The Pirates have shut down top catching prospect Elias Diaz due to concern over lingering soreness in his right elbow, tweets Rob Biertempfel of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. Diaz is seeking “multiple opinions” on the injury, but as Stephen J. Nesbitt of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette tweets, there’s concern about structural damage. The 25-year-old Diaz spent last season at Triple-A Indianapolis, where he batted .271/.330/.382 in 363 plate appearances. Baseball America, MLB.com and Keith Law of ESPN rank Diaz as the Pirates’ No. 10, No. 8 and No. 14 prospect, respectively. Each of the scouting reports notes that his defensive prowess gives him a high floor, but his bat, too, has come around recently and given him a chance to be an everyday catcher at the Major League level.
More from the NL Central…
- There’s better news on injured Pirates infielder Jung Ho Kang, as MLB.com’s Adam Berry tweets. Kang has been cleared to play extended Spring Training games without any restrictions or limitations. He’s played five innings on consecutive days to this point but can now take his progress another step further. Kang is recovering from torn ligaments in his knee suffered late in the 2015 campaign when he was injured on a takeout slide by then-Cubs utilityman Chris Coghlan.
- Turning to another Diaz within the NL Central, MLB.com’s Jenifer Langosch writes that the strong early play of Aledmys Diaz has probably taken away some playing time from Spring Training signee Ruben Tejada, who is nearing his regular season Cardinals debut after straining his left quadriceps in the team’s Grapefruit League finale. “We signed Ruben to give us depth,” GM John Mozeliak tells Langosch. “One of the things we wanted to do was allow Diaz to play. At the time, the thinking was to give him at-bats at Memphis and let him continue to grow. Well, guess what? That didn’t happen. He had to come here and now he’s getting a chance to play at the Major League level and he’s taking full advantage of that.”
- Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports spoke to Mozeliak, Cardinals outfielder Jeremy Hazelbaker and agent Joe Bick (who represents Hazelbaker) about the 28-year-old’s improbable journey from being released by the Dodgers in May 2015 to being one of the biggest stories of the early 2016 season. While Hazelbaker, who entered play today 10-for-19 with two homers and two steals, is of course due to come back down to Earth, he did make some notable adjustments to his swing mechanics upon signing a minors deal with St. Louis last season, which may have contributed to the best minor league numbers of his career. Hazelbaker was a minor league free agent at season’s end and received quite a few offers, and Mozeliak admits that the club gambled somewhat by not promising him the 40-man roster spot Hazelbaker and Bick sought. The Cards did offer him a hefty minor league salary, and injuries to Tejada and Tommy Pham created an opportunity on the big league roster. After thinking his career could be over last May, Hazelbaker says he has a vastly different outlook on the game. “I treat every game like it’s my last,” says Hazelbaker. “The last diving catch I’m going to have, the last flyball, the last stolen base or at-bat … that’s kind of how I go about it now.”
- Cubs president of baseball operations Theo Epstein and his staff could have assembled one of the most disciplined teams ever, writes Fangraphs’ August Fagerstrom. While these Cubs won’t walk as much as some clubs did during higher-offensive eras like the late 90s and early 2000s, walks in today’s game are exponentially harder to come by. Fagerstrom looks at the Cubs’ early walk rate and uses ZiPS and Steamer projections relative to those numbers for the rest of the league to note that the Cubs are three standard deviations above the mean and are as far from the second-place team (Oakland) as that team is from the 11th-place team. Wearing pitchers down with a disciplined approach has long been a trademark of Epstein clubs, Fagerstrom notes, and this year’s team is no exception.
Their strong ABs is an overlooked strength of this Cubs squad. The Cubs had the highest pitches/PA in baseball last year, and they added Zobrist and Heyward who, if memory serves, were both top 30 or so in that category as well.
Even if they’re not hitting well, those long at-bats will help to get the team into that juicy middle relief area that is a vulnerability for so many teams.
Not to mention think how well it will serve them in a playoff series!!…
And I was already working on my comment before you posted yours, so just a few stats below if you care to take a look.
Pretty spot on memory though man!! Have to give credit where it is due lol…
But yes, I wholeheartedly agree, their prowess at working pitchers is definitely one of their most overlooked strengths!! In my opinion, it is their main strength, and with the youngsters already adapting this approach they are truly just going to get better and better!!
It also isn’t just wearing down pitchers, they are also able to see pitchers movement that day for paricular pitchers, and they are able to give better scouting reports for the hitters coming up behind them. It is an excellent strategy, and it is one that I am suprised does not get more publicity…I guess walks, and P/PA are not sexy stats…However, they are definitely two stats that will win you some ballgames, and the two are truly great for long-term, sustained success!!
Last season, if a player had 43 walks, then he was considered to be in the top 100, for that category in the majors.
With that being said, the following is a list of some of the Cubs players and their walk totals:
Dexter Fowler: 84
Anthony Rizzo: 78
Kris Bryant: 77
++Ben Zobrist: 62 (Ranked 30th)
Miguel Montero: 59
++Jason Heyward: 56 (Ranked 44th)
Addison Russell: 42
Kyle Schwarber: 36
Jorge Soler: 32
Also, in the NL, Addison Russell was ranked 7th last year in P/PA, Dexter Fowler 10th, Bryant 11th, Rizzo 24th, and Heyward 34th, and Zobrist was ranked 15th in the AL.
Not to mention, if Schwarber would have qualified, he would have finished 5th in all of baseball averaging 4.26 P/PA. Now, obviously both these players had fewer at-bats, but Tommy La Stella also worked pitchers when he played by averaging 4.29 P/PA.
The Cubs are truly wearing down pitchers, seeing ALOT of pitches, giving their teammates good feedback, and overall doing an excellent job at truly making pitchers work to get them out!
The scariest part is that their younger players are really adapting this approach, and they will only get better as they gain more experience. It is scary to think how good this line-up can truly become, when all of the parts are moving together at the same time.
Obviously, by adding Zobrist, Heyward, and re-signing Fowler, their GM has a plan at the type of hitters he wants in his line-up. He wants his guys to work deep counts, take walks, see their arsenals, and ultimately he wants his guys to just slowly and steadily wear down the opposing pitcher.
This practice will pay HUGE dividends come playoff time, and I really see them as a definite force to be reckoned with for a long, long time, if they keep up this organization-wide approach!!
read Einar Diaz at first glance. crazy.
Cubs chased Simon in the first inning last night, after 49 pitches. They are fun to watch.
Well, Bucs may well look to extend Cervelli now. If Diaz were to be healthy, he would have been the bridge to McGuire. Now it looks like the Bucs will need Cervelli or someone else outside the organization to serve as that bridge.
Let’s do like the Royal fans did last year Chicago both Cubs