Baseball Notes 4/5/17

Phil Gurnee ♦ April 5, 2017 ♦ Leave a comment

Mauer went hitless 27 straight times against the Royals before collecting a single in the 3rd innings against Ian Kennedy.  Not long ago Mauer looked like a HOF catcher, a few concussions later, he’s now a light hitting first baseman.  1118 hits as a catcher, almost 2000 in his career (1826).  Hard to believe that AJ Pierzynski has the most hits as a catcher in the 21st century with 1971.

Justin Haley Twins – Rule 5 pick pitched for the first time in majors today. His road to the majors had some wicked sharp turns. In the span of a few hours, he was drafted by the Angels in the Rule 5 draft, traded to the Padres, and then traded to the Twins. He made the Twins roster and pitched a clean 9th inning.

Matt Kemp had three doubles including the key double in the top of the 12th that plated two runs including the game winner.

How about them ex-Dodger prospects pitching for other teams:

• Jharel Cotton started against the Angels on the same night the guy he was traded for was toeing the hill for the Dodgers. Cotton gave up five runs while getting only 13 outs.
• Frankie Montas who was also part of the same trade followed Cotton to the mound and got eight outs without giving up a run. That was the major league debut for Montas.
• Chase De Jong made his major league debut and he’ll hope to forget all about it. De Jong gave up a walk-off home run in the 13th inning to George Springer. His team had taken the lead in the top of the 13th.  De Jong had just been called up this week.

Texas closers should avoid April. Last year Shawn Tolleson lost his role as the Ranger closer when he imploded in his second game.  Actually, he didn’t lose the gig until last May but the writing was on the wall. Is the writing on the wall for Sam Dyson? He saved 38 games for the Rangers after taking over for Tolleson but so far in 2017 he’s pitched in two games and given up three and five runs. Matt Bush is waiting in the wings.