Hank Aaron joined Babe Ruth and Willie Mays in the 600 home run club with a round tripper against the Giants on this date in 1971. Here are today's links…
- Cardinals GM John Mozeliak joined Todd Hollandsworth and Jim Memolo on MLB Network Radio and said his team's starting pitching has been better than expected. Kyle Lohse, Jake Westbrook and Lance Lynn have pitched well for the Cardinals in the early going, so the team hasn't had to seek external reinforcements even with Chris Carpenter sidelined.
- High school shortstop Corey Seager, the younger brother of Mariners infielder Kyle Seager, is now seen as a likely first round pick in the upcoming amateur draft, ESPN.com's Keith Law reports. Law won't be surprised if Seager's a top-20 pick this year, though he may have to change positions eventually.
- J.J. Cooper of Baseball America points out that Bryce Harper will be more than two years younger than the next youngest Major Leaguer when he debuts tomorrow. The Nationals are calling up the 19-year-old Harper, who's considerably younger than Erasmo Ramirez of the Mariners and Jose Altuve of the Astros.
…. jumping the gun…
I really think the Cards will fall back to earth with their rotation. At some point, Lynn, Lohse and Westbrook will fall back to earth once the season warms up and the balls start to fly out of the parks. I hope for their sakes that Carpenter and Wainwright get back. (I can say this even as a Reds fan, competition is great).
Cards never get credit for anything they do… and all they do is win.
Not so sure about Westbrook (his sinker is back to the form it was when he won 15 games with the Indians). Maybe Lohse, but his command has been absolutely dominant so far. Probably Lynn, but you’d be surprised at how well a pitcher can pitch with an effective fastball/cutter/curve mix.
going to have to change the comments about Harper being youngest by two years, Trout is getting called up in Anehiem.
Also Those 3 cards pitchers will fall back to earth a bit but that does not mean they wont still be good/effective
hey,reds fan. u better hope things unravel 4 the cardinals. allen craig and lance berkmam are back at the end of the week. its over. chase one of the wild card berths!
Man, I love Jose Altuve! The Little Engine That Could is what he is. His short stature made him one of the most overlooked young talents, but I like his game and kudos to the Astros for overlooking the size factor.
I think it’s kind of funny that the Cardinals are doing so well. All off season the media talked about how the Cardinals were doomed-they lost the ‘greatest manager of all time, the greatest pitching coach of all time and the greatest right hand hitter of the past decade’ and they have a never before ML manager and a pitching coach that has less than 1/2 season of experience. They were doomed!
I guess you really don’t need all the ‘greatest guys’ if you have the right players in place. They have gotten off to one of their best starts in years.