Connect with us

Published

on

The 2023 Baseball Writers’ Association of America vote is in — and Scott Rolen is the newest member of the Baseball Hall of Fame. He joins Fred McGriff, who was elected in December via the inaugural contemporary baseball era committee.

ESPN MLB experts Buster Olney, Bradford Doolittle, Alden Gonzalez and Jesse Rogers examine the 2023 vote and what it means, and look ahead to what the future votes hold for this year’s candidates and those to come.

Let’s dive in.

Olney: Todd Helton, whose voting share took a major leap forward. With five years remaining on the ballot, it’s evident that he’ll get in next year, or maybe in 2025, based on his positional dominance in the middle of his career.

Doolittle: Helton, with Billy Wagner not far behind. Helton continues to gain support and is now at a level where it seems certain he’ll get over the threshold eventually. Wagner only has two years left so that’s a little more uncertain, but his percentage continues to grow. Also McGriff — though he’s so modest, he may actually think that makes him the big loser.

Gonzalez: Helton is the obvious choice because he’s nearing 75% and has enough time to get there, but I’ll go with someone else who’s getting close: Andruw Jones, who still has four years of eligibility remaining.

Jones has experienced relatively sizable jumps in four straight years, and that trend should continue for an obvious reason: He is one of the best center fielders of all time. We’re talking about a 10-time Gold Glover who accumulated 434 home runs, and whose peak — nine years, as one of the key members of dominant Atlanta Braves teams — lasted a lot longer than people might think.

Rogers: Carlos Beltran. About half the voters believe he should be in already. A certain portion undoubtedly didn’t vote for him in Year 1 of eligibility because of the aforementioned cheating scandal, but some of them will likely vote for him in the future. And he still has nine years to put distance between his career and that fateful final year in the majors. Meanwhile, he only needs to appear on 25% more ballots, assuming those that voted for him already continue to do so.

Who is the biggest loser from this year’s voting results?

Olney: Torii Hunter, who seems destined to be this year’s version of Jorge Posada — a player who will apparently be dropped off the ballot after inexplicably garnering less than 5% of the vote, with his percentage dipping each of the past two years. To review: nine Gold Gloves, five All-Star appearances, nearly 2,500 hits and more than 350 homers. He’ll be voted in by a special committee someday.

Doolittle: Immanuel Kant. You know, the guy who wrote about the power and limits of reason, because if he were still around and following baseball’s Hall of Fame voting, he might conclude that reason does not in fact exist. Just look at the disparate percentages going to Manny Ramirez and Gary Sheffield, and also Jones and Omar Vizquel. And what about poor Bobby Abreu? Not saying he should get in, but he gets named on about one ballot in five, while Jones is pretty close to getting over the top? And, yeah, Hunter falling off the ballot is just wrong.

Gonzalez: Abreu, once again. I don’t know if he’s a Hall of Famer, but he deserves far more consideration than what his consistently lacking support implies. Abreu did a little bit of everything — stealing bases, playing great defense, hitting for average and displaying power, all while averaging 156 games per season during a 13-year run that encompassed his peak. His accolades — two All-Star Game appearances, one Gold Glove and one Silver Slugger — don’t justify his greatness. Neither does his Hall of Fame support. Abreu sits at only 15.4% through four years on the ballot.

Rogers: Can it be anyone other than Jeff Kent? He didn’t come close to getting in despite hitting the most home runs by a second baseman in baseball history. And he’ll no longer be on the ballot, as this was his 10th and final year.

Full disclosure, I voted for him — and I’m OK with him not making it — but only appearing on 46.5% of the ballots? That’s just wrong. And his accomplishments came during the steroid era, which he was never linked to. OK, so he never won a Gold Glove, but if Ryne Sandberg is in, then Kent should be as well. Or at least a lot closer.

What is one trend that stands out to you from this year’s voting totals?

Olney: The voters seem to care less about defense despite the fact that we know more than ever about its impact — and even though they did vote Rolen in. Jones, Omar Vizquel and Hunter are all in the conversation for the best defenders ever at their respective positions.

Doolittle: After we get past the obvious current starting pitcher Hall candidates at some point down the line — Justin Verlander, Clayton Kershaw, Max Scherzer, et al. — I wonder if we’ll go through a long period of voters trying to figure out what a Hall of Fame starter looks like. I don’t think there were any Hall of Fame starting pitchers on this ballot but it’s still striking how little support they received.

Gonzalez: I’m going to be really curious about Alex Rodriguez’s year-to-year Hall of Fame support. He has clear PED ties, of course, but also the type of resume that might ultimately transcend it. A-Rod — like Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens — can make a case for the greatest player ever at his position (in his case, we’ll say shortstop).

It’s a case that comes with a major caveat, but the BBWAA as a whole is slowly becoming more lenient toward PED use both with the passage of time and with the entry of new, younger members. Will A-Rod eventually break through? It’s easy to think otherwise, given that he gained only four votes from last year. But he has eight more years ahead of him.

Rogers: Really, it’s a continuing trend. Anyone linked to steroids is going to have a really hard time getting in. That’s especially true for those who failed one or more tests. Like Bonds, a case could be made that Rodriguez was a Hall of Fame player before he juiced, but voters don’t seem to care. And any argument over the years for accepting the steroid era as simply part of baseball history, and players still had to perform, has fallen on deaf ears. Voters have said no once again.

Which one player’s vote total is most surprising to you?

Olney: Rodriguez polling close to 40%. Despite his PED suspension, MLB views him as a member in good standing — and the Hall of Fame sees him the same way, putting him on the ballot (unlike Pete Rose, whose name has never appeared on a ballot following his lifetime ban).

It’s only in the eyes of the baseball writers that Rodriguez is persona non grata — in the face of the commonsense reality that the sport’s history post-World War II was saturated with PED use, and that a lot of current Hall of Famers were users. Bizarre. Rodriguez clubbed 696 homers, collected 3,115 hits, scored 2,021 runs and drove in 2,086. He’s one of the best players of all time.

Doolittle: Sheffield. Really surprising that he picked up so much support, not because I don’t think he is qualified for the Hall but just because of the old PED connection and how it has impacted other players. I just don’t really know where voters are drawing the line on this topic. Sheffield has one more try left and I hope he gets in.

Gonzalez: It’s Hunter for me. Similar to Abreu, I just expected more support for someone who was so well-rounded, both as a player — a nine-time Gold Glover who surpassed 20 home runs 11 separate times — but also as someone who was beloved by teammates and media alike. It’s a sad reality about Hall of Fame voting that sometimes it feels as if we don’t truly appreciate certain players simply because they fall short of an exceedingly high bar. Maybe he isn’t ultimately a Hall of Famer, but at least he got just enough support (6.9%) to remain on the ballot another year.

Rogers: Kent. See above. Home runs aren’t the be-all and end-all but only one player at each position around the diamond can be the all-time leader in a category. Kent is it for second baseman. He was a power bat at a position that still doesn’t generate much — even less than shortstops do nowadays. That’s a huge luxury for a team. Great offensive and defensive second basemen don’t grow on trees. He was good enough at second and great in the batter’s box. Voters missed the boat with Kent.

The PED era continues to loom over Hall of Fame voting, what impact do you think it had on this year’s ballot?

Olney: This reflects the growing confusion over what actually qualifies a player for the Hall of Fame. On one hand, you’ve got a handful of candidates busted for PED use who didn’t come close to election — but on the other hand, you almost certainly have a number of current Hall of Famers who share the stage of honor despite using PEDs. Two of the best players in baseball history, Bonds and Clemens, are out of the Hall, based on a once-obsolete character clause written by someone who worked from a position of power to keep the game segregated.

Doolittle: I’m with Buster here. During these years of hand-wringing over PED-connected candidates, among other controversies, voters have lost track of what a Hall of Fame career does or does not look like. It doesn’t help that the Era committees have put in a number of players whose careers reside squarely in the gray zone where there are a lot of overlapping candidates who don’t get in but have cases as strong as those who make it. On top of all that, the game itself has changed and so some of the iconic standards we used to watch for may no longer apply. The whole process could use some kind of reset.

Gonzalez: It feels as if the players who inflated their numbers by cheating have set the Hall of Fame bar unreasonably high despite not gaining entrance because of their cheating. It’s my best attempt to rationalize why it’s taking so long for the likes of Helton and Jones — and, before today, Rolen — to get in. The inconsistencies of moral policing continue to stand out.

Last year, we had David Ortiz symbolize ill attempts at deciphering PED ties. This year, another dilemma was embodied by Beltran. We praise A.J. Hinch and Alex Cora as managers, celebrate the 2022 Houston Astros as legitimate World Series champions, and yet Beltran — the eighth-best center fielder in history by Baseball-Reference WAR — didn’t get in largely because of his ties to the sign-stealing scandal. (A scandal, by the way, that did nothing for his own career numbers.)

Rogers: The steroid era has muddied the waters, but it’s a shame the Hall didn’t grow by at least one in 2023. In fact, maybe that should be a rule: At least one BBWAA selection entrant is required every year. The Hall of Fame is supposed to grow despite it still being an exclusive club. Some years there will be more deserving candidates than others. That’s OK. In the end, the large size of the voting group offers legitimacy to the final vote: No one is sneaking in. But when there isn’t an entrant, it shifts the focus to the voters. Nobody wants that.

Based on this year’s results, do you think anyone will get in on next year’s ballot?

Olney: Wagner will get in within a couple of years, and perhaps Helton after that. They’ll join two players who should be first-ballot, can’t-miss selections — Adrian Beltre and Joe Mauer. In fact, I think you could make a case Beltre should be a unanimous selection, after a career of 3,166 hits, 477 homers and five Gold Gloves, as well as 93.5 WAR, which is more than Al Kaline, George Brett, Chipper Jones and Ken Griffey Jr.

Doolittle: I could actually see it being a fairly crowded class. Helton should get in, Wagner has a good shot and I could definitely see Jones joining the group. And based on this year’s change in percentage, I wouldn’t be shocked if Sheffield gets there, though he could end up at that close-but-no-cigar level. And among first-timers, I would think Beltre is probably a lock.

Gonzalez: Beltre will be eligible for the Hall of Fame next year, and he should definitely get in. By then, Helton should have already accumulated enough votes. Perhaps Wagner and Jones can get there too. And if the BBWAA comes to its collective senses, Beltran will be close. I’d expect a crowded field. I’m hopeful for it, at least.

Rogers: Yes. Kent falling off the ballot might garner a vote or two for someone else while we did see a couple of players with remaining eligibility get close. There’s no reason to believe we’re entering some longer-term trend where there will be multiple years with no inductees.

Continue Reading

Sports

Stanton won’t blame ailing elbows on torpedo bats

Published

on

By

Stanton won't blame ailing elbows on torpedo bats

NEW YORK — Giancarlo Stanton, one of the first known adopters of the torpedo bat, declined Tuesday to say whether he believes using it last season caused the tendon ailments in both elbows that forced him to begin this season on the injured list.

Last month, Stanton alluded to “bat adjustments” he made last season as a possible reason for the epicondylitis, commonly known as tennis elbow, he’s dealing with.

“You’re not going to get the story you’re looking for,” Stanton said. “So, if that’s what you guys want, that ain’t going to happen.”

Stanton said he will continue using the torpedo bat when he returns from injury. The 35-year-old New York Yankees slugger, who has undergone multiple rounds of platelet-rich plasma injections to treat his elbows, shared during spring training that season-ending surgery on both elbows was a possibility. But he has progressed enough to recently begin hitting off a Trajekt — a pitching robot that simulates any pitcher’s windup, arm angle and arsenal. However, he still wouldn’t define his return as “close.”

He said he will first have to go on a minor league rehab assignment at an unknown date for an unknown period. It won’t start in the next week, he added.

“This is very unique,” Stanton said. “I definitely haven’t missed a full spring before. So, it just depends on my timing, really, how fast I get to feel comfortable in the box versus live pitching.”

While the craze of the torpedo bat (also known as the bowling pin bat) has swept the baseball world since it was revealed Saturday — while the Yankees were blasting nine home runs against the Milwaukee Brewers — that a few members of the Yankees were using one, the modified bat already had quietly spread throughout the majors in 2024. Both Stanton and former Yankees catcher Jose Trevino, now with the Cincinnati Reds, were among players who used the bats last season after being introduced to the concept by Aaron Leanhardt, an MIT-educated physicist and former minor league hitting coordinator for the organization.

Anthony Volpe, Jazz Chisholm Jr., Cody Bellinger, Paul Goldschmidt and Austin Wells were among the Yankees who used torpedo bats during their season-opening sweep of the Brewers.

Stanton explained he has changed bats before. He said he has usually adjusted the length. Sometimes, he opts for lighter bats at the end of the long season. In the past, when knuckleballers were more common in the majors, he’d opt for heavier lumber.

Last year, he said he simply chose his usual bat but with a different barrel after experimenting with a few models.

“I mean, it makes a lot of sense,” Stanton said. “But it’s, like, why hasn’t anyone thought of it in 100-plus years? So, it’s explained simply and then you try it and as long as it’s comfortable in your hands [it works]. We’re creatures of habit, so the bat’s got to feel kind of like a glove or an extension of your arm.”

Stanton went on to lead the majors with an average bat velocity of 81.2 mph — nearly 3 mph ahead of the competition. He had a rebound, but not spectacular, regular season in which he batted .233 with 27 home runs and a .773 OPS before clubbing seven home runs in 14 playoff games.

“It’s not like [it was] unreal all of a sudden for me,” Stanton said.

Yankees manager Aaron Boone described the torpedo bats “as the evolution of equipment” comparable to getting fitted for new golf clubs. He said the organization is not pushing players to use them and insisted the science is more complicated than just picking a bat with a different barrel.

“There’s a lot more to it than, ‘I’ll take the torpedo bat on the shelf over there — 34 [inches], 32 [ounces],'” Boone said. “Our guys are way more invested in it than that. And really personalized, really work with our players in creating this stuff. But it’s equipment evolving.”

As players around the majors order torpedo bats in droves after the Yankees’ barrage over the weekend — they clubbed a record-tying 13 homers in two games against the Brewers — Boone alluded to the notion that, though everyone is aware of the concept, not every organization can optimize its usage.

“You’re trying to just, where you can on the margins, move the needle a little bit,” Boone said. “And that’s really all you’re going to do. I don’t think this is some revelation to where we’re going to be; it’s not related to the weekend that we had, for example. Like, I don’t think it’s that. Maybe in some cases, for some players, it may help them incrementally. That’s how I view it.”

Continue Reading

Sports

Rangers’ Eovaldi gets season’s 1st complete game

Published

on

By

Rangers' Eovaldi gets season's 1st complete game

CINCINNATI — Nathan Eovaldi pitched a four-hitter for the majors’ first complete game of the season, and the Texas Rangers blanked the Cincinnati Reds 1-0 on Tuesday night.

Eovaldi struck out eight and walked none in his fifth career complete game. The right-hander threw 99 pitches, 70 for strikes.

It was Eovaldi’s first shutout since April 29, 2023, against the Yankees and just the third of his career. He became the first Ranger with multiple career shutouts with no walks in the past 30 seasons, according to ESPN Research.

“I feel like, by the fifth or sixth inning, that my pitch count was down, and I feel like we had a really good game plan going into it,” Eovaldi said in his on-field postgame interview on Victory+. “I thought [Texas catcher Kyle Higashioka] called a great game. We were on the same page throughout the entire game.”

In the first inning, Wyatt Langford homered for Texas against Carson Spiers (0-1), and that proved to be all Eovaldi needed. A day after Cincinnati collected 14 hits in a 14-3 victory in the series opener, Eovaldi (1-0) silenced the lineup.

“We needed it, these bats are still quiet,” Texas manager Bruce Bochy said of his starter’s outing. “It took a well-pitched game like that. What a game.”

The Reds put the tying run on second with two out in the ninth, but Eovaldi retired Elly De La Cruz on a grounder to first.

“He’s as good as I have seen as far as a pitcher performing under pressure,” Bochy said. “He is so good. He’s a pro out there. He wants to be out there.”

Eovaldi retired his first 12 batters, including five straight strikeouts during one stretch. Gavin Lux hit a leadoff single in the fifth for Cincinnati’s first baserunner.

“I think it was the first-pitch strikes,” Eovaldi said, when asked what made him so efficient. “But also, the off-speed pitches. I was able to get some quick outs, and I didn’t really have many deep counts. … And not walking guys helps.”

Spiers gave up three hits in six innings in his season debut. He struck out five and walked two for the Reds, who fell to 2-3.

The Rangers moved to 4-2, and Langford has been at the center of it all. He now has two home runs in six games to begin the season. In 2024, it took him until the 29th game of the season to homer for the first time. Langford hit 16 homers in 134 games last season during his rookie year.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Continue Reading

Sports

Source: USC flips Ducks’ Topui, No. 3 DT in 2026

Published

on

By

Source: USC flips Ducks' Topui, No. 3 DT in 2026

USC secured the commitment of former Oregon defensive tackle pledge Tomuhini Topui on Tuesday, a source told ESPN, handing the Trojans their latest recruiting victory in the 2026 cycle over the Big Ten rival Ducks.

Topui, ESPN’s No. 3 defensive tackle and No. 72 overall recruit in the 2026 class, spent five and half months committed to Oregon before pulling his pledge from the program on March 27. Topui attended USC’s initial spring camp practice that afternoon, and seven days later the 6-foot-4, 295-pound defender gave the Trojans his pledge to become the sixth ESPN 300 defender in the program’s 2026 class.

Topui’s commitment gives USC its 10th ESPN 300 pledge this cycle — more than any other program nationally — and pulls a fourth top-100 recruit into the impressive defensive class the Trojans are building this spring. Alongside Topui, USC’s defensive class includes in-state cornerbacks R.J. Sermons (No. 26 in ESPN Junior 300) and Brandon Lockhart (No. 77); four-star outside linebacker Xavier Griffin (No. 27) out of Gainesville, Georgia; and two more defensive line pledges between Jaimeon Winfield (No. 143) and Simote Katoanga (No. 174).

The Trojans are working to reestablish their local recruiting presence in the 2026 class under newly hired general manager Chad Bowden. Topui not only gives the Trojans their 11th in-state commit in the cycle, but his pledge represents a potentially important step toward revamping the program’s pipeline to perennial local powerhouse Mater Dei High School, too.

Topui will enter his senior season this fall at Mater Dei, the program that has produced a long line of USC stars including Matt Leinart, Matt Barkley and Amon-Ra St. Brown. However, if Topui ultimately signs with the program later this year, he’ll mark the Trojans’ first Mater Dei signee since the 2022 cycle, when USC pulled three top-300 prospects — Domani Jackson, Raleek Brown and C.J. Williams — from the high school program based in Santa Ana, California.

Topui’s flip to the Trojans also adds another layer to a recruiting rivalry rekindling between USC and Oregon in the 2026 cycle.

Tuesday’s commitment comes less than two months after coach Lincoln Riley and the Trojans flipped four-star Oregon quarterback pledge Jonas Williams, ESPN’s No. 2 dual-threat quarterback in 2026. USC is expected to continue targeting several Ducks commits this spring, including four-star offensive tackle Kodi Greene, another top prospect out of Mater Dei.

Continue Reading

Trending