Baseball has always been a game for the young and old alike and today captured that sentiment perfectly. First, the young. The Rangers' Jurickson Profar made his Major League debut a memorable one by becoming the second youngest player and only the third teenager to homer in his first career at-bat. Profar, a last-minute substitute at second base for Ian Kinsler, also doubled becoming the youngest player since Andruw Jones (1996) to hit a four-bagger and a two-bagger in his debut and the first AL player to do so since Ken Griffey Jr. (1989). Now, the old. The Astros celebrated Hall of Fame broadcaster Milo Hamilton's 85th birthday with a bobblehead day and induction into the Houston Baseball Media Wall of Honor. This year marks Hamilton's 59th and final season calling baseball games. Elsewhere around baseball:
- Stephen Strasburg will make two more starts for the Nationals with his final one coming September 12 against the Mets, tweets MASNSports.com's Dan Kolko. Manager Davey Johnson made the announcement following the Nationals' 4-3 win over the Cardinals. In separate tweets from Kolko, GM Mike Rizzo confirmed Strasburg's shutdown date saying, "That seems like the right number of innings to end his season. I don't think he's going to fight me on it. I know he'll be unhappy about it. He's an ultimate competitor."
- The Cardinals have decided to include top pitching prospect Shelby Miller in their batch of September call-ups this week, according to Joe Strauss of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Miller, the team's first round pick in 2009 who has created concerns over his conditioning and willingness to be coached, redeemed himself in his last ten starts at Triple-A Memphis amassing a 7-2 record, 2.88 ERA, 70 K's, and seven walks while limiting opposing hitters to a .217 average. Strauss says there is no plan for Miller to receive a start and will be used in mop-up situations. The Cardinals will have to add Miller to the 40-man roster before activating him.
- Brandon Inge will likely have season-ending surgery this week after re-injuring his right shoulder last night, writes Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle. Inge says he wants to return to the A's next season in a utility role, if they will have him.
- Catcher Paul Phillips has decided to call it a career and become a coach at Lipscomb University, tweets the Colorado Sky Sox PR Department (Rockies' Triple-A club). Phillips spent 2012 playing for the Brewers' and Blue Jays' Triple-A affiliates. Phillips, who last appeared in the majors in 2010 with the Rockies, will finish with a slash line of .262/.298/.357 in 91 games over seven seasons with the Royals, White Sox, and Rockies.
Profar and Jones are both from Curacao
LOL…”that seems the right number of innings.” Sounds scientific to me. I hope the Nats make the playoffs and lose in 5. Then never make it back to the playoffs. Then I hope Strasburg signs a huge contract with another team when this one expires and carries the new team to a World Series win.
“uniformed blabber about the situation”………..”from a doctor….i mean fan”
why do have so much disdain for the decision to shut down Strasburg?
“Miller, the team’s first round pick in 2009 who has created concerns over his conditioning and willingness to be coached”
Things said like this by people that don’t know about the situation are the reason fans turn on young players and never give them a chance from the start. Some of the same things were said about Colby Rasmus.
His conditioning problem? Yeah he showed up too light. The Cardinals had concerns that he was smaller and it would hurt his durability. It wasn’t from lack of work-ethic or anything. His workouts have been changed and we are seeing the new(old) Shelby Miller.
I have never heard anyone question his “coachability” that as any knowledge of the situation. That’s unfounded information from people looking for a reason to knock him. He was asked to go on a “no shake” rule early in the year, and did so without any problems.
There have been a few stories from the St. Louis sports media this year about his unwillingness to be coached.
While I understand the Nationals wanting to save Strasburg’s arm for the future, the reason you draft and sign players is to make it to the World Series and hopefully win it all.
profar’s bat speed is incredible. the rangers have an enviable problem with both him and andrus on the roster
Kinsler to OF solves everything no?
maybe, but an andrus trade is probably more productive. profar and andrus are wasted a bit playing anywhere but shortstop and kinsler’s bat doesn’t play anywhere but center
andrus’ value has never been higher. sell-sell-sell
My guess is if they’re going to seriously shop Andrus they’ll wait until after they know what’s going to happen with Hamilton. If they can’t re-sign him they could always use Andrus as bait to get a power hitting outfielder.
Of course Andrus’ value has never been higher, he’s 23 years old and is having a career year. That doesn’t mean they should trade the best shortstop in the American League right away. How does Kinsler look in the outfield?
by itself the fact that andrus is having a career year does not mean he should be traded. it does though when you combine it with the fact that they have the best prospect in baseball who also needs to play shortstop. it would completely foolish to move profar to 2B; he has a legitimate chance to be twice the player andrus is
meanwhile andrus has 2 years left and then he’s gone or getting paid well to disrupt profar. as i said, it’s a nice problem to have – but it is a problem. the smart thing to do is explore a trade for andrus while his value is sky high. the rangers are very good team, but they do have needs and a trade like that has the potential to fill a big one
If i were Strasburg I would hate this. Can you imagine playing your whole life to get to this point and being told no! What if they guy (or Nats) never get back to this point? I guess we won’t know if this was the right decision for a few years eh?
Bringing miller up just to be used in a mop up role is absolutely pointless. If you bring someone up that you plan to use barley whats the point. Give him some valuable innings in AAA
Memphis’ season ends tomorrow, he wouldn’t be getting any more work in Triple-A this season. Also, the Arizona Fall League doesn’t start until October 9th, so that’s not really an option for him yet either, if it was something they were considering for him.
Didnt think about that…carry on
Gotta love the Nats thinking it’s “innings” and not Strasburg’s horrible mechanics that make him a china doll. The guy had what, 200 pro innings on his arm before he had to have Tommy John? Here’s a hint: it’s not “innings”.
Here’s a hint – it’s not the innings. The Nats aren’t some random fan opening the paper and totaling up his innings. They are a professional Major League Baseball organization. Rizzo has talked to the medical people, the surgeon who repaired Strasburg’s elbow, the pitching coach, the manager, the agent and probably Strasburg’s 7th grade algebra tutor just to be thorough. And I doubt very seriously that the Nats are just counting his innings. I’m sure that they are taking everything into account: innings, pitches, high stress innings, 55 foot curveballs, pitches thrown in the bullpen, long tossing on off days and anything else that they can think of. They are telling the public it is “innings” to simplify things for the public and to keep their methodology proprietary.
The problem is is that it’s a mechanical issue and the Nationals can’t see the forest for the trees. They keep acquiring and relying on guys with problematic mechanics (Zimmermann for one).
I don’t doubt that the Nats have some sort of “methodology” for Strasburg, but it’s likely to be totally futile in the end, because “throwing hard” or “pitching a lot of innings” has very little to do with the real problem: his horrid mechanics.
I just do not understand the Washington Nationals strategy with Strasburg. If you’re going to set an “innings pitched maximum” on the kid before the season starts, then why not adjust how often he starts. They should have spaced out his starts more so that he would be able to pitch come playoff time. Their chances of winning the World Series greatly decrease without him in the pitching rotation.
Would you trade one World Series title run for 150 wins over the next 10 years and no title runs? Seems like a no-brainer to me.
The “ultimate competitor” would DEMAND TO PLAY not be “unhappy” that he isn’t. I have lost a lot of respect for Strasburg. Glad I waited on getting a jersey. It will be Bryce Harper for me and my son.