Zyhir Hope is one of the youngest and least experienced players participating in the Arizona Fall League. Acquired by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the January deal that sent Michael Busch to the Chicago Cubs, the 19-year-old outfielder has just 315 professional plate appearances, in part because he missed three months this season with a shoulder injury. The raw tools are impressive. Since being selected in the 11th round of last year’s draft out of Stafford, Virginia’s Colonial Forge High School, Hope has slashed .289/.419/.492 with a dozen home runs and a 143 wRC+.
How he would define himself as a hitter is a question he wasn’t quite sure how to answer when I posed it to him on Wednesday.
“I try my best,” responded Hope, who is suiting up for the Glendale Desert Dogs. “I have amazing coaches and a lot of resources to kind of help me find myself, find my swing. I’m working every day, trying to stay consistent, trusting the process.”
Asked if his setup and swing are essentially the same as when he signed, he said that they are. As for how much he studies the intricacies of his craft, let’s just say that Hope is a believer — at least to this point of his young career — in keeping things as simple as possible.
“I don’t really think about that stuff, about mechanics,” explained Hope, who takes his cuts from the left side. “I just go out there and swing, to be honest. I love to just go out there and swing. It’s just feels, man. Just feels. I’ve been that way my whole life. See ball, hit ball.”
Hope saw the ball well on Thursday, and it translated to some serious damage. The 5-foot-11, 215-pound prospect propelled a 470-foot home run through the hot Arizona air as part of a two-hit effort. The blast, which soared over the batter’s eye in center field, had an exit velocity of 111 mph.
Hope told me that he has “baseball in his blood,” and that is but one of his enviable attributes. The athletically-gifted teenager has plus wheels, a strong arm — some teams were reportedly interested in him as a pitcher — and an ability to handle same-sided pitchers. As evidenced by the moonshot, he also has impressive pop.
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RANDOM HITTER-PITCHER MATCHUPS
Alan Trammell went 11 for 23 against Al Nipper.
Nippy Jones went 11 for 16 against Bill Werle.
Nap Lajoie went 6 for 6 against George Cuppy.
Luke Scott went 5 for 5 against Dustin Nippert.
Rabbit Nill went 2 for 24 against Rube Waddell.
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Xavier Isaac is one of the top power-hitting prospects in baseball. Currently playing for the Arizona Fall League’s Mesa Solar Sox, the 20-year-old, left-handed-hitting first baseman in the Tampa Bay Rays organization slugged 18 home runs and put up a 143 wRC+ this season over 435 plate appearances between High-A Bowling Green and Double-A Montgomery. In the words of our lead prospect analyst, Eric Longenhagen, Isaac has “ridiculous power all over the strike zone,” as well as plus plate discipline.
I asked Isaac which of the pitchers he faced this season presented the biggest challenge.
“I’ve had tough battles with Noah Schultz,” replied Issac, citing the 6-foot-9 southpaw who ranks as the top pitching prospect in the Chicago White Sox organization “Lefty-lefty is hard, and he’s from the side. He’s very lanky, very tall, just like Randy Johnson. He’s throwing 96-97 [mph] and it’s pretty much coming at your shoulder. He’s also got a sweeper that breaks pretty much from first base. I’ve got a couple hits off of him, but it’s always a tough at-bat. I think he’s the toughest pitcher I’ve faced.”
Schultz, who turned 21 in August, had a 2.24 ERA, a 2.45 FIP, and 32.1% strikeout rate this season between High-A Winston-Salem and Double-A Birmingham.
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What has been the worst pitch you’ve thrown all year, and why was it so bad? I asked that question of a number of pitchers this season, the most recent being Tampa Bay right-hander Ryan Pepiot. The 27-year-old erstwhile Butler Bulldog shared two.
“I can think of one, for sure,” Pepiot told me on the final weekend of the campaign. “We were in Seattle and I had Randy Arozarena 1-2. I’d blown two fastballs by him, was trying to do it again, and I drilled him in the back, right below the neck. I was trying to climb the ladder and overcooked it. Leaky arm syndrome and it went to the right. I felt really bad, because it was Randy.
“My first start of the season would be another one. I walked the first two guys — a little nerves — got two quick outs, then hung Josh Jung a crap changeup right down the middle. He blasted it into the second deck of the Trop. I didn’t actually throw it, I just babied it in there, and ‘Whack!’ I didn’t like it how it came out of my hand, and I definitely didn’t like where it landed.”
Where the ball landed was something he didn’t see in real time.
“One of the things I learned in college was, ‘Hey, when you give up a homer — and you’re going to give them up — turn around and watch it, and tell yourself, ‘Damn, I threw that one really far,’” said Pepiot, who had a 3.60 ERA and a 3.95 FIP over 130 innings on the season. “So, when it’s a solo shot and they really smoke it, fine. I’ll turn around and see how far I threw the ball. That one I didn’t want to turn around and watch. I just asked for a new baseball.”
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A quiz:
Two pitchers won 100 or more games with the Montreal Expos. Who are they? (A hint: One made five All-Star teams while spending his entire 13-year career with the Expos, while the other played eight seasons in Montreal and had 245 wins over his 23-year MLB career.)
The answer can be found below.
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NEWS NOTES
Sean Lahman has agreed to donate the Lahman Baseball Database to SABR. The announcement can be found here.
Bob Speake, an outfielder/first baseman who played for the Chicago Cubs and the San Francisco Giants from 1955-1959, died on October 3 at age 94. The Springfield, Missouri native logged 154 of his 170 hits, and 28 of his 31 home runs, with Chicago’s North Side club. Speake’s nickname was Spook.
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The answer to the quiz is Steve Rogers, who had 158 wins with the Expos from 1973-1985, and Dennis Martinez, who had 100 wins with the Expos from 1986-1993.
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Should-be Hall of Famer Luis Tiant died earlier this week at age 83. Here are six Tiant facts:
He hit five home runs, all of them with the Cleveland Indians. The first two were off of Jim Bouton, one at Yankee Stadium, the other at Cleveland Stadium.
He had 15 career saves, including eight with the Indians in 1966.
He went 3-0 with a 2.65 ERA in four postseason starts with the Boston Red Sox in 1975.
The last of his 229 career wins came with the California Angels, a 10-2 victory over the Red Sox in 1982.
When Denny McLain was a unanimous AL Cy Young Award winner in 1968, the Detroit Tigers right-hander went 31-6 with a 1.96 ERA and 7.2 WAR. Tiant went 21-9 with a 1.60 ERA and 7.4 WAR.
Hall of Famer Catfish Hunter threw 3,449.1 innings and went 224-166 with a 104 ERA+ and 37.2 WAR. Tiant threw 3,486.1 innings and went 22-9 with a 114 ERA+ and 54.8 WAR.
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Like many present-day pitchers, Matt Bowman has a sweeper in his arsenal. The analytically-inclined right-hander shared an interesting take on the offering when I spoke to him in the final month of the regular season.
“Anyone who throws one will tell you that it’s a good pitch,” said Bowman, who was pitching out of the Baltimore bullpen at the time. “But I think it’s maybe losing a little bit of its luster. With the orientation of the ball and the way it spins, if someone does put the barrel on it, it really goes. I don’t think that data is collected, at least not publicly — the spin of the ball off the bat — but the way sweeper spin aligns, coming off the bat when it hits the barrel, is very favorable to making the ball carry and get the right launch angle. That is why you see some of the worst damage on sweepers.”
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FOREIGN AFFAIRS
The Central League’s Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks had NPB’s best record this season, at 91-49. The second-best record belonged to the Pacific League’s Tokyo Yomiuri Giants, who went 77-59. The Seibu Lions had the worst record, 49-91.
Roki Sasaki threw eight shutout innings with nine strikeouts as the Chiba Lotte Marines beat the Nippon Ham Fighters 2-0 in Game 1 of their first-stage playoff series. Gregory Polanco and Shogo Nakamura accounted for the offense with solo home runs.
NPB’s other first-stage playoff series saw the Yokohama DeNA BayStars outscored the Hanshin Tigers 3-1. Tyler Austin drove in two of the three runs, while Shugo Maki stroked three hits and crossed the plate twice.
SoftBank first baseman Hotaka Yamakawa led NPB hitters with 34 home runs. Yakult Swallows third baseman Munetaka Murakami, who reportedly aspires to come to MLB but won’t be posted for at least another year, went deep 33 times. The 24-year-old third baseman has 223 home runs in his six full NPB seasons.
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A random obscure former player snapshot.
Billy Bates raced a cheetah and scored the winning run in a World Series game. Highlights in otherwise an unremarkable career, the speedy University of Texas product performed both feats in 1990 as a member of the Cincinnati Reds. He won the race — in part because his hat came off and the unchained cheetah hesitated, mistaking it for food — in a Riverfront Stadium promotion for the Cincinnati Zoo.
A few weeks later, Bates chopped a pinch-hit infield single off of Oakland’s Dennis Eckersley in the 10th inning of World Series Game 2, then proceeded to cross the plate on a Joe Oliver walk-off single. It was his final appearance in a big-league uniform. All told, Bates played in 32 games (including the postseason) and went 7-for-49 with eight stolen bases and 13 runs scored over parts of two seasons.
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Carter Jensen faced some good pitchers this season while putting up solid numbers — the No. 3 prospect in the Kansas City Royals system slugged 18 home runs and put up a 129 wRC+ — between High-A Quad Cities and Double-A Northwest Arkansas. None of them were as accomplished as a right-hander he went up against in mid-August.
“We faced Justin Verlander in a rehab start, and that was something else,” explained Jensen, who is finishing up his season with the Surprise Saguaros. “He’s got a different kind of mound presence. I had two [plate appearances] against him. I had a sac fly, and I’m taking that as a win for sure.”
What was he thinking when he walked into the batter’s box with a future Hall of Famer on the mound?
“Before the game I was trying to prepare a little bit more, but at the same time, once I got in there it was me versus him,” said Jensen. “The only thing I could do is try to make good decisions, put the bat on the ball, and hopefully hit it hard somewhere. I tried not to do anything special, just stick to my game plan and what works for me. I didn’t want to be in the box thinking, ‘Justin Verlander is on the mound.’”
The 41-year-old veteran of 19 big-league seasons got the better of the 21-year-old catching prospect in the second of their two matchups. Anticipating a heater, Jensen instead got a hook that “just kept dropping.” He swung and missed for strike three.
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FARM NOTES
Minor League Baseball named the Hartford Yard Goats its 2024 Organization of the Year. The Connecticut-based Double-A affiliate of the Colorado Rockies drew a franchise-record 417,054 (including playoff game) fans, with 39 sellouts.
Luke Keaschall slashed .303/.420/.483 with 15 home runs and a 158 wRC+ over 464 plate appearances between High-A Cedar Rapids and Double-A Wichita before undergoing Tommy John surgery in August. Selected in the second round of the 2023 draft out of Arizona State University, the 22-year-old infielder/outfielder is No. 5 on our Minnesota Twins Top Prospects list.
Felnin Celesten slashed .352/.431/.568 with three home runs and a 150 wRC+ over 144 plate appearances in the Arizona Complex League before having hamate surgery at the end of July. No. 4 on our Seattle Mariners Top Prospects list, the switch-hitting shortstop from Guaymate, Dominican Republic celebrated his 19th birthday in September.
Leodalis De Vries slashed .237/.361/.441 with 11 home runs and a 116 wRC+ over 360 plate appearances for the Low-A Lake Elsinore storm before a shoulder injury ended his season prematurely in mid-August. No. 3 on our San Diego Padres Top Prospects list, the switch-hitting shortstop from Azua, Dominican Republic — currently playing for the Arizona Fall League’s Peoria Javelinas — celebrated his 18th birthday on Friday.
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Being a fan of baseball history, a recent note by Elias Sports caught my eye. The combined average age of the players who appeared in the opening game of the Tigers-Guardians ALDS was the youngest for any MLB playoff game since Game 4 of the 1914 World Series between the Philadelphia Athletics and the Boston Braves.
Who were the some of players that took the field on the long ago October 13 afternoon that saw the Braves top the A’s to win the first of the franchise’s four modern-era World Series titles? Well, there were five Hall of Famers: Home Run Baker, Eddie Collins, Johnny Evers, Rabbit Maranville, and Herb Pennock. Other notables included Wally Schang, a 41.0 career WAR catcher who played on four World Series winners, and right-hander Dick Rudolph, who went 26-10 during the regular season. Rudolph was the mound when the “Miracle Braves” — they were in last place in midseason before catching fire — took home the title.
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LINKS YOU’LL LIKE
At Sportico, Barry Bloom wrote about how money talks as the Mets, Dodgers, and Yankees advance in the MLB playoffs.
The Chicago Cubs are hiring longtime coach Jerry Weinstein, who has spent the last 18 years in the Colorado Rockies organization. Brett Taylor has the story at Bleacher Nation.
MLB.com’s Jordan Bastian addressed Cody Bellinger’s status and more offseason questions for the Chicago Cubs.
Skyler Timmins chronicled the Colorado Rockies’ dubious 2024 season for Purple Row.
The Boston Red Sox overhauled their hitting development program in 2024. Alex Speier explained how at Baseball America (subscription required).
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RANDOM FACTS AND STATS
Tom Browning and Bill Terry are the only pitchers in MLB history with exactly 1,000 strikeouts. Jim Bunning is the only pitcher to issue exactly 1,000 walks.
Greg Maddux issued 999 walks, 177 of them of the intentional variety.
No batter has walked exactly 1,000 times (Boog Powell had 1,001.) Two batters have exactly 1,000 strikeouts: Shawon Dunston and Jeffrey Leonard.
Bud Black and Bobby Valentine are tied for 48th place in all-time managerial wins with 1,186.
Willie McCovey had 521 home runs and a .374 OBP.
Ted Williams had 521 home runs and a .482 OBP.
The Boston Americans (Red Sox) beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 3-0 to win the first-ever World Series on today’s date in 1903. The game was played in a time of 1:35 in front of 7,455 fans at Boston’s Huntington Avenue Baseball Grounds.
On today’s date in 1992, the Pittsburgh Pirates plated eight runs against Tom Glavine in the second inning and went to beat the Atlanta Braves 13-4 in NLCS Game 6. One day later, Sid Bream slid home safely on a Francisco Cabrera pinch-hit single that sent the Braves to the World Series.
On today’s date in 1970, Baltimore Orioles southpaw Dave McNally aided his own cause with a grand slam while going the distance in a 9-3 win over the Cincinnati Reds in World Series Game 3. Don Buford and Frank Robinson also went deep for the O’s, who went on to capture the Fall Classic in five games.
Players born on today’s date include George Frazier, whose claim to infamy is being tagged for three losses while pitching for the New York Yankees in the 1981 World Series. The only other pitcher to lose three games in the Fall Classic is Lefty Williams, who did so in suspicious circumstances with the 1917 Chicago “Black Sox.”
Also born on today’s date was Pickles Dillhoefer, a catcher who played for three teams — the Chicago Cubs, Philadelphia Phillies, and St. Louis Cardinals — from 1917-1921 before dying of typhoid fever at age 27. A Cleveland native, William Martin Dillhoefer was part of two trades, one that included Hall of Famer Grover Cleveland Alexander.
