NEWSLETTER
MLB Notes —
MLB, Fanatics, and Nike have committed to fixing some of the more egregious mistakes they made in designing their new “performance wear” Nike Vapor Premier uniforms in Major League Baseball. Among other things, the undersized numbers that make the jerseys look like youth travel ball jerseys will be corrected.
But while the powers that be regarding gameday threads are back at the drawing board, they should fix a longer-running problem: the All-Star Game uniforms. At some point, selling merchandise became more important than the unique look that baseball’s annual celebration of stars possessed when players wore their respective uniforms during the game. The home team would wear the whites, and the road team would wear the grays.
Their accomplishment was celebrated by a sleeve patch and a matching patch on the side of their ballcap. This was unique to other leagues and an excellent way for fans to celebrate their favorite team’s representative’s accomplishment and for younger fans to more easily identify players. The generic ASG uniforms are lame. They’re a money grab. They need to go. They won’t. But they should.
The Athletic’s Tyler Kepner wrote about the uniform fix and why the All-Star Game uniforms should be in the conversation for MLB and its apparel partners.
Brice Turang’s Leap
When Milwaukee Brewers manager Pat Murphy announced during spring training that Brice Turang would be his starting second basemen to open the season, Murphy said he believed that he would take a big step forward this season after posting a 60 wRC+ in 137 games with the Brewers last season.
“I think this kid’s gonna make a quantum leap. His swing decisions will be better, his contact will be better, and his damage will come, Murphy said.”
At the time, it was easy to file that quote away in the ‘spring training fluff’ department, right next to the ‘best shape of his life’ files.
Fast forward to today, and Turang has made Murphy look pretty good. The former first-rounder has a 122 wRC+ and is slashing .300/.362/.422 through his first 26 games.
Fangraphs’ Michael Baumann tries to explain Turang’s “quantum leap.”
Mike Trout on His Up-and-Down Start
Mike Trout’s start to the season has been somewhat of a mixed bag. The veteran Angels slugger has 10 home runs this month, which is tied with Baltimore’s Gunnar Henderson for the league lead. He’s also stolen six bases, more than he has in any season since 2019. So, the pop and the speed are there for Trout early. But not much else is working.
Trout is hitting .220 on the season. He has as almost as many home runs as he does base hits (11) on the season, and he’s walking at his lowest rate since 2019. Conversely, his whiff rate (19.2 percent) is down from recent years. Like I said, a bit of a mixed bag thus far.
The Athletic’s Sam Blum recently spoke to Trout about his up-and-down start.
A Double No-Hitter?
Mariners pitcher Brice Miller and Braves starter Max Fried both had no-hitters working through six innings last night in Seattle.
Unfortunately, Max Fried was at 100 pitches after the sixth inning, and he departed the ballgame for reliever Pierce Johnson, ruling out the possibility of both pitchers taking their no-no bids down to the end together.
Miller also lost his no-hit bid in the seventh inning when Ronald Acuña Jr. broke it up with an infield single that chopped off shortstop Dylan Moore’s glove. Acuña would steal second and third base before scoring on an Ozzie Albies double that one-hopped the wall in right-center field. But it would be the Mariners that would have the last laugh in last night’s instant classic when Mitch Garver blasted a walk-off two-run homer in the bottom of the ninth.
