Remember me
Bryce Rainer is one of the game’s most promising prospects. Currently No. 25 on The Board and No. 3 in our Detroit Tigers rankings, the 21-year-old shortstop boasts elite bat speed — eye-opening exit velocities are part of his profile — as well as arm strength that Eric Longenhagen has described as “incredible.” Our lead prospect analyst’s preseason report elaborated that Rainer was “pumping mid-90s gas off the mound in high school.”
His pitching background is what I wanted to hear about when I sat down with Rainer last month. After beginning the campaign with a smattering of games at Low-A Lakeland, Rainer has put up a .267/.374/.455 slash line and a 118 wRC+ with the.High-A West Michigan Whitecaps. His left-handed stroke has produced a dozen home runs across 358 trips to the plate with Detroit’s Midwest League affiliate.
Just how good was the 11th-overall pick in the 2024 draft when he was toeing the rubber for North Hollywood’s Harvard-Westlake High School?
“I don’t really love talking about myself,” Rainer replied when posed that question. “That’s kind of how I was brought up when it comes to interviews, but now that I don’t pitch anymore, I will say that I enjoyed my time on the mound. It was fun. I threw pretty hard and was successful at it.”
Pressed for radar readings, the humble ex-hurler affirmed that he indeed sat mid-90s, adding that he would occasionally reach the upper 90s. Repertoire-wise, he was fastball/curveball/slider/changeup. As you’d expect, scouts for a multitude of MLB organizations were keeping close watch when he stood atop the bump.
“There was a good bit of interest,” Rainer told me. “I pitched a lot in high school and for a small period of time there was some thought that I was going to pitch after I got drafted. There were definitely some conversations with teams. I can’t remember which ones, but yeah, I pitched for Team USA in Taiwan a little bit, so there was talk.about me being a two-way.”
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Asked if that possibility was discussed with the Tigers, Rainer recalled that the idea of his pitching “was banged pretty early on” by the organization that ultimately called his name on draft day. But what if they — or any other team he might have signed with — opted to give him that opportunity? Does the youngster ever allow himself to wonder if he could have success as a two-way player at the professional level?
“It definitely crosses my mind,” Rainer admitted. “The competitive aspect of athletes, including baseball players, has you believing that you can do something. I’ve obviously never tried it [in pro ball], but I think I could do it. But no. I kind of just go day-by-day, and right now I’m an infielder. I’m doing what the Tigers want me to do, and I’m happy with that. I feel that we made the right decision.”
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RANDOM HITTER-PITCHER MATCHUPS
Joe Girardi went 8 for 12 against Mike Maddux.
Elliott Maddox went 6 for 8 against Donnie Moore.
Dave Henderson went 8 for 13 against Bill Swift.
Bob Swift went 6 for 13 against Schoolboy Rowe.
Dom DiMaggio went 8 for 17 against Stubby Overmire.
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Carlos Cortes pitching to Anthony Seigler earlier this month may very well have been a first in big-league annals. Both players are fully ambidextrous. Seigler is not only a switch-hitter, he pitched with both hands while in high school. Cortes, as chronicled here in a November 2021 Sunday Notes column, throws left-handed when playing the outfield, and right-handed when playing second base.
No back-and-forth occurred when Cortes took the mound for mop-up duty in Boston’s 13-1 shellacking of the Athletics. He threw exclusively from the left side, while the Red Sox infielder remained in the right-hand batter’s box. More’s the pity. With apologies to those of you who would say “respect the game,” some switcheroo shenanigans would have made the already-unique matchup even more fun.
I wasn’t able to track down Seigler — the erstwhile switch-pitcher — for his perspective, although I did catch up to Cortes for his. Among the things I learned is that while he also took the mound as a prep, he did so only as a southpaw.
“I throw harder and have better stuff,” the Orlando native explained. “I have better command, too. I’ve thrown off a mound right-handed, but not in games. I’m just a lot better from the left side.”
Cortes takes pitching far more seriously than most position players who take the mound. For one thing, he doesn’t lob the ball up to the plate. Rather, he throws fastballs — “I’ve been as high as 86 [mph]” — curveballs, and sliders. Only on rare occasion will he deliver an eephus-like pitch. The reason? Unlike with his other offerings, he has trouble landing slow-balls in the strike zone.
The chances of his one day throwing to a batter right-handed? Again, more’s the pity. It likely isn’t going to happen.
“It would be fun,” admitted Cortes. “But the logistics are tough — the glove, for instance — so doing it would be harder than maybe it seems. We’re also going to be at a big deficit if I’m out there, and we’ll want to get off the field as fast as possible. It’s better that I just throw left-handed, like I always have.”
Cortes has taken the mound eight times this season, allowing 13 hits and nine runs over eight innings. No longer seeing time as an infielder, he has played 61 games in the outfield and put up a 109 wRC+ over 279 plate appearances.
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A quiz:
Roberto Clemente played his entire MLB career with the Pittsburgh Pirates. With which organization did he begin his professional career? Bonus question; In which city did Clemente play his lone minor-league season?
The answers can be found below.
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NEWS NOTES
Jacob Wilson broke Mike Bordick’s MLB-record errorless streak at the shortstop position last Sunday. The erstwhile Baltimore Oriole — and native of Bangor, Maine — went 110 consecutive games without being charged with an error in 2002. As for the Athletics infielder, he is now at 114 straight error-free games thanks to a scoring change to a play that took place on Tuesday.
Butch Huskey, an infielder/outfielder who played for five teams — mostly the New York Mets — in a career that spanned the 1993-2000 seasons, died on August 1 at age 54. The Anadarko, Oklahoma native had a career-best year in 1997 when he batted .287 with 24 home runs and a 111 wRC+.
The Royal Oak Leprechauns won the championship game of the summer collegiate Northwoods League on Thursday, edging the St. Cloud Rox by a count of 3-1. The University of Cincinnati’s Luke Kosko drove home a pair of runs in the decisive eighth inning.
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The answer to the quiz is the Brooklyn Dodgers, who signed Clemente out of Puerto Rico, only to lose him to the Pirates in the 1954 Rule 5 draft. The answer to the bonus quiz is Montreal, where Clemente batted .257 over 148 at-bats at age 19.
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The first two appearances for Raymond Burgos in a Boston Red Sox uniform came earlier this month, and they were noteworthy. Working in relief, the left-hander pitched three innings on back-to-back days. That hadn’t happened in quite some time.
The last Red Sox pitcher to go at least three innings on consecutive days was Bill Campbell, who was credited with saves on both June 17 and 18 in 1977. Moreover,“Soup” had also gone three innings on back-to-back days a month prior, recording a save and a blown save. The rubber-armed right-hander finished that year having hurled 140 innings over 69 relief appearances, going 13-9 with 31 saves and a 2.96 ERA.
Relievers were used differently back then. Pitching for the Minnesota Twins in 1976, Campbell went 17-5 with 20 saves while logging 167-and-two-thirds innings over 78 relief appearances. He inked a lucrative-for-the-time free agent contract with the Red Sox following that season.
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FOREIGN AFFAIRS
Kenta Maeda recorded his 100th NPB win earlier this week. The 38-year-old Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles right-hander has gone 100-70 with a 2.41 ERA in Japan’s top league, and 68-56 with a 4.20 ERA in MLB.
Spencer Howard went six scoreless innings with eight strikeouts on Friday as the Tokyo Yomiuri Giants beat the Chunichi Dragons 1-0. The 30-year-old former MLB right-hander is 2-2 with a 1.53 ERA and a 30.5% strikeout rate over 29-and-a-third innings with the NPB club. He pitched for the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles a year ago.
Riley Thompson is 5-0 with a 2.98 ERA and a 3.53 FIP over 81-and-two-thirds innings for the KBO’s NC Dinos. The 30-year-old right-hander pitched in the Chicago Cubs system from 2018-2024.
Shr Lun Chang is slashing .333/.358/.402 with two home runs in 203 plate appearances for the Chinese Professional Baseball League’s CTBC Brothers. The 21-year-old second baseman/third baseman from Taichung, Taiwan was a mid-season CPBL All-Star.
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I wasn’t watching when the rare “fourth out” play took place in Toronto on Monday night, although as chance would have it, I checked the score on my iPhone immediately beforehand. Per ESPN’s play-by-play log, Boston’s Nick Sogard had just lined into a double play, leaving the visitors with two out and a runner on base. Upon seeing that, I toggled back to the game I had been following more closely.
Minutes later, I discovered that Sogard hadn’t actually lined into a double play, but rather grounded into a forceout, resulting in a one-out, two-on situation. Ceddanne Rafaela then flied out to center, leading to confusion that necessitated a 17-minute delay as the umpires consulted MLB headquarters in New York for an official ruling.
Longtime coach Jerry Weinstein (@JWonCATCHING) was watching the game, and he explained the rule on social media immediately after the play.
“The run scored before the 3rd out. It’s a time play & the run counts unless the Jays appeal the 4th out. But the defense left the field & is unable to appeal so the run should count.”
Later in the evening, I received a message from Lansing Lugnuts broadcaster Jesse Goldberg-Strassler, who has called games for the Midwest League club for nearly two decades.
“This is the second time the fourth out rule has happened to John Schneider. It happened to him in Lansing in 2016, and again the defense left the field without appealing at third to let the run score.”
On the off chance the play in question escaped your attention, SportsNet Canada’s Ben Nicholson-Smith explained what happened in his game recap.
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FARM NOTES
Andrew Fischer leads the minors with 36 home runs. Drafted 20th overall last summer by the Milwaukee Brewers out of the University of Tennessee, the 22-year-old left-handed-hitting third baseman is slashing .274/.411/.635 with a 161 wRC+ in 457 plate appearances between High-A Wisconsin and Double-A Biloxi.
Easton Shelton has 33 home runs to go with a .296/.400/.636 slash line and a 150 wRC+ in 437 plate appearances with the High-A Great Lakes Loons. The 22-year-old first baseman was signed as a non-drafted free agent out of a Las Vegas high school by the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2022.
Jacob Kisting is 7-0 with a 1.58 ERA and a 2.84 FIP over 91 innings between High-A Bowling Green and Double-A Pensacola. The 23-year-old right-hander from Madison, Wisconsin was acquired by the Miami Marlins from the Tampa Bay Rays at this summer’s deadline as part of the Liam Hicks trade.
Carson Fischer is 8-1 with a 2.69 ERA and a 3.38 ERA over 103-and-two-third innings between Low-A Fredericksburg and High-A Wilmington. the 23-year-old right-hander from Grand Rapids, Michigan was signed as a non-drafted free agent out of the University of Miami by the Washington Nationals last summer.
Anthony Eyanson, whom the Orioles acquired from the Red Sox in the Adley Rutschman deal, has logged 16 strikeouts and allowed four runs over 10-and-a-third innings since joining Double-A Chesapeake. Currently No. 27 on The Board, the 21-year-old right-hander has tossed 78-and-two-thirds frames on the season and has a 36.7% strikeout rate to go with a 6-0 record and a 1.60 ERA.
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A random obscure former player snapshot:
Just over 1,000 pitchers have taken the mound for the Chicago Cubs since 1901, and Justin Berg holds a unique distinction among them. No pitcher in franchise history has toed the rubber more times without recording a win for any MLB team. The right-hander from Antigo, Wisconsin made 60 career appearances — all with the Cubs — from 2009-2011, and finished 0-1 with a 4.08 ERA over 64 innings.
His professional ledger does include Ws. Berg was credited with 42 wins down on the farm, and another seven in the independent Atlantic League. He also logged a pair on foreign soil, those coming with T&A San Marino in the Italian Baseball League. His current endeavors have him closer to home. Berg is now the baseball coordinator at The 906 Sports Academy, in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.
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Danae Benitis continues to put up eye-popping numbers in the WPBL. The 24-year-old New York Heights catcher has come to the plate 26 times and is 18-for-23 with six home runs, two walks, and a sacrifice fly. She has also swiped six bases in as many attempts.
Natsuki Yonetani, who likewise plays for the Heights, has been another WPBL standout. The 24-year-old outfielder from Saitama, Japan is 13-for-24 with four doubles. She played collegiately at Shobi University.
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LINKS YOU’LL LIKE
Kelsie Whitmore became the first player in WPBL history to homer three times in the same game, doing so for the San Francisco Firebells in an 8-2 win against the Los Angeles Queens. Michael Clair has the story at MLB.com.
The Athletic’s Brittany Ghiroli wrote about how Buster Posey’s San Francisco Giants legacy is on the line.
Writing for CNN, Hannah Keyser looked at how the Los Angeles Dodgers are playing a different game than the rest of MLB.
At Why I like Baseball, Cecilia Tan presented us with nine things she learned at SABR 54.
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RANDOM FACTS AND STATS
The Philadelphia Phillies have shut out their opponents 15 times this season, while Cristopher Sánchez has tossed the team’s only complete game. In 1966, the Phillies shut out their opponents 15 times with their starters combining to toss 52 complete games.
A trio of Detroit Tigers pitchers combined to toss a four-hit shutout against the Cleveland Guardians on Thursday, and they did so without recording a strikeout. The last shutout sans a strikeout had been on July 1, 2014 when Detroit’s Rick Porcello scattreed four hits while blanking the Oakland Athletics.
Chicago Cubs southpaw Ken Holtzman threw a no-hitter against the Atlanta Braves on August 19, 1969, and he did so without logging a single strikeout. Four days later, Holtzman fanned 10 batters in a complete game win against the Houston Astros.
Craig Breslow and Mike Elias were teammates at Yale University in 2002. Breslow went 1-5 with a 2.59 ERA. Elias went 1-2 with a 4.08 ERA.
The Athletics have used 55 or more players in each of the last five seasons. The only previous season the franchise used as many as 55 players was 1915.
On August 9, 1967 — I neglected to include this in last Sunday’s column — the Washington Senators scored seven runs in the seventh inning to knot the score, then tallied two more in the top of the 20th to defeat the Minnesota Twins 9-7. The decisive blow was a Ken McMullen round-tripper, and Darold Knowles tossed 10 scoreless innings in relief.
On today’s date in 1964, Curt Flood went 8-for-9 across the two games as the St. Louis Cardinals split a double-header with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Sandy Koufax threw a 13-strikeout shutout in the opener, with Flood accounting for four of the seven hits he allowed.
On today’s date in 1947, the adversaries combined to swat 10 home runs as the Pittsburgh Pirates out-slugged the St. Louis Cardinals by a score of 12-7. A trio of Buccos combined to blast seven round-trippers. Ralph Kiner went yard three times, while Billy Cox and Hank Greenberg each left the yard twice. Whitey Kurowski has a two-homer day for the Cards.
Players born on today’s date include Larry Loughlin, a left-hander from Tacoma, Washington whose career batting line is a lot better than his pitching line. Over three relief appearances for the Philadelphia Phillies in 1967, Loughlin logged a 15.19 ERA over five-and-a-third innings. In his lone at-bat, he lined a double off of Atlanta Braves righty Ken Johnson.
Also born on today’s date was Baby Doll Jacobson, an outfielder who put up a .311 batting average while playing for five teams — primarily the St. Louis Browns — from 1915-1927. A native of Cable, Illinois who also excelled with the glove, Baby Doll was at his best in 1920 when he augmented a .355/.402/.501 slash line with 34 doubles, 14 triples, nine home runs, and 122 RBIs.