As the 2024 regular season continues, here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world throughout the day today:
1. Who will start today for the Orioles?
The Orioles are looking to secure a four-game series win over the Yankees after winning the first two games but dropping Game 3 last night. With the clubs tied for first in the AL East, the division lead is on the line. Baltimore has yet to announce who will take the mound opposite Yankees southpaw Carlos Rodon (2.48 ERA). The most obvious choice would be right-hander Kyle Bradish, who is expected to make his 2024 debut this week after missing the first five weeks of the season with a UCL sprain. The righty enjoyed a breakout 2023 season that saw him post a 2.83 ERA and 3.27 FIP across 30 starts en route to a fourth-place finish in AL Cy Young award voting.
Things could get tricky for the Orioles if Bradish isn’t ready to go yet. Recently activated lefty John Means would be on just three days of rest if he took the ball. The same goes for right-hander Albert Suarez. Left-hander Cole Irvin would be on regular rest, but he’s started just one game on regular rest this season and didn’t make it out of the fifth inning, allowing two runs in 4 2/3 innings against the Twins.
2. Buxton to undergo MRI:
Oft-injured Twins center fielder Byron Buxton could be staring down another trip to the injured list after he was pulled from yesterday’s game against the White Sox due to a bout of knee soreness. As noted by Bobby Nightengale of the Star Tribune, Buxton is set to undergo an MRI when the Twins return to Minneapolis today according to manager Rocco Baldelli. Buxton suffered the knee injury on an attempted steal of second base.
Buxton has hit .250/.300/.391 for an essentially average 99 wRC+. Even so, he’d be sorely missed by Minnesota in the event he requires a trip to the injured list. After all, his +3 Outs Above Average this season ranks in the 94th percentile per Statcast, making him a valuable player even with a league-average bat. Should Buxton require a trip to the shelf, the Twins would likely turn to Austin Martin in center field. The youngster hit .226/.294/.371 (93 wRC+) in his first taste of big league action earlier this season but was just optioned to Triple-A to make room for Carlos Correa.
3. Matz to undergo MRI:
Buxton isn’t the only player set to undergo imaging today, as The Athletic’s Katie Woo notes that Cardinals lefty Steven Matz is also set to receive an MRI. As noted by MLB.com’s Injury Tracker, the news regarding Matz comes on the heels of manager Oli Marmol noting that the lefty has been dealing with lower back tightness since a brutal seven-run, 4 1/3 inning start against the Diamondbacks on April 23.
The issue seemingly impacted Matz during his start in Detroit earlier this week, as his velocity was down while he allowed four runs in 3 1/3 innings of work on just 73 pitches before being removed from the game. Should Matz require a trip to the IL, the Cardinals could turn to lefty Zack Thompson to round out their rotation as they did while Sonny Gray was on the shelf earlier this season. Another option could be to call up a player on the 40-man roster who has not yet made their MLB debut, such as top prospect Sem Robberse, who’s out to a brilliant start in Triple-A.
“Sorely missed”, with “sorely” being the operative word when it comes to Byron.
Twins fans might do well to invest in NSAID futures, seeing as his contract runs through 2028. Oops, “runs through” might not be the best phrase.
Matz is one more guy the Cards should’ve traded last year. He was pitching really well at the trade deadline, and I thought he’d be a perfect fit for the RS.
Matz is a bit of a flake. If everything is going right he’s pretty good he’s a number 2 or 3 starter even on a good team. But if anything goes wrong he falls apart.
The Red Sox should have traded a lot of guys too. But there are reasons teams don’t gut their entire team at the trade deadline. Cardinals traded 5 guys last year they weren’t trading 10.
At best, Matz is a third starter on a poor team.
When Matz is on he’s really quite good.
Matz was pitching out of bullpen at trade deadline after being tanked from rotation.
Credit to Buxton’s agent for landing that $100MM deal.
MLB has an injury problem. Can’t keep their stars on the field and as a result, having to play quadruple-A players. Fix your brand, MLB. Looks like a hot mess right now.
Oh look, another dumb comment by Old York
@SewaldSwansonSwoon
And yet, you found the time to come and post and even dumber comment. Congratulations! You played yourself!
Not at all. But twist yerself into a pretzel to think so 🙂
I don’t see anyway MLB can combat injuries.
People want to point to velocity which is only a small part of the problem. Starting the season earlier, playing deeper into the year, more travel, spending the offseason in pitch labs, even coming into the mlb with more mileage on their arms thanks to travel leagues are all compounding the issue.
Verlander spoke earlier this season, before making his debut, that he basically fears contact now because hitters are so good, specifically the bottom of the order and them having opposite field power. In so many words, he said earlier in his career, he would really only have to buckle down and for the middle of the line up and try to induce weak contact with other hitters. Now every hitter can do damage, he cannot just work the bottom of the zone because hitters focus so much on launch angle, can’t just pitch away because guys can drive the ball in the air the other way.
@drasco036
That’s a pitcher problem not a me problem. Listen, if you’ve made it this far, I’m betting you’re a pretty decent pitcher. I think a big problem is the lack of understanding the situation and instead just wanting to throw as hard as possible with spin. Keeping the hitter off balance and wondering what’s next is the start of being a pitcher.
But my post wasn’t so much specific to pitchers, a we have stars like Trout and Buxton out due to injuries.
Because people age
You’re a baseball fan. You complained about injuries so it is a “you” problem.
The reason guys throw as hard as possible is because they have to throw as hard as possible. I don’t understand why you don’t understand that. “Change speeds and location” yeah you have to have the same arm action though, which means you still have the same arm velocity.
Also, the changing speeds and locations is kind of dated. It’s obviously a need but it’s a small part of the pitching pedigree now. Hitters are too twitchy with short, lightening fast swings. “Keeping them guessing” doesn’t play, you have to fool them and there is a big difference.
Drasco: Same arm action, does NOT mean same arm velocity.
Arm action is the movement of a pitchers arm which includes the force in which you throw the ball.
@drasco036
I’m not the one getting injured so how can that be a me problem? Do you think it looks good for MLB when their stars are on the IL and they have quadruple-A players in the lineup?
Randy Johnson could top out in the high 90s when he wanted to but he didn’t focus only on throwing there most of the game. He dialed it up and down as needed. Maddux barely hit low 90s but was an intelligent pitcher who know how to read the situation and pitch to it. This was during the era of PEDs and HR records being shattered. I’m sorry that pitchers have to learn to pitch now but it’s always been a give and take satiation between pitchers and hitters. Just a few years ago, pitchers had sticky stuff to help them grip the ball and do some amazing things with it. Now it’s not allowed. Maybe we need to adopt a tacky ball like they have in Japan so pitchers still have that control and comfort to throw the ball. During that time with the MLB had sticky stuff on the balls, the batters struggled to produce offense, despite all their abilities that you apparently bring up above. So, maybe it’s time to knock the batters down a notch with a uniform tacky ball.
The problem with you, York, is you don’t realize the game changed. You want to talk about different generations and say “this guy did this and this guy did that”, it moot. It’s completely irrelevant to today’s game.
Baseball is constantly evolving, changing, it’s why I love it. It’s the most physics based sport. Pitchers evolve, hitters evolve. When I was growing up, pitching up in the zone was death. So pitchers started throwing more sinkers and sliders, then hitters started focusing on lunch angle, driving oppo field home runs and golfing sinkers out of the park. Now pitchers are pitching above launch angle, hitters will have to adapt again.
In addition to that, players are a lot more athletic now than even 15 years ago. Hitters are better, pitchers are better. Players are incredibly twitchy, their reaction speed as a result is insane.
@York Tou have to be kidding if you think Buxton being hurt is a catalyst for change. Half is injuries have been superficial.
If someone says MLB needs to look into the health of pitchers, by all means. As for Buxton they should not even batvan eye.
Wrap Buxton in MyPillows the factory is 30 minutes away
Sucks for the Buxton and the Twins. In his last 10 games, he was hitting .355/.429/.548.
You can Thank the White Sox!! They can’t figure anyway to get him out!
Well Buxton only made it one month after declaring he was the healthiest he’s ever been. I like watching this guy, but if it was an option I’d say move on from him. Always the same thing: he’d be great if he could just stay on the field. Unfortunately it will never happen. He doesn’t play enough to make his salary worth paying. Especially with the recently lowered payroll…
Button has had exactly 1 year in his entire career that he didn’t earn his paycheck and that was 2023. He’s been very very good when healthy.
“When healthy” are the key words. He just can’t stay healthy enough to warrant nothing more than a depth option. The Twins were not smart in handing him out that contract. I seriously believe that he hit his ceiling. He almost reminds of Grady Sizemore at this point.
Why let him attempt a steal. This is on Rocco .
This isn’t on Rocco. This is baseball where stealing a base can get a runner in scoring position or prevent a double play, and Buxton is a player known for his speed and success rate of stealing bases. They’d actually just won a prior game from Bux getting on base and in scoring position and scoring the game-winning run. You can’t just not have him run at all for fear of getting hurt…maybe in like beer league softball, but not in Major League Baseball.