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MLB News & Moments You Should Know: 5/9/2024

A 14.82 K/9 is good, right?

Asher Dratel
MLB Morning News 5/9/2024

Stay updated on everything baseball with our morning MLB News & Moments articles. We’ve got you covered to keep you in the know.

Sorry for the tonal and emotional whiplash of the first two items today, but hey, I can’t pick the news.

 

Today’s Headlines

 

Ippei Pleads Guilty

In what will hopefully be the final act of the mostly just depressing saga of Ippei Mizuhara’s gambling addiction leading to him stealing millions of dollars from Shohei Ohtani. ABC News is reporting that Ippei will plead guilty to a bank fraud charge:

The Athletic’s coverage has some more details about the agreement (sub req’d):

Mizuhara will plead guilty to one count of bank fraud carrying a maximum sentence of 30 years, and one count of submitting a false tax return, which carries a maximum sentence of three years. The DOJ said in the plea agreement that it would recommend a reduced sentence if Mizuhara “demonstrates an acceptance of responsibility.” The judge will ultimately make the final sentencing determination.

The plea agreement states that it is expected that Mizuhara will almost certainly be deported to Japan, the country of his birth. Mizuhara has spent much of his life in the United States, attending school in Southern California.

There was a simple “no comment” from both his legal counsel and the Dodgers when this news was first broken yesterday, and the arraignment is scheduled for May 14th, when this whole affair will be mostly put to bed from a baseball perspective. I’m glad I won’t have to handle the courtroom beat for hopefully a while now.

…And, Skene!

Get hyped, yinz.

That’s right, the #1 overall pick from the 2023 draft Paul Skenes is getting called up by the Pirates now that he’s…oh, I don’t even know what fake reason to put here. He’s put up gaudy numbers in Triple-A this year, and I mean gaudy: 0.99 ERA, 1.70 FIP, 42.9% K rate, 7.6% BB rate, a 0.91 WHIP, you get the idea.

We still have to wait until the weekend to see him in action on a big league mound, but maybe most importantly with Dylan Cease growing out a fully generic beard and Carlos Rodón’s recent mediocrity we may finally have An Ace With A Great Moustache back in our lives again.

If you want a good preview of Skenes’ arsenal, along with some pretty hilarious video of him absolutely mowing down minor league batters, MLB’s Sam Dykstra has you covered.

1,000 Mariners

Yes, this is a Natalie Merchant joke.

Anyway, Seattle decided that George Kirby simply wasn’t enough Kirby on the roster, as they called up Kirby Snead, making for a nice round thousand M’s players in team history:

I’m not entirely sure what to make of this, or how it compares to other teams around the league, but 1,000 is definitely a big round number that merits milestone mention.

EDLC Hits On 20

Ok so I guess that works better if this was a hit-related milestone, but the point is that Elly De La Cruz is fast and doesn’t just sit around when he’s on 20. Steals, that is.

21 SB on the season leads the majors by a healthy margin, as José Caballero, Brice Turang, and Ronald Acuña Jr./strong> are all tied for second place with 14 each. Elly’s currently on a casual 95 SB pace. I could see him getting there. Right?

 

Best Moments From Yesterday

 

P5(-2)

The Giants beat the Rockies 8-6 last night, and while the final inning got slightly dramatic thanks to both a 3-5-1 double play (Camilo Doval covered first like a natural infielder!) and a two-run HR from Elias Díaz, it wasn’t a particularly scintillating game. Except for one of the weirder plays you’ll see:

That’s some incredibly smooth glovework by Díaz to react that calmly and snatch the ball off the bounce, there.

Flippin’ Out

But Elias wasn’t the only one getting fancy with the defense on Wednesday, as Gleyber Torres and Anthony Rizzo connected on this soft roller of a ground ball to nab Jon Singleton trying to beat out an infield hit:

Obviously, that’s an impressive play all on its own. But somehow, halfway across the country, Ketel Marte and Christian Walker were doing the same thing to rob TJ Friedl of a bunt single:

And I’m very glad for it, because bunters never prosper.

But also, somehow, hours earlier and all the way across the country, it was Miguel Rojas and Freddie Freeman making almost the exact same play to get Jesús Sánchez and record the final out of their game:

Now, obviously this is a pretty far cry from a glove flip, but three bang-bang plays on rather soft grounders over to the 2B happened to catch my eye. Also, imagine how cool it would have been if Rojas had flipped it? Wild.

Juuuust Missed It

Eddie Rosario was a great bad-ball hitter for years, then seemed to lose it at the plate back in 2021, and ended up getting laser eye surgery that season. I give you all that background just to say it didn’t help him track a fly ball off the bat of Gunnar Henderson last night:

I kid, but it’s rare to see an OF lose a ball so comprehensively, especially one ticketed for the seats. That’s also Gunnar’s 11th dinger of the season, tying him with luminaries such as Kyle Tucker and Shohei Ohtani for the league lead.

Slimmed Down, Hitting Hard

Speaking of dingers, the Yankees had their three big boppers in fine form on Wednesday night, as Juan Soto, Aaron Judge, and Giancarlo Stanton all went yard. But it’s Stanton’s specifically that I want to highlight:

Few better couples out there than Big G and Leading The Exit Velo Race, but also just aesthetically you very seldom see a ball get into those seats at that angle. It was practically still rising!

Isaac Attack (Of Cuteness)

And now, a nice moment to send you off into Friday Jr., courtesy of Tampa’s Isaac Paredes:

Injuries and Other Moves

 

⚾  The Rays sent Ryan Pepiot to the IL yesterday after he took a comebacker to the leg on Tuesday. The corresponding move was to bring back Taj Bradley, though, so that’s nice!

⚾ Milwaukee has activated Christian Yelich off of the IL, although it comes at the expense of them optioning Tyler Black back to Triple-A.

⚾ While Edward Cabrera was originally listed as leaving the game due to biceps discomfort, Miami placed him on the IL with a shoulder impingement. Continuing the pitcher-for-pitcher pattern, they’re also bringing back Braxton Garrett from the IL.

⚾ The Giants announced that Jorge Soler is headed to the IL with a right shoulder strain.

⚾ Reds first baseman Christian Encarnacion-Strand is on the IL with a fracture of the ulnar styloid in his right hand.

⚾ Texas has paused Max Scherzer’s rehab due to a “thumb/forearm issue”. One of those things is much more worrying than the other, and there’s currently no timetable for him to resume throwing.

⚾ The Rangers also welcomed back a familiar face, trading for Robbie Grossman.

 

Articles You Should Read

 

How a 92 mph Fastball Became MLB’s Most Valuable Pitch – David Adler, MLB

Jeremy Peña Is Starting Out Strong but Coming up Short – Leo Morgenstern, FanGraphs

Giving It 54 Percent – Russell A. Carleton, Baseball Prospectus (sub req’d)

 

Fantasy Baseball Coverage

 

Is It Legit?

Closing Time

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Asher Dratel

Asher hails from Brooklyn, wears a 2008 Joba Chamberlain jersey to every Yankees game he attends, and pronounces BABIP funny. Appreciator of Beefy Lad dingers and beers. @asherd.xyz on Bluesky.

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