General

Former Pitcher Russ Ortiz Recalls His Baseball Career

June 15, 2018 by Andrew Martin

Pitching is one of the most difficult endeavors in baseball. It was particularly daunting in the early 2000s, as offenses were operating at high-octane levels. That makes the career of Russ Ortiz all the more impressive, as the right-hander won 99 games in one six-year stretch on his way to a wildly successful 12-year major league career. Ortiz was... Read more of this article

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Mambo Soto! A Vision of Robles and Soto Playing DC Baseball With a Salsa Beat?

June 14, 2018 by Ted Leavengood

Juan Soto’s two home runs at Yankee Stadium last night not only cast a spell over the Bronx crowd, but over the future for the Washington Nationals. The young slugger is intriguing enough in his own right. He IS Bryce Harper as a 19-year old. The comparisons can be made now as the young Dominican plays opposite Harper and somehow continues to... Read more of this article

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Has Boston Red Sox Pitcher Eduardo Rodriguez Made the Leap?

June 11, 2018 by Andrew Martin

The Boston Red Sox gambled they were making a shrewd move when they traded star reliever Andrew Miller to the Baltimore Orioles in 2014 for prospect left-handed pitcher Eduardo Rodriguez. Although he had flashes of promise over the ensuing three seasons, injuries and inconsistency made him into somewhat of an enigma. Now 25, the southpaw is in the midst... Read more of this article

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Firing On All Eight

June 6, 2018 by Ted Leavengood

A friend recently opined that it is difficult to appreciate the arc of history when one is in the middle of it.  You cannot know how the moving hand will compose an ending, but last night, with temperatures around seventy degrees, Max Scherzer was cruising like a V-8 Oldsmobile out on an old country highway, holding rock steady, the sign on the side... Read more of this article

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Bill Sampen: Pitcher Recalls Successful Career with Montreal Expos

May 28, 2018 by Andrew Martin

Although major league baseball has been gone from Montreal for over a decade now, the legacy of the game remains vibrant there. Fans have to rely on memories instead of being able to root for a team able to make new ones. Fortunately, there are ample fond recollections and players from  the past. Among them is former Montreal Expos pitcher, Bill Sampen,... Read more of this article

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Still Active Former Top Prospects: Where Are They Now?

May 20, 2018 by Andrew Martin

Every year the baseball world is put on notice by the publishing of various “top prospect” lists. These herald the best and the brightest of that year’s group of young players toiling in the minor leagues and hoping to eventually make their way to the big league limelight. Some receive their promotion rather quickly, and some never at all. Then... Read more of this article

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Active Major League Players Who are Locks for the Baseball Hall of Fame

May 7, 2018 by Andrew Martin

The National Baseball Hall of Fame is the sport’s Mount Rushmore. Only the best of the best and the most talented, memorable figures in the game’s history gain admittance, with fewer than 350 having been elected in the near 90 years of the existence of the shrine. There are future Hall-of-Famers playing now, but who are locks for the honor? Who... Read more of this article

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19-Year Old Juan Soto vs. 19-Year Old Bryce Harper

May 7, 2018 by Ted Leavengood

The 25-year old Bryce Harper is on a pace to hit more home runs than in any prior season. It is fun to watch and no slugger since Frank Howard has put on a power display in Washington, DC, quite like this one. But as Harper crushes balls that approach Hondo’s mythic proportions, there is a sad refrain running just beneath the surface as fans wonder... Read more of this article

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Interview with Pittsburgh Pirates’ Pitcher Nick Kingham

April 29, 2018 by Andrew Martin

This interview originally appeared in 2012 in Toppsprospectalert.com Stockpiling quality young pitching is always a priority for a losing team trying to change their fortunes and culture. The Pittsburgh Pirates, who last had a winning season in 1992, have recently drafted highly touted arms like Jameson Taillon and Gerrit Cole to jump-start their... Read more of this article

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Long-Term Battery Combinations

April 24, 2018 by Kevin Johnson

Submitted by Howard Johnson The most comforting words that can be heard by any hard-core fan of professional baseball is the annual mid-winter pronouncement that “Pitchers and catchers will report on ….” Given those are the two positions involved on every pitch of every game, each performs within the confines of a space rigorously defined by the... Read more of this article

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