Innholdsfortegnelse for December 2022 i Baseball America

Baseball free agency is a time unlike any other. The stove is hot, and agents everywhere are trying to get the best deals for their clients. One agent notoriously uses puns for each of his clients, creating funny headlines and a buzz on social media. But that’s the thing about a shtick. Once someone claims it, you have to find your own. CAA Baseball represents around 180 clients, ranging from young draft hopefuls to MLB superstars. Their team is made up of 30 agents, five of whom are women. “When I started in the agency world, I was often the only woman in the room,” Jennifer Brasile said. “That has changed dramatically over the last several years, and it’s been really gratifying to see that. It’s wonderful to now be…

When the Baseball America editorial staff meets to discuss our annual awards, we spend the most time talking through Organization of the Year candidates. Our discussion centers around how various organizations stack up in three criteria: MLB success, sustainability and stability. After all, this is an organizational honor, not merely shorthand for the major league team that had the best season. The 2022 Astros clearly meet the first two standards, the ones pertaining to MLB success and sustainability. As to the former: ▪ Houston won the World Series in six games, capping a dominant 11-2 postseason run. It was the Astros’ second World Series championship in the past six seasons. ▪ The Astros advanced to an American League-record sixth straight Championship Series in 2022. ▪ Houston won 106 games this…

Ever since joining the Mariners organization in 2016, Pete Woodworth has shown a knack for effectively communicating with his pitchers. He demonstrated it during his ascent as a pitching coach in Seattle’s farm system, from Low-A Clinton to High-A Modesto to Double-A Arkansas. And over the past three seasons, his communication skills have made the 34-year-old a perfect fit as the Mariners’ big league pitching coach. “He’s an elite coach,” Mariners farm director and major league coach Andy McKay said. “His ability to connect with players and communicate in ways that allow them to improve quickly is uncanny. “Pete has done an amazing job of taking advantage of every resource available within our organization, and then funneling that all down into simple, digestible information that players can absorb and take…

When people around the Myrtle Beach Pelicans say Kristin Call is a hands-on general manager, here’s what they mean: In the midst of a pop-up storm during a prom night promotion, Call once pulled tarp in a strapless bridesmaid’s dress. “We all got the radio call and I didn’t have time to go put on shorts and a T-shirt,” said Call, who had drawn the line at wearing heels. “There’s a reason I work at the beach where you can wear flip-flops and tennis shoes.” Now in her 10th year in the Pelicans’ front office, Call has built a reputation on work ethic, leadership and a keen eye for marketing. Just a year since her promotion to general manager, that reputation is only growing. Baseball America has named her Minor…

Classic Saints. When St. Paul decided on that as their slogan for the 2022 season, it was more to reinforce that, after nearly three decades as one of the gold standard franchises on the independent circuit, the parent Twins were letting them be … well, them. But it could also certainly apply to yet another honor for an organization that has won more than a few of them. The St. Paul Saints are the Triple-A Freitas Award winners for 2022. After thriving in the Northern League and then the American Association, the Saints continued to thrive in their second year as the Twins’ International League affiliate. That’s something that many in the organization credit to the fact that Minnesota did not want to change a unique brand that had been…

PROJECTED 2026 LINEUP NUMBER AT RIGHT IS BASEBALL AGE IN 2026 Five years ago, major league teams weren’t exactly lining up to sign De La Cruz when he was a skinny, 16-year-old shortstop in the Dominican Republic. But he was seen by the right scout—the Reds’ Richard Jimenez—at the right time and signed for a mere $65,000 on July 2, 2018. As De La Cruz’s body grew to 6-foot-5, his game grew with it. He used the down time in 2020 during the pandemic to add strength. It showed when play resumed in 2021. De La Cruz immediately caught scouts’ attention with his epic power, blinding speed and cannon for an arm. He applied his incredible raw tools with a maturity that belied his 19 years. The 2022 season saw…

PROJECTED 2026 LINEUP NUMBER AT RIGHT IS BASEBALL AGE IN 2026 That checks out. It’s not unusual for Espino to touch 100 mph or to bewilder batters with 90 mph sliders. Coming out of the pandemic, Espino shined at a pair of Class A levels in 2021. He struck out nearly 41% of batters he faced to lead all pitchers with at least 90 innings. That dominance continued with Double-A Akron in 2022, when he struck out more than half of opponents. The 21-year-old Espino struck out 35 and walked four in 18.1 innings in four starts before suffering a knee injury that sidelined him for the remainder of the season. Batters won’t be so lucky in 2023, when a healthy Espino will carve up Double-A and Triple-A competition—with an…

Here at Baseball America, we dive deeper into the game—and our annualH ere at Baseball awards are no exception. Because while we do give out standard year-end awards honoring top players, in grand BA tradition, we also use award season to tell the stories about the personalities, organizations and institutions shaping the future of this great game. Before we unveil our 2022 honorees, here are 14 spoiler-free tidbits about our annual awards, spanning five decades of Baseball America history. 1 Organization of the Year proved to be most difficult and divisive award for the BA editorial staff to select this year. The World Series-champion Astros seem like a strong contender, but they parted with general manager James Click immediately after the World Series and lack the overall front office…

It would be hard to overstate the impact that Greg Hamilton has had on baseball in Canada, and the ripple effect he has created beyond his country’s borders. Hamilton has worked with Baseball Canada for three decades, and since taking over the men’s national team programs 23 years ago, he has transformed the junior program, helped lead the senior team to two Pan Am gold medals, created a community across a country and built a family among multiple generations of players. “Because of his connection with those players, his passion and knowledge of the game—and his driving desire to grow the game and impact baseball at the highest levels through Canada—I can’t think of an individual who has done more,” Blue Jays president and CEO Mark Shapiro said. “The cool…

Anthopoulos has surrounded himself with quality people in Atlanta, and quality results have followed The Braves hired Alex Anthopoulos as general manager in November 2017. The club has done nothing but win ever since. Anthopoulos inherited an organization awash with young talent, including 2017 rookies Dansby Swanson and Ozzie Albies plus the No. 1 farm system in baseball, headlined by reigning Minor League Player of the Year Ronald Acuña Jr. But winning was not in Atlanta’s present at that time, nor was it in its immediate past. The 2017 Braves lost 90 games on the heels of 90-plus losses in 2015 and 2016. The Atlanta pitching staff was old and ineffective. Worst of all, the organization was embroiled in scandal. Major League Baseball had just investigated the Braves for bypassing…

Being the best team in the minor leagues takes a team effort. The Low-A Charleston RiverDogs were a prime example in 2022. The Rays affiliate won a franchise-record 88 games en route to a second consecutive Carolina League championship. It added up to a nod as the Baseball America Minor League Team of the Year. The 61 players who suited up for Charleston got the job done on the field. So, too, did the people behind the scenes, from the RiverDogs’ coaches and manager Blake Butera to the Rays’ player development and scouting staffs to the fans who created an environment conducive to winning at The Joe, as Joseph P. Riley, Jr. Park is known. “Coming out of spring training, we felt really, really good about the way our roster…

Minor league teams that cycle through 77 players during a season—watching as one top prospect after another gets promoted to the next level—do not tend to end their season on a championship stage. The Triple-A Reno Aces in 2022 were a different story. People connected to the team point to manager Gil Velazquez as a big reason why. Velazquez’s easygoing personality, open-door managerial style and ability to maintain stability despite a revolving clubhouse door helped the Aces pull off a sort of organizational double whammy. They not only developed players for the parent D-backs, but they also won the Pacific Coast League championship. For his efforts, Velazquez is the Baseball America Minor League Manager of the Year. “Of course, I’m honored,” said Velazquez, 43. “For me, to get an honor…

A little loyalty goes a long way. The Portland Sea Dogs are the winners of the Double-A Freitas Award, thanks in large part to a big jump in attendance at Hadlock Field in 2022. The Red Sox affiliate averaged 5,744 fans a night and saw a 37% increase from the previous year. It isn’t hard to figure out why. In the early stages of the pandemic in 2020, the Sea Dogs’ ownership group of Bill Burke and Sally McNamara made the stunning commitment to pay their 19 full-time staff members and more than 200 game-day employees for any missed wages for games that weren’t played. Ultimately, that ended up being the entire season. It was something that Sea Dogs president and general manager Geoff Iacuessa says the team wasn’t really…

Hitting: 40 Power: 70 Speed: 70 Fielding: 55 Arm: 70 BA Grade: 70 Risk: Very High Born: January 11, 2002. B-T: B-R. HT: 6-5. WT: 200. Signed: Dominican Republic, 2018. Signed by: Richard Jimenez. TRACK RECORD: In 2008, the Reds signed outfielder Juan Duran as one of their top targets on the international market. Duran was 6-foot-3 when he signed, but he quickly grew to 6-foot-7 in the next year. His body struggled to handle the sudden growth spurt, and he became a hulking, strikeout-prone slugger rather than the well-rounded outfielder the Reds thought they were signing. Like Duran, De La Cruz gained four inches soon after he signed. But unlike Duran, De La Cruz transformed from a skinny, overlooked Dominican teenager into a potential star following his the growth spurt.…

In this space, Baseball America gives prospects-turned-big leaguers their due. We rank the top 10 graduated prospects—better known as rookies—from the American and National league Central divisions. Each prospect is listed with his preseason BA Grade and then his updated BA Grade based on what happened in 2022. Each player is graded on the 20-80 scouting scale, where 50 is average. Risk is also assessed on a scale of Low, Medium, High, Very High or Extreme. 1. BOBBY WITT JR. SS/3B l ROYALS Preseason: 75/Medium Updated: 65/Medium The 2021 Minor League Player of the Year made the Royals’ 2022 Opening Day roster and showed a lot of promise by hitting .254/.294/.428 with 20 homers and 30 steals. He thus became the 13th rookie ever to go 20-20. Improved selectivity at…

BA BEST OF 2022 AWARDS ORGANIZATION OF THE YEAR Late in the 2018 season, as the dog days of August turned into the stretch run, the Mariners were clinging to fading hope. A possible surge in the final weeks might have allowed Seattle to sneak into the postseason as the second American League wild card and end an embarrassing postseason drought that dated back to 2001. It was during those August days four years ago, when a veteran-laden Mariners team would continue to fizzle, that general manager Jerry Dipoto and manager Scott Servais were faced with the realization of what they had as a team—and what it could never be in its existing form. Even with established players like Felix Hernandez, Kyle Seager, Jean Segura, Robinson Cano, James Paxton, Mike…

Every pioneer has a defining trait, something that fuels his or her determination to do something no one has done before. Jackie Robinson had the steely demeanor, Billie Jean King outspokenness. For Omar Minaya, it might have been his sunny disposition that helped him become the first Latino general manager in major league history. In the notorious grind of baseball, particularly the behind-the-scenes work that goes into building rosters, Minaya maintained a positive outlook. Whether he was a young scout with the Rangers, GM in the hotbed of New York, or the thick of the toughest job in baseball as general manager of the lame-duck Montreal Expos, he was upbeat. Minaya got his first GM job in 2002 after owner Jeffrey Loria bought the Marlins, left the Expos in the…

As postseason honors rolled in for Orioles manager Brandon Hyde following Baltimore’s 31-win improvement in 2022, players and coaches found their congratulatory messages reflected back. “You guys are the ones who did it,” Hyde told them. The same goes for the 2022 Baseball America Major League Manager of the Year. It’s another honor for Hyde that he believes validates the comprehensive efforts undertaken to turn the Orioles around. “I think that it’s a credit to everybody that people are recognizing that what we did this year is special,” Hyde said. It was a long time coming. Hyde was hired to lead the rebuilding club ahead of the 2019 season because executive vice president and general manager Mike Elias valued his background both in player development and major league coaching with…

Being released is never easy for a baseball player. But like many before him, Courtney Hawkins found that being let go was a key part of his development. It provided the impetus for him to rework his swing. Maybe more importantly, it provided a chance to revitalize his love of the game. “When you first get released, you’re kind of lost,” said Hawkins, whom the White Sox drafted 13th overall out of high school in 2012 and released early in 2018 after a slow start at Double-A. But there was a light at the end of the tunnel for the 29-year-old left fielder. “Going to indy ball brought the fun back to baseball,” Hawkins said. “You get to put it out on the field. (Sugar Land manager) Pete Incaviglia started…

Sometimes, simple is best. For the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers, the approach took them all the way to winning the Class A Freitas Award, capping off one of the more memorable years in the history of a storied franchise. “If the customers like it, we continue to do it,” said Rob Zerjav, the Timber Rattlers’ president, CEO and managing partner. “If they say they don’t like it, we figure out a way to change it.” Even on the heels of an announcement that more than $10 million is set to be invested to improve Neuroscience Group Field at Fox Cities Stadium, fans have shown there’s little they want changed in an organization that prides itself in wanting to provide a family-friendly entertainment option at an affordable cost. “That’s our mission statement—pretty…