News and notes
Atlanta Braves
The Braves have been waiting for their next wave of young pitching to develop.
Perhaps Sean Newcomb’s strong major league debut means that wave is coming.
The 23-year-old left-hander, acquired from the Los Angeles Angels in the November 2015 Andrelton Simmons trade, allowed only an unearned run in 62⁄3 innings Saturday against the New York Mets. Newcomb gave up four hits, walked two, struck out seven and left to a standing ovation from the fans at SunTrust Park.
“That was awesome,” Newcomb said.
Newcomb took the rotation spot that opened up when Barto
lo Colon went on the disabled list because of a strain in his left side. Colon had the worst ERA (7.78) of any full-time major league starter this season.
Newcomb had a 2.97 ERA in 11 starts this season for Class AAA Gwinnett (Lawrenceville, Ga.).
“Hopefully that’s the first head of the next rotation coming in,” catcher Tyler Flowers said. “We’ll be in a good spot.”
The grand slam the Mets’ Yoenis Cespedes hit off Luke
Jackson on Saturday was the 12th the Braves had allowed since the start of 2016, according to David O’Brien of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The Braves had hit one grand slam in the same span (by Matt Adams on June 3).
Miami Marlins
Edinson Volquez got attention with his June 3 no-hitter, but the 33-year-old right-hander had more than just one good game. Counting the start before the no-hitter and the one immediately after it, Volquez worked 22 innings and allowed one run on six hits.
“His last few (starts), it seems like (his command) has gotten better and better,” Marlins manager Don Mattingly said. “More strikes. Pound the strike zone, make them swing the bat.”
Volquez told reporters the ankle he hurt in the first inning of the no-hitter helped him.
“It’s crazy, but my ankle, it keeps me under control,” he said. “I don’t try to do too much.”
Volquez threw 58% of his pitches for strikes in his first nine starts, in which he went 0-7 with a 4.82 ERA. He raised that to 67% in the next three games.
Left- hander Braxton Garrett, the Marlins’ top draft pick in 2016 and the team’s top prospect, according to MLB.com, was shut down after four starts at low Class A Greensboro (N.C.). The
Miami Herald reported that Garrett had a partial ligament tear in his left elbow and might need Tommy John surgery.
New York Mets
Asdrubal Cabrera’s defensive struggles at shortstop have had Mets fans calling for the quick promotion of top prospect Amed Rosario from Class AAA Las Vegas.
“We think he’s going to be a very good player in the very near future,” general manager Sandy
Alderson told the New York Post. “We’re not in any real hurry to move him.”
Rosario had a .339 average and .879 OPS (on-base plus slugging percentage) through 61 games at Las Vegas.
Cabrera’s OPS had dropped from .810 last year to .673 this season through Sunday, but the bigger concern was his 10 errors in his first 42 games.
Cabrera has never had super range, but he was smooth enough that he committed just seven errors in 135 games in 2016.
“This guy, after watching him last year, was one of the surehanded guys that I have ever seen on the field,” manager Terry
Collins said. “If the ball was hit to him, you were out. It just seems right now he isn’t getting his feet in the position he wants them to be.” Yoenis Cespedes made an instant impact when he hit a grand slam Saturday in his first game off the disabled list, but Cespedes told reporters he wasn’t able to run at 100%.
Cespedes started one of the first three games after coming off the DL but said he hoped to be back to 100% within a week. “At that point, I’m not taking days off,” he said.
Philadelphia Phillies
June was looking much better than May for the Phillies, at least until franchise legend Mike Schmidt opened his mouth.
With the team in the middle of a four-game winning streak after winning six games total in May, Schmidt went on a local radio station and said the Phillies can’t build around Odubel Herrera because the 25-year-old center fielder doesn’t speak enough English.
The comments created such a stir that Schmidt quickly called Herrera to apologize and put out a statement insisting he had no ill intent.
“Odubel is a dynamo on the field, and as he becomes more comfortable with the language, his leadership skills will improve, and no doubt he will be a centerpiece of the Phillies’ future,” Schmidt said in the statement.
That was the idea when the Phillies signed Herrera to a fiveyear, $30.5 million contract in December. If the team has had questions, it’s more because Herrera’s plate discipline has slipped from last year. Through his first 59 games in 2017, he had 12 walks and a .295 on-base percentage.
As for the language, Herrera told reporters he’s trying to learn.
“I want to speak English,” he said. Howie Kendrick had been exclusively an outfielder in his first 19 games with the Phillies, but he found himself at second base when Cesar Hernandez went on the disabled list Sunday. Kendrick spent most of his career at second base.
Washington Nationals
Dusty Baker turns 68 on June 15, but the Nationals manager isn’t ready to retire. In fact, Baker told The Washington Post he already knows he wants to keep working beyond this season.
“Why not? This is what I came here for,” Baker said. “I didn’t come for two years. I came to win back-to-back titles.”
Baker is in the second season of a two-year contract he signed with the Nationals, and the team hasn’t held talks on an extension. But general manager Mike Rizzo said, “It’s not going to be an issue.”
Baker’s Nationals won 95 games last season and gave Baker his sixth division title in 21 seasons as a major league manager. The Nationals have held a healthy lead in the NL East this season as well. The merry-go-round at closer continued for the Nationals. A day after Koda Glover got his first blown save since taking over the job, he went on the disabled list because of lower back stiffness.
Glover later admitted that the injury occurred while he was showering before the game, but he didn’t tell the team initially.
“I’ve never really seen guys hit the ball farther than that.” Marlins manager Don Mattingly, after watching Giancarlo Stanton hit a 449-foot home run June 9 at Pittsburgh. The ball cleared the batter’s eye in center field.