Under The Knife 8/16/23

Spectrum Upcharges

Quoting Joe Sheehan is always a good start.

Mookie Betts is having the second-best offensive season of his career while playing about 40% of his innings in the infield, and 100 at shortstop, a position he hadn’t played since 2012. If Shohei Ohtani didn’t exist, I think Betts would be getting more credit for one of the most remarkable displays of just being a ballplayer I have ever seen.

I won’t disagree with him here, but it also brings me back to two principles I've espoused for the better part of two decades and well before Ohtani. Brooks Kieschnick was probably the first one, but in college and below, most players pitch and hit. There are pitchers that were pretty good hitters, even ones you don’t think of that way. Kerry Wood was a pretty good hitter, and the Braves pitchers of the 90s regularly had sizable bets on who’d have the highest batting average.

Scouts and development folks will say it can’t be done, but it’s regularly done. What they don’t want to do is fail at two things instead of one, even with the failure rate of even top prospects being pretty high. I think teams are giving up a good asset when they don’t even practice those skills. Paul Skenes is going to be a good starting pitcher for the Pirates sooner rather than later, but couldn’t he also be a bench-extending hitter on the other days? Actually, should Skenes just hit for himself? The answer’s no, because the Pirates have told him he’s a pitcher only and going a couple years without working on hitting fades the skill. We regularly see younger players with less distance from the times they did hit doing better.

I also think Betts’ success is a lack of imagination on teams. Most of these players were high school shortstops, even the pitchers. Some have “grown out of the position”, (think Mark McGwire at 3B or even Kevin Mitchell at SS! The replies in this thread are pretty entertaining as well) or simply didn’t have the skill to be good, but I also think we don’t give people enough chance to go up the spectrum. There’s advantages to be had, especially with the analytical advantages we have today. Hitters trying to pull and drive homers make it less likely the third baseman is going to take a screamer. (Actually, I need to check that, especially given the comebacker issue this season.)

Regardless, what Betts is doing is special, but I’m curious why more teams aren’t trying it. There have been plenty of shifts down the spectrum — Jordan Walker and Jazz Chisholm to the outfield, despite being plus infielders — but few like Betts, fewer two-ways, and less roster extension from additional flexibility. There’s probably not another Shohei Ohtani out there, but there’s some value to be extracted and limited downside to trying.

So while we all hold our breath for that, let’s look at the injuries:

TAYLOR WALLS, IF TBR (strained oblique)
FRANCISCO MEJIA, C TBR (sprained knee)

For the Rays, this season might come down to the medical staff. Having already dealt with a high number of pitching arm injuries, now it’s two key players - the Rays only two position players on the IL currently — that could make or break the season. Taylor Walls and Francisco Mejia are getting closer, but getting them back (and keeping them back) by even a day could be a big difference, and bigger once they get to the playoffs.

Walls is still not ready to start doing the so-called baseball activities, which became much more important over the weekend. Even with one of the more flexible rosters in the game, the drop-off to Walls is likely more tolerable than to the other available options. That makes not rushing Walls tougher not to do, but the medical staff and coaching staff is aligned well, and smart.

With Walls not quite ready, the Rays do something very Rays - they’ll turn to Osleivis Basabe. Basabe is one of the seemingly endless stream of Rays minor leaguers, but one that’s been secondary because of the lack of openings and a stack of infielders, like Curtis Mead, who got to Tampa just ahead of Basabe.

Francisco Mejia is closer. He started his rehab in Durham over the weekend and didn’t seem to have any issues. He’s not wearing a traditional brace for his sprained MCL, but a source tells me the team investigated an advanced brace that is much thinner. My guess is that it would be something like what Stoko has out, though I couldn’t confirm whether or not it was tried, let alone worn in a game. So much on this comes down to player comfort and preference. Getting Mejia back is good, but teams will be watching closely to see how he moves and whether they can test him with steals and even bunts.

MIKE TROUT, OF LAA (fractured wrist)