John_Havok

Varsho should steal easily off Kimbrel

Jose Bautista being elevated to the Level of Excellence on August 12 this season.

Gausman just confirmed the HR jacket will be signed, authenticated and auctioned off with proceeds going to charity

Well, you think you adapt well, but you really don't overall. Begrudgingly accepting that change is taking place is not the same as realizing that the change is necessary and successfully adapting to it. It's not really your fault though, it's physiology and all about the brains neural pathways. The older you are, the more "set" those pathways are and fewer new connections are capable of being made so in general, old people do NOT adapt well to change because their brain literally cannot handle it the same way it could when the brain was younger and capable of forming new connections. This is why keeping your brain young and more "flexible" is very important. By the way, the above is a very simplistic explanation and it's far more detailed and complicated, and there are, of course, exceptions in small percentages of the population like most things.

Plan Z in case of a bus crash.

Trent Thornton in to pitch for the Jays. Lipcius Flies out to Left Center Sands Flyout to Lukes Solo HR for Zach Short, then a groundout. 18-2 Blue Jays after 5

Vest, the pitcher who started the massive inning, is one of their regular pen arms. My guess is that Turnbull, Wisler and Vest were supposed to get through 5 innings combined then see the kids like Brieske, De Jesus, Higginbotham to go 1 inning each in the last half. Vest and HIgginbotham kinda screwed that up by being awful and not getting a single out between them.

Maybe, maybe not. So far, my brain is still flexible enough to understand that change is inevitable and "....because that's not how it used to be done" is not really a valid defense of... anything.

holy s*** Pat Borders has 9 kids.

Lineup changes, Kiermaier is out, Dasan Brown had taken over CF. Biggio reaches on an IF hit, up the middle with a diving stop, but the throw slightly pulls the 1b off the bag. Cook takes over as a pinch runner, Biggio done for the day. Barger reaches on FC with Cook out at 2nd. Talley takes over as a pinch runner for Barger. Lopez singles on a soft fly ball to right, missplayed by the RF as he broke back inititally, then couldnt get in fast enough to make the catch - should have been a routine fly out. Pinch runner for Lopez. Lukes flies out to RF, Talley tags and moves to 3rd. Capra with a 3 run BOMB - Capra having himself a day. 17-1 with his 7th RBI Bernard reaches on the 3rd Detroit error of the say. Sosa walks, Bernard to 2nd. Pinch runner John Aiello (who?) takes over for Sosa at 1st. Dasan Brown with an RBI single. Bernard scores. Aiello to 3rd. Brown also named to Team Canada for the WBC. Not sure if that was new or not. 18-1 Pitching change. Jamie Ritchie pinch hits for Danny Jansen, grounds out on a 102 mph hot shot to SS to end the top of the 5th.

Julien Fernandez in to pitch for the Jays, working FAST getting Cabrera swinging, followed by a swinging K against Meadows and a groundout. Just what you want to see, a 3 minute half inning from your pitcher after your bats have been hitting for the previous 30.

Im utterly shocked that an old ball player is not a fan of change. This is very surprising to me. Old people are generally the first to accept change.

Barger with a solid lead off single up the middle at 105MPH. Lopez walks on 4 pitches. Lukes hits one oppo and shallow the LF can't come up with off the tip of his glove, bases loaded. Runners had to hold up to make sure it wasnt caught. Capra follows with a rocket ground rule double to left to score 2. Lukes then scores on a wild pitch to Bernard. Capra to 3rd. Bernard sneaks a single through, Capra scores. 4 runs in and still nobody out. Bernard steals 2nd, catcher airmails the throw into CF, Bernard to 3rd. Sosa walks. Pitching change, Runners 1st and 3rd still with none out and top of the order coming up. Kiermaier walks, Jansen with a 2 run single, Biggio singles to drive in 2, Barger singles on a poorly played pop up to 3rd, Jansen scores, Lopez reaches on a fielders choice but they dont get an out so the bases are loaded again, Lukes walks with bases loaded to score the Jays 9th run of the inning without recording an out. Pitching change. Capra reaches on an error, Barger scores. Bernard with a sac fly to CF, Lopez scores. 12-1 and how there's finally 1 out. Lukes to 3rd. Shallow fly out by Sosa, Lukes stays at 3rd. Capra still at 1st. Kiermaier with a 2 run triple, now 14-1. Jansen grounds out to mercifully end the top of the 4th. Jays push across 13 runs in what can partially be described as a defensive s*** show for Detroit.

Garcia 3 up and 3 down, lazy fly, pop up and routine groundout.

Borders says speeding up the game is a good thing, but shouldnt be done by a pitch clock and mandating how quick a batter has to be in the box. Back in his day, the pitcher would just hit the batter if he took too long to get in the box and that would solve the problem. LOL

Huthison done, Yimi in. Yimi bringing the gas early at 97 and 98 mph

Biggio looking like he's close... couple hard flyouts today so far, just getting under them a bit too much. 91 mph(LA 34) and 95mph (LA 40)

2nd Inning - Hutchison predictably gives up loud contact and the Tigers get one across after a leadoff double, groundout, single, then gets a pop out and a slow roller up the 3B line that Barger charged and converted perfectly for the out. Barger looking good on the radio at D over at 3b

Not much to report in the 1st inning, second inning Lopez with a nice oppo single, Lukes followed up with a rocket double off the base of the wall in RF(104.3mph) to move Lopez to 3rd, Capra then robbed by Meadows in CF on a sinking liner (100mph with xba .720), but got the run in after Lopez tagged up. 1-0 Jays heading to the bottom of the second.

WIndy again today, but straight out instead of in.

Pat Borders doing colour commentary today.

Per the radio broadcast, MRI showed 0 structural damage, just some minor inflammation for Vlad's knee. Not a big deal, give him a few days off and he'll be fine MRI wasn't planned when the game was over, but they decided to do it later in the evening after talking to trainers out of an abundance of caution. They didn't say so specifically, but sounded like if this was even the regular season he'd still be playing.

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/fast-rising-blue-jays-prospect-ricky-tiedemann-talks-pitching/ Ricky Tiedemann is one of the fastest-rising pitching prospects in the game. Drafted 91st overall by the Toronto Blue Jays in 2021 out of a Huntington Beach junior college, the 20-year-old southpaw not only finished last season in Double-A, he dominated at all three levels where he saw action. Over 78-and-two-thirds innings, Tiedemann logged a 2.15 ERA while fanning 117 batters and allowing just 39 hits. No. 24 on our recently released Top 100, he possesses, in the words of Tess Taruskin, “three potential plus pitches and front-end upside.” Tiedemann discussed his M.O. on the mound and his power arsenal prior to Thursday’s spring training game in Dunedin. David Laurila: How would you describe yourself as a pitcher? Give me a self-scouting report. Ricky Tiedemann: “I like to use the fastball a lot — I work off of that — especially now that I’m throwing a little bit harder. Throwing a lot of strikes is my big thing, just keeping it in the zone, along with my slider and changeup. I also try not to keep a rhythm that guys can catch on to; I try to mix it up and work backwards sometimes, starting with a slider and then going fastball in. But I do work with my fastball more than my other pitches.” Laurila: A question I like to ask pitchers is whether they view their craft as more of an art or more of a science. How do you see it? Tiedemann: “Probably more of an art. Different guys are looking for certain things, so you’ve got to attack certain batters in different ways. I look at that as an art form, and something you’ve got to be good at.” Laurila: With all of the technology and data available in today’s game, there is obviously a scientific component to pitching. Do you delve into that very much? Tiedemann: “I don’t look into the numbers too much. I let the Blue Jays staff and coaches look at all that for me. They’ll let me know certain things they think I could do better with certain pitches, and I kind of go from there. I mostly just try to go out and attack the hitters.” Laurila: What are some of the things they feel you could do better, pitch-wise? Is it sequencing, which zones your pitches play best in… Tiedemann: “Yeah, just off certain batters, and how my pitches are moving. Sometimes they want my slider to be doing something it’s not doing at that moment. That’s something I constantly work on, whether it’s them wanting me to change something or to keep it the same. There is the tunneling of my pitches — getting better at doing that — as well. There are all sorts of things that they want to improve on, and that’s what you want. You always want to improve, not just stay the same.” Laurila: Can you elaborate on “want my slider to be doing something it’s not doing?” Tiedemann: “Sometimes I’ll get into the habit of releasing it too early and it will back up; it will kind of pop out early, rather than coming through the zone and finishing in the lower right half of the strike zone.” Laurila: I’ve read that you occasionally have trouble commanding your slider because it moves too much. Is that accurate? Tiedemann: “That’s something I’ve been working on as well. We’re going to see how it goes during the season, and I think just throwing it more and more is going to allow me to locate it better. But yeah, sometimes I can lose it, just like you sometimes can with any pitch. You’ve just got to find it.” Laurila: I assume a lot of it would be where you start the pitch… Tiedemann: “Exactly. Where I’m looking to start my pitch… sometimes I do better throwing sliders against lefties, because I have a cue to go off of, like throwing it at their hip and having to come through the zone. Against righties, I don’t have that target. I’m trying to throw it in the lefty batter’s box and have it go in the zone.” Laurila: What is the movement profile of your slider? Tiedemann: “It kind of changes. Sometimes it doesn’t break as much — it’s a little inconsistent — but that probably helps sometimes because the batter doesn’t know what it’s going to do. But for the most part, it’s more horizontal. It’s more of a sweeper than a slider with depth.” Laurila: Has that always been the case, or is it something you’ve developed? Tiedemann: “I’ve always had a little bit of a sweep because of my arm angle. And my arm slot is a little bit lower, so everything kind of sweeps to the right with my breaking ball, and moves left with my changeup and fastball. Most of my life I’ve had a three-quarters slot.” Laurila: You mentioned throwing harder. Is that from growing into your proverbial man strength, a weighted ball program, something else? Tiedemann: “There’s a lot that goes into it, especially with the Blue Jays. As soon as I got here, I started taking everything more seriously when it comes to lifting in the gym, eating, stretching… everything. I could see the changes right away, and I’m looking to keep improving there as well.” Laurila: You said that your fastball moves arm-side… Tiedemann: “Yes. I have a little bit of tail on it, just naturally, from my arm angle. When I go outside of the zone on a righty, it will tail a lot more, and if I go inside on a righty, it will ride a little more. I have a four-seam that is usually going to move a bit.” Laurila: How do you grip your changeup? Tiedemann: “It’s just a circle change. I hold it with a two-seam grip. I put my fingers on the outside of the seams and kind of flick it from there. I’ve thrown it since I was seven or eight years old. I learned it from one of my travel ball coaches and have stuck with it ever since. I’ve kind of gotten comfortable with it and the way it moves.” Laurila: One last thing: When you think back to the day you signed, are you essentially the same pitcher you expected to be? I don’t mean your results or how quickly you’re progressing, but rather how you go about attacking hitters and getting outs. Tiedemann: “I’m definitely different than what I thought I’d be. At the time, I was a little bit more of a finesse guy. I didn’t throw as hard as I do now and kind of was looking to be a little more of a pitchability guy. But now that I throw harder, I can rely on the fastball a little bit more and get away with more. I can power through a little more.” Laurila: Do you identify as a power pitcher now? Tiedemann: “I think so. I can definitely power through some guys, but I can still pitch really well, too. I can locate my pitches and be a pitcher.”

It's hard to say. I think it says something about a guy when the only position they've been pigeonholed at so early in their career is 1b/DH. his 3B experiment ended in 2018 in his first year of pro ball, thogh weirdly enough when he was signed as an IFA, he was listed as a shortstop. It also says a little bit when every scouting report i can find on the guy only talks about his bat, and doesnt even spend 1 sentence talking about defense. The only thing that even touches on that is that he is already slow and doesnt get to his top speed very fast either.