Share your interesting baseball reads here

[Fresno Bob]

related - this is my wife signing the 1886 unofficial national anthem before the championship game of my baseball league.

dude, frakking awesome, and we still need to meet!

[rhd]

Fascinating article about baseball players of Haitian ancestry and their problems in getting signed by an MLB team:

http://www.espn.com/espn/feature/story/_/id/18900471/the-complicated-state-haitian-dominicans-mlb

I was interested in this because I heard that Haiti recently started playing baseball whereas before recently they havent played it at all despite MLB baseballs being manufactured there for a long time. I also learned that a current top prospect, Estevan Florial, is from Haiti (I believe another prominent prospect also is from Haiti, but I dont remember which). I didnt know before that there are many Dominican ballplayers of recent Haitian ancestry or that Miguel Sano is one of these.

[Ken]

Fascinating article about baseball players of Haitian ancestry and their problems in getting signed by an MLB team:

http://www.espn.com/espn/feature/story/_/id/18900471/the-complicated-state-haitian-dominicans-mlb

I was interested in this because I heard that Haiti recently started playing baseball whereas before recently they havent played it at all despite MLB baseballs being manufactured there for a long time. I also learned that a current top prospect, Estevan Florial, is from Haiti (I believe another prominent prospect also is from Haiti, but I dont remember which). I didnt know before that there are many Dominican ballplayers of recent Haitian ancestry or that Miguel Sano is one of these.

Touki Toussaint is another player of Haitian ancestry.

[rhd]

Article today at BA where they discuss the pitch clock and its effect on the duration of games:

https://www.baseballamerica.com/columnists/around-office-much-difference-pitch-clocks-make/#WG0TTwyBuxqbxOfY.97

Personally, in the minor league games I've attended in the past few years I've never seen a pitch clock violation enforced even once. But there were many times during the games when the pitch clock expired before the pitch was thrown. So I was surprised when the BA staff mentioned that it was 'sporadically' enforced. And I was also surprised that it actually has appreciably reduced the durations of minor league games. It seemed to me that the pitch clock so far has been a half-hearted effort to reduce game durations. Part of the problem is when the clock should be started and the attentiveness and skill of the people in charge of starting it. Yeah, it's supposed to start when the pitcher receives the ball back but what about when the batter steps out of the box or asks for time out? It should restart then but I never saw that happen. What about after mound visits? Never saw it restart after that either. What happens if the batter is a "human rain delay" like Mike Hargrove or Nomar Garciaparra? How can the pitcher be penalized for that? Shouldn't the batter get penalized for taking too long? It will be interesting to see what happens w this in MLB this year.

[rhd]

And now MLB wont institute enforcement of the pitch clock in 2018 after all.

https://www.baseballamerica.com/majors/mlb-announces-mound-visit-limits-no-pitch-clock-2018/#H4s14DGKP7lE9oTE.97

But mound visits will be limited to 6 per 9-inning game, w 1 extra allowed in extra innings.

[mjl]

Physical analysis of the change in ball construction: https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/juiced-baseballs/

[Sour Masher]

Physical analysis of the change in ball construction: https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/juiced-baseballs/

Great read.

[Judge Jude]

a long read on the mystery of Ichiro, who just signed with the Mariners

http://www.espn.com/espn/feature/sto...nternal-battle

[Sour Masher]

a long read on the mystery of Ichiro, who just signed with the Mariners

http://www.espn.com/espn/feature/sto...nternal-battle

Another great read. There are two types of inside the greatness stories I enjoy most. The story of the natural and the story if the nurtured talent. These days, I'm suspect all of the former are part myth. The latter really show the level of obsessive dedication it takes to be so much better at something than almost anyone that has ever lived. And this story also shows Ichiro's particular compulsiveness, which is fascinating, and a little sad, because it, like his talent, was nurtured rather than natural. Nurtured in an unhealthy way from his father, who forced Ichiro into greatness by killing his childhood.

[Judge Jude]

in golf, Tiger Woods (who btw is in contention after 1 round this week on the PGA Tour for the first time in years) is Ichiro-like.

The Golf Channel has been running a 2014 movie of late on the legendary Spanish golfer Seve Ballesteros (3 British Opens, 2 Masters). it's a natural talent story. his older brothers all played golf, and he chose to beat them all - not his father choosing that goal.

there's a joy that we saw in Ballesteros while succeeding that you don't quite feel from Ichiro or Tiger.

that said, I suspect Tiger has a final act that finally would be his, in a way that Ichiro will never see. I sure hope it's not just because Tiger's Dad has passed away, but.......

[madducks]

The next top prospect......in about 3 years.

The 15-Year-Old Baseball Phenom with 500-Foot Power:
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2...aign=editorial

[Moonlight J]

fantastic presentation -- http://apps.bostonglobe.com/sports/g.../launch-angle/

[deaccat]

The next top prospect......in about 3 years.

The 15-Year-Old Baseball Phenom with 500-Foot Power:
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2...aign=editorial

Anyone have thoughts on this kid? I am thinking of taking him as a lottery ticket type player in my M draft.

[TranaGreg]

fantastic presentation -- http://apps.bostonglobe.com/sports/g.../launch-angle/

Thanks for that, it's a great read ... and I love that it referred to a book a read as a teenager (which definitely helped my hitting!!!)

[rhd]

A batter called out after only 1 pitch? Didn't know this could happen.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bd47e0nOXl8