Arjun Nimmala has a high ceiling that he is still far away from reaching. No. 2 on our Toronto Blue Jays Top Prospects list, and No. 48 on our Top 100, the 20-year-old shortstop is presently slashing .163/.308/.372 with two home runs and a 94 wRC+ in 52 plate appearances with High-A Vancouver. Last season, he left the yard 13 times while putting up a 92 wRC+ over a full course of games at the same affiliate. But while the production hasn’t been anything to write home about, the potential is clearly there. As Brendan Gawlowski explained in his scouting profile, “We really like the athlete and tools here, and we’re betting the results will follow in time.”
Nimmala’s right-handed stroke projects to produce plus power once he fully matures, and I asked him about it during spring training
“It’s a swing that’s built to do damage,” replied Nimmala, whom the Blue Jays drafted 20th overall in 2023 out of Dover, Florida’s Strawberry Crest High School. “I pride myself in taking good swings. When things are going well, I have a really good idea of the zone and am doing damage to all parts of the field.”
Asked to elaborate, Nimmala said he considers his bat path a plus — “I think it’s been good since high school” — adding that his adjustments since reaching pro ball have mostly been about putting himself in better launch positions. He further explained that he has tweaked his posture and how he lands.
As for reports saying that his swing is a little on the long side, but also quick, he agrees — but only to a point.
“I think that when it comes to anyone who hits for power, it can be said that the swing is long,” Nimmala opined. “To have power, you’re going to need some leverage, right? It’s going to be a bit longer, compared to someone who hits for contact. I think my swing is pretty efficient though, not what you would call long.
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“Opinions on hitting can be subjective,” the Tampa native added. “I can say one thing about hitting, and someone else can say another thing. There are things that are the same, but there are also different opinions.”
Opinions within the organization obviously matter, so I also wanted to hear about his player plan. What are the Blue Jays primarily looking for in terms of developmental strides?
“From a hitting perspective, I think they mostly just want me to be as athletic as I can, and do what I can do in the box,” Nimmala told me. “I feel that I have a good overall base in terms of how well I see the ball, and get my swings off. I obviously have a lot of improvement in front of me, but I’m working toward that.”
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RANDOM HITTER-PITCHER MATCHUPS
Willie Horton went 13 for 30 against Gaylord Perry.
Tony Horton went 11 for 29 against Jim Perry.
Johnny Ray went 12 for 32 against Ricky Horton.
Andre Thornton went 11 for 19 against Burt Hooton.
Hoot Evers went 17 for 29 against Sam Zoldak.
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Daniel Espino was a shooting star when he was first featured here at FanGraphs in October 2021. As stated in the piece, the then-20-year-old Panamanian-born right-hander had emerged as the top prospect in the Cleveland Guardians system. Moreover, as Eric Longenhagen and Brendan Gawlowski wrote this past winter, “at the onset of 2022, he looked like maybe the best pitching prospect in the entire sport.”
Then things went south. Beset by injuries — primarily shoulder woes — Espino came into the current campaign having thrown just 19 innings (plus another four-and-two-thirds in the Arizona Fall League) over the past four seasons. That said, things are now looking up. Finally back to health, and with his fastball again reaching triple digits, he is one step away from the big leagues. Pitching out of the bullpen for Triple-A Columbus, Espino has allowed four hits and one run over six appearances comprising five-and-two-thirds frames. He’s walked two and fanned six.
I recently caught up to the revitalized righty to ask about his return to action, including how his stuff and approach compare to what they were pre-injuries.
“It’s the same arsenal,” said Espino, who employs a fastball, a slider, a curveball, and a changeup. “Every time I’m touching the mound, I’m getting more info about what I want to do with my new role, being a reliever. But it’s pretty much the same; I go out there and attack the zone with everything I have. So far, it’s been fun. In the end, it’s just baseball.”
That he is able to once again play the game he loves isn’t lost on the appreciative 25-year-old. Given the circumstances, his no longer projecting as a frontline starter isn’t what matters most.
“I spent a lot of time without throwing a baseball, so right now it’s knowing where I’m coming from, and knowing that I’m blessed to be throwing a baseball,” said Espino. “I need to be accountable to what I’ve gone through the last few years, and where I am. The workload and all that. I don’t know what can happen in future years — I’ll always have [starting] in my mind — but right now I’m just focusing on the role I have. I’m very happy to be back and pitching again.”
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A quiz:
Who has recorded the most saves while pitching for the Philadelphia Phillies? (A hint: he is also the all-time saves leader for another team.)
The answer can be found below.
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NEWS NOTES
Phil Garner, a second baseman who played for five teams across the 1973-1988 seasons, died last weekend at age 76. An All-Star with both the Oakland A’s and Pittsburgh Pirates, “Scrap Iron” went 12-for-24 in the 1979 World Series as the “We Are Family” Bucs bested the Baltimore Orioles in seven games. He went on to manage the Milwaukee Brewers, Detroit Tigers, and Houston Astros.
Billy Bryan, a catcher who played for three teams — primarily the Kansas City Athletics — from 1961-1968, died earlier this month at age 87. The Morgan, Georgia native had some thump, as his 209 career hits included 32 doubles, nine triples, and 41 home runs. Bryan was behind the plate when the legendary Satchel Paige pitched his final MLB game, at age 59, in 1965.
Garrett Anderson, an outfielder who played for the California/Anaheim/Los Angeles Angels from 1994-2008, and then one year each for the Atlanta Braves and Los Angeles Dodgers, died recently at age 53. The three-time All-Star tallied 2,366 hits, 489 doubles, 3,743 total bases, and 1,292 RBIs with the Halos, all franchise bests.
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The answer to the quiz is Jonathan Papelbon, who recorded 123 saves with the Phillies, and 219 with the Boston Red Sox. Jose Mesa (112), Steve Bedrosian (103), Mitch Williams (102), and Brad Lidge (100) have the next-highest saves totals in Phillies history.
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Jeremiah Estrada was featured here at FanGraphs earlier this month, the focus being on his uneasy development path in the Chicago Cubs system. Left on the cutting room floor from my conversation with the now-San Diego Padres right-hander was what he said about the limitations a pitcher faces when working to improve.
“You want repetitions, but it’s not like a basketball player,” Estrada told me. “Basketball players can take a thousand shots a day and there isn’t a lot of wear and tear on their arms. You can’t throw a thousand pitches a day. You only have so many bullets. That’s why I consider baseball to be one of the hardest sports. You can have as much time as you want, but that doesn’t mean you can actually do it. Maybe you can swing a baseball bat a bunch of times, but you can’t throw a thousand pitches to get to where you want to be.”
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FOREIGN AFFAIRS
Min Seok Choi is 2-0 with an 0.51 ERA and 14 strikeouts over 17-and-two-thirds innings for the KBO’s Doosan Bears. The 19-year-old right-hander has allowed 19 hits and issued 11 walks.
Anderson Espinoza is 3-0 with a 0.41 ERA and 19 strikeouts over 22 innings for the Orix Buffaloes. The 28-year-old right-hander from Caracas, Venezuela is in his third NPB season after pitching stateside from 2015-2023.
Kaima Taira has thrown 24 innings over three starts for NPB’s Seibu Lions and is yet to surrender an earned run. The 26-year-old right-hander has allowed 12 hits, issued seven free passes, and punched out 23 batters.
Bradin Hagens is 3-0 with a 1.40 ERA and 18 strikeouts over 17-and-a-third innings for the Chinese Professional Baseball League’s TSG Hawks. Now in his sixth CPBL season, the 36-year-old right-hander appeared in two games for the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2014.
Yu Chang is slashing .381/.438/.571 with two home runs in 48 plate appearances for the CPBL’s Fubon Guardians. The 30-year-old infielder played in 235 MLB games, 131 of them with the Cleveland Guardians, from 2019-2023.
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Colt Keith is off to a good start with the bat — a 122 wRC+ over 66 plate appearances, as well as a walk-off hit just a few days ago — but that isn’t what I chose to ask him about prior to Friday night’s game at Fenway Park. What I wanted to know harkened back to something the Detroit Tigers third baseman told me in 2021, shortly after he was promoted to High-A West Michigan in his first professional season.
“I’ve actually been messing around with grips a little bit when I’m doing my throwing,” Keith said at the time. “I’m kind of working on my pitches just for fun.”
Does the former high school hurler — some scouts saw two-way potential — still do that from time to time?
“Yeah, a little bit,” Keith told me at Fenway. “Just messing around when we’re warming up to play. I’ll do it a couple of times. Cutters. Knuckleballs. Changeups.”
Keith had mentioned a fastball, a slider, and a changeup in our older conversation. When did he first tinker with a knuckleball?
“As a kid, real young,” replied Keith. “Just seeing it on TV, looking it up on YouTube, then going out and throwing it, messing around. I would say it’s pretty good now. Above average.”
Jake Rogers’s knuckleball?
“No,” the infielder said. “His is better.”
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In July of last year, Rogers threw a handful of knuckleballs in a blowout loss to the Toronto Blue Jays. I asked Detroit’s backup catcher who has the best one he’s been on the receiving end of, be it in game action or simply casual catch play.
“Besides mine?,” Rogers responded. “I can’t catch my own, I guess. So… I don’t know. I haven’t caught all that many, to be honest. There are only a few guys who do it. Colt and Z-Mac [Zach McKinstry] are the only guys on our team who throw it regularly. It would have to be one of those guys. I’d have to go with Colt [as having the better one].
The veteran catcher has had a knuckleball in his back pocket since his Little League days.
“I’ve thrown one ever since I was, probably, eight years old,” explained Rogers. “It’s one of the first pitches my dad ever taught me to throw. We’d mess around with it together, and to this day, I’ll throw them. I throw two at the end of every warmup It’s a fun pitch.”
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FARM NOTES
Charlie Condon is slashing .339/.456/.589 with four home runs and a 161 wRC+ in 68 plate appearances with the Triple-A Albuquerque Isotopes. The 23-year-old outfielder is No. 2 on our Colorado Rockies Top Prospects list with a 50 FV.
Luis Peña is slashing .419/.513/.613 with one home run and a 193 wRC+ in 39 plate appearances for the High-A Wisconsin Timber Rattlers. The 19-year-old shortstop is No. 2 on our Milwaukee Brewers Top Prospect list with a 55 FV.
Tanner Franklin has a 48.9% strikeout rate and has allowed seven hits and three earned runs over 10-and-two-thirds innings for the High-A Peoria Chiefs. The 21-year-old right-hander is No. 24 on our St. Louis Cardinals Top Prospects list with a 40 FV.
The Daytona Tortugas (Low-A Cincinnati) won a slugfest against the St. Lucie Mets on Wednesday, outscoring the New York affiliate 17-13. Bernard Moon, an unranked 21-year-old second baseman/outfielder, went 4-for-6 with a pair of doubles and five RBIs for the winning side.
The Fredericksburg Nationals (High-A Washington) demolished the Delmarva Shorebirds by a score of 21-4 on Tuesday. Sir Jamison Jones, an unranked 19-year-old catcher, went 4-for-6 with a double, a home run, and six RBIs.
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A random obscure former player snapshot:
Chuck Scrivener had one of the statistically-worst seasons in Detroit Tigers history. A right-handed-hitting utility infielder, he came to the plate 80 times in 1977 and logged just six hits, all of them singles. Moreover, from July 7 onward, he went just 1-for-36 (albeit with just three strikeouts). Scrivener finished the year — his last in the majors — with an .083/.143/.083 slash line, a minus-44 wRC+, and minus-0.9 WAR.
He’d produced less anemically previously. After debuting with the Tabbies in September 1975 and going 4-for-16, Scrivener slashed .221/.282/.288 with seven doubles, a triple, and a pair of home runs over 244 plate appearances in 1976. One of his taters was a three-run job off of Yankees right-hander Dick Tidrow at Tiger Stadium.
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In 1974, the San Diego Padres started their season on the road, losing a three-game set to the Los Angeles Dodgers by scores of 8-0, 8-0, and 9-2. They then played their home opener, which also didn’t go well. By the middle of the eighth inning, the Padres trailed the Houston Astros 9-2, giving them a minus-30 run differential before four contests had been completed. The hamburger baron who had purchased the team a handful of months earlier wasn’t humored.
Author James Cannon described what happened in A Time For Reflection: The Parallel Legacies of Baseball Icons Willie McCovey and Billy Williams, which was published last year:
“Ladies and gentlemen, this is Ray Kroc,” the new owner declared over the [PA] system to the startled crowd. “I suffer with you.” Just as Kroc coiled to hurl another verbal barb, a naked man vaulted over the left-field fence and ran onto the playing field. “Get that man,” Krok screeched into the mic, his voice notoriously raising an octave as his anger exploded. “Arrest him!”… After security hauled the nude gentleman away, Kroc’s vexation receded, but only slightly… “We are putting on a lousy show for you. I apologize for it. I’m disgusted. This is the most stupid ballplaying I’ve ever seen.”
Cannon went on to write that Kroc’s wife, Joan, who later owned the team from 1984-1990 following his death, called him after the game and asked if he was drunk. Kroc denied that he was, saying that he was simply mad as hell.
McCovey, who was in his first year with the Padres, wasn’t pleased with the owner, nor were any of his teammates. Kroc, by most accounts, wasn’t particularly regretful about his decision to address the crowd as he did. The Padres went on to finish the 2014 season with a record of 60-102.
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LINKS YOU’LL LIKE
Why do projection models miss on the Milwaukee Brewers? MLB.com’s Adam McCalvey addressed that question, with input from Baseball Prospectus’s Jonathan Judge, and others.
Wisconsin senator Tammy Baldwin plans to introduce the “For the Fans” Act, which is designed to decrease consumer TV costs and make local games easier to access, while ending blackouts for fans with out-of-market subscriptions. Andrew Marchand has the story at The Athletic.
Pitcher List’s Matthew Creally wrote about how Jordan Walker is finally taking off in St. Louis, but is the breakout sustainable?
At Our Game, MLB official historian John Thorn wrote about Babe Ruth, Rube Foster, Joe Jackson, and baseball in the 1920s.
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RANDOM FACTS AND STATS
The Tampa Bay Rays have a minus-three run differential and are in first place in the AL East with a record of 12-8. The Chicago Cubs have a plus-29 run differential and are in last place in the NL Central with a record of 11-9.
The St. Louis Cardinals are 5-0 in one-run games, and 4-0 in extra-inning games. The Cincinnati Reds are 6-0 in one-run games, and 2-0 in extra-inning games.
Los Angeles Dodgers outfielders have combined to slash .313/.384/.520 with 12 home runs and a 152 wRC+. Cincinnati Reds outfielders have combined to slash .173/.253/.236 with three home runs and a 37 wRC+.
Cincinnati southpaw Sam Moll didn’t allow a hit to the first 37 batters he faced this season, a streak that was broken on Thursday when he surrendered a single to San Francisco’s Jung Hoo Lee. The Reds reliever was making his ninth appearance at the time, and had tossed nine-and-a-third innings, walking six and allowing three runs.
George “Boomer” Scott had 306 doubles, 271 home runs, a .435 slugging percentage, and 69 stolen bases. Tom Brunansky had 306 doubles, 271 home runs, a .434 slugging percentage, and 69 stolen bases.
Earle Brucker was two weeks shy of his 36th birthday when he made his MLB debut with the Philadelphia Athletics on today’s date in 1937. The following year, the Albany-born backstop batted .374 with a 143 wRC+ over 191 plate appearances. His son, Earle Brucker Jr., caught for the Athletics in 1948.
On today’s date in 1904, the Philadelphia Phillies and New York Giants played to a 1-1 tie in a game that was called due to darkness after 15 innings. Iron Man McGinnity, who would go on to finish the season 35-8 with a 1.61 ERA, went the distance for the Giants. John McPherson, who finished 1-12 (and was 1-13 for his career) with a 3.66 ERA, went the distance for the Phillies.
On today’s date in 1996, the Texas Rangers scored 16 runs in the eighth inning while blasting the Baltimore Orioles 26-7 at The Ballpark in Arlington. There were four consecutive bases-loaded walks in the frame, as well as two sacrifice flies and a pair of home runs.
Players born on today’s date include John LeRoy, a right-hander who was credited with a win in his lone MLB appearance. On September 26, 1997, the Bellevue, Washington native threw a pair of scoreless frames as the Atlanta Braves beat the New York Mets 7-6 in 11 innings. Four years later, Leroy died after suffering a heart attack and brain aneurysm as he was about to undergo arm surgery.
Also born on today’s date was Aaron Pointer, an outfielder whose MLB career comprised 40 games for the Houston Colt .45s/Astros across the 1963-1967 seasons. Six years after he notched the last of his 21 hits, his siblings Anita, Bonnie, June, and Ruth — a.k.a. The Pointer Sisters — had their first Top 40 hit: “Yes We Can Can,” reached number 11 on the charts in September 1973.