True or false? George Springer could go from a star to a superstar

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George Springer had a very good Mother's Day as the Houston Astros defeated the Texas Rangers 15-5:

First run: return to center left.

Second round: single line player on the left.

Fourth inning: single line in the left field.

Fifth inning: Single ground ball in the right field.

Sixth inning: return to center left.

Unfortunately, Springer was on deck for the eighth round final, so he missed the opportunity to score six goals for six for the second time in his career. Joe Morgan is the only other player in Astros history to score 6-to-6 and, according to the baseball benchmark, the only players to have played two 6-on-6 games since 1908 are Doc Cramer and Jim Bottomley .

Springer's second run totaled 106.4 mph and landed on the track to complete an afternoon at batting, 5 innings, 5 strokes and 4 RBIs and to give him the lead of the American League with 15 rounds:

Springer has been on an absolute rip – .486 with six homers and 13 RBIs in his last nine games – and currently beats .321 / .400 / .660 overall, placing him in the early race for the best player in the America League this season. Springer is a two-time All-Star and has had a 5.1-WAR season in 2016. We saw him tearing up the Dodgers at the 2017 World Series when he conceded five home runs (he had a .638 slugging percentage in 32 playoff games). , but there is the possibility that Springer does not have enough had this pinnacle season.

He played in the top five of the best players par excellence, especially in the first half of 2017 when he hit .310 with 27 races in 83 games, but he's injured in a quad in the second half and he's in. is content with 34 circuits in 140 games. Springer spent a good part of the year 2018 – back, thumb, shoulder – and again played 140 games while beating .265 with 22 home runs.

He is now in good health and records career highs in various Statcast categories: exit speed (91.8, up 3.2 mph since 2018), launch angle (11.0 degrees, up 9, 5 in 2018 and 9.4 in 2017) and a dropout rate (56.5% compared to 37.2 last year and 42.6 in 2017). All these figures point to his best season now, if he can stay focused and healthy for more than 150 games.

Alex Bregman also had two circuits to help the Astros complete the four-part sweep. (Houston has set double-digit records in five of his last 11 games.) He also told us this amusing fact: It was only the fourth time that the # 1 and # 2 hitters on a team hit multiple homeruns. the House. The first three:

August 25, 1891: Jimmy Ryan and Walt Wilmot for the Chicago Colts (current Cubs franchise) at home against Brooklyn

August 22, 2010: Omar Infante and Jason Heyward for the Braves at Wrigley Field

September 26, 2017: Teoscar Hernandez and Josh Donaldson for the Blue Jays at Fenway Park

Astros show pitch depth: Corbin Martin made his major league debut in this game for the Astros and allowed two runs and three hits in five innings and recorded nine strikeouts. Martin was Keith Law's # 48 prospect at the start of the season, a Texas A & M product and a second-round pick in 2017 that quickly progressed with a fastball that hit 98 mph against the Rangers and an average of 95.7.

Justin Verlander, Gerrit Cole and Wade Miley were excellent at the top of the rotation in Houston, but A.J. Hinch was looking for consistent production at the end of the rotation. Martin replaced Collin McHugh in the rotation after McHugh gave 25 points and 8 homers in 18 innings.

Martin grew up in Hempstead, an hour from Houston, and was a fan of Astros as a child. He has even started at Minute Maid Field. On Sunday, with his mother and grandmother in the stands, with his family and friends, he won his first league victory.

Ryu continues to roll: Hyun-Jin Ryu, left-handed Dodger, lost his bid unsuccessfully with a win in the eighth inning when Gerardo Parra doubled in the center-left. He should in fact have lost the bid for the sixth inning when Stephen Strasburg lined an apparent base shot in the right field only for that to happen:

Ryu has been content with eight scoreless innings, following a four-game shutout against the Braves at his previous start:

Ryu has allowed a point in 25 innings in his last three starts, bringing his ERA total to 1.72, and has a pass ratio of the season to 54 versus 3. Alden Gonzalez of ESPN is coming to write about Ryu, a story in which sensor Russell Martin compared him to Greg Maddux, a Hall of Fame member, whose location was determined this year. Indeed, his white game against the Braves required only 93 shots, a white game less than 100 called "Maddux".

As Alden wrote …

The success of Ryu is the result of the skillful sequencing of five terrains (fastball, cutter, sinker, curveball, changeup) and their launch in the four quadrants of the strike zone, a quality receiver of the Dodgers, Austin Barnes, considers it like "pretty unique". Ryu creates disappointment with his delivery, his precise control and his near unpredictability in the selection of his tone.

Dodger coach Robert Van Scoyoc spent the 2018 season as a quarterback with Arizona Diamondbacks, his divisional rival, and found it almost impossible to develop game plans for Ryu.

"There is no consistent trend," Van Scoyoc said. "He knows how to pitch, he knows how to change gears, and I think he reads the batters very well, and even if he has a plan, he'll go away." just not consistent in the way he attacks every guy. "

Of course, Ryu had a long list of injuries during his six seasons with the Dodgers. He missed all the year 2015, only participated in one match in 2016 and only made 15 starts last season because of an injury to him. # 39; s groin. After winning a career-high 116 games in the 6-0 win against the Nationals, the Dodgers may want to give him an extra day off before his next start. No team is as cautious with his starting pitchers as the Dodgers.

The Yankees and the Red Sox are approaching the rays: The Rays had a great start at 24-15, they allowed at least points in the major leagues, the Yankees beat bazillions and the Red Sox took a bad start and … for now. AL East now looks like this after Masahiro Tanaka defeated Blake Snell and the Red Sox defeated the Mariners for the third consecutive game:

Rays: —
Yankees: ½ return match
Red Sox: 3 return games

Tanaka has only thrown 73 throws in seven innings, allowing five hits and one point with seven kills.

Compare that to Snell, who was more dominant with 12 strikeouts in 5, but had 96 shots and a relatively early outing (the Yankees scored five points against the Tampa marker). Even though the Rays have been good, we know that this division will probably be fighting head-on against big and bad rivals, and they are now 1-5 at home against both clubs.

Since the start of their 6-13, the Red Sox are 16-6, including 11-2 in 13 games. They scored 34 points in the series against Seattle. In those first 19 games, the Red Sox were outclassed by 42 points. In the next 22, they outclassed their opponents by 69 points. It seems that the hangover of the World Series is over.

Bumgarner trade things: The Giants defeated the Reds 6-5 with two points in the eighth inning, while Madison Bumgarner earned a point of no decision with four points allowed (two earned) in six innings. After the match, he gave way to Yasiel Puig and reacted in a classic way after the match: "It's a quick study, it only took him seven years to learn how to reach that level."

2 related

On Saturday, Ken Rosenthal tweeted that Bumgarner had submitted a list of eight teams to which he could block a deal: Braves, Red Sox, Cubs, Astros, Brewers, Yankees, Phillies and Cardinals.

As Rosenthal pointed out, this is a list of teams most likely to be interested in Bumgarner. So it's a strategic ploy on the part of Bumgarner to get leverage if the Giants seek to give it up. This could include blocking an exchange against a team for which he does not want to play in favor of the one he prefers. Note that an exchange is not necessarily a bad thing for Bumgarner, because the players exchanged during the season are not eligible to receive a free agency qualifying offer (which could affect the value of a player in free agency, as may be the case with Dallas Keuchel and Craig Kimbrel).

Strategic shot of the day: The Pirates carry 13 launchers on their active roster and, as I have already written, carrying only four bench players in the National League inevitably leaves the hands of the related manager. Most managers refuse to use their rescue salvor (even if the chances of an injury requiring the use of a non-salvager behind the plate are extremely slim), which means that you really play with three of the players. bench, unless circumstances ultimately require the use of the backup catcher, usually only in the extra sleeves to pinch hit.

The Cardinals led the Pirates 6-3 in the sixth inning with the Pirates batting, one out, no one at the base and the pitcher up. A fairly indebted situation, but in which you would certainly want to send a player in starting position to be able to start a rally. Instead, with a limited bench, Clint Hurdle sent pitcher Joe Musgrove to hit. He failed and the Pirates fell 1-2-3.

Pittsburgh still rallied to win the game, scoring five points in the seventh and two in the eighth. In seventh place, after Josh Bell tied the match with a three-run homer, Melky Cabrera then hit for the Cole Tucker short stop and scored two outs. Adam Frazier then hit for the thrower and doubled in two runs:

So, by not using one of his hitters in the sixth, Hurdle still had two in the seventh. I still do not know if it was the right decision, but it worked that day.

By the way, Bell continues to harvest 4-in-5 with five points produced and now reaches .319 / .389 / .659. The numbers are legitimate with more online orders, a lower ground ball rate and an increased average exit speed – from 90.0 mph last year to 94.6 km / h, which places it fifth place in the majors.

I do not know exactly what to do with Pirates; they are now tied with the Cardinals in the standings, but the Cardinals have a 55-point differential advantage. That's one of the reasons why FanGraphs predicts the Cardinals will have a 40% chance to play in the playoffs and the Pirates, 11%. The Pirates even have a series of eight consecutive defeats in their 22-19 record. Of course, the Cardinals won the first game of this four-game series 17-4 … but the Pirates won the next three, including a 2-1 win on Friday and Saturday.

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