
Forum �bersicht Suche Login Registrieren Forums-Blog Landkarte

Mai
2019

Frostee Rucker Jersey

CINCINNATI (AP) � The Cincinnati Reds are fashionably celebrating the 150th anniversary of the professional baseball-pioneering Red Stockings team.Joey Votto and crew will play games in 15 sets of throwback uniforms Sandy Koufax Jersey , including a navy blue and a red-pants �Palm Beach� version, during a season-long celebration of the city�s baseball heritage highlighted by the undefeated 1869 Cincinnati team that barnstormed coast-to-coast in post-Civil War America. Baseball�s first openly all-salaried club, the Red Stockings popularized eye-catching uniforms with knicker-style pants and bright red socks while elevating the sports with a variety of innovations.�From a historical point of view and in the evolution of baseball as the national pastime, the 1869 Red Stockings were the cornerstone,� said Greg Rhodes, the Reds team historian and co-author of �The First Boys of Summer.� �It�s hard to imagine the modern game of baseball without the Red Stockings.�Six questions and answers about the anniversary:WHO WERE THE RED STOCKINGS?The powerhouse team grew out of the goal of a couple Cincinnati attorneys to build their local baseball club into one that could beat the best teams in the East. Baseball�s postwar popularity had swelled and paying players, often under the table, became more common in what had begun as a gentlemen�s game.The Red Stockings became the first openly all-salaried team after a quest for talent Major League Baseball historian John Thorn compares to New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner�s free spending more than a century later.�This is a team comprised of the very best players that could be found and induced to come to Cincinnati,� Thorn said.The biggest coup was signing player-manager Harry Wright�s younger brother George, a star who had been team-hopping.That first payroll totaled around $10,000 for 10 players.HOW GOOD WERE THEY?Thorn considers the 1869 squad among the best all-time teams. They averaged more than 40 runs a game and remain professional baseball�s only undefeated team after going 57-0.Thorn says 19 wins came against teams also classified as �professional.� Rhodes says Harry Wright didn�t count in the win total more than a dozen other victories against teams that weren�t recognized by baseball�s national association.His older brother�s records show George Wright batted about .630 with 49 home runs while averaging nearly six runs scored per game. Thorn compares George in all-around ability for his time to Alex Rodriguez at his peak; a feared hitter who was also a superb fielder (in the pre-glove era) with a powerful arm that allowed him to play unusually deep at shortstop.With players under contract, Harry, an England-born cricket star, worked them hard on baseball technique and physical training. The Red Stockings developed calling fly balls, using relay throws, making defensive shifts, and intentionally dropping pop-ups to turn double plays (not allowed under today�s infield fly rule). They ran the bases more aggressively than opponents, and Harry Wright was a relief pitching innovator, coming in with his slow �dew drop� to disrupt batters� timing after fast-throwing regular pitcher Asa Brainard.HOW BIG A DEAL WERE THEY?The Red Stockings took the nation by storm, playing coast-to-coast with swings through the East and a transcontinental railroad trip to California.Wearing knickers with bright stockings instead of long pants gave the young (seven of the 10 were age 22 or younger), muscular players an eye-catching look that, the Chronicle of San Francisco observed, �shows their calves in all their magnitude and rotundity.�Author Darryl Brock, who retraced their travels for his historical novel, �If I Never Get Back,� describes women greeting the players by lifting their skirts to show their own red stockings. The team arrived at games singing a ditty that concluded: �Red Stockings all will toss the ball, and shout our loud Hurrah!� They showed off their skills in crowd-pleasing warmup drills.Before mass media, they became a national sensation through telegraph reports, newspapers and national weeklies.�The nation had been so badly divided (by war),� said Brock. �They were kind of a bonding influence � the enormous excitement they generated.�WHAT HAPPENED TO THE TEAM?The players got $50 bonuses and returned for 1870. They ran their streak to 81, traveled south to play in New Orleans, and compiled a 124-6-1 two-season total.Then they folded.�They were a terrific success on the field,� Rhodes said. �They could never quite figure out how to make it work financially.�Home attendance tumbled in 1870 after the first losses tarnished their mystique. With stepped-up spending by other teams, the club�s management saw salaries rising beyond feasibility.�Like today, there was this tension between the bigger markets and the smaller markets,� Rhodes said.The Wrights headed to Boston, using the Red Stockings name, and helped form the club in 1871 that today calls itself baseball�s oldest continuously operating team. Surprise: it�s not the Boston Red Sox, but the Braves http://www.dodgersfanproshop.com/authentic-max-muncy-jersey , who became the Braves while in Boston, moved to Milwaukee, and settled in Atlanta.WHAT�S PLANNED FOR TRIBUTES?All Major League Baseball teams will wear uniform patches marking 150 years throughout this season, and there will be special patches for caps for their opening day games, said Barbara McHugh, MLB senior vice president for marketing. There will also be season-long special content on MLB�s social media channels, and McHugh said Commissioner Rob Manfred will be in Cincinnati for the March 28 Opening Day festivities and will take part in the annual pregame parade through the city.The Reds, meanwhile, will have their own commemorative patches, with different versions for home and away uniforms.And that�s just for starters.�You don�t do it in one day or in one homestead or even in a month, so we�re really taking the entire season to celebrate that and tell you about the history a little piece at a time,� said Phil Castellini, the Reds� chief operating officer.Some 20 benches will be placed around the Cincinnati region depicting handlebar-mustached mascot Mr. Redlegs, ready for fan selfies. The club�s Hall of Fame and Museum will re-open in March after a sweeping renovation. On May 4, the Reds will open �The 1869 Pavilion� outdoors in tribute to the Red Stockings who played their first official game that date.On July 5, an off day, the Reds plan an �open house� allowing fans to visit Great American Ball Park for free, mingle with the team, and finish with an on-field concert and a fireworks show.The uniforms will represent historic events, such as baseball�s first night game in 1935, and the best Reds teams such as the 1976 �Big Red Machine� team that swept the postseason. The 1911 blue road uniforms and 1930s lightweight �Palm Beach� style with red pants are examples of unusual styles. There will be no 1869 throwbacks, because that early, bulky style could hinder players, Castellini said.New Reds manager David Bell is looking forward to the throwbacks, particularly a 1956 version. That�s the year his grandfather Gus Bell helped the Reds tie the then-MLB record for home runs with 221.�Wearing a uniform like that is an honor,� said Bell, whose father Buddy also played for the Reds. �You think about all the great players, the great people who wore those uniforms. It really means a lot.�WHAT ABOUT THE CURRENT REDS?After four straight last-place finishes, the Reds have overhauled their pitching and added past All-Star outfielders Yasiel Puig and Matt Kemp for 2019.�It�s critical because our job on the business side of this franchise is to wrap the show around the game on the field,� Castellini said. �We were already throwing a great party � It�s important that you have that performance on the field, because that good time can only go so far.�Lifelong fan Steve Pohlman, 47, and son Tyler, 18, turned out for the team�s recent winter caravan tour and will be at 150th anniversary events.�It�s something I�ll be able to tell my kids and grandkids about,� Tyler said. As for the Reds� recent struggles: �We�ve just got to stick with it. This is Cincinnati baseball.� Fried flipped his script and took everyone on a thrilling ride."WhiteFanposts Fanshots Sections Talking Chop User�s GuideTalking Chop PodcastAround the NL EastBaseball Analysis PrimerMax Fried found the zoneNew,32commentsFried flipped his script and took everyone on a thrilling ride.EDTShareTweetShareShareMax Fried found the zoneDale Zanine-USA TODAY SportsMax Fried has always been somewhat of a mystery to me. Not in the way that essentially all prospects, and essentially pitching prospects, are mysteries Hyun-Jin Ryu Jersey , but in a manner far more specific. Lots of people really like Max Fried (as a baseball player, not as a person, I�m sure he�s an awesome person but that�s not something most folks are qualified to comment on...). Not that many people liked Mauricio Cabrera. Yet, what if I told you that Mauricio Cabrera�s career major league walk rate was... 11.7%... and Max Fried�s career major league walk rate was... 11.8%. No, don�t call me a liar, it�s true. You can look it up for yourself. I have this theory that Sean Newcomb�s performance tends to be underrated because his lack of command the resulting bases on balls make him somewhat agonizing to watch pitch, despite average results. Yet, for someone with pretty much the same major league walk rate as Newcomb, with a bevy of outings coming in relief (which is supposed to rein in walk rate, to some extent), Fried doesn�t seem to evoke the same visceral response.For that reason � namely, command and an inability to limit free passes � I�ve been somewhat wary of the potential for Fried�s success. I was incredibly miffed when, a few days ago, Max Fried entered a tie game, walked Bryce Harper, and then walked Rhys Hoskins to force in the go-ahead run, but I wasn�t shocked. But the thing about that is... well, you know what happened last night. It�s the next morning, and, well, color me shocked.Looking back on it, I�m not sure whether it was even the best outing of Fried�s young career: his domination of the Cardinals last year (six and two-thirds, four hits, three walks, eleven strikeouts, zero fly balls) still looms large. You can take your pick between the two outings, I think � maybe you like 17 straight batters retired with one hit, zero walks, and five strikeouts better. It�s fine if you do. The stats are split: 30 vs. 33 FIP-, 75 vs. 77 Game Score (v2), 29 vs. 45 xFIP-, .244 vs. .140 xwOBA-allowed. There�s not really a wrong answer here.The main question then: how did this happen? This wasn�t a fluke fueled by at-�em balls and good defense: so far this year, only two starts (Carlos Rodon, Blake Snell) have managed a lower xwOBA in a game; only Rodon and Luis Castillo have managed a start with more than 10 balls in play with weaker quality of contact than what Fried elicited last night. You don�t need to dig too far for the answer, as I put it in the title: Max Fried found the zone.The rate of pitches in the zone has evolved in recent history, in a phenomenon that one may wish to describe as Manfred�s Bane. In 2002, over 54 percent of pitches were within the strike zone�s confines. This figure then eroded to 52ish percent over the next half-decade, dropped to just over 50 percent in 2008, and then dipped under the halfway mark the following year (48.7 percent). It then fell further still http://www.dodgersfanproshop.com/authentic-max-muncy-jersey , to around 45 percent for each year in the 2011-2017 window, before ratcheting itself downward one more step last year, where it rested at 43.0 percent. Max Fried�s zone rate has itself been on the lower side of this average. Of the 488 pitchers with 60 or more innings since the start of 2017, Fried�s 41.9 percent mark ranked 112th, putting him in the bottom fourth. Note the use of the past tense. With one start, pushed that mark up to 42.9 percent, enough to jump from the bottom fourth to the 33rd percentile. Graphically, the difference is perhaps more dramatic.As a starter, Max Fried has never quite held the zone like he did last night. Even as a reliever, he�s done it all of once. That other blue dot that�s well above league average was the epic Charlie Culberson two-run walkoff homer game against the Mets, in which Fried faced deGrom. That outing was really odd for a number of reasons, and a table will summarize things better than me yammering.Compare the first and third rows. Sure, Max Fried has had a start (one) where he found the zone before. But he has not had a start where he found the zone. That May 28, 2018 start was legitimately insane: he threw nearly half of his pitches in the zone, yet still issued four walks across 22 batters. Mets hitters literally made contact zero times against his pitches outside the zone, but he still issuedissued a bunch of free passes. I think when I italicize �found the zone,� what I really mean is this: Max Fried not only threw strikes, but he did two things incredibly well � (1) he got it over the plate when he needed to; (2)he didn�t throw get-me-over stuff.That second point perhaps requires a bit more elaboration. In the first, Fried fell behind Kris Bryant 3-1. He got an all-important whiff on a challenge fastball more or less down the middle, and then elicited a groundout on another fastball in on Bryant�s hands (but still in the zone). After missing with both curveballs to arrive at a full count on David Bote in the second, his 3-2 fastball was on its lower edge, leading to another groundout. In the fourth, he started Bryant with a 3-0 count, but after a gimme taken fastball, he got a foul on another inside fastball before another lowered fastball yielded yet another grounder. The next batter, Anthony Rizzo, got one of the few balls in the air off Fried, which came on a letter-high fastball. Fried threw three straight balls after 0-2 on Rizzo, but recovered as both the out pitch and the one before it (a foul on a low-and-away corner fastball) were on the zone�s edges but too close to take. And, of course, it helps when you can go toe-to-toe with the league�s most violent swingers, too: with Javy Baez leading off the fifth, Fried challenged him with 97 mph heat (yes, 97) right down the pipe on 2-2 (foul), up-and-away portion of the zone at 96 (yes, 96), missed too far away with another 97, and then hoodwinked Baez by taking a little off and getting him to swing through 94 right down the pipe.Fried didn�t just find the zone, he found its good parts. Only one of the balls in play he got was on a clear o-swing (a few were borderline but still potential/likely strikes). Only two to four (depending on how stringent you want to be) of the balls in play he got were on pitches �down the middle Mike Piazza Jersey ,� and one of those was on a hanging curveball that ended his perfect game/no-hit bid. He lived on the corners and the edges, and it was awesome. 92.9 percent z-contact seems kind of scary without context, but when it comes in the tougher parts of the zone for hitters to handle, you get the kind of xwOBA-against and contact management that Fried amassed last night.But, there�s still one more thing to touch on, and it�s the best stat of the night for Fried. When Fried threw a lot of pitches in the zone against the Mets, he still ended up walking too many. When he was carving up the Cardinals, his walk rate wasn�t any different from his usual self, and still too high (league-average walk rates are around eight to nine percent, not double digits). Yet he came away from his first start of 2019 issuing zero free passes. That�s not just a thing that happened in April, it�s legitimately wild. As a major leaguer, Fried has made 10 starts and 16 relief appearances. Last night was the only one of his starts in which he didn�t walk anyone. He�s now 7-for-26 in zero-walk outings, with one of those seven being last night, one of them a two-inning relief outing, and the other five one-inning stints. Okay, but that�s the majors, where Fried is a relative neophyte. What about the minors, where he has 95 career outings, 93 of which were starts? Well... only 13 of those 90-plus outings featured zero walks. And, of those 13, ten were rehab/stamina-building outings of two innings or fewer. Leaving those aside, you have a Max Fried who managed to do last night, against a major league team (and a good offensive one at that), something that he had only done three times against minor league teams. (One of those zero-walk outings was last year at Gwinnett; the other two were in A-ball, with one predating his Tommy John Surgery and lengthy absence from pitching.) Fried didn�t just find the zone, he found it against the highest level of competition, even when it had proved elusive against inferior foes. It�s worth noting that the last time Fried electrified this fanbase, he followed that up with an absolute disaster in Milwaukee, and then a multiweek absence with injury. He returned to make one more (pretty good!) start against the Dodgers, and then was banished to the bullpen, where he proved generally effective (walk meltdowns against the Phillies notwithstanding) until last night�s sterling showing. What will Fried do for an encore this time around? Will he keep finding the zone? Or will he tantalize but ultimately just engender frustration as he�s unable to channel the same command and stuff he did last night? I have no idea, and while I wasn�t too excited about his outing last night before it started, now I can�t wait to find out. I�m not sure I�ve ever been as impressed with an outing by a Braves starter as much as I was by Fried�s in the last four years or so. If he can keep it up, he may not change the conversation about himself much, as many have already been willing to give him the benefit of the doubt despite the high walk rate, but he�ll definitely change my tune about his future prospects. As always, we�ll see what happens.