but nobody working on Domee Shi’s (literal) period piece couldn’t check to see what the Blue Jays schedule that year was? I mean, they get so much

For shame, Pixar. For shame.

(I actually believe the real reason for this is that in the movie another important plot point requires there to be a red moon, which only occurs naturally during times of lunar eclipse. The only lunar eclipses in the Northern Hemisphere in 2002 were in late May and late November, and the weather in Toronto in November would likely have required the Skydome roof to be closed for the climax of the film, which would have ruined some of the visuals of the film’s final act. Setting the film in a different year would have likely required other changes that may have ruined Domee Shi’s use of the film as a metaphor for her own childhood in Toronto, so they went with what they went with. It should also be noted that the May eclipse wasn’t visible in Toronto, so they similarly fudged that a bit for dramatic purposes as well. I’d love to hear if I’m right about this so on the long-shot chance that you work for Pixar, let me know.)

With new CBA, speculation on the next World Baseball Classic

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With Spring Training in full swing and Opening Day fast approaching, it’s time to look to the future. To be specific, the future of the World Baseball Classic. The new collective bargaining agreement included some stuff about the WBC, and while some of it has been revealed, other parts are left to speculation.

Here, I do a bit of both after the jump.

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Back next week

Aside

The Baseball Continuum will return next week with some early speculation on the next World Baseball Classic.

See you then!

Famous for Something Else: Shohei “Giant” Baba, Japanese Pro Wrestler

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Way back during the 2016 Blogathon (which I’ve never been able to do again due to “life”), I did a post on how the grandfather of John Cena, Tony Lupien, played in the big leagues during the 1940s. We’ve also covered “Macho Man” Randy Savage’s minor league career. Today we’re going back to the world of professional wrestling, albeit in Japan.

The player-turned-wrestler in question is Shohei Baba, better known as Giant Baba. While he had some stints in the USA, in Japan he is one of the most famous wrestlers ever and is remembered as the co-founder of the All-Japan Pro Wrestling organization.

Standing anywhere between 6’6″ and 6’10” depending on the source, Baba is believed to have been one of the tallest people to ever play baseball professionally in Japan. According to Wikipedia (which sources Japanese articles), Baba was known for his height from the beginning: in high school he was known as “Sanjo High School’s giant pitcher.” He had the talent to get signed by the Yomiuri Giants, and proceeded to do very well in the minor leagues in Japan, at one point even being named best pitcher in the minor league he was in. However, health injuries (including a brain tumor!) and injuries meant he never made it to the top level very often. He only pitched in three games for the top club, although he did do well in that limited action, holding a 1.29 ERA:

YearAgeAgeDifTmLgLevWLW-L%ERARA9GGSGFCGSHOIPHRERHRBBIBBSOHBPBKWPBFWHIPH9HR9BB9SO9
195719-4.4YomiuriJPCLFgn01.0001.291.29312007.05110003000260.7146.40.00.03.9
AllAllAllAll01.0001.291.29312007.05110003000260.7146.40.00.03.9

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 1/22/2022.

A few years later, he’d give up baseball and step into the ring. The rest is history.

Bizarre Baseball Culture 2.0: Action Comics #50 has Superman being a Superjerk

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In Bizarre Baseball Culture 2.0, I take an updated look at some of the more unusual places that I previously covered where baseball has reared its head in pop culture and fiction. In the process, I clean up some mistakes of mine and add some more perspective.

NOTE: The original form of this post ran here. It has some grammatical mistakes and out-of-date information that has been corrected in this post, but remains up for posterity. In addition, I have taken time to replace most of the pictures in this post with better digital copies.

Superman. Contrary to popular belief, he was not the first superhero, but he was the first to truly make an impact. First appearing in Action Comics #1, he has influenced every superhero since. While it has been awhile since he was the most popular hero, his influence is felt to this day across the world.

Today, we are focusing on the past with Action Comics #50, way back in July, 1942. I read it initially in The Superman Chronicles Volume Nine, which I got from my local library. In the original posting of this installment, the scans were from that. This time, however, I have updated most of the photos with screenshots from this issue on DC’s DC Universe Infinite service. The only exceptions are the ones linked to in the text (since they usually are so small in scale that it doesn’t make that much of a difference). All scans and screenshots are for educational or demonstration purposes only and are being used under the fair use doctrine. Also, I’d like to note that Michael Clair has also covered this story, so check that out too.

Anyway, go below the jump:

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Bizarre Baseball Culture 2.0: Spider-Man, Uncle Ben, and the Mets

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In Bizarre Baseball Culture 2.0, I take an updated look at some of the more unusual places that I previously covered where baseball has reared its head in pop culture and fiction. In the process, I clean up some mistakes of mine and add some more perspective.

Note: The original version of this post can be found here. It has some mistakes and out-of-date information that has been corrected in this post, but remains up for posterity.

As the latest Spider-Man film continues to break records, there is perhaps no better way to start up Bizarre Baseball Culture 2.0 than by renovating one of my old posts about the web-slinger. Now, ole’ Web-Head is no stranger to Bizarre Baseball Culture, having had shown up on several occasions (including fighting Doctor Doom alongside Billy the Marlin), but those were generally promotional comics that happened to feature Spider-Man. Peter Parker Spider-Man (Volume 2) #33, by contrast, is canon. It happened in the main Marvel Universe and presumably could be referenced by any writer working in those stories today. This issue from 2001 is about Peter Parker’s relation with his late Uncle Ben, and how baseball was a bond between them.

Now, before we begin, I’d like to write a bit about Spider-Man in general. What made the Marvel characters different when they first started appearing in the 1960s was that they were, in general, more relatable and flawed than the DC counterparts and the Marvel superheroes that had been created in the 30s and 40s. The Fantastic Four was often bickering with each other (like an family does), the X-Men were shunned by most of society (Stan Lee has said that being a mutant is basically meant to be a stand-in for being a minority), the Hulk was shunned by basically all of society… and Spider-Man, for lack of a better term, was a loser.

Okay, maybe not a loser, but definitely the closest thing there had been up to that point: an unpopular kid with no parents, only one family member of any sort (Aunt May) and little money. To make matters worse, when supervillains weren’t coming after him, the press and/or the police were. If things could go wrong for Peter Parker, they probably have. Parents? Dead. Uncle? Dead. Aunt? Perpetually sick. First true love (Gwen Stacy)? Murdered (and, amazingly, never came back to life). Second true love (Mary Jane)? Marriage magically annulled in a story far too stupid to talk about. At one point in the not-that-distant past poor Peter Parker evensaw his body body-snatched by Doctor Ocopus while he was forced to die in “Doc Ock’s” cancer-ridden body (don’t worry, he got better). But all of this pales in comparison to the greatest, most horrible fate to ever fall upon Spider-Man:

Being a fan of the New York Mets.

(JUMP)

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Looking back and waiting for spring

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Well, now that the smoke has mostly settled from the World Series, it’s time for a look back at it and a look forward.

First off, the World Series itself. It was, admittedly, not the best series to end the season on. Both clubs had some off-the-field baggage (Houston with the cheating scandal, Atlanta with the continued existence of the chop as well as how they had become a prop for some politicos), and the series highlighted some of modern baseball’s most frustrating features (such as early pitching changes and the degradation of base-running ability for all but a few).

Still, it had some great moments and some big personalities. Freddie Freeman, a Hall-of-Famer in the making (the player most similar to him statistically through the age 31 season is Eddie Murray), now has a ring to show for it. Max Fried had a coming-out party that helped solidify his place as one of the best pitchers in the NL (he had been great the previous two seasons as well, but sometimes the playoffs knocks people higher in the conscious). Jorge Soler, Eddie Rosario, and Adam Duvall proved to be perhaps the best trio of mid-season replacements in years, if not ever, a masterstroke for the Atlanta front office. On the Astros side, the usual suspects were joined by unexpected people like Zack Greinke, who will now likely go down in history as the last pitcher (aside from two-ways like Ohtani) to get a hit. And the two dugouts were run by old-time baseball men in a new-age baseball world: Brian Snitker and Dusty Baker, who both fittingly have deep ties to the late Henry Aaron and his family.

Ultimately, I consider any series that goes at least six games “good.” Nobody likes a sweep or a near-sweep (save for the team that wins, of course). So while the games themselves were, with one or two exceptions, hardly the most entertaining that baseball could give, I am generally happy.

Now, of course, is the offseason. It could prove tumultuous. A lockout in December is considered so likely that The Onion has already made a joke about it. The fact that the work stoppage will come during December is, ironically, probably a good thing, as it makes it more likely that some sort of new Collective Bargaining Agreement will come about before games are lost. However, given the greedy stubbornness of the owners as well as the (largely justified!) grievances of the players (who, frankly, got pantsed in the last CBA), the ultimate outcome is unknown.

What is known as that when a new CBA does come into force it is likely that baseball will have shifted into yet another new era. It is considered all-but-certain that the DH will become universal, and other rules changes will likely also be either implemented or be put on the road to being implemented. The financial rules will also doubtless change, although given the very nature of the CBA those are likely the hardest to predict.

And so we wait…

Finally, a word on Buster Posey. In my opinion, the three most important on-field people in the long history of the New York/San Francisco Giants are (we can argue a bit on the order) John McGraw, Willie Mays, and Barry Bonds. The fourth most important? Buster Posey.

QUICK HIT: Bare-bones no explanation given prediction for the 2021 World Series

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And now the no-explanations-given predictions for the World Series…

World Series: Astros over Braves in six games.

MVP: Yordan Alvarez

Updated bare-bones no explanation given predictions

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Everything I had to say about last night’s check-swing ending was on Twitter last night, so instead I’m updating my bare-bones postseason predictions to reflect who has made the LCS round.

ALCS: Astros over Red Sox in 7

NLCS: Dodgers over Braves in 5

World Series: Dodgers over Astros in 6

World Series MVP: Mookie Betts