Tony-OH

Interesting. Maybe they're getting away from that in the dugout.

I had left the bar/restaurant I was watching the game at when it happened so I didn't see what he grabbed. I hope it's not an oblique, but most pitchers that have to come out of a game typically are heading for the IL. The Yankees just DFA'd Nick Ramirez for some reason even though he was pretty good last year and had a good spring training. He's kinda of like Perez in that he doesn't get a ton of strikeouts, but does get grounders. The only issue with Ramirez is he's a reverse split guy who gets righties out much better than lefties, so the Orioles may just bring up Vespi. I have to say though that Luis Gonzalez was pretty impressive at times this spring and in his first game with Norfolk. They got a lot of options to replace him if he goes on the IL. Hopefully it's not a long term thing though.

He doesn't have to unseat either of these two. Right now, he's the team's 3B of the future if Mayo can't get his throwing under control (he's been awful in the two games in Norfolk this year). I'd like to see him playing 3B with Urias at 2B so he gets more reps because when Holliday comes up, he's going to have to move over there. Doesn't make a ton of sense for me to see him playing 2B right now knowing that he'll need to move. Now, is he better than Urias at 3B, probably not, even though last year's OAA said he was. But it's not a significant drop off in my opinion and I'd like to see him get as much playing time as possible on the position he'll need to play soon.

I like it better than the sprinkler, but I ride motorcycles so there's that! Did anyone catch what they did in the dugout after the home run? Did they get rid of that stupid water bong?

Rodriguez's changeup was literally a Bugs Bunny Change up. I got an amazing 44% zcontact (Contact when batter swings at a ball in the strike zone) on the changeup. Aaron Hicks had some of the ugliest swing that you will see from a major leaguer against the pitch. Really the fastball, changeup, curveball mix alone was dominant. Here's a quick Reels I put together to show all of you changeup WHIFS, plus in the end I added in all 9 strikeouts, some of which are the same as before, but enjoy. https://www.mlb.com/video/00u7jzgkdtP9kH55c356/reels/grayson-rodriguez-changeup-in-1st-start-of-2024?partnerId=web_multimedia-search_video-share That cutter though! Yikes.

^^^^^^^ THIS ^^^^^^^^^^^^ I'm hoping one of the first thing we hear from Rubenstein is that the team has extended Gunnar for 12 years or something similar in length to Harper. This kid is very special and even with Holliday coming up, I think Henderson, along with Adley and Holliday will be the faces of this franchise. And we haven't even discussed Mayo and Basallo, both of which should be very special too.

Actually, Steve Pearce might not be the worse comp for Norby. Just a professional hitter without a plus position. Hopefully the more consistent he plays outfield the better he will get.

First five hitters of this lineup are pretty good!

His bat certainly looks ready, but he absolutely has the yips throwing right now. He made two errors in the first game, and through the first 6 innings he's already made two bad throws, one of which was an error (3rd of a year). I think his defense is in his head right now because he did not look this bad last year. Either way, they may want to give him a game at DH tomorrow.

Not officially a prospect, but definitely looking to be too good for AAA. And it's just the 4th inning of the 2nd game of the year.

Now that was crazy.

Not a great ending thanks to the Perez injury, but it's a nice first two games of the year!

By the way, this umpire is why an automatic strikezone will be coming to the majors, as early as next year. He's pretty bad.

It's always hard to watch when a guy is getting beat around, even when it doesn't matter. I'll say this as nice as possible. Baumann is one of those guys who's alternative to being a baseball player was not going to be rocket scientist.

Baumann has a lot of talent, but he's not the kind of guy who can come into a blow out game when he wasn't expected. This should have been Tate.

It's hard to pitch when you weren't expecting to pitch in a 13-2 game.

Weak sauce taking Gunner out with a chance for cycle.

Hays looks like a 1920s prohibition officer with that stach.

Thats like saying someone hasn't done something "all year" on January 2nd.

This umpire is ready go home. This strike zone has gotten real big.

Not Danny's best command. But gotntur job done.

I don't know about you all, but I'm entertained.

Are you actually complaining in a 12-1 game?

Ron Wasbington is like, "Why did I take this job?"

That should be it for Rodriguez. Great start.