The Pirates announced tonight that right-hander Chad Kuhl exited his start after four innings due to discomfort in his right forearm. Forearm discomfort can be ominous in and of itself, but Kuhl’s exit is made all the more concerning by the fact that he uncorked three wild pitches, walked a pair and threw just 40 of his 73 offerings on the evening for strikes. There’s been no word on Kuhl since the Bucs and Mets wrapped up tonight’s game, but if he requires a DL stint, the Pirates can turn to righty Nick Kingham once again. While he’s currently in the minors, Kingham has pitched well both in the Majors and in Triple-A so far this season.
As we await further word on Kuhl, who has a 4.55 ERA with 8.6 K/9 and 3.5 BB/9 in 85 innings out of the rotation in 2018, here are a few more notable injury updates from around the around the game…
- Ervin Santana looks to be back on track toward a return to the Twins, as MLB.com’s Rhett Bollinger tweets that the veteran right-hander is slated to head to Class-A Advanced Fort Myers on Saturday to embark on a rehab assignment. Santana has already started one rehab assignment this season as he works back from February finger surgery, but he had to cut that assignment short due to lingering discomfort. Over the weekend, it was reported that Santana was still struggling and wasn’t able to reach 90 mph with his fastball in a throwing session last week, but it seems he’s trending back up. Bollinger notes that a live batting practice session went well for Santana, leading to the decision to send him out on rehab.
- The Orioles placed right-hander Dylan Bundy on the 10-day DL due to an ankle sprain that he sustained while running the bases during interleague play over the weekend. Left-hander Donnie Hart was recalled from Triple-A Norfolk in his place. Thankfully for the O’s, the injury doesn’t sound to be overly serious; Rich Dubroff of PressboxOnline.com tweets that Bundy is only expected to miss two starts with the ankle issue. Despite bizarrely authoring one of the worst starts in MLB history earlier this year (seven earned runs, no outs recorded), Bundy has been Baltimore’s best starter in the aggregate so far. He’s notched a 3.75 ERA with 10.1 K/9 and 2.7 BB/9 through 96 innings over the life of 16 starts.
- Baltimore also looks likely to place righty Darren O’Day on the 10-day disabled list, as MASNsports.com’s Roch Kubatko writes. O’Day incurred some type of leg injury while fielding a bunt, signaled for the trainer, and exited after throwing just one warmup pitch. Kubatko notes that O’Day was bothered by some hamstring soreness a week ago and may have aggravated that ailment. MLB.com’s Brittany Ghiroli adds (via Twitter) that both O’Day and outfielder Craig Gentry are DL-bound for the Orioles, with the latter being troubled by a rib injury that stems from being hit by a pitch recently.
- The Rangers announced Tuesday that rookie first baseman Ronald Guzman has been placed on the 7-day concussion list, with Ryan Rua returning from Triple-A Round Rock to take his spot on the active roster. Guzman sustained his concussion when he dove back into third base on a pickoff attempt but collided with the knee of Padres third baseman Christian Villanueva. The 23-year-old Guzman, long one of the Rangers’ most promising farmhands, had a rough start to the season but came alive in late May and had compiled an impressive .266/.364/.489 slash in his most recent 110 PAs leading up to the injury.
A professional athlete got hurt running, better implement a universal DH. Sarcasm.
Not only would a DH limit injuries, it would also limit us from watching awful AB’s guys who literally don’t care if they strikeout every time up.
Not only would a DH limit injuries, it would also limit us from watching awful AB’s guys who literally don’t care if they strikeout every time up.
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Right…..
Have you checked out the excessive K’s from the other 8 hitters [sic] in the line-up? Do they care about K’ing enough to shorten their swing and/or choke up? “Players are striking out more than at any time, an alarming 22.5 percent of all plate appearances.”
As for getting injured by running or swinging the bat – do you look at the daily roster changes on MLBTR? Are they only Pitchers?
This is the same attitude fans of a losing team get, so they call talk shows and write on blogs saying it’s all the fault of the #3, 4, or 5 guy in the bullpen or the last position player on the bench.
MLB has big problems due to the philosophies of its analytically-charged front offices. “Players are striking out more than at any time, an alarming 22.5 percent of all plate appearances. The average time between balls put in play, according to ‘Sports Illustrated,’ is a staggering 3 minutes, 45 seconds. Attendance is down 6.5 percent from this point last year. The average attendance to date is 27,675, which would be the lowest since 1996.”
MLB is for people following their fantasy league teams, based on statistics. It is simply unwatchable in person or on an electronic device. It has big problems with its product. Bringing the DH to the NL will do next to nothing to change MLB’s downward trajectory.
Are batters K’ing at an increasing rate because of their approach or is it because now teams have no shortage of relievers coming out of their pen throwing high 90’s heat? You’ve got starting pitchers now who aren’t allowed to go through the order 3 times. Jeremy hellickson faces a max of 18 batters. I think that may have a little more to do with it.
Yes, that’s a part of it too.
But throwing hard is not enough. The pitcher also has to have movement on the ball. More and more movement. That puts excessive strain on the arm, forearm, and/or shoulder. 28% of players on MLB rosters have had TJ surgery. Pitchers are going on the DL constantly. Show me a team that has not had at least one starter and one closer/top set-up man on the DL literally every single day this season.
Having watched MLB for over half a century, I assure you that it has never remotely been this bad. And what makes it even more absurd is that this is occurring in spite of 1) advancements in medicine / training methods, and 2) almost all players being rested at least once a week..
This all goes back to the analytical-based front offices – their theories and how they demand their managers to run a game; how they use stats to give a player a roster spot, determine his playing time, and agree to his salary…..with the obscene salaries being the pot at the end of the rainbow. Follow the money.
Those guys are still trying and are expected to put the ball in play. A pitcher is not.
When I coached baseball from 9-year olds through high school (2004-2012) we worked on 2-strike hitting every practice and every cage session. With 2 strikes you either choke up or separate the hands, widen the stance, and cut down on your swing to put the ball in play. A strikeout is non-productive in every way. A sabremetrician will argue all day long over the acceptability of Ks from an offensive standpoint, and it’s clear most teams embrace that insanity which is evidenced by .200 hitting backup middle infielders hacking with all their might with 2 strikes. And don’t even get me started on the fact that most organizations don’t require or even encourage players to hit against the shift. Time and time and time again we see sub .200 hitters hitting into the shift when they aren’t striking out. The game is devolving into home run derby, and organizations seem to want it that way.
Ya go ahead little Bobby, choke up and hit 104mph sinkers.
Grow up.
Difference between a pitcher who doesn’t care about striking out, and a position player who doesn’t care about striking out is that when the position player doesn’t strike out and gets the barrel on the ball, the ball has a good chance of going yard.
Now with the pitcher (minus a few exceptions like MadBum) that ball will be a grounder to 2nd base.
I’ve been an NL fan my entire life. I was always resistant to the idea of a DH. Why shouldn’t you have to play defense if you want to hit? Why shouldn’t a pitcher have to bat? NL ball for life woo!
But Joel Sherman made a good point recently for fans of NL-style ball: Nobody is actually playing it anymore. We’re at or near historic lows for sac bunts, hit-and-runs, double switches, Pitchers are hitting as poorly as ever and increasingly they can’t even drop down the bunt. The occasional “strategy” of when to pull your pitcher–which is increasingly “yeah just do it because the name of the game now is the bullpen”–is a steep price to pay for… nothing much anymore.
I’ve thought for a while now that MLB’s focus on pace of play was misguided. Nobody cares how long a game is if it’s exciting. Well, having that automatic out in the lineup sure kills plenty of rallies. Not only that but it means the 8-hole guy isn’t going to get anything to hit either because there’s a sure out behind him.
I couldn’t care less about “athletes” who can’t run 90 feet without hitting the DL, but at this point the DH really might be the better option. Combining and re-aligning the leagues also has a lot of merit, which this could be the first step of.
im gonna guess kuhl was hurt last week vs dbacks. they hit him hard. every hit was crushed. its possible.
Too many pitchers getting hurt running the bases. DH would help. Plus older limited hitters might hang on later. Why isn’t the union down with that?
Ban the DH!
Expand lineups, have 9 DHs in the NL to bat for every position player.