Mining the News (8/25/23)

Athletics

• Kyle Muller made some adjustments while in the minors.

Recalled on Wednesday for what is now his third stint with the A’s this season, Muller returned having worked on a few adjustments in the Minors.

“Getting my delivery in a consistent point,” Muller said after his outing on Friday. “Staying on line. I’ve been working on the changeup a good bit. I threw a couple today that were so-so. I relied more on fastballs and curveballs. But everything is feeling good. I’m just trying to get consistent. Get my best stuff and, hopefully, ride that out for the rest of the season.”

Muller’s fastball velocity was also notable as it maxed out at 97.1 mph on Friday, which is well above his season average of 92.9 mph.

Muller’s #1 issue is his inability to throw strikes (career 4.8 BB/9, 4.6 BB/9 in 2023) and he has barely shown any improvement with a 3.7 BB/9 (41% Ball%, 4.7 equivalent BB/9) since his August promotion.

Orioles

• Tyler Wells, John Means, and DL Hall will all return as relievers.

Wells has been transferred to Triple-A Norfolk, where he’s scheduled to pitch in relief on Wednesday night. The new goal? Bring the righty back to Baltimore to boost the bullpen.

“We’re going to shorten his outings a little bit,” manager Brandon Hyde said. “Have him throw less pitches and less innings and see how that goes, but we’re really encouraged. By giving him some rest, giving him some time off, he’s thrown the ball much better here as of late.”

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And John Means, who has made three rehab starts amid his recovery from Tommy John surgery and could return by early September — possibly as a reliever rather than a starter.

And maybe DL Hall, the club’s No. 10 prospect per MLB Pipeline who is thriving in a relief role at Triple-A this month (a 2.70 ERA and 15 strikeouts in 6 2/3 innings) and was a valuable addition to the Orioles’ bullpen last September.

Twins

• The team is considering going with a six-man rotation.

One of the primary reasons the Twins are entertaining the idea is protecting several of their pitchers, including Bailey Ober, who received a no-decision after pitching an effective five innings in Tuesday’s contest.

With Ober having completed a career-high 136 1/3 innings (including 17 2/3 innings at Triple A) and Kenta Maeda coming off Tommy John surgery, the Twins could use the six-man rotation to reduce their pitchers’ workloads. Another possibility would be to have Keuchel piggyback Ober, a plan the Twins tried with mixed results early in the 2019 season with Michael Pineda and Martín Pérez.

• Jose Miranda played with a shoulder issue all season.

It’s the same shoulder injury that prevented him from participating in the World Baseball Classic for Team Puerto Rico during Spring Training. And though he made the Opening Day roster and played, he noted that the shoulder bothered him far more than he let on — and although it bothered him primarily while throwing, it’s worth wondering if it affected his hitting more than he thinks, too.

“There was a point during the season that I was going through a lot of pain,” Miranda said. “I was playing through a lot of pain, but I just wanted to keep playing. I was grinding. I don’t know if it was the right thing, but you learn with everything that happens in your life. There were some points where I thought maybe surgery or something could have happened.”

• Ryan Jeffers retooled his swing his offseason.

Disappointed by his own performance, Jeffers spent this offseason retooling his swing mechanics with the help of hitting coach David Popkins. Their goal was to, as Jeffers puts it, “get the slack out of my swing” and eliminate unnecessary movements that slowed his timing and bat path, making him more fluid at the plate and quicker to the ball.

“We have really found something mechanically that works for me,” Jeffers said. “Mechanically, everything is different. You can visually see it when I’m up there. I feel confident with my mechanics, and that leads me to be able to really stick to a good approach. I’m not worried about my mechanics at all, so I can really lock into what I want to do every at-bat and how I want to attack a guy.”

After a lot of tweaks and experimentation, they changed Jeffers’ pre-swing setup, incorporating a “bat tip” timing mechanism to get him moving smoothly. They also toned down his mid-swing leg stride, adding toe-tap and no-stride versions depending on the situation and pitcher. Jeffers’ swing looks noticeably different, before and during, and the results are even harder to miss.

Braves

• The team believes they can “fix” Yonny Chirinos

The Braves think that with good health this offseason and a spring working with their coaches and analytics people, he could return to something closer to his form of 2019-2020, when Chirinos had a 3.73 ERA in 29 games (21 starts) with 124 strikeouts and 32 walks in 144 2/3 innings, before Tommy John surgery and a fractured elbow. He’ll only turn 30 on Dec. 26.

Cardinals

• Dylan Carlson is considering offseason ankle surgery.

Maybe no hard-luck player on the Cardinals roster typifies the kind of frustration-filled, sour season the team has been through than 24-year-old outfielder Dylan Carlson, who sat on the Cardinals’ bench on Saturday nursing not one but two injuries.

To further add to Carlson’s frustration is this nugget of news: He told MLB.com that he might need season-ending ankle surgery in the coming weeks and his next game action could be as far off as Spring Training in 2024.

• Nolan Arenado was dealing with “dead arm” for the season’s first half.

So, what happened? According to Arenado, he experienced “dead arm” in the first half of the season for the first time in his career. The good news for Arenado (and St. Louis)? An extensive strengthening program put in place by the Cardinals’ training staff seems to have helped turn things around.

“I feel like it was the first time I’ve ever had dead arm,” the 32-year-old explained this week. “I don’t know what it was. … (In) the first half, I would do those plays where I throw off my back foot, and (the runner) would beat it out. Last year I would get ‘em out. This year, I’m not. There are little things, those adjustments I’ve had to make, but I feel like in the second half I’ve shown I’m back to being who I am.”

Cubs

• Kyle Hendricks wants to improve his curveball.

Hendricks identified holding runners on base and his curveball as two imperfections he’d like to work on to get his game back to its best level.

“If I can bring all that together, my heater command and my changeup are the best they’ve been in a while,” Hendricks said. “So that’s really what I’m relying on.”

Dodgers

• Tony Gonsolin might need offseason elbow surgery.

The Los Angeles Dodgers, citing right forearm inflammation, finally did what has been discussed often in recent weeks and placed the 29-year-old on the injured list. Gonsolin is “unlikely” to pitch again this season, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said Saturday. He very well could require surgery, depending on the results of further testing this week.

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“I mean, was (Gonsolin’s elbow) pain-free? Probably not,” Roberts said. “But I know as an organization, we were very clear in saying and knowing that you’re not going to hurt yourself worse, and we’re not going to try to do that to the player. So we were all aligned and felt good about that. So I do commend him (for trying to pitch).”

Mets

• Brandon Nimmo is trading away batting average for power.

“Whether it’s on the ground or in the air, put it in play and see what happens,” he said to describe his old outlook. “This is more being a little bit more selective and look to drive the ball rather than just putting it in play.”

“Those situations where you’re trying to cover the whole zone and put something in play — it doesn’t always help,” hitting coach Jeremy Barnes said. “Instead of just trying to go for a knock, you may take that borderline pitch to get to the next pitch.”

In essence, sacrificing some average for some slug?

“Yes,” Nimmo said, “there probably is a tradeoff between power and average.”

Pirates

• Oneil Cruz’s rehab has plateaued…

Oneil Cruz’s rehab has “plateaued,” per director of sports medicine Todd Tomczyk. Cruz has stopped his running progression due to left foot general soreness.

Regarding if Cruz can still play this year, Tomczyk said, “It’s tough to tell right now, but we are running out of days.”

— Justice delos Santos (@justdelossantos) August 23, 2023

…as he is still dealing with discomfort.

Oneil Cruz hasn't been running in 7-10 days. Has been experiencing some pain/discomfort. Would need a sizable rehab assignment. It's almost September.

Yeah, shut it down. He's way too important.

— Jason Mackey (@JMackeyPG) August 23, 2023

• Mitch Keller’s cutter velocity is ticking back up.

Keller attributed his success with the cutter to an uptick in the pitch’s velocity. His cutter clocked in at 90.2 mph against the Twins. While that velocity is right in line with his season average of 90.0 mph, Keller’s cutter velocity noticeably dropped midway through the season before creeping back up in recent outings.

In March, April and May, Keller had an average cutter velocity of 90.6 mph. Keller’s cutter velocity fell to 89.3 mph in June, then to 89.0 mph in July. The cutter’s drop in velocity coincided with the pitch’s reduced effectiveness.

Rockies

• Elehuris Montero is trying to clean up his swing.

Hitting coach Hensley Meulens needed to counteract Montero’s tendency to attempt to make contact with breaking pitches too far in front of the plate. Meulens rolled through data from Montero’s stride from his naturally open stance to the angle of his shoulders and everything in between. But he knows that addressing every single flaw (and most appear minor) merely leads to confusion.

“We’re trying to tell him to keep his hat to the point of contact, so he’s not pulling his head,” Meulens said. “For me, we’re asking that through the swing, the chin starts at the front shoulder and ends at the back shoulder.”