Deal for ailing Syndergaard
four-game series against the Mets, Jose Bautista will see a lot of playing time. He started in left field Thursday against Jose Quintana with Jay Bruce playing first base and Adrian Gonzalez on the bench.
Entering Thursday Bautista was 7-for-19 with two doubles since signing with the Mets.
Bruce, Gonzalez, Michael Conforto and Brandon Nimmo are all lefthanded hitters.
“I think Bautista’s gonna be busy, which, he deserves to play left and right in my opinion because he’s been putting good swings on the ball and he’s been great in the field,” Mickey Callaway said. “You’ll see him in there obviously. I think with the four lefties that are options to play, we need to be a little creative and maybe a couple of them will get days off and go from there.”
Callaway likes what he’s seen from Bruce at first base. “He’s got great footwork. He’s got a great feel for getting the ball in his glove on ground balls GETTYwhich and things like that,” Callaway said. “I think he’s gonna be a good first baseman at some point, and probably full time at some point in his career; that’s probably his evolution. I can’t predict when that would be, but I think he’s gonna do a good job over there.”
THANK DEVIN
Devin Mesoraco remained in the game after being hit in the head by Javier Baez’s backswing in the sixth inning. Mesoraco said he went through quick testing afterward. “No issues,” he said.
INJURY REPORT
Anthony Swarzak (strained left oblique) is scheduled to make his final rehab appearance on Sunday, Callaway said. Todd Frazier (strained left hamstring) was set to begin a rehab assignment Thursday with Triple-A Las Vegas. He was scheduled to play five innings in the field.
In case you haven’t noticed — and the way Gleyber Torres has been lighting up Yankeeland, Juan Soto has ignited the Nationals and Ronald Acuna and Ozzie Albies have accelerated the Braves’ rebuild, it’s pretty hard not to — there’s an explosion of precocious youth going on in baseball that may be unparalleled.
According to MLB, the average age of major league players on the opening day rosters this year was 28.91. The only available research on this goes back to 2000, but even to then the average age has never dipped below 29. And the 28.91 did not include Torres, 21, who was recalled by the Yankees April 21, Acuna, 20, whom the Braves promoted April 25, or the 19-year-old Soto, who was summoned to the big leagues May 20. The Yankees’ average age of 28.04 makes them the sixth youngest team in the majors (the Phillies are No. 1 at 26.92) and the youngest for them since 1993. It seems like everyone is throwing caution (if not premature service time) to the wind and rushing their primo kids to the big leagues ahead of schedule. Or is it really ahead of schedule? In Torres’ case he pretty much forced the Yankees’ hand. When Neil Walker, the projected second baseman, had to move over to first base after Greg Bird’s ankle injury, second base was being manned first by Tyler Wade and then super-sub Ronald Torreyes. In the meantime, Torres, the crowned jewel of Brian Cashman’s 2016 reboot tradefest, was tearing it up (.347, 11 RBI in 14 games) in Triple A Scranton after struggling in the spring.
“It was really quite simple,” said Cashman. “Tyler Wade, who’d beaten Gleyber out for the second base job in the spring, really struggled while Gleyber took off at Triple A. He may still have some rough edges, but we’re talking about a high end talent here who gave us the better chance to win at the major league level.”
The Braves felt the same way about Acuna who in three-plus years in the minors hit .305 with an .849 OPS, and had five homers and 13 RBI in 29 games for the Braves before going on the 10-day DL last week with a mild ACL sprain. In Acuna, 21-year old second baseman Albies (.846 OPS) and 20-year old righty Mike Soroka (3.68 ERA, 15K in 14.2 IP, 1.70 WHIP in his first three starts), who is about to come off the DL after minor shoulder inflammation, the Braves are the only team in the majors with three players 21 or younger.
All three, along with shortstop Dansby Swanson (24) and lefty Sean Newcomb (24) figure to be cornerstone All-Star caliber players for the next 10 years if they don’t get hurt. Close behind the Acuna and Soroka ’18 debuts there is third baseman Austin Riley (21), who’s hitting .323 with 10 HR and 38 RBI in 48 games at AA and AAA this year. That should put to rest all the speculation about the Braves being players for Manny Machado at the trading deadline.
“To be honest, I felt we would probably start to see (the Braves’ concerted youth movement) coming together after the All-Star break this year,” said Braves Vice Chairman Emeritus John Schuerholz. “Obviously it’s come much sooner but to that you have to credit the makeup and maturity of these kids.”
Perhaps the most spectacular 2018 debut of all has been that of the 19-year-old Soto, who was recalled by the Nationals May 20 and in his first 10 games hit .375 with six homers, eight RBI and a 1.269 OPS. It is absolutely no coincidence that Soto’s arrival has paralleled the Nationals’ hot streak (six in a row, eight out of 10) that has vaulted them into first place in the NL East.
Despite the high end caliber of these kids, there is something to be said about the “youth must be served” change of attitude of the GMs in baseball. You saw part of that this past winter when so many free agents over 30 found themselves frozen out as GMs openly talked about filling their roster spots with young players in the system. In that regard, Blue Jays third baseman Josh Donaldson, 32 and nursing a calf injury, is going to sorely regret cutting off talks with the Blue Jays about extending his $23 million per year contract.
Coming fast in the Blue Jay system is 19-year-old third baseman Vlad Guerrero Jr., hitting .417 with 53 RBI at AA New Hampshire — who may be the best prospect of all. Gone are the days when the GMs preached caution and “no wine before its time” with their best prospects.
“We’re not in the wine business,” said Cashman. “We’re in the business of winning baseball games.”