Rockies right-hander Chad Bettis underwent chemotherapy earlier this year to treat testicular cancer, but it doesn’t look as if that’s going to stop him from taking the mound in 2017. In terrific news, the 28-year-old has progressed enough in his recovery that he’s on pace to begin a minor league rehab assignment during the upcoming All-Star break, writes Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post. “It’s a really good feeling to watch this unfold,” said manager Bud Black, whose playoff-contending team could use more rotation depth. Bettis would provide that, having served as a solid starter for the Rockies since joining their rotation on a full-time basis in 2015.
More from around the game:
- With home runs having spiked over the past couple seasons, Ben Lindbergh and Mitchel Lichtman of The Ringer concluded earlier this month that Major League Baseball is playing with a juiced ball. However, MLB insists that’s not the case. On Saturday, the league sent a memo to all 30 teams declaring that “there is no evidence that the composition of the ball has changed in any way,” reports Bob Nightengale of USA Today. The ball’s size, weight, COR (bounciness), seam height and circumference are tested at least three times a year at the University of Massachusetts-Lowell Baseball Research Center, according to the league. The exact cause for the HR increase is up for debate, but an all-time high 13.7 percent of fly balls have cleared fences this year. That’s up from 12.8 percent last season, which was a record at the time.
- Given the high frequency of pitcher injuries, Mets general manager Sandy Alderson believes teams will soon begin valuing durability over velocity, as Roger Rubin of Newsday writes. “I think what you’ll find over the next several years is clubs will be more interested in ‘pack horses’ instead of ‘thoroughbreds’ because it’s about being able to go out . . . and get 30 starts,” Alderson said Friday. There’s an emphasis on velocity at all levels, but Alderson noted that throwing harder “often leads to injury,” adding, “The things that might be the difference between good pitching and great pitching may also be the difference between health and an injury.”
- Jesse Hahn is tied for second among Athletics in starts (13), yet the team demoted him to Triple-A on Sunday. In response, Hahn told reporters (including John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle): “It’s a little frustrating. I thought I’d been having a really good season up until these last two starts. I don’t want to say it’s unfair because I understand it’s a business thing, but I don’t like that I was kind of judged off of two starts there.” Hahn’s ERA climbed from 3.56 to 5.30 thanks to those outings, both of which came against the formidable Astros. They racked up 15 earned runs over just four innings against Hahn. His trip to the minors will lead to more starts for rookie righty Paul Blackburn, whom the A’s acquired from the Mariners over the winter for Danny Valencia. Blackburn, 23, made his major league debut Saturday and held the Braves to three hits, a walk and an unearned run across six frames.
Durability over velocity. Of all the Mets pitchers over the last three seasons, Bartolo was the only one to not have an extended DL stay (from what I can remember). Slowest thrower of them all.
Bartolo used to be a velocity guy himself.
And then he hurt his arm, and was out for a few years
Then he got caught!
Nolan Ryan and Randy Johnson were also velocity guys. Not a lot of dl time for those guys.
Exceptions more than the norm.
It seems easy for Alderson to say that durable pitchers are more worthwhile than pitchers that throw hard when all the pitchers on his team that throw hard can’t seem to stay off the DL
Maybe MLB can release all test reports over the past 15 years. Otherwise the evidence is clear, players, independent testing and the sudden jump in HR , minor leaguers doubling their HR rate upon ptomotion to MLB, and the absence of any other reasonable explanation all point to the ball.
Let this be known as the Manfred Juiced Ball Era. Asterisk optional
Where is your evidence for your claims? Independent testing could be some guy in his basement with no scientific knowledge. There have been many jumps in HR rates over the decades. Which minor leaguers are sustaining a doubled HR rate? I haven’t seen any. You say MLB needs to release their test results, but all you are doing is making a bunch of unsubstantiated claims. Where is your test results and evidence?
Quit towing the company line,even ex players,analysts,and execs feel the way this gentleman does.
None of them are scientists. The ball is the same. The launch angles have changed and they are stronger players than the chain smoking players of the 70’s.
Didn’t say they were but I think they know more about it then you..earth shattering they’re around the game and would tend to know something.
the game is adapting. More players want to hit more home runs, so they work on their swing to increase their fly ball rate. I don’t think the ball is being tampered with, although I’m not an expert so I wouldn’t be able to tell you that with 100% certainty
I even saw a segment where they had a new ball and an old ball and talked about the slight differences in circumference and seem height… so for the league to now claim this, feels like some fake news to me… the evidence seems to show otherwise (especially b cause a former player who is now an analyst was showing the differences and partially attributing the increased HR to that)… especially when the league had recently talked openly about wanting more homers back in the game because games are more exciting…
Ridiculous claim. There’s been so many stories about how players have adjusted their swing paths to hit flyballs, whereas previously the general coaching was to have players swing to try and hit line drives, and that alone more than makes up for the upswing in home runs–but also there’s a lot more striking out now too, funny how no one talks about how this is also the era of the power pitcher? Hmmm….
Good news about Bettis. Will be great to see him back after a very scary fight with cancer.
Or what about the smaller fields and the fences that are being brought in at multiple parks?
I recently heard a report on a podcast that tests revealed inconsistent results from what was reported from the league offices. They had concluded that the seams were tighter resulting in them being slightly more flush to the ball’s surface. This in turn has led to more difficulty for pitchers with their off speed pitches. Unfortunately, I listen to so many podcasts I can not recall which I heard it on. Has anybody heard similar talk?
I heard this also, and I think that report on The Ringer touches on that as well.
I saw it in some show where a former player turned analyst had an old ball and a new ball and was demonstrating the differences… had I known the league was gonna give us a company line and try to BS us, I would have recorded it… I just thought it was common knowledge at that point that they were using different balls
“the league was gonna give us a company line and try to BS us”
BS us about what? Having interesting baseball games? Log off bro.
From my memory, the juiced ball claim went around in 1977, 1987 and 1995 – 2010s. Baseball numbers always returned to their old trends except after 1995. Something was different with the ball in addition to players on PEDs.
I’ll take “things Sandy Alderson should have done 3 years ago” for $400, Alex.
I don’t know how you can follow the evolution of analytics and how pitchers and batters have changed their approach over the last several years, and simultaneously act surprised that pitchers get hurt more and batters hit more home runs.
Exactly right. Finally someone with some common sense.
FWIW, there is a morning radio host on a sports station in Pittsburgh who used to be a Pirates beat writer for a local paper…he was down on the field recently and felt some of the balls…said they were hard as rocks and obviously different from how they used to be.
It’s pretty obvious looking at the results.
You’re lying.
How hard a player throws has absolutely nothing to do with risk of injury. Sandy must have used the same crystal ball with this statement that he used while he was assembling his Mets teams.
Not a Mets system guy.
Did they go “more pitchability” this draft than other years?
“Durability”? All of baseball has itself to blame. The way pitchers are babied in conjunction with throwing breaking balls at earlier ages is what’s doing this today. Look at guys like Nolan Ryan and Mike Scott. Velocity AND durability. Learn from history, folks.
I’ll see your Nolan Ryan and Mike Scott and raise you Sandy Koufax and JR Richard. You can’t cherry pick freaks of nature like Nolan Ryan. Some guys arms are just made to do this and others aren’t.
You lie. There are many more before this current era of fragile pitching. Two more names, much more recent too: Randy Johnson and Kevin Brown. Pitched over 250 innings several times in their careers.
Clayton Kershaw is the Nolan Ryan of today and he has never gotten to 240 innings.