The Pinstriped Baseball Lane

“Competition, Competition, COOOOMPETITION”, that is the only way you can view this upcoming season in my eyes. It is the key word for this shortened 2020 season, even more than the previous seasons that have been played. It is a funny statement, but MLB columnist William Leitch said it best by saying, “I really can’t keep watching birds fly around my backyard and pretending to myself that they’re racing. No matter what’s going on throughout the planet, the world is always better with baseball than without it.” I have to agree with Leitch’s statement because he hit the nail right on the head with it.

Corona is managing to seep into everyone’s lives, and now it is taking a strong toll on baseball. Follow this link to see the latest on the Yankees corona update, https://www.mlb.com/yankees/news/dj-lemahieu-luis-cessa-yankees-positive-covid-19. Also, many players around majors have decided to opt-out of playing for their own precautions.

In today’s post though, I want to engage in a conversation that should bring a mix of reactions to the plate. There are certain players set for a rebound, so who do you think are the athletes that will bounce back in 2020? To avoid as much Yankee bias that I can in this post, I won’t include any Yankee players. So without further halting, here are my 6 picks:

1. Robinson Canó, 2B, Mets

As you know, there was a bunch of skepticism when the Mets traded for the second baseman. Honestly, I liked him as a Yankee, but in my eyes, his greediness for money sent him to Seattle. In my opinion, New York City sports have been fueled by their hunger to be the best for the longest time. Each of the teams in New York have always relayed on their backbone of developing youths and also the capability to bring over the best veteran acquisitions from other teams. In terms of baseball the Yankees cashed in on George Herman Ruth, Stanton, acquired Masahiro Tanaka, and now Cano has gone to the Mets long term. Let’s just face it, New York is one of the biggest baseball markets in the sports world.

There has to be a reason to think Cano is a good fit for the Mets, I mean I know he was for the Yankees. According to Leitch, “Even with his suspension in 2018, he hit .303 for the Mariners and got on base at a .374 clip. Unfortunately, his rough start in 2019, along with nagging injuries, made him look like the bust many skeptics thought he would be in the first place….” You can look at that as the bad news, but what is the good news? Well, specifically to my friends and family that back the Mets, I will give you them good news. According to Leitch, “…The good news is that he seemed to come on late (.880 OPS in the second half, .646 in the first), and his 37-year-old body only has to withstand two months of baseball, rather than six. He still hits the ball hard. There’s plenty of baseball left here.”

2. Matt Carpenter, 3B, Cardinals

To be honest, being a Yankees’ fan, I don’t really follow other teams as much on a regular basis. Although, with that being said, I will admit that I have been watching other teams’ video highlights recently because there has not been any baseball. I have kept myself entertained by watching videos on MLB’s official website and whatever random YouTube videos I could find. In the process I came upon some videos of Carpenter and I have to agree with what baseball officials are saying about him. Carpenter has had wild swings as a hitter throughout his career. From video content of his years in the majors, you can see that the Cardinals’ third baseman started out as a walk-and-contact guy, then developed power. He then took a step back and didn’t produce the power as much. It took him a little while, but he found his swing that allowed to hit for a lot of power again (leading to a top 10 National League MVP Award finish in 2018). After 2018, he fell off the cliff of production in 2019, putting up the lowest numbers of his career in nearly every category. In the end, he has not had a steady career. I want to believe that a shortened season will give him the persistence to stay consistent, as this season will feel like the normal October hype from the very start.

3. Khris Davis, OF, A’s

You know, I did say I was a Yankee fan, but there are just certain guys in baseball that I can’t help but root for because of their potential. Davis just happens to be one of those guys because many people see him to be an underrated player. It just so happens that Davis had one of the most weirdest streaks in baseball end last year. I mean, the streak has to be the weirdest for any baseball player that experience anything similar. For the first time since 2014, Davis did not hit exactly .247. The problem was not that his batting average was appreciably worse in ’19 (.220), but that his power fell off dramatically as well. He hit 42 homers in ’16, 43 in ’17, an MLB-leading 48 in ’18 — and 23 last year. He is established at the DH position for the A’s this year as he is 32 years old. Hopefully, he can get back into the swing of things when major league action gets underway this season.  Whether or not, Davis returns to his aggressive self, one does hope he can land back on .247 again and hopefully produce higher numbers. During this unorthodox period, having athletes return to their stellar selves might provide some normalcy in this mad world.

4. Kyle Freeland, LHP, Rockies

I speak from a fan standpoint when I say, “PITCHING is the most valuable asset on a ballclub. I say that because the Yankees focus on developing and acquiring the best pitchers in the game.” That is my opinion, you can say otherwise if you believe differently. Right now though, I want talk about the Rockies’ pitching staff. I want to specifically go in depth on the Rockies’ lefty Kyle Freeland. According to Baseball Reference’s WAR, Freeland’s 2018 season, which saw him go 17-7 with a 2.85 ERA, is the best-pitched season in Colorado Rockies history, outpacing even Ubaldo Jiménez’s storied ’10 season. 2019 saw a different story for the lefty than what he did a season before. Freeland was, quite simply, one of the worst pitchers in baseball, going 3-11 with a 6.73 ERA. He was even sent to Triple-A for six starts — six starts that went even worse, with an 8.80 ERA. The lefty is a former first-round Draft pick who is only 27 years old and slated to be in the Rockies’ rotation this year. It can’t possibly go worse than it just did. I am not sure that he has completely hit rock bottom, but he is close to it. With that said, the only direction for him now is going up.  

5. Craig Kimbrel, RHP, Cubs

I will leave the analysis of this guy up to a professional. Will Leitch again said it best by stating the following:

“Dallas Keuchel is a positive example of a pitcher missing most of Spring Training while holding out for a free-agent contract and still turning out OK when he returns. Kimbrel is definitively a negative one. Kimbrel didn’t pitch his first game for the Cubs until late June, and he was simply never right, putting up a 6.53 ERA for the year. He was so bad during the pivotal home sweep by the Cardinals in late September, the one that pushed the Cubs out of the playoffs entirely, that he didn’t pitch for the rest of the season. You’d hope 2020 would be better … but it’s not like we had a normal spring this year either.”

6. Justin Upton, LF, Angels

Center fielder Mike Trout is the face of Angels baseball and the Los Angeles Angels just acquired another piece to assist him. Anthony Rendon is that big-ticketed acquisition that will be in the lineup to co-existent with the center fielder. But before Rendon, there was Upton, who was signed in late 2017 for the exact same reason. The first year of that deal went well, but ’19 was a mess. Upton had knee issues in Spring Training and then an injury in an exhibition game kept him out until mid-June. Later on down the road, September saw Upton go through consistent knee issues, which shut him down. Before that though, he was just hitting .215 in 63 games, so it wasn’t like he was producing high numbers from the get-go. He didn’t have surgery in the offseason, but he seems to be healthy. Hey, I would not want to be in the hospital right now with a virus of this magnitude. On the other hand, I have a pretty good understanding of baseball to know that a fielder needs a good range of motion in their knees to move across the diamond and they obviously need to be flexible coming out of the batter’s box. I just hope the guy is set for Opening Day. From my understanding, the Angels got him because they saw that a healthy Upton meant that they were getting an All-Star left fielder.  Upton has three more years left on his deal and baseball experts believe this might be the most important one.  

I want to believe that baseball will soon return back to its glorified self, allowing for these guys and every other athlete to be able to bounce back. Oh COVID-19, how I hate you so. Now more than ever, we need baseball and every other sport to be played. The sports world is just one major way that we could unite the global community. Oh, COVID-19, just allow us all to have a sense of normalcy again.