Bride & True

Is there anything better than baseball? Don’t answer that. Well, I’ll say this – if there’s one thing you can count on it’s baseball being weird, wacky, and wonderful all at the same time. How about last night? The Marlins, the team with the third-fewest runs scored in baseball torched José Berríos, who entered last night having surrendered five runs over his previous five outings, for six earned runs across three innings en route to a 15-5 win. As Yankee radio broadcaster John Sterling says, That’s Baseball, Suzyn. 

And no, it wasn’t Jake Burger who struck the big blow but another Marlins slugger with identical initials: Jonah Bride. With two down in the first, Bride sent a curveball from Berríos over the head of Jays left fielder Nathan Lukes putting the Marlins on top 3-0. The shot was all of 356 feet. But, you know, they all count just the same. And then in the ninth, with the score 14-5, Bride went yard again on a slider from Ryan Burr. I wonder if he’s a descendant of Aaron Burr.

Anyway, yes, that’s indeed the same Jonah Bride with a career .664 OPS and .291 wOBA over 557 PA who was DFA’d by the A’s this February. But now he’s back, wreaking havoc in NL-only leagues while slashing a spicy .293/ .347/ .488 over 23 games this September not including last night’s mayhem at the Rogers Centre.

Yeah, the final weekend almost always seems like a crapshoot, even for baseball.

To those still battling in your fantasy leagues, I salute you and wish you the best of luck. For one last time this year…

Let’s see how the other hitters did Friday:

Xavier Edwards (MIA): 4-6, 3 3B, 2 R, 4 RBI.

I probably should have led with this line. I mean how often do you see three triples?! He blasted his third triple in the seventh off righty Brett de Geus, a 330-foot liner to right that caromed off the warning track and scored two. Edwards has been a fantasy stalwart with 31 steals in only 294 PA. And he has been great with the bat, hitting .327 with a .357 wOBA. He’s probably benefitted from some good fortune considering his .295 xwOBA. He’s a negative in terms of power. Still, his contact ability and speed cut a favorable fantasy profile. I wonder where he ends up in ADP next season.

Griffin Conine, whom the Jays shipped to Miami as the PTBNL in the 2020 deal for Jonathan Villar (remember him?) exacted revenge, swatting his third dinger of the year.

Bryan Reynolds (PIT): 2-3, 2 HR, 2 R, 3 RBI, BB.

Reynolds tied the games in the sixth with a solo home run off Carlos Rodón. It wasn’t a long shot (378 feet, 105.3 EV) but he hit it to the perfect spot, the short porch in Yankee Stadium. He did it again in his next at-bat in the eighth, this time left-handed, grooving a Tommy Kahnle changeup 420 feet just to the right of straightaway center for a two-run dinger netting the final score. It seems we don’t talk much about Reynolds but he’s been Mr. Reliable again, hitting .277 with a .344 wOBA both in line with his career marks of .276 and .352 respectively.

Rhys Hoskins (MIL): 1-4, HR, R, 4 RBI.

Sean Manaea’s storybook season hit a speedbump in the first when he loaded the bases by walking Willy Adames and William Contreras. With two down, well-known Met nemesis Hoskins stepped to the plate, worked the count to 2-2, and clobbered a belt-high sinker 385 feet over the left field fence. Grand slam aside, it’s been largely a year to forget for Hoskins who has hit 26 home runs but with a career-low .313 wOBA and .215 average. His batted ball data hasn’t been great either, with PLV pegging his power at 100 AKA league-average.

Brice Turang began the rally with a single to center and finished the day going 3-for-4 with three stolen bases, giving him 50 for the season. He’s had lopsided results this year, hitting .277 in the first half compared to .209 in the second.

Stone Garrett (WSN): 3-4, 2B, HR, 2 R, 3 RBI, BB.

You might remember Stone Garrett, who broke his leg last August while fielding a flyball off Yankee Stadium’s short porch. Before the devastating injury, he slashed .269/ .343/ .457 across 271 PA. The Nats recalled Garrett with Andrés Chaparro on the paternity list. Garrett’s first game back in the majors couldn’t have gone better, socking a two-run shot off Ranger Suárez in his first at-bat (430 feet, 107.3 EV). The righty-hitting outfielder hit .247 with a .316 wOBA and 30.3% K rate across 274 PA with Triple-A Rochester.

Zach Dezenzo (HOU): 2-4, HR, R, RBI.

Dezenzo, a righty-hitting third baseman, debuted in early August but only received sporadic playing time before the Astros sent him down about a month later. However, they called him back up last night and he seized the opportunity by blasting his second of the season, a fifth-inning solo shot off righty reliever Eli Morgan. It was a good shot too at 445 feet to straightaway center. Dezenzo hit .333 with a .433 wOBA across 25 games with Triple-A Sugarland before getting recalled. Dezenzo could be a name to file away for next season with Alex Bregman an impending FA. However, his contact issues (32.7% strikeout rate) might be problematic.

Zach DeLoach (CHW): 2-4, 2B, HR, R, RBI.

A second-round pick by the Mariners four years ago out of Texas A&M, the lefty-hitting outfielder has gotten an opportunity to play with the White Sox and put together a few hits. His first career big fly came on a hanging sweeper from Tigers lefty Brant Hurter, cutting the deficit to 2-1. But alas, the White Sox lost stamping their fate as the worst squad in baseball history with 121 losses. DeLoach, meanwhile, hit .287 with a .358 wOBA and 20 stolen bases across 97 games with Triple-A Charlotte before getting called up on September 1st.

Shohei Ohtani (LAD): 4-5, 2B, HR, 2 R, 4 RBI, SB.

Your daily Shohei update. A day after becoming the 18th player in history to total 400 bases, he hit his 54th homer, a 436-foot three-run shot off right reliever Anthony Molina. Mr. Ohtani also stole his 57th base, breaking Ichiro’s record for most by a Japanese-born player. Granted the stolen base rules are different now. Still, he’s unprecedented. What’s more, he’s got an outside shot at the Triple Crown; Luis Arraez is hitting .314, five points ahead of his .309. He’s got two more dates at Coors Field against righties Antonio Senzatela and Ryan Feltner. History awaits.

Not to be outdone, his teammate Teoscar Hernández also had a jack and a bag, the former tying his career-high of 32 from 2021 with the Jays.

Corbin Carroll (ARI): 1-3, HR, R, RBI, 2 BB, SB.

Carroll led off the bottom of the first swatting his 22nd of the year courtesy of a hanging sweeper from Padres righty Yu Darvish (412 feet, 102.7 EV). I know it’s been said a million times, but I still can’t believe this dude had two home runs through the first 82 games. You almost have to figure he was doing something weird with his swing. But really maybe it’s just Baseball being baseball. Whatever the case may be, Carroll’s found something he missed in the first half.

Lars Nootbaar (STL): 2-5, 3B, HR, R, 3 RBI.

We’ll end with someone I was very excited about this year, but didn’t pan out. However, he’s ending the year on a good note. Noot’s 12th homer of the year was impressive, bopping a knee-high curveball from righty Landen Roupp 400 feet to straightaway center (100.7 EV). Nootbaar’s PLV profile checks a lot of the boxes you like to see in a hitter: favorable swing decisions (112 DV via PLV; 100 is average), above-average contact ability (116), and power (107). A 99th-percentile chase rate is pretty impressive. I’m already talking myself into him for next year.

Photo by Julian Avram/Icon Sportswire | Adapted by Justin Paradis (@JustParaDesigns on Twitter/X)