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MLB News & Moments You Should Know – August 25

Fun with Statcast, dancing, and Arenado ejections...

Adam Sloate
MLB Morning News 8/25/2022

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

 

Today’s Headlines

 

Cade Cavalli SZN

The Curly W’s announced yesterday that Cade Cavalli, the Nats’ top pitching prospect, will be making his MLB debut on Friday at home against the Reds.

Cavalli, the 22nd overall pick of the 2020 MLB Draft, held a 3.71 ERA and struck out 104 batters in 97 innings this year for Triple-A Rochester. He was ranked the 10th-best pitching prospect in MLB by PitcherList’s very own Nate Handy, the 6th-best pitching prospect by Fangraphs, and the 15th-best pitching prospect (58th overall) by MLB Pipeline.

 

Here’s Nate Handy’s scouting report on Cavalli:

A (the “angel”): The former power bully completes his transformation into a sophisticated MLB ace.

D (the “devil”): The secondary feel will never be consistent enough.

 

But you can also see for yourself:

Cade Cavalli is no Stephen Strasburg, so the debut won’t be quite as hyped as Strasburg’s was back in June 2010, but it’ll still be nice for Nationals fans to get a glimpse of the future of the organization. If things go right, Cavalli and Mackenzie Gore will give the Nats a pair of aces at the top of the rotation, a la Strasburg and Scherzer in the mid-2010s. But, for now, fans everywhere should just appreciate the debut of a future star in Cavalli against a relatively toothless Cincinnati lineup.

 

NARCO

Perhaps you’ve heard Edwin Díaz’s walk-out music this year:

While it’s not “Enter Sandman” levels of terrifying for opposing hitters, it’s pretty darn close, considering just how good Díaz has been this season. This year, Díaz has a 1.46 ERA, a 0.95 FIP, and is striking out a mind-boggling 51.3% of opposing batters across 49.1 IP.

To cash in on the fun with Díaz’s walkout song, the Mets were able to bring in the trumpeter himself, Timmy Trumpet, to try to perform his solo live when Díaz walks out from the bullpen:

What are the odds Díaz pitches on Friday, you might ask? I think they’re quite good.

The Mets will be hosting the Colorado Rockies on Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. They had an off-day on Wednesday and Díaz’s last outing was Sunday, August 21. So, Díaz will likely be fresh for Thursday, if they need him, and could still pitch two days in a row because his arm hasn’t really been taxed lately.

On Thursday, the Mets have Jacob deGrom going against Ryan Feltner, the man with the 5.88 ERA. If the Mets can scrounge up a couple of runs, they likely won’t have a lot of trouble holding off the Rockies and may be able to get away with resting Díaz for another game.

The pitching matchups haven’t been announced for Friday’s game yet. However, if Díaz hasn’t pitched since Sunday by the time Friday rolls around, Buck Showalter may opt to get Diaz some work, keeping him loose and prepared for more important matchups the following week. Or, if the game is close, Timmy Trumpet could be playing as Díaz walks out into a high-pressure situation, which would be the coolest possible way for this situation to work out. Either way, Friday’s game will be very fun to follow.

Speaking of Edwin Díaz, watch him absolutely ruin his drink here:

 

Mike Trout’s Back

 

George Kirby is Pretty Good

Pretty, pretty, pretty, pretty good!

 

Surely George Kirby‘s team must have picked him up and scored some runs after this inspiring display of strikes? Wrong!

Strikes =/= outs, actually. In fact, while Kirby threw a ton of strikes in the first inning, those strikes became three straight singles to Joey Meneses, Luke Voit, and Nelson Cruz to give the Nats a 1-run lead. And, while Kirby did throw 7 innings of 1-run ball, the Mariners struggled to score runs against the juggernaut Nationals pitching staff. Aníbal Sánchez tossed 4.1 innings of shutout ball and then was followed by 4.2 innings of 1-run ball from the bullpen, helping the Nats claim a 3-1 victory.

 

Best Moments from Friday

 

Nolan Arenado’s Tirade

Oli Marmol has described Nolan Arenado recently as the “most competitive player” he has ever worked with at the major league level. I think this might be a manifestation of that supreme competitiveness:

You can see the home plate umpire, John Libka, trying not to laugh at Arenado’s protesting. Perhaps he was laughing because Arenado just yelled “NO!” loudly a bunch of times. Or, maybe it’s because Libka is just a happy guy working his dream job. Or, most likely, he’s laughing because Arenado swung through that pitch and is apparently adamant he did not just swing across the plate.

Poor Oli Marmol had to follow up Arenado’s outburst. Unfortunately, he did not measure up to Arenado’s energy, as Marmol looks like he’s giving Libka a stern lecture, as opposed to an outright tirade.

 

Willing the O’s to a Comeback

 

Put On Your Red Shoes and Dance the Blues…

They’re not huge fans of referees, umpires, and other game officiants out there in Philadelphia, but even a little dance from umpire Adam Beck is enough to get the Phanatic Phaithful excited:

I’m still looking for an explanation for whatever the fellow dressed like a clown is doing there. However, I’m glad that umpires are humans, too, and that he was able to bust a move for the fans during a long battle between the Phillies and Reds.

Speaking of the Phillies and Reds, can someone please get Aristides Aquino a new pair of pants?

I’m going to assume that Aquino played out the rest of the inning with the tear because there were already two outs in the bottom of the eighth. Plus, can you imagine stopping the whole game so that Aquino could switch into a new pair of pants? The Phaithful would have a cow! Luckily, Aquino didn’t have to wait that long to change in the dugout, as Ross Detwiler got Yairo Muñoz to ground out on two pitches to end the inning.

He also did this an inning earlier:

 

Statcast Bonanza at PNC Park

I can’t thank MLB enough for installing Statcast at every MLB (and MiLB) park. I am sure fans that tuned into this early afternoon game in Pittsburgh were quite thankful as well because they got to witness a set of displays that cannot be properly appreciated without the numbers to illustrate the feats.

First, there was Matt Olson’s monster homer that landed in the Allegheny:

Thanks to Statcast, we know that Olson absolutely smoked that pitch, although your eyes could’ve told you that as well:

Then, there was Oneil Cruz’s rocket base hit:

His reward for the hardest-hit ball in the Statcast era? A booming single. Isn’t baseball cool?

After watching both of these highlights, I wondered, “What if Cruz hit the ball that hard at Olson’s launch angle?” Well, since Cruz’s EV has no equivalent, I went down 1 MPH from 122.4 at Olson’s launch angle until I could find some data.

At 35 degrees and a launch angle of 114 MPH:

 

At 111 MPH:

Once you drop below 111 MPH, the BA drops below 1.000.

All of this is to say that if Cruz had been able to elevate that ball a couple of degrees higher, we’d be looking at another ball splashing into the Allegheny River.

 

Injuries

 

Gavin Lux is expected back in the lineup on August 27th after being scratched from the lineup with a lower neck/upper back injury on August 23rd. Clayton Kershaw threw a bullpen session on August 24th and is expected to be activated for his turn in the rotation against the Mets at the end of the month.

Mickey Moniak and Michael Lorenzen are expected to be back at some point in September. Lorenzen is on track to return in early September, while Moniak’s timeline is a little unclear due to the nature of his injury (fractured left middle finger).

There is a possibility Bryce Harper will be activated for this weekend’s series against the Pirates, although it depends on “how he feels,” according to interim manager Rob Thomson. Harper was originally expected to return to the Phillies on Sunday for their road trip to Phoenix.

Kris Bryant received a PRP injection in his foot yesterday and will be re-evaluated in 7 to 10 days, meaning that Bryant is running out of time to make his return to the Rockies this season. It appears Bryant will not play for the rest of the season, at this rate.

 

Articles You Should Read

 

Watching All of Jordan Montgomery’s CGSHO — Pitch Breakdown — Nick Pollack, PitcherList

MLB unveils balanced schedule for 2023: One highlight for each of the 30 teams — The Athletic MLB Staff

How could a Halos sale affect Trout, Ohtani? — Rhett Bollinger, MLB.com

 

Featured image by Justin Paradis (@JustParaDesigns on Twitter)

Adam Sloate

Die-hard Angels fan since birth; misses the good ol' days of Vladdy, Kendrys, and Weaver. Temple University alumnus, UCLA Law student.

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