MLB Daily: Carlos Correa Continues to Mash; Giancarlo Stanton Hits 479-Foot Homer
By Mike Cardillo
Welcome to MLB Daily on a Wednesday, the first day of the rest of your life …
Draft King: This is probably where once again I show my age (34) — which might as well be 84 in Internet age what with all the kids and their dang Mike Francesa-approved emojis and Snaps. Right around the time I started seriously paying attention to sports and watching ESPN all the time the name Todd Van Poppel was bandied about as if he were the second coming of Walter Johnson. Bear in mind this was pre-Internet, pre-ESPN2, ESPNEWS, SEC Network, Longhorn Network, etc. There was only ESPN and SportsCenter ran only a few times a day, yet for a period circa 1990 Van Poppel’s name felt like all ESPN could talk about, if only through my selective memory of something that happened on television 25 years ago.
If the name is unfamiliar to you here’s a quick refresher: the Athletics drafted Van Poppel out of high school with the No. 14 pick of the draft — the same year the Yankees took Brien Taylor No. 1 overall, arguably the worst pick in baseball draft history. The A’s were still a would-be dynasty at that point with the Bash Brothers, Tony La Russa, Dave Stewart, Dennis Eckersley, etc. Van Poppel garnered loads of breathless scouting reports but never panned out to be anything other than a journeyman player until retiring in 2004.
Maybe that’s why I’ve always been leery about hype and prospects, taking a wait-and-see approach. 2015 is throwing my long-held view in the toilet. Kris Bryant, Joey Gallo, Byron Buxton, etc. are all making the leap to the Majors without a second thought. However the pick of the bunch is 2012 No. 1 overall pick Carlos Correa, who homered again last night.
In 15 games the 20-year-old Correa is posting a slash line of .308/.338/.569 with four homers, five doubles and four steals for the first-place Astros. Theoretically the first-overall pick in the draft should be good, but like I said under the Van Poppel/Tony Mandarich idea my brain is inherently doubting when it comes to hype vs. reality. Small sample size, yes, but Correa and the rest of the 2015 rookie class is making me reevaluate everything, if not life itself.
And one other quick, Houston note. Luis Valbuena is Mr. Baseball 2015. He’s batting .195 but 19 of his 41 hits are home runs.
Back up the truck: Dave Cameron at FanGraphs wrote a good piece yesterday that it’s already time to “blow up” the White Sox. The premise is basically Chris Sale and Jose Abreu are awesome and Jose Quintana is really good but the rest of the team stinks. Cameron calls the trading deadline an “extreme seller’s market” meaning Chicago could get a lot for pending free agent Jeff Samardzija. Cameron also floats some wild ideas like Sale to the Dodgers for Corey Seager and Julio Urias along with some packages that would get Melky Cabrera’s $14 million salary off the books at U.S. Cellular.
Anything the White Sox can get for Samardzija, they ought to do since his name value is probably worth more than his on-field value. Sure it’s only 15 starts but are teams clamoring for a guy with a 4.53 ERA? At least Shark has a cool nickname and good hair, I guess.
High, far, gone: Giancarlo Stanton hit his 26th homer of the season. This one went 479 feet off Carlos Martinez.
This is Marlins baseball for the foreseeable future: one dude crushing mammoth home runs and not much else … at least until Jose Fernandez comes back next month. But hey, if you team is 12 games under .500 at least you get to watch somebody mash dingers on a consistent basis.
Ace: Tampa is nine games over .500 and leads the AL East by two games — the Yankees lost to the Phillies again. This amazes me since Logan Forsythe is their third-best player by WAR at 2.5. The Rays do have the American League’s best starting pitcher, Chris Archer — a guy who was traded in packages for Mark DeRosa (Cleveland) and Matt Garza (Chicago Cubs).
Last night vs. the Jays Archer went eight innings and only allowed three hits, lowering his ERA to 2.10. He’s only making $1.2 million this year, making him among the best bargains in the sport. The Rays have him under team control through 2020, too.
Archer is my pick to start for the AL in the All-Star game next month, edging both Sonny Gray and Sale. Sorry Dallas Keuchel, but sinkerballers with great peripherals don’t make the cut for me. Sorry.
This & That: The Tigers are in decline but at least they continue to own the Indians in Cleveland, something that makes your humble author exceedingly happy. … The Cubs beat the Dodgers 1-0 via a Chris Denorfia sac-fly in the 10th. Exciting. Zach Greinke didn’t factor in the decision but lowered his ERA to 1.93 with a 0.93 WHIP. … Mike Montgomery (who?) threw a shutout for the Mariners against the Royals, striking out 10 in the process. … Forgotten man Stephen Strasburg came off the DL and held the Braves scoreless for five innings in Atanta.