Winner helped by superb lead-out from Wout van Aert
Del Toro has 33sec lead over teammate Juan Ayuso
Olav Kooij sprinted to victory on stage 12 of the Giro d’Italia as Isaac del Toro retained the pink jersey in Viadana.
Kooij was helped by a superb lead-out from his Visma-Lease A Bike teammate Wout van Aert, with Casper van Uden (Team Picnic-PostNL) second over the line ahead of Britain’s Ben Turner (Ineos Grenadiers).
Continue reading...Canadian defenseman Mark Pysyk, 33, has signed a one-year contract with Sparta Prague, the Czech Extraliga club announced on Thursday. The former NHLer is coming off a season where he helped SaiPa to the Finnish Liiga finals.
“Last season was my first in Europe and I didn’t know what to expect, but the SaiPa fans were incredible,” said Pysyk. “I know Sparta has a huge arena and a huge and loyal fan base, so I can’t wait to get there and feel the energy, especially when the playoffs come.”
“He is an experienced defenseman with excellent skating and passing,” said Sparta director of hockey operations Tomáš Divíšek. “If not for an unfortunate injury, he might still be a stable NHL defenseman.”
Originally from Sherwood Park, Alta., Pysyk played junior hockey for the hometown Edmonton Oil Kings in the WHL and was chosen in the first round, 23rd overall, by the Buffalo Sabres in the 2010 NHL Entry Draft.
From 2012 to 2022, Pysyk played 521 NHL regular-season games for the Sabres, Florida Panthers and Dallas Stars, recording 104 points and 152 penalty minutes. He also played four playoff games for Florida in the 2020 Eastern Conference playoff bubble in Toronto.
Former Sabres First-Rounder Signs in FinlandCanadian defenseman Mark Pysyk, 32, has signed a contract to play the remainder of the current season with SaiPa Lappeenranta, the Finnish Liiga club announced on Thursday.
In the summer of 2022, Pysyk signed with the Detroit Red Wings. However, a short time later, he underwent surgery to repair a torn Achilles’ tendon and missed the season.
Pysyk spent the 2023-24 season in the AHL with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins and Calgary Wranglers, recording four assists in 43 regular-season and playoff games combined. In September 2024, he attended the training camp of the Anaheim Ducks on a PTO.
In November 2024, Pysyk signed to play the remainder of the season with SaiPa in the Finnish Liiga. He recorded 17 points in 56 regular-season and playoff games as SaiPa reached the finals.
Last season, Sparta finished first in the Extraliga regular season but was eliminated in the semifinals by eventual champion Kometa Brno. In addition to Pysyk, the team has under contract for 2025-26 numerous ex-NHLers, including captain Vladimír Sobotka, Michal Kempný, Miikka Salomäki, Filip Chlapík and goaltender Josef Kořenář, whose NHL rights are retained by the Utah Mammoth.
There Will Be A New Czech Champion - Třinec's 5-Year Reign Ended By Sparta
After
five long years, Oceláři Třinec’s reign as Extraliga champion is
over, following the team’s quarterfinal defeat at the hands of
Sparta Prague before a sellout crowd of 17,220 at O2 Arena on Monday.
Red Sox trade for Angels first baseman, place Yoshida on 60-day IL originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston
The Boston Red Sox are exploring another potential first base option not named Rafael Devers, it appears.
The Red Sox acquired first baseman Ryan Noda from the Los Angeles Angels on Thursday in exchange for cash considerations.
Boston optioned Noda to Triple-A Worcester and transferred outfielder/designated hitter Masataka Yoshida to the 60-day injured list to free up a roster spot for Noda.
The 29-year-old made his MLB debut with the Athletics in 2023 and showed promise as a rookie, tallying 16 home runs and 54 RBI with 77 walks and a .770 OPS in 128 games as the team’s everyday first baseman. He regressed significantly in 2024, however, posting a .137/.255/.465 slash line with 37 strikeouts in 36 games.
The Angels claimed Noda off waivers following the 2024 season, and the Illinois native began the 2025 campaign with Los Angeles’ Triple-A affiliate before the team designated him for assignment on May 18.
The Red Sox have cycled through a number of first basemen since Triston Casas suffered a season-ending knee injury on May 2. Triple-A call-up Nick Sogard is currently manning the position, while Romy Gonzalez and Abraham Toro saw time at first base as well. Rookie second baseman Kristian Campbell even has been taking first base reps in practice, although manager Alex Cora said Campbell likely won’t move to first in the near future.
One player we won’t see at first base, it seems, is Rafael Devers, as the Red Sox slugger has refused to switch positions again after moving from third base to designated hitter earlier in the season. With Noda now in the fold, it’s probably even less likely that Devers tries his hand at first base.
Boston will play a doubleheader with the Baltimore Orioles at Fenway Park on Friday after being rained out Thursday.
On Wednesday, Statcast dropped a brand new set of metrics to measure a hitter's bat path both on the way to contact and at the contact point. This is important data because bat path is one of the aspects of hitting that hitters not only think about the most, but also train the most. Hitters want to make sure they are making quality contact as often as possible, and that takes root in the path of their swing from load to contact.
There's a great article from Mike Petriello that explains all four of the metrics, and I encourage you to read that to get a more in-depth sense of everything I'm going to discuss here. All of these metrics are going to be specific to the player, their skillset, and their approach, so the best use of these metrics is likely going to be choosing a specific player and looking at his swing path and attack angle and seeing if something has changed to lead to more power production or a higher pull rate or better contact, etc.
However, we can just have some fun today and try to use these new metrics to find power hitters.
For this article, I'm operating under the basic principle that if a hitter has good bat speed and a slight upswing, they are more likely to produce good power numbers. The upswing will create loft on contact, and the bat speed will create exit velocity that will help the ball carry out of the park. To do that, the first stat we're going to look at is swing tilt or swing path, which tells us "the shape of the swing on the way towards contact." A higher angle is a steeper swing, and a lower angle is a flatter swing.
The Statcast folks looked at the production on swing paths and found, as the graphic below shows, that hitters who have a steeper swing, between 33 and 38 inches, tend to produce the best offensive results, even if they swing and miss slightly more than players with a flatter swing.
So let's run with that premise and look for hitters who swing the bat fast but also have steep bat paths to see if we can identify some potential power breakouts. First, we can test the premise to see if many power hitters fall within this range.
| Swing Path Tilt |
There's not much to say about the hitters listed above, but we know they are all some of the better power hitters in modern baseball. Since they all had above league average bat speed and a swing tilt between 33 and 40 degrees, it's a bit of confirmation bias that maybe this isn't a crazy exercise.
| Swing Path Tilt |
A few of these names shouldn't be surprising since Kyle Stowers, Ben Rice, Riley Greene, Wyatt Langford, Spencer Torkelson, and Zach Neto are enjoying strong starts to the season and have all shown ample power to help fantasy teams. Jorge Soler is also somebody we have always regarded as a premier power hitter. The production hasn't quite been there so far this season, but
Having Nick Kurtz on a power list shouldn't surprise you. He had seven home runs and a .655 slugging percentage in 20 games in Triple-A before getting called up. In his 24 MLB games, he has already had a batted ball that was 113.6 mph and has an average exit velocity of 91.8 mph, so he's making authoritative contact. His 36.5% fly ball rate is higher than we saw in the minors, but not as high as I might expect. The nearly 16% infield fly ball rate tells me that maybe the swing is just a bit too steep right now. However, the bigger issue is that Kurtz had a 12.6% swinging strike rate (SwStr%) in Triple-A, and that was always going to be higher against MLB pitching. Kurtz is not a high-contact rate hitter, so he may be a .240 guy the rest of this season with an elevated strikeout rate, but the power should be there.
We're seeing something similar with Cam Smith, who had a steep learning curve to adjust to MLB pitching after playing just five games above High-A with the Cubs last year. Smith's bat speed stands out here, and he does have a 113 mph max exit velocity hit on the season, so there is some power here. However, his production has ticked up in May, going 12-for-40, while his flyball rate has dropped to 18% of that stretch. However, Smith has also seemingly opened up his stance a bit in May and is hitting the ball farther out in front of the plate. These are strong changes for May, and I'd expect the fly ball rate to tick back up.
Andy Pages is enjoying a bit of an under-the-radar breakout for the Dodgers with nine home runs and a .274/.326/.482 slash line in 181 plate appearances. His average exit velocity is not great at 88.4%, but he has solid fly ball and pull rate numbers, which are helping him get to his power. The only issue for Pages now is whether the emergence of Hyeseong Kim is creating a bit of a playing time crunch with Teoscar Hernandez, Tommy Edman, and Michael Conforto all still getting regular at-bats.
Oh, what are we to do with Brett Baty? Every time we want to buy in on him for fantasy baseball, it seems like he ends up back in Triple-A. The bat speed obviously jumps off the page here as one of the best marks for all hitters, and Baty has been hitting the ball exceptionally hard in his at-bats this season with a 90.1 mph average exit velocity and 13.1% barrel rate in 61 batted ball events. He has dropped his groundball rate by 7% as he hits more fly balls and line drives, but he was far too passive in his first stint with the Mets this season, getting himself into bad counts and chasing pitches out of the zone.
Joey Bart and Ivan Herrera both pop on this list, but Herrera leads all catchers with at least 70 plate appearances in ISO with a .350 mark. Now, 70 plate appearances is a small sample size, but both are in the top 15 among catchers in barrel rate and max exit velocity. They also both happen to play the majority of games for their teams and make for solid two-catcher league targets.
Ryan Mountcastle has always interested me. I never thought he was the 33 home run hitter he showed off in 2021, the year of the juiced ball. But I also thought people were writing him off too much the last two years, as he was dealing with myriad injuries. This year, he's posting an 11% barrel rate and has two of the hardest-hit balls of his career. He's also pulling the ball more than ever, but is perhaps being overly aggressive, swinging more than ever, and making less contact than he has since 2022. I still think Mountcastle is a solid hitter who can be a 20+ home run guy with a .260-.270 average. With Baltimore imploding this season, I would love to see them trade him to a team that would play him every day in a better home ballpark (Hello, Boston!).
Alexander Canario is an intriguing name here because he's a plus raw power prospect who is now getting the chance to play every day in Pittsburgh. In 16 games in May, Canario is hitting .273/.322/.436 with two home runs and five RBI. He does have a 27% strikeout rate over that span, and that will likely always be part of his game, but he also has an 18.6% barrel rate and 90.1 mph average exit velocity in 59 batted ball events. His 69% contact rate overall is not great, nor is his nearly 17% swinging strike rate, and so I don't believe you're getting some major breakout star here, but if the Pirates are going to let him remain in the lineup regularly, Canario could easily push for 15+ home runs from here on out. There's a strong risk that his swing-and-miss will get him removed from the lineup at some point.
Since I mentioned earlier on that all of these swing path metrics are going to be hitter-dependent, there are a few hitters on here who may have top-end bat speed and the approach that would allow them to lift the ball out of the park but have other issues in their approach that will prevent them from being fantasy producers. Those guys are Jordan Walker, Jo Adell, Nolan Jones, and Yoan Moncada. Moncada is playing well right now, but the issue for him is always health. Those other guys are simply not making enough contact to produce results at the moment, but they're names you should keep in the back of your mind since they technically qualify for this leaderboard.
Another of the new Stacast metrics I wanted to look at is Attack Angle, which "is the bat’s angle at impact." Attack angle then tells us "what’s happening with the bat at contact – at what vertical angle the bat is moving as it impacts the ball (or comes closest to doing so, on misses)." For this metric, 0° would be perfectly flat, with positive numbers showing a bat moving upward and negative numbers showing the bat moving downward.
It's important to understand that a hitter's attack angle is really about timing. Since it measures the bat's angle at impact, it can be heavily influenced by how early or late a hitter is on his swing, as evidenced by this image of a James Wood swing that Statcast used in their article.
According to this new data, the average MLB attack angle is 10 degrees, but the ideal attack angle, meaning "the angles that produce the most value for a hitter," is between five and 20 degrees. Since a larger attack angle would mean getting under the ball more, and that's better for power, I created a leaderboard of hitters with above-average bat speed (again) and an average attack angle between 10 and 20 degrees.
Some players in the 10-20 degree range that have been proven to be consistent power hitters are Eugenio Suarez (19.2 degree attack angle), Willy Adames (18 degrees), Cal Raleigh(17.8 degrees), Shohei Ohtani (15.1 degrees), Aaron Judge (14.9 degrees), Marcell Ozuna (14 degrees), Brent Rooker(13.4 degrees), Kyle Schwarber (13 degrees), Bryce Harper (12.2 degrees), Yordan Alvarez(11.3 degrees), Pete Alonso (10.2 degrees), and Oneil Cruz (10.2 degrees).
So, who else could emerge as reliable power hitters for fantasy baseball?
I removed Zach Neto and Pete Crow-Armstrong because their bat speed was just under the mark I was searching for at 71.8 mph; however, both of them have proven to have more power than many initially thought, so I wanted to highlight them here.
We also see a few repeat hitters on here with Nick Kurtz, Kyle Stowers, Riley Greene, Ben Rice, Wyatt Langford, Spencer Torkelson, Zach Dezenzo, and Alexander Canario.
Addison Barger is a player who jumped out for me a bit in spring training because he was crushing the ball and mentioned that he had gone back to an older version of his swing mechanics that made him feel more free with his movements. That has led to some really interesting changes and is why these Statcast metrics are so cool. As you can see in the image below, Barger has opened his stance considerably and is now making contact with the ball much farther out in front of home plate. His bat speed is up almost two mph to an elite 76.1 mph mark, and his swing path has changed to be a touch flatter, which has given him a better attack angle. All of these are changes that I like, and when you pair that with a small sample size 14% barrel rate and 95 mph average exit velocity, there might be something here.
Lars Nootbaar is another hitter who has improved his bat speed by almost two mph and flattened his swing path a bit to lead to a much better attack angle. He's now sporting an ideal attack angle of 60.4% while hitting the ball more out in front of the plate. Perhaps that's also because he's moved up in the box slightly, but he's catching the ball out in front more, which is leading to more consistent authoritative contact. We've waited for the Nootbaar breakout for a few years, but we could be looking at a .270, 20 home run season here.
Among catchers with at least 100 plate appearances, Bo Naylor ranks sixth in barrel rate (12.7%), seventh in ISO (.211), eighth in average exit velocity (91.2 mph), and ninth in home runs (nine). His bat speed is up this season, and he's opened his stance up more while getting to his ideal attack angle 55% of the time. The issue may be that his emphasis on power has led to a 56% fly ball rate that has tanked his batting average. A lot of the changes Naylor has made are good, but perhaps the Guardians can get him to dial back the lift in his swing just a bit.
Jordan Beck and Hunter Goodman both get the benefit of playing in Coors Field, but are also sporting an approach that should lead to some power production. Beck still has some real swing-and-miss in his game, so even though he's being a bit more selective this season, it's hard to see him ending the year hitting above .250. That being said, he is making lots of hard contact and lifting the ball much more this season, which is obviously good for power production in the thin air of Coors Field. Goodman has made his swing slightly steeper this year and raised his attack angle, and while that has made his ideal attack angle rate worse, he's able to do more damage when he makes contact with the ball. Much like Beck, his nearly 16% swinging strike rate is high, but he is aggressive in the zone, so he gives himself plenty of chances to make contact and drive the ball.
Josh Hubbard was an All-SEC second-team selection, averaging 18.9 points, 3.1 assists and 2.1 rebounds on 40.2% shooting from 3-point range.
The Chicago Blackhawks fired Luke Richardson during the 2024-25 season after a slow start that didn’t see their young players producing enough. They used Anders Sorensen as his replacement on an interim basis.
Although they said that Sorensen would be in the mix for the full-time job, it was fairly obvious that they would move in a different direction. That decision has been made as they have officially hired Jeff Blashill to be the next head coach.
A week's worth of speculation preceded this becoming official. Things were unusually quiet before the Blashill rumors started, but it was all but confirmed coming into official hiring day.
Chicago Blackhawks (@NHLBlackhawks) on XJeff Blashill is the 42nd Head Coach of the Chicago Blackhawks‼️
📰 ➡︎ https://t.co/YJMSzjwBw0Blashill began his career as an assistant at Ferris State before moving on to Miami University. He then took on a head coaching/GM job with the Indiana Ice of the USHL. While he was in Indiana, the Ice won the Clark Cup as league champions.
Eventually, he transitioned to a head coaching role at Western Michigan University. He was one of the first great leaders in that program’s history. After one season there, one of the best in WMU's history up to that point, Blashill was hired as an assistant coach for the Detroit Red Wings.
Eventually, the Red Wings made him the head coach of their AHL affiliate, the Grand Rapids Griffins. In 2013, Blashill and the Griffins won the Calder Cup as AHL champions.
In 2015, head coach Mike Babcock left the Red Wings to coach the Toronto Maple Leafs. Detroit promoted Blashill from Grand Rapids to replace Babcock as their bench boss.
After making the playoffs for 25 straight seasons, including Blashill's first year, the magic ran out for Detroit. They had legendary players retire, a lack of prospects, and not many draft picks ahead of them.
Blashill wasn’t mistake-free during his tenure as Red Wings head coach, but his timing there wasn’t convenient. Not many coaches would have done much better.
In 2022, GM Steve Yzerman noted that Blashill would not be returning after seven years of head coaching service and even longer in the organization. It was fair for the Red Wings to make a change, but it was hardly all Blashill’s fault.
Since being removed from the Red Wings, Blashill has been serving under Jon Cooper on the Tampa Bay Lightning bench. That is not a bad place to sit back and learn more about coaching for three years.
Now, he is ready for his next head coaching challenge. His time spent coaching young players, plus what he’s learned through his NHL journey, set him up perfectly for this Chicago Blackhawks job.
Blashill has shown the ability to help develop talent to the best of their ability. With Chicago, most of his impact players will be younger than 25 years old.
Now that the head coach is in place, Kyle Davidson can shift his focus to the third overall pick, the rest of his draft board, and free agency. This is a huge step in what could be remembered as an incredibly important off-season in Blackhawks history.
Visit The Hockey News Chicago Blackhawks team site to stay updated on the latest news, game-day coverage, player features, and more.
Taylor Jones, a freshman at Newark Central High School, was the first flag football player in New Jersey to to pass and run for over 1,000 yards each.
The Mets were able to get themselves back in the win column -- snapping their first three-game losing streak of the season on Wednesday night in Boston.
Facing one of the top pitchers in the game in ace lefty Garrett Crochet, New York’s struggling offense was finally able to come up with some timely hits with runners in scoring position to pull out a 5-1 victory.
First, it was Brett Baty who remained in the lineup against the tough southpaw because of his defensive play -- but he delivered with his bat in the second, getting the scoring started with a two-out RBI single.
Tylor Megill put together a terrific bounceback outing -- striking out 10 batters over 4.2 innings of work, but some shoddy infield defense helped the Red Sox scratch across the tying run in the bottom of the fifth.
But a few innings later, Baty would deliver for the Mets again, this time lining a two-run opposite-field double off another tough lefty Brennan Bernardino with the bases loaded to put New York back in front for good.
Francisco Lindor put the exclamation point on the victory -- crushing the Mets’ first home run since last Tuesday just over the Green Monster in the top of the ninth.
“When you’re going through stretches like this, guys want to come through so bad,” Carlos Mendoza said. “At times it takes a little longer than we’d like it to, but it was good to see the guys today not panicking -- not that we have been.
“You just continue to play your game, continue to execute and we were able to come through. Lindor with the homer, the first one in a while which is very rare. Overall a good team win, and now we have to go home and play another good team.”
That good team? The defending champion Dodgers.
The last time LA was in town there was much more at stake -- the Mets had defeated them in Game 5 of the NLCS to extend their season -- but a few nights later, that miraculous run came to an end with a 10-5 loss at Chavez Ravine.
The Dodgers then went on to beat the Yankees in five games in the World Series -- securing the franchise’s eight overall title, but first since 1981.
Much has changed for both organization's since then -- but one thing remains the same.
Even with the Mets hitting a rough patch and the Dodgers battling numerous injuries, these are two of the top contenders in the National League again this year -- and Mendoza is expecting another electric atmosphere for their three-game set this weekend at Citi Field.
“They’re a good team, we’re a good team too,” the skipper said. “We’ll be ready for them. Obviously, they beat us last year in the NLCS and they added a lot more people in the offseason, but we did the same -- I think it’s gonna be a fun matchup."
The series kicks off on Friday night with Griffin Canning taking the mound against Clayton Kershaw.
Durham boxer was diagnosed with cancer in January
Won gold medal at 2017 Commonwealth Youth Games
Tributes have been paid to the British boxer Georgia O’Connor, who has died at the age of 25 after being diagnosed with cancer in January.
O’Connor won a gold medal at the Commonwealth Youth Games in 2017 before turning professional with promoters Boxxer. She won all three of her bouts, having last fought professionally in October 2022.
Continue reading...It's Thursday, May 22, and the Braves (24-24) are in Washington to take on the Nationals (22-27). AJ Smith-Shawver is slated to take the mound for Atlanta against Trevor Williams for Washington.
Yesterday's game was postponed due to rain.
Washington won Game 1 of the series, 5-3, thanks to Dylan Crews, who helped give the Nationals the lead in the second inning prior to leaving the game early with an injury.
The Braves have gone 3-3 in their last six games, but 6-4 in their previous 10. Meanwhile, the Nationals are .500 in their last 10 games and 2.5 games behind the Braves in the NL East.
Lets dive into the matchup and find a sweat or two.
We’ve got all the info and analysis you need to know ahead of the game, including the latest info on the how to catch tipoff, odds, recent team performance, player stats, and of course, our predictions, picks & best bets for the game from our modeling tools and staff of experts.
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Here are the best bets our model is projecting for Thursday's game between the Braves and the Nationals:
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In my house, as Tyrese Haliburton's game-tying shot hit the back of the rim, bounced 10 feet in the air, then fell softly through the net, I yelled "Are you kidding me" so loudly my family rushed into the room to make sure I was okay.
My reaction to the Pacers’ wild comeback Game 1 win is typical, and I don't have a dog in this fight. The reaction around the NBA and sports world to Haliburton and the comeback win by the Indiana Pacers was the same, starting with Indiana Fever star Caitlin Clark.
PACERS ARE THE GREATEST COMEBACK TEAM IVE EVER SEEN
— Caitlin Clark (@CaitlinClark22) May 22, 2025
Check out the reaction to the shot from the Inside the NBA crew, and the 76ers' Jared McCain, who was doing a live stream for Bleacher Report.
The Fellas couldn't BELIEVE Haliburton's game-tying shot pic.twitter.com/f8FSNGvrbn
— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) May 22, 2025
Jared McCain LOST IT after Tyrese Haliburton forced OT vs. the Knicks @attpic.twitter.com/bjEtaIEf8d
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) May 22, 2025
There were more reactions from around the sports world
Those people saying Haliburton was overrated I wonder what their sources were?
— Victor Oladipo (@VicOladipo) May 22, 2025
Yoooooo he did the Reggie Miller but the reason it’s a 2 is because Spike Lee ain’t there
— Candace Parker (@Candace_Parker) May 22, 2025
Bandwagon Jumper at its finest ️Lets go pacers #nochillgilytpic.twitter.com/SBwLFchBW8
— Gilbert Arenas (@NoChillGilZero) May 22, 2025
Fernando Cruz has been a revelation for the Yankees’ bullpen during his first season with the team, but the right-hander has landed on the Injured List.
The 35-year-old was officially placed on the 15-day IL, retroactive to May 19, with right shoulder inflammation. Cruz told reporters on Thursday morning that he received a cortisone shot and that an MRI showed no structural damage.
When asked about a timeline for Cruz to return, manager Aaron Boone said the right-hander will “hopefully get on the mound in the next few days,” but the team will obviously need to see how he feels as he progresses.
Cruz, who previously spent three seasons with the Cincinnati Reds, has pitched to a 2.66 ERA over 21 appearances. Featuring a lethal splitter, Cruz has struck out 35 batters in 23.2 innings.
To take Cruz’s place on the 26-man roster, left-hander Brent Headrick has been called up from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
Under Johann van Graan’s philosophy the West Country giants believe they are on the cusp of a return to the top
Trophies. They are like bloody buses. Or at least that is what Bath fans must be hoping. They wait 17 years for one, and along come …
We are about to find out how many. One has just been. The Premiership Cup pulled up in March to fairly inconsequential fanfare. But it looks as if another, the Challenge Cup, is waiting just a stop away, before we turn our attention to a third, the Premiership, timetabled for the middle of June – but you know what these bloody buses are like.
Continue reading...Phils won't keep shifting Walker back and forth, intrigued by what they've seen in relief originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
DENVER — The regular season isn’t even two months old and the Phillies have already moved Taijuan Walker from the rotation to the bullpen back to the rotation with another shift to the bullpen looming.
The shuffling won’t continue for much longer, though. Once Aaron Nola (right ankle sprain) returns from the 15-day IL, Walker will shift to the bullpen for the duration of the season — as long as the Phillies don’t suffer any long-term injuries in the rotation.
“It’s difficult. I don’t think many guys like doing it because there’s some wear and tear there. The chance of injury goes up,” manager Rob Thomson said Wednesday of the multiple changes to Walker’s role within a short timeframe.
“I think at some point, we’ve got to decide that whenever Nola’s back, with Tai, even if we need a spot start, we come get somebody else. Just leave him right where he’s at. Keep him healthy. I’m kinda excited to see him come out of the bullpen just to see if the stuff plays up because the few times he’s come out, the one time in Tampa was unbelievable but even the second time, the first couple innings were really good. I’m excited about it.”
Walker has a 2.97 ERA in seven starts and has allowed two earned runs in six innings out of the bullpen. His first relief appearance against the Rays was spectacular — three scoreless innings with seven strikeouts for his first career save. A week later, he went three innings against the Cardinals.
In both relief outings, his fastball played up, averaging 93.7 mph compared to a season mark of 92.3.
“As a starter I’m more of a contact pitcher but I’m kinda learning new roles in the bullpen where I can let it eat and go for the strikeouts as a bullpen guy,” Walker said Wednesday night after allowing three runs over five innings to beat the Rockies.
Nola has not yet thrown off a mound since being placed on the injured list last Friday so his return is not imminent. The Phillies want to see him throw a bullpen session first and that could come this weekend in Sacramento. Nola will not need a rehab assignment if he misses only a couple of starts. It’s safe to assume Walker will have at least one more.
When Walker does shift back to the bullpen, it won’t be exclusively mop-up duty. He will be eased into the relief pecking order but could soon thereafter find himself in late-game, high-leverage situations if he performs. The loss of Jose Alvarado until late August and for all of October to a PED suspension creates more opportunities in the Phillies’ bullpen.
“I think (initially) he’d go to a one-inning stint, maybe two,” Thomson said of Walker. “I think I’d start him in a middle inning and then start working him toward the end of the game as long as he’s having success. It’s what we did with (Jeff Hoffman) when he first got here and we think it’s a pretty good plan.”
Walker, who is making $18 million per year on a contract that runs through the end of 2026, is thrilled to be contributing in multiple ways after a career-worst year. And it’s not just a feel-good story, the Phillies have needed all of his outs and innings with Ranger Suarez and Nola suffering early-season injuries.
“I feel confident, I think that’s the biggest thing is being confident in my stuff and knowing it’s playing well,” Walker said. “I can get outs in whatever role I do. The biggest thing for me is just keeping my confidence up.”
Slow down.
Previously limited to fastballs and splitters, Shohei Ohtani threw a handful of sliders and curveballs in his mid-week bullpen session, but that doesn’t mean he will be a two-way player again before the All-Star break.
Ohtani is lined up to potentially face hitters in a simulated game on Saturday in New York, but that doesn’t mean he will pitch in the upcoming four-week stretch that could determine the course of the Dodgers' season.
As encouraged as the team is with his progress and as desperate as the Dodgers are for one of their sidelined frontline starters to return, they will continue to slow play Ohtani’s return to the mound, according to a person familiar with the team’s thinking but not authorized to speak publicly.
The Dodgers could use Ohtani’s arm, but they absolutely need his bat, and they don’t plan on jeopardizing his offense by exposing him to any unnecessary risks on the mound.
Read more:Back in the lineup, Teoscar Hernández provides the offense as Dodgers beat Arizona
Which is a major gamble in itself.
Every one of their next 26 games will be against teams with winning records. Of them, 23 will be against teams that would have qualified for the playoffs if the regular season ended on Wednesday, the exception being the St. Louis Cardinals, who have won 13 of their last 17 games.
Starting on Friday at Citi Field with the opening game of a three-game series against the New York Mets, the stretch of games will include seven meetings with the San Diego Padres and three with the San Francisco Giants.
The Padres were 2 ½ games behind the Dodgers in the National League West entering Thursday. The Giants were just two back.
Considering the state of their pitching staff, the Dodgers could very easily emerge from this stretch of games in second, third, or maybe even fourth place in their division.
Tyler Glasnow and Blake Snell will be sidelined for another month, leaving Yoshinobu Yamamoto as the team’s only reliable starter.
Roki Sasaki is targeting a return in late June from what the team described as a shoulder impingement, but the rookie never looked entirely comfortable before he went down, so who knows what he will offer them when he comes back.
“Not sure I’ve ever seen their pitching so decimated,” an executive from a rival team said.
The loss of frontline starters is nothing new for the Dodgers, whose injury problems last year practically forced them to acquire Jack Flaherty at the trade deadline. What’s new is their lack of depth.
The returns of Tony Gonsolin and Clayton Kershaw have mitigated the problem but only so much. Along with the inconsistent Dustin May and the consistently mediocre Landon Knack, Gonsolin and Kershaw represent the rotation’s final line of defense.
In previous seasons, the Dodgers always seemed to have 10 pitchers in their organization who could beat a mid- or low-level opponent on any given day. However, the inability to keep their young pitchers healthy has cost them much of that depth. Emmet Sheehan, River Ryan and Gavin Stone underwent major surgeries last year. Michael Grove had a shoulder operation this year. Injuries have turned Bobby Miller into a pedestrian minor leaguer, but if another starter is injured, the Dodgers could be forced to call him up again.
Read more:Yoshinobu Yamamoto starts it, Dodgers finish it with walk-off win over Arizona
Dave Roberts expertly managed a depleted rotation and exhausted bullpen in the playoffs last year, and he’ll have to do it again less than two months into the regular season. He could have to punt on certain games. When his team is behind, he could have to ask his starter to pitch an extra inning or two so that he could save his high-leverage relievers for games in which they are ahead.
This isn’t to say Ohtani’s pitching comeback should be expedited. Whomever they have pitching, the Dodgers will have to score runs to win another World Series, and that starts with Othani. Before they unleash Ohtani the pitcher, they have to protect Ohtani the hitter.
Because of that, they have gambled on May pitching more games like the one he pitched on Wednesday night in a 3-1 victory over Diamondbacks. They have gambled on Kershaw figuring out how to pitch as a 37-year-old returning from multiple operations. And they have gambled on Roberts managing an injury-ravaged pitching staff.
The wagers will decide what kind of season this will be, whether this is a year in which the Dodgers will run away with the NL West or one in which they will have to fight until the final days of the regular season to determine which team is granted a first-round bye in the playoffs.
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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
