Tyler Glasnow uses a standard four-slit grip to throw his high-intensity fastball. This is not always the case. Back in his minor league era, the right shooter of the Tampa Bay Rays relied on extra numbers when pitching.
"I used to throw my heater on it with three fingers," Glasno explained. Since those years, he has grown exponentially at 6 feet 8 inches. "Once, I used a three-finger grip to throw a ball at a coach, and he said,'Wow. It's weird. Try to throw with two fingers. I did it, I think the sport has become better, I put it I threw it a little harder, but I couldn't throw it into the strike. So I insisted on a three-finger grip—three-finger and four-sew grip—and then as my hand got bigger, I switched to two fingers. "
His curveball is another matter. Glasno told me that he first started throwing circuit breakers in the second grade of high school...or maybe before that? He is not entirely sure. When I suggest that 12 years old is not uncommon, So. California natives say that this may well be the case.
"Man, I might have learned it when I was 12," Glasno admitted. "I really don't remember. The only thing I remember is the curveball grip I started using — I don’t remember if anyone showed it to me — the way I pitched today. There were a few times in between — I was kind of It's messed up; I messed up the little thing - but in most cases, I throw it in exactly the same way."
Asked to provide more details, Glasnow acknowledged that "precise" is not entirely accurate. At the age of 28, not only was he more physically fit, but he was also pitching for the Tampa Bay Rays. The instruction he received goes far beyond "trying to throw with two fingers."
"I used to let the seam run on the inside of my middle finger, now I turn the ball a bit to take advantage of the seam," Glasno told me. "I have a pair of big hands that can hold the end of it."
Those huge hands hold a curve ball and a slider at the same time, the latter's baseball experts this season let him pitch 32.2% of the time. Since his debut with the Buccaneers in 2016, his curveball usage rate has ranged from 34.8% to 13.8%, the lowest in his career this year.
"I used to throw some kind of slider in Pittsburgh," said Glasno, who was acquired by the Rays from the NL Central Club at the July 2018 trade deadline. "It's a curveball, but it's a bit like a slider. They are basically the same pitch, but one is harder. When I reached Rays, they were like,'A harder curveball is always better.' So we divided them into two parts. I used to use the seam to hold the slider, and then I started to do this with my curveball. The data shows that my curveball is better when it is more difficult, so This is the ball I'm throwing now."
The speed of Glasnow's high-spin curveball-according to Statcast's 97th percentile-has risen from 80.0 mph for the Buccaneers to 83.5 mph for the Rays. At the same time, his slider average speed is 87.6 mph, ranking 15th among pitchers who have pitched at least 80 innings this year. Glasno was limited to 88 innings and his season was shortened by an elbow injury, which caused him to be injured in early August.
As for his slider grips, they are both traditional and, in his own words, "random". (An interview published on FanGraphs three years ago included photos of Glasno's breaking the ball.)
"The depth of my curveball is the same (using lever seams), and the harder curveball is better than the slower curveball, so it makes sense," Glasno said. "Then I went and got a slider-a random one-and now I have made two shots."
Like his fastball, none of the three fingers are placed on it.
Jamie Carroll made 5 of 11 shots against CC Sabathia.
Babe Ruth shot 17 points on Ownie Carroll 35.
Ernie Banks made 11 of 24 shots against Clay Carroll.
Carroll Hardy made 8 of 18 shots against Joe Nuxhall.
Carroll (Chris) Chambliss made 18 points on 45 shots against Dennis Eckersley.
Andrew Miller was a guest on the FanGraphs Audio show on Friday, and one of the topics I discussed with the 36-year-old left-hander was the start time of most ALCS and World Series. As the father of a son who loves baseball, Miller has his concerns.
"The shooting, for me personally, they ended too late," Miller said of the start at 8pm Eastern time. "I believe that Major League Baseball and the Internet... have their reasons, but yes, I have a seven-year-old child — he turns eight next week — baseball is his number one priority; He was fascinated by it and we put him to bed early in most games. I hope he can watch it because I remember watching the playoffs during my growing up years-watching the Braves in the early 90s- — And I really like those teams more and more, so I am more and more interested in the game... He woke up at 7 in the morning, the first thing he did was to open the MLB app to view the recap, so They still restrain him a bit, but they can sit up and watch the whole game...Unfortunately, he missed a lot. I don’t think it’s great in terms of building a future fan base, because if someone wants [fans], then It’s a kid like my son. I hope we find a way to get [young fans] more exposure. I think MLB will do a good job by doing this."
In the 6th game of the ALCS on Friday night, a good ball out of the two-player game caused many social media to mention that the game was a failed "hit and run". This raised my eyebrows slightly. By definition, I have always thought of hitting and running as a strategy in which the batter tries to hit the ball in the space made by the second baseman (or shortstop) covering the bag. In addition, the batsman should swing anywhere close to "protect the runners." Traditionally, the manager is most likely to hit the ball and run with a 2-1 count, and hit the control board well and touch the batter.
Friday's game featured a 3-2 score and a high-K rate hitter. Given the situation, he obviously didn't want to hit the ball. In my opinion, "run-and-hit" will be a more accurate description so far.
To better understand how fans perceive this, I conducted a poll on Twitter yesterday afternoon. The wording was: "The runner on the first base finished second on the 3-2 court. Do you think this is a hit and run?" Only 16.1% of the people voted "yes." In the end, 83.9% of people voted "no".
On October 1, 1903, Jimmy Sebring of Pittsburgh hit the first home run in the history of the World Series. Who gave it up?
The answer can be found below.
According to Thomas Harding of MLB.com, Mark Wiley will retire at the end of the calendar year more than 5 years after the game. The 73-year-old Wiley was a major league pitcher from 1975 to 1978, and later became a coach and front desk supervisor, and most recently served as the director of pitching operations for the Colorado Rockies.
Jim Paciorek was elected to the University of Michigan Hall of Fame for Track and Field on Friday. The 61-year-old Detroit native played baseball and football as Wolverine before playing 48 games for the Milwaukee Brewers in 1987. Jim Abbott, Casey Close, Barry Larkin and Rick Leach are the only other baseball players alumni of the University of Michigan so honored.
Rich Barry was an outfielder. He played 20 games for the Philadelphia Phillies in 1969. He died on October 9 at the age of 81. The Berkeley native has six major league hits, two of which came from Mike Torres.
The National Baseball Hall of Fame is accepting applications for its 2022 internship program. To be considered, students must be enrolled in a bachelor's or master's degree program at a college or university, have completed at least sophomore studies, or must have just graduated in May of the year of internship. More information can be found here.
The answer to the quiz was Cy Young, the Boston American's right shooter gave up Sebring's gopher in the seventh inning of the 7-3 Pirates victory.
When asked about Yuli Gurriel at the ALCS media conference, Alex Cora shared the Astros first baseman's initial struggles on defense when he transitioned to his new position after coming to MLB from Cuba. Cora was Houston's backup coach at the time, and AJ Hinch commissioned him to do some early work for the former shortstop. Gurrell didn't like it. As the current Boston manager explained, Gurrell may be a newcomer to Major League Baseball in 2017, but he is also a 33-year-old veteran with an outstanding track record.
To appease the Sancti Spiritus native, Cora will let Gurriel catch the ball at first base and then move him to his original position so that he can "feel good again." One day, Carlos Correa, who was only 22 years old at the time, fought the earth with the Cuban legend.
"He was making fun of Yuli," Cora recalled. "When we finished, I pulled Carlos aside and said,'Hey, listen. I know you are good, I know you are talented, but at your age, he is much better than you. The whole industry wants him, so don't. I see, but this guy is great."
Gurriel defected from Cuba in 2016 and signed a five-year, $47.5 million contract with Houston in the middle of that summer. At the age of 37, he won the American League batting championship with a score of 0.319/.383/.462. Gurriel made 10 of 22 home runs in the ALCS just completed.
Due to the continuing challenges posed by the country's COVID-19 restrictions, the Australian Baseball League will cancel its 2021-2022 season. ABL CEO Glenn Williams announced the news on Wednesday.
According to reports, Kodai Senga plans to bring his talents to MLB next year. The 28-year-old SoftBank Eagles right-hander has a 9-3 record this season, 2.52, and a 2.67 ERA in 10 NPB seasons.
Nick Martinez's record is 9 wins and 4 losses, and SoftBank's SR is 1.60. The 31-year-old former Texas Rangers right-hander has entered his fourth NPB season, and this is his second season with the Hawks.
After 23 seasons and 2,560 professional games, Daisuke Matsuzaka called it a career. The 41-year-old Seibu Lions legend has a SR of 3.04 in the NPB and a score of 56-43 and 4.45 in eight MLB seasons.
Rakuten Marines right-hander Roki Sasaki recorded his first double-digit strikeout game this week. The 19-year-old prodigy averaged 96.3 miles per hour on his heater, while fanning 11 Nippon Ham Fighters batters in six games.
KT Wiz and the Samsung Lions teamed up in the KBO standings this weekend, with LG Twins following closely behind. The Wizards have 8 draws in 73-56, the Lions have 8 draws in 74-57, and the Twins have 10 draws in 69-56. The regular season ends at the end of the month.
Mitch Haniger, Trey Mancini and Cedric Mullins are finalists for this year's MLBPA American League Comeback Player of the Year award. The last of these names is a headache.
Mancini missed the game last season while battling colon cancer. Haniger missed last season after undergoing multiple surgeries. Everyone comes back to provide strong numbers for their respective teams. As for Mullins, although his 5.3 WAR is impressive, his return is... well, this is a question without a good answer. Mullins has been healthy for most of 2020, and this season he played the best 0.6 WAR of his career at the time. Since entering this year, the Orioles outfielders have participated in all 115 major league games.
There is no disrespect for Mullins, but the idea that he can be regarded as the comeback player of the year is absurd. Although he clearly broke out, this is not-or at least shouldn't be-the purpose of the award. Carlos Rodón (coming back from Tommy John surgery) and Eduardo Rodriguez (from COVID and myocarditis) would have been better choices as the third finalists.
In The Athletic, Levi Weaver wrote that the Texas Rangers have consistently refused to acknowledge how unacceptable LGBTQ fans and communities are.
Kevin Kernan of BallNine told us about the Greater New York Sands Sports League, which ceased support six years ago after establishing a partnership with the Mets for decades.
Kevin Acee of the San Diego United Tribune talked about the management search for the Padres.
Travis Sawchik of The Score explored the slow pace of the playoffs, many of which lasted into the night.
JJ Cooper of Baseball USA talked about how the MLB lockout will affect the 2022 minor league season.
The hitter of the Chicago White Sox has a BABIP of 0.310 this year, the highest in the MLB. The Seattle Mariners’ batsman’s BABIP this year is 0.273, the lowest in the MLB.
The Boston Red Sox pitcher's BABIP this year is 0.323, the highest in the MLB. The Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher's BABIP this year is 0.260, the lowest in the MLB.
Houston's Yordan Alvarez has participated in two league championship series. In 2019, he hit 12 strikeouts and made 1 for 22 with 0.170 OPS. This year, he scored 5 additional base field goals and 1.408 OPS with 12 shots from 23.
The Orioles used a total of four pitchers when they swept the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 1966 World Series. Dave McNally started two of the four games for Baltimore.
Robin Roberts scored 286-245 with 3.41 ERA, 3.50 FIP and 74.7 WAR, and Jim Carter scored 283-237 with 3.41 FIP, 3.45 ERA and 70.9 WAR.
Eddie Matthews homered for the Boston Warriors, Milwaukee Warriors and Atlanta Warriors. He also hit home runs for the Houston Astros and Detroit Tigers.
The Houston Astros purchased Jose Cruz’s contract from the St. Louis Cardinals on this day in 1975. Cruz continued to record 124 wRC in the 1987 season and accumulated 47.8 WAR with the Astros.
Today in 1992, the Toronto Blue Jays defeated the Atlanta Warriors 4-3 in 11 innings and won their first World Series championship. Dave Winfield doubled the two games of home runs to provide room for victory.
Players born today include Hugh High, who was an outfielder for the Detroit Tigers and New York Yankees from 1913 to 1918. One of the three brothers who played in the major leagues-Andy and Charlie are the others-Hai is nicknamed "Rabbit."
Also born today is Cuckoo Christensen, who was an outfielder for the Cincinnati Reds in 1926 and 1927. The .315/.392/.383 hitter made more than 595 major league board appearances, and Christensen counted the Chicken Eagles and Kettle Wirtz among his Calgary Brown teammates when he was in 1920. When breaking into a professional ball.
David Laurila grew up in the Upper Peninsula, Michigan, and now writes about baseball at his home in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He wrote the prospectus question-and-answer series on the baseball prospectus from December 2006 to May 2011, and then was abandoned by FanGraphs. He can follow @DavidLaurilaQA on Twitter.
I think almost every minor league player starts throwing fastballs with 3 fingers. I did it when I was 10 to 11 years old, and then as my hand became larger and the throw became more comfortable, it gradually became 2 fingers.