On the heels of a morning trade, here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world throughout the day today:
1. Scherzer’s return:
Mets ace Max Scherzer is set to take the ball in the second game of the club’s double-header against the Tigers this evening. Today’s start will be both Scherzer’s first return to Comerica Park since 2019 and his first start since he was suspended for foreign substance use after being ejected from his April 19 start against the Dodgers. Over four starts this season Scherzer has pitched solidly, though not up to his usual Hall of Fame caliber standards, with a 3.72 ERA in 19 1/3 innings of work.
2. Prospect debuts in the NL West:
A pair of teams out west are set to make their major league debut this afternoon. Gavin Stone will take the ball for the Dodgers against the Phillies in his first major league appearance, while Brandon Pfaadt of the Diamondbacks will suit up against the Rangers in Texas to begin his major league career. Both players are widely ranked among the top 100 prospect in the sport, and both have dominated Triple-A to identical ERAs of 3.00 over the past two seasons, though Pfaadt has done so over 87 innings of work while Stone has only logged 48 innings at the level. Beyond the identical date of their MLB debuts, their similar prospect rankings and their status as potentially long-term division rivals, Pfaadt and Stone were born on the same day (Oct. 15, 1998) and were selected just ten picks apart in the fifth round of the 2020 draft.
3. Sanchez returns to free agency:
Veteran catcher Gary Sanchez opted-out of his minor league deal with the Giants yesterday, deciding to return to free agency after not being called up to the big league club as San Francisco opted to stick with Joey Bart and Blake Sabol behind the plate. Sanchez’s free agency will be one to watch, with a handful of injuries behind the plate early in the season. In addition to San Francisco’s loss of Roberto Perez, the Angels recently lost catcher Logan O’Hoppe for the year, and the Mets will be without Omar Narvaez for at least another month.
Sanchez is going to be like catnip for a handful of teams if they have roster space Sign him cheap, if he works out, flip him. But that doesn’t mean he’s going to rediscover his form.
Hes batting .164 through 16 games in AAA. Hes done.
It was only 16 games, literally doesn’t mean a thing.
What does Gary want?
A cure for obesity.
When does he want it?
After lunch.
Ahahaha!
I’ll be surprised if Hinch does not have the umpires check his hands today. Why not ? They use to do it to Perry all the time. If it can rattle Max a little bit in a close game why not ? Verlander and Scherzer will be cheered in Detroit, but the cries of “check his hands” will also be heard today in Detroit. It’s just baseball.
When the umpires went out to check Perry down to his underwear, it was hilarious. Perry would smile because he knew they
When the umpires went out to check Perry down to his underwear, it was hilarious. Perry would smile because he knew they wouldn’t find anything. I think he admitted after he retired that he was throwing the spitter, but I’m not sure about that.
Perry said in his book that he rarely used anything to doctor the ball. He was just in the heads of the opposing players and managers because of the few times he did use it and that was enough to give him an edge. .
Very poor showing in Sacramento – Gary, we hardly knew ya…
It would have been fun to see him shine again at the highest level, but it looks like that’s a big ask at this point in his career.
That’s a big ass as well.
Pfaadt and Stone—same ERA over the last 2 seasons,making their MLB debuts on the same day,both selected in the 5th round of the 2020 draft and born on the same day—-that’s just PFFREAKY
Is Pfaadt pronounced Fat?
It’s pronounced “fought.”
If he gets hurt, are the Diamondbacks covered by No- Pfaadt insurance?
Difference is that one pitched in Reno half his games and the other in OKC.
The differences between 4500 feet elevation and no humidity in Reno vs 1000 feet and high humidity in OKC resulted in team ERAs of 6.64 vs 4.58 this season.
Didn’t realize the difference was that much. When you see a high 3s ERA in places like Salt Lake, Reno, and Las Vegas its really pretty good?
I really REALLY got a kick at the 1st sentence of the “2nd thing” (point) after I reread it to make sure that I read it correctly. “A pair of TEAMS out west are set to make their major league debuts this afternoon.
Yeah this was a rough read. Then there is this:
“Both players are widely ranked among the top 100 prospect in the sport”
what about bryce miller? isnt he debuting today?
Yesterday, pohle! 5 Perfect innings and became the first pitcher in Modern Day history to get 10+ Ks, no BBs and not get the win.
This is a wonderful site and available for free so I don’t mind the occasional language lapse. But I have to give you the two teams making their debut as being LOL.
Yeah, I normally don’t mention the grammatical errors by either the writers or the comment section. After all this is a free site as you mentioned. This one just made me chuckle & shake my head, so I made the post.
Sorry, but no umpire is going to rattle Scherzer. You don’t think he doesn’t expect them to check him every inning?
And the Mets have no interest in Gary Sanchez. Alvarez is here to stay and Nido is a fine backup even if he’s not hitting. And they’ll have an extra catcher when Narvaez returns from the IL.
If Alvarez is here to stay and Narvaez returns from the IL, what happens to the fine backup, non-hitting Nido?
HOLY MOLY………SOMETHING IS HAPPENING IN MAY………….NEWS FLASH…….DATELINE DETROIT…………HASSE, AND BAEZ GO YARD FOR THEIR FIRST JACKS OF THE YEAR….O..M.G.
Mets trailing, 4 to 2. Sweep the Mets, and Detroit will have a parade down Woodward ave. What a hoot, a full day of baseball in Detroit. Get those MLBtv subscriptions so you don[‘t miss any action this year.
NEWS FLASH……………DATELINE MISCUE DETROIT……………….Detroit brought up Ibanez from Toledo the other day, still looking for his first hit, but is playing left field today. A line drive single hit to him with a runner on second base, and he comes up throwing.
Detroit’s outfielders don’t have great arms usually, but this time, and since he’s new, not even the Detroit catcher knew he could throw. Then the announcer mistakenly says he missed the cutoff who was standing to the side of the mound, but the ball was a bullet to the catcher, a perfect throw. The cutoff man rightly let the ball go by as it was a strike, a perfect throw, but it must have caught Rodgers by surprise, he couldn’t handle it run scores and they score 3 runs eventually.
Tigers down 5-4, but fans are still hoping for a parade down Woodward.
BREAKING NEWS…………….DATELINE DETROIT……………………….Hasse after seeing Sanchez was now available has broke out of his slumber. Have a day Hasse a home run and 5 BIG RIBEYE STEAKS……………..PARADES ARE STILL POSSIBLE…………can Detroit close out the 9th ??
DATELINE DETROIT…………….STUNNER IN DETROIT……………ALEX LANGE , HE’S DONE IT AGAIN.. Thank you Pink Floyd.
Before a very sparse crowd with darken skies an rain, Detroit took the first game from the Mets setting the stage for a sweep. Leaving it up to two former Tiger greats to stop the Mets bleeding.
Dark an dreary in Detroit, some say we like it better that way as the sleeping is easy. Still the waking up of Hasse, and Baez’s first home run too, it was a great win for Detroit.
MPrick –
Thank you for your entertaining play by Play.
Thanks, it was a fun game in the near empty stadium, or at least everyone was hanging in the concourses or the bars and restaurants. It was nice seeing the sleeping bats come alive, tonight’s game should be a hoot. Mad Max takes on the World like when Mighty Joe young took on N.Y.
I almost thought I was there