Shortly before Walter Pennington was acquired by the Texas Rangers from the Kansas City Royals at last month’s trade deadline, Eric Longenhagen wrote that the 26-year-old left-hander had “caught some helium of late after striking out 35% of the hitters he’s faced in Triple-A.” Our lead prospect analyst went on to note that Pennington had recently made his MLB debut, adding that he “has a middle relief profile with little margin for error due to his underwhelming velocity.” Longenhagen assigned the 2020 non-drafted free agent out of the Colorado School of Mines a not-overly-enthusiastic 35+ FV.
Through his first seven big-league appearances — one with the Royals and now six with the Rangers — Pennington has fanned 10 batters and allowed three earned runs while attacking hitters with an array of sinkers, sliders, and cutters (he’s also thrown a smattering of four-seamers) in eight-and-two-thirds innings of work. Down on the farm, he’d heavily featured his slider while fanning 82 batters and allowing 43 hits in 63-and-a-third frames.
His velocity is indeed underwhelming. And not only has Pennington been averaging just 91.7 mph with his heaters, his arsenal doesn’t include a breaking ball that sweeps or dips in eye-catching fashion. Your stereotypical power pitcher he’s not.
Asking Pennington how he profiles on the mound elicited some intriguing answers.
“I’m not [a power pitcher], but I think I’m the best pitcher in the world,” Pennington told me when the Rangers visited Fenway Park earlier this month. “You have to tell yourself that always. Right? You have to be confident out there. But I like to say that I’m a movement guy who mixes his pitches well. When I throw the ball, I see the ball move. The way I perceive myself throwing isn’t really what the numbers say, though.”
Pennington has a degree in mechanical engineering, so it’s not as though he lacks reasoning skills. I asked if he could elaborate.
“When I throw the ball, I see my slider move sideways when the numbers say it’s zero-zero; it’s usually around there horizontally and vertically,” explained Pennington, who throws from a low three-quarters slot. “But while the numbers say it’s nothing special, when I talk to hitters they say it’s really deceptive. Michael Massey called it looking like a lacrosse ball coming out of my hand. So, I don’t really know why my slider is good except for there being something in the way that my body works and how I throw. I’ve heard that I hide the ball well.”
As you might expect, the difference in movement between his sinker and go-to slider is a big part of why each pitch is effective. Pennington told me that his sinker typically gets “negative-nine vertical and between 10 and 15 horizontal,” giving him a good bit of separation from the zero-zero slider. There is velocity separation as well, with the slider averaging 83.9 mph.
That Pennington once thought that it would be necessary to add movement to his slider is another part of the story.
“When I was first throwing with a Rapsodo we didn’t know much and it was like, ‘This thing’s not moving at all; it’s like a straight knuckleball,’ recalled Pennington. “We thought we needed to change some stuff, so I started trying to throw it more like a curveball. But again, even though metrically it isn’t anything special I’m still getting swing-and-misses. It doesn’t make sense — why does my stuff play well when numerically it’s nothing special? — but it works. As long as hitters can’t figure it out, I’m going to keep going with it.”
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RANDOM HITTER-PITCHER MATCHUPS
Cliff Pennington went 2 for 25 against Doug Fister.
Moose Skowron went 0 for 14 against Dan Pfister.
Admiral Schlei went 0 for 11 against Jack Pfiester.
Spike Shannon went 3 for 31 against Big Jeff Pfeffer.
Bobby Pfeil went 2 for 4 against Bob Moose.
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Why Josh Hader’s fastball is elite is fairly well known. The 30-year-old, left-handed closer throws a high-velocity two-seamer which, thanks largely to his arm slot and release height, doesn’t act like a two-seamer. As Travis Sawchik wrote at FiveThirtyEight back in 2019, Hader’s heater is “something of a ghost pitch: It’s very difficult to hit but not for any of the usual reasons.”
I recently asked Hader when he first learned the why behind the “wow.”
“I learned the vertical approach stuff probably my second year in pro ball,” replied Hader, who was drafted by the Baltimore Orioles in 2012 before going on to dominate hitters with the Milwaukee Brewers, San Diego Padres, and now the Houston Astros. “But it’s not something where I had to chase anything, because I already knew that I got a lot of swings-and-misses at the top of the zone. I already threw the ball up, so nothing changed.”
Hader’s slider has changed. That happened prior to last season, the intent being to help it play better off of his fastball.
“We made it more of a gyro,” explained Hader. “I have a guy I talk to named Ben [Brewster] — he’s at Tread — and what I’ve learned is that when you have a big-shaped slider it gives the hitter a little more time to adjust to that pitch. It’s easier for them to wait on it.”
Hader added that he wanted to have a slider similar to Jacob deGrom’s, and while he “has no idea how similar it actually is,” he did succeed in altering the shape in a productive manner. A baby spike with his index finger helped him create the gyro spin he was looking for.
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A quiz:
From 1967-1974, a right-hander led all MLB pitchers in wins, strikeouts, and home runs allowed. (A hint: He walked just 1.9 batters per nine innings over that eight-year span.) Who is he?
The answer can be found below.
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NEWS NOTES
John Russell registered his 1,000th managerial win at the professional level earlier this week. Currently at the helm of the Triple-A Tacoma Rainers, Russell has 186 managerial wins in MLB, with the rest coming at various levels in the minors.
Pete Daley, a catcher who played for the Boston Red Sox, Kansas City Athletics, and Washington Senators in a big-league career that spanned the 1955-1961 seasons, died on August 22 at age 94. A native of Grass Valley, California, Daley hit the penultimate of his 18 career home runs in a game that saw the Red Sox score eight runs in the ninth inning, all with two out, to walk off the Senators 13-12.
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The answer to the quiz is Fergie Jenkins, who was with the Chicago Cubs for first five of those seasons, and with the Texas Rangers for the sixth.
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Which of Francisco Lindor, Ketel Marte, Shohei Ohtani, or Marcell Ozuna would get your National League MVP vote as of right now? I asked that question in a Twitter poll on Friday, and the result was a landslide win for the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar. Should it have been?
Here are a few of their numbers as of the time the poll went up:
Lindor: 6.3 WAR, 133 wRC+, 25 HR, 73 RBI, 25 SB.
Marte: 5.4 WAR, 152 wRC+, 30 HR, 81 RBI, six SB.
Ohtani: 6.0 WAR, 169 wRC+, 39 HR, 88 RBI, 39 SB.
Ozuna: 4.4 WAR, 165 wRC+, 37 HR, 94 RBI, no SB.
As for the poll results, Ohtani garnered a hefty 73.0% of the votes cast, while Lindor got 17.0%, Marte 6.0%, and Ozuna 4.0%. While I expected Ohtani to come out ahead — and it is understandable that he did — the margin of victory was somewhat more than I expected. The inevitability of 40/40, which he proceeded to reach on Friday evening, certainly played a big role. Historic achievements carry a lot of weight.
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FOREIGN AFFAIRS
Kazuma Okamoto has hit 20 or more home runs in each of the past seven seasons. The 28-year-old Yomiuri Giants corner infielder, who hit a career-best 41 home runs last year, is slashing .260/.344/.466 for the NPB club.
Dallas Keuchel threw seven shutout innings for the Chiba Lotte Marines on Friday. The 36-year-old erstwhile MLB southpaw has allowed two runs over 14 innings in two starts since joining the NPB club earlier this month.
Raidel Martínez has an NPB-best 34 saves to go with a 1.13 ERA and 46 strikeouts over 48 innings for the Chunichi Dragons. The 27-year-old right-hander from Pinar del Rio, Cuba has 105 saves and a 0.84 ERA since the start of the 2022 season.
Matt Davidson leads all KBO hitters with 37 home runs. The 33-year-old NC Dinos first baseman, whose last MLB season was 2022, is slashing .291/.363/.609 with a 140 wRC+ in 454 plate appearances.
Do Yeong Kim continues to be the KBO’s top player. The 20-year-old Kia Tigers third baseman is slashing .340/.413/.634 with 32 home runs and a 163 wRC+ in 519 plate appearances. He has 35 stolen bases.
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A random obscure former player snapshot:
Kewpie Pennington’s lone big-league appearance came in a notable game. His own performance was unremarkable — the right-hander surrendered a single to Happy Felsch, then retired the next three batters — but the knock he allowed was one more than his teammates logged all day. The April 14, 1917 contest saw Chicago White Sox hurler Eddie Cicotte, who was later banned from baseball due to the Black Sox scandal — toss a no-hitter. Pennington had neither glory nor infamy in his career, although he did have a handful of solid seasons down on the farm. He went 16-10 with a 1.60 ERA for the Hartford Senators in 1920, and he followed that up by going 18-12 with a 1.84 ERA in 1921. His given name was George.
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Dan Wilson is now managing the Seattle Mariners and Grady Sizemore is now managing the Chicago White Sox. Both are former players, and while their careers differed in many ways, they were strikingly similar in a handful of categories.
Wilson had 1,097 hits, 519 RBIs, and a .262 batting average.
Sizemore had 1,098 hits, 518 RBIs, and a .265 batting average.
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FARM NOTES
Moises Ballesteros is slashing .280/.349/.470 with 17 home runs between Double-A Tennessee and Triple-A Iowa. The 20-year-old left-handed-hitting catcher is No. 8 on our Chicago Cubs Top Prospects list.
Roman Anthony is 15-for-44 with three home runs since being promoted to Triple-A Worcester. The 20-year-old outfielder, who is No. 1 on our Boston Red Sox Top Prospects list, slashed .269/.367.489 with 15 home runs for Double-A Portland.
Bubba Chandler has allowed three runs over 18 innings with 23 strikeouts in three starts since being promoted to Triple-A Indianapolis. The 21-year-old right-hander, who is No. 4 on our Pittsburgh Pirates Top Prospects list, had a 3.70 ERA with Double-A Altoona.
Noah Cameron has fanned 36 batters while allowing 22 hits and six runs in 31-and-a-third innings over five starts since being promoted to Triple-A Omaha. The 25-year-old left-hander, who is No. 16 on our Kansas City Royals Top Prospects list, had a 3.63 ERA with Double-A Northwest Arkansas.
Bryce Eldridge is slashing .283/.369/.492 with 17 home runs between Low-A San Jose and High-A Eugene. Drafted 16th overall a year ago, the 19-year-old first baseman came into the season No. 3 on our San Francisco Giants Top Prospects list.
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Craig Counsell shared an insightful perspective when addressing expectations for individual players. He used Justin Steele as an example.
“The nature of the game is that you have to prove it, you have to prove it, you have to prove it,” the Chicago Cubs manager said prior to the southpaw’s last start. “You’re always required to do that. Justin is going to be required to do it again. Like, OK, so what? Do it again. That’s kind of how you have to look at it.”
Steele made 30 starts last season and logged a 3.06 ERA and a 3.02 FIP. So far this season — including Thursday’s outing — he has made 21 starts and logged a 3.07 ERA and a 3.18 FIP.
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A number of great quotes are attributed to Yogi Berra, such as “It ain’t over until it’s over” and “You can observe a lot just by watching.” Prior to Wednesday night’s game against the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field, Detroit Tigers manager A.J. Hinch supplied a Yogi-ism of his own when addressing what he wants to see from his young players in the final month-plus of the season.
“We want to see consistent performance, and that doesn’t always mean 2-for-4 every game,” Hinch told a small group of reporters. “It doesn’t mean box scores. It means baseball aptitude. It means baseball awareness. They’re learning how to play, and make winning plays.”
The veteran manager went on talk about seeing how young players respond to success and failure, as well as the adjustments they make both on their own and through the help of coaches. Then came the Yogi-ism.
“The success component of it is not just meant for the box score,” said Hinch. “We want as much box score success as we can get, because we’ll have scoreboard success when we get box score success.”
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LINKS YOU’LL LIKE
At Sports Info Solutions, Mark Simon wrote about Bobby Witt Jr. and Defensive Runs Saved on individual players’ batted balls.
Pitcher List’s Renee Dechert had a conversation with Colorado Rockies outfielder Brenton Doyle.
Danny Jansen will officially be playing for two teams in the same game when Boston hosts Toronto tomorrow afternoon in the continuation of a suspended game. Ian Browne has the story at MLB.com.
World Baseball’s Yuri Karasawa looked at the pitchers in contention for the 2024 Sawamura Award (NPB’s equivalent to the Cy Young Award).
The Athletic’s Evan Drellich wrote about how players in Japan want to reach free agency sooner and plan to soon file a legal challenge to Nippon Professional Baseball’s reserve system (subscription required).
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RANDOM FACTS AND STATS
Following their game on Wednesday, the Chicago Cubs and Detroit Tigers both had records of 62-65. The Cubs had scored 527 runs and allowed 527 runs. The Tigers had scored 527 runs and allowed 526 runs.
From 1906-1910, the Cubs went 530-235 with seasonal win totals of 116, 107, 99, 104, 104. Their .692 winning percentage is the highest ever in MLB history over a five-year span. They played in four World Series, winning two and losing two.
The Chicago White Sox have lost 21 of the 22 games Michael Soroka has appeared in this season. The 27-year-old right-hander is 0-10 with a 5.23 ERA.
The New York Yankees scored 10 or more runs 41 times in 1936. They went 40-1 in those games with the only loss a 12-11 walk-off in Philadelphia against the Athletics.
Stephen Smitherman smacked his lone big-league home run on today’s date in 2003 as the Cincinnati Reds dropped a 10-6 decision to the Milwaukee Brewers. The dinger, which was also his first hit — Smitherman went 7-for-44 in his 21-game MLB cameo — came as a pinch-hitter.
On today’s date in 1922, the Philadelphia Phillies scored eight times in the eighth inning and six times in the ninth inning… and lost to the Chicago Cubs 26-23. The teams combined for 51 hits, 21 walks, and nine errors. Time of game was 3:01.
The St. Louis Cardinals and Houston Astros played to a 3-3, rain-shortened 10-inning tie on today’s date in 1975. Cliff Johnson homered in the top of the 11th to give the Astros a 4-3 lead, only to have the blast negated; per the rules in place at that time, if an inning was not yet complete the score would revert back to the last completed inning. Had it counted, Johnson would have had a home run in his sixth consecutive game.
Players born on today’s date include Dick Rudolph, who was the winning pitcher in both Game 1 and Game 4 as the Boston Braves swept the Philadelphia Athletics in the 1914 World Series. The right-hander went 26-10 with a 2.35 ERA for The Miracle Braves (they were in last place on the Fourth of July) that season.
Also born on today’s date was Rufus Meadows, who in 1926 retired the only batter he faced in what was to be his lone big-league game. Eighteen years old when he took the mound for the Cincinnati Reds, the southpaw from Chase City, Virginia induced a ground-ball out in an 18-1 loss to the Chicago Cubs.
The Pennington Gap Lee Bears won the 1937 Appalachian League championship, beating the Elizabethton Betsy Red Sox in the finals.
