Mariners Moose Tracks, 4/15/21: Carlos Rodón, Yadier Molina, and Lance McCullers, Jr.
Some Jackie Robinson Day links.
Good morning folks and happy Jackie Robinson Day! Let’s get to the latest from around baseball.
In Mariners news...
- An update on yesterday’s Geroge Kirby news, this one has him hitting 102 mph.
Mariners RHP George Kirby sat 98-100, hit 101 on multiple guns, 102 on one gun yesterday at the Rangers complex. He’s my 125th-ranked prospect; was 96-99 hit 100 mph at the 2019 alt site. 20th overall pick in 2019 from Elon, just 23 pro IP, all below Low-A https://t.co/XP8PWnsF6e
— Kiley McDaniel (@kileymcd) April 14, 2021
Around the league...
- Carlos Rodón became the second player this season to throw a no-hitter that would have been a perfect game if not for a hit-by-pitch.
- Major League Baseball will continue to test new rules in the Atlantic League, including changing the distance between the mound and the plate and tying the DH to the starting pitcher.
- Yadier Molina has become the only catcher in MLB history to catch 2,000 games for a single team. Katie Woo at The Athletic has the story. ($)
- Either this is COVID or someone else had a pickup basketball game go south.
The Astros announce they've placed Yordan Alvarez, Alex Bregman, Jose Altuve, Martin Maldonado and Robel Garcia on the injured list for unspecified reasons.
— Jake Kaplan (@jakemkaplan) April 14, 2021
Garrett Stubbs, Alex De Goti, Ronnie Dawson, Taylor Jones and Ronnie Dawson were called up from the ATS.
- Well, now we know. Looks like they probably should have just postponed the game.
Lance McCullers Jr. pitched tonight despite battling side effects from the Johnson & Johnson vaccine that he received "a few days back." He questioned why the Astros even played today at all with five players missing on the COVID IL - https://t.co/ligt5atKYP
— Chandler Rome (@Chandler_Rome) April 15, 2021
- Clearly Jazz has some practice carving through the paint.
JAZZ CHISHOLM EUROSTEPPED ACROSS HOMEPLATE AFTER HOMERING
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) April 15, 2021
(via @MLB)pic.twitter.com/1heKgKJQBZ
- I missed the fan shenanigans last year.
Justin Turner hits a home run and absolutely obliterates this fan's nachos pic.twitter.com/o3TvePTBOm
— Blake Harris (@BlakeHarrisTBLA) April 15, 2021
- Devan Fink at Fangraphs wonders how much it helps the Angels to have Shohei Ohtani hit while he pitches.
Anders’ picks...
- A great cause that J.P. Crawford is co-signing.