Baseball America does a wonderful job of providing access to the future of professional baseball. On Tuesday, Josh Norris provided a synopsis of the tweaks White Sox prospect Zack Collins is applying to his swing and on Friday another cache of video emerged.
In total, 11 players were spotted; some well-known and others obscure
Wow! There is a lot going on with this swing. The reaction from someone near the camera makes it seem like Call put a charge into the pitch but there’s no telling if it was a long fly-ball or a blast.
Call is highly regarded among White Sox prospects but he is going to have to make some dramatic adjustments to his swing. Otherwise, major-league pitching is going to expose the holes in his swing.
Polo was part of the Yankees deal and he looks very strong. His hands get through the zone quick enough to save him from getting fooled too much. One thing he will have to work on is pitch recognition.
We only got to see a few swings but Burger is going to have to work through a stiff arm-bar. His hands are pretty active at the beginning of his swing and after barring his front arm it will be tough to get his hands to the inside pitch with any authority — something he will have to do as a burly third-baseman.
Nolan was an eighth-round selection in 2016 and is a well-built catcher with some pop in his bat. His load is quiet with the potential to find some whip through the zone.
Nunez appears to be a monster for a second-base profile. His hands are sluggish through the zone and he got fooled a few times, but his set-up looks good. If he can work on recognizing pitches and forcing pitchers to give him stuff he can handle he might pan out.
Rivera is a 28th-round pick out of the University of Tampa. He batted .296 in the Arizona Rookie Leauge and appears to be a glove-first player. He is lanky with some projectability but lacks serious strength for a 23-year-old prospect.
Beltre is young with a lot of projectability. At 20 years old he already has four professional seasons under his belt and earned a promotion to the Arizona Rookie League in 2017. There is some length in his swing that needs to be ironed out but he batted .325 in 69 contests this season.
There are a lot of hopes tied up in Rutherford’s success. He was a 2016 first-round pick and highly sought after in the midseason Yankees trade. Rutherford is another leg-kicker, although softer. He is known for a meticulous regiment and a host of performance coaches forming a bubble of measured success he can live in. Many times this kind of micromanagement can create a paralysis-by-analysis quandary, but it appears he needs to cut loose and play. There is a propensity to get extended and pitch recognition seems to be his main task.
Yurchak batted .345 for Great Falls in his debut season with eight home runs. He has a big frame that coaches will aim to wring power from.
Zack Collins
Collins didn’t show the same quiet approach that he did earlier in the week. A lot can happen in three days and perhaps the coaching staff is allowing Collins more latitude to experiment with a blend of the two extremes.
Something else you might notice about the videos is that Collins spends a lot of time behind the plate. He demonstrates more and more flexibility and softness behind the plate. But there is still a little queasiness about how he absorbs pitches.
The Chicago Cubs will host Game 3 of the NLDS against the Washington Nationals on Monday and the time for first pitch at Wrigley Field has finally been released.
The Chicago Bears also play on Monday, hosting the Minnesota Vikings on Monday Night Football on ESPN, but if you’re a fan of both teams you’re in luck because the times will not conflict.
So, we could potentially see the Cubs advance to the NLCS and then watch Mitch Trubisky’s debut with the Bears. Monday should be fun. Meanwhile, Jose Quintana will make his postseason debut and will face off against Max Scherzer.
If there is a Game 4 between the Cubs and Nationals, the time will be determined based on the result of the Los Angeles Dodgers and Arizona Diamondbacks series.
Game 4 of #Cubs-Nationals is currently set for 4:38 p.m. Tuesday. It will be moved to to 7:08 p.m. if Dodgers-Dbacks is a sweep.
The Cubs don’t have a lot of experience against Strasburg, having 106 career at-bats against him on the current roster. Jason Heyward has the most success (15-for-37), hitting .405/.463/.595, that’s a 1.058 OPS. Almost all of that came when Heyward was with the Atlanta Braves. Anthony Rizzo has the second-most at-bats against him with 13.
Strasburg has made five career starts against the Cubs and the last two times he’s pitched seven innings, allowing a total of three earned runs in the two games. That includes his seven-inning outing on June 28, when he surrendered two earned runs on four hits. He made 10 starts after this year’s All-Star break and he had an unbelievable 0.86 ERA.
Meanwhile, here’s what the Nationals have done against Kyle Hendricks.
Former Chicago Bears assistant coach Todd Washington spent the summer with the team for training camp this year. The 41-year old already has quite the football career behind him. In 1998 he was drafted in the fourth round by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He would remain one of their primary backups at center and guard for the next five seasons.
His final year there they won the Super Bowl and he left the next season for Houston. After wrapping up his playing career there, he decided to break into coaching. He worked his way up through the college ranks, breaking into the NFL with the Baltimore Ravens in 2011. There he stayed until 2016 before parting ways
The Bears liked his work and decided to bring him in as an assistant to help with camp practices and preseason preparation. After the season began he was granted his release. Since then he’s kept close tabs on the team, following their progress. I got a chance to speak with him about his time with the team and much more.
It was quite the show the Blackhawks put on last night in their shellacking of the Stanley Cup Champion Penguins. They broke the team record of 8 goals in a home opener by scoring 10. In fact, it was the first time since October 12, 1988 they scored that many.
With the exception of Rick Vaive who had a hat trick, Blackhawks fans have probably heard the names of the organizational legends who scored in that game. Denis Savard, Steve Larmer, Doug Wilson and current analyst Troy Murray. Despite all those names the success didn’t translate for much of the season.
That season the Blackhawks recorded a 27-41-12 record totaling a very low 66 points. They would finish fourth in the Norris Division and just slide into the playoffs. As bad as that regular season record was, that team had a deep run in the playoffs.
The Blackhawks would defeat the hated Detroit Red Wings four games to two in the division semifinals. Then they would take out another rival during the division finals by defeating the the St. Louis Blues four games to one.
Their luck would run out in the Campbell Conference Finals though. The Blackhawks would lose that series four games to one against the eventual Stanley Cup Champion Calgary Flames.
I know what happened 29 years ago doesn’t apply to anything this season but I feel there are some comparisons. A lot of people have picked the Blackhawks to finish third or fourth in the division. I am also one of those people but I expect a lot more than 66 points. Mostly because I feel they’ll win considerably more than 27 games and there was no “loser point” back then for making it into OT.
The make-up of that team was a lot like today’s team. It had a very good group of veterans but had some young or unproven players behind them. If the current younger players can carry even half of the success they had in game one, this could be a very exciting season.
Follow @Pappy_Hour on Twitter for more Blackhawks news and musings.
It is no secret that Zack Collins needed to revise his busy swing. Even though he put together an impressive debut in 2016 after being drafted in the first round by the White Sox, many believed he would have to trim his bat waggle as he moved up the minor-league ladder.
Still, his skills behind the plate were the main focus of coaches at the White Sox instructional league last fall. He caught side after side working on receiving and posture; swings were limited. Collins adopted an offseason pilates-routine when he returned home and the results were evident. Collins nailed 64 percent of runners on the base paths by simply improving his flexibility and throwing mechanics.
But the scale tipped heavily on offense. He batted .224 with 19 home runs and a mere 53 runs batted in – disappointing numbers from a player heralded as a bat-first player. Every prospect takes their lumps and Collins took them early, but the cornerstone of his value is rooted in his approach at the plate – something he didn’t leave behind. The slugger posted a .370 on-base percentage with 87 walks and his OPS was a stout .816.
Every prospect takes their lumps and Collins took them early, but the cornerstone of his value is rooted in his approach at the plate – something he didn’t leave behind. The slugger posted a .370 on-base percentage with 87 walks and his OPS was a stout .816.
Here is a look at his swing at instructs in 2016. His hands are active (usually promoted by hitting coaches) but just before he triggers his swing his hands duck and tuck.
Collins was sent back to instructs this year and for good reason. Despite catching over 100 games between Spring Training and two minor-league assignments, White Sox brass must believe that Collins needs to continue his work.
The scale appears to be rebalancing with Collins expected to spend a lot of time in the cage. He has dumped the bat waggle for a quiet shoulder-rest and an abbreviated load. With such a pronounced pre-swing set-up and a late hitch, pitchers targeted
With such a pronounced pre-swing set-up and a late hitch, pitchers targeted Collins hands. A full workload behind the plate and full season of wear and tear grinds players down, and as the season wore on Collins’ hands slackened and pitches he used to pulverize up in the zone blew his doors off.
Here is a look at his revised swing. His bat rests on his shoulder and he takes his hands directly to the loaded position. This is a simple and common adjustment hitting coaches like to make — an easy simplification that Collins can apply and eventually tweak as he gets comfortable. (Collins at-bat starts at 1:30)
Something else I noticed is that Collins is starting more open. It’s a little unorthodox to set-up with the front foot open but if he can keep his hands back his hips can clear much quicker. And if his hips can clear faster so can his hands.
“I guess you could say I’m getting ready to hit the ball a little bit quicker,” Collins told Josh Norris of Baseball America. “I’m trying to have the bat rested on my shoulder kind of Freddie Freeman-like. He kind of does the same move as we’re loading. It kind of cuts it down a little bit and it gets me on time a little bit more.”
Baseball players more than other athletes rely on comfort and a mechanical adjustment is no small request. Collins’ feelings on his nascent swing are not surprising but his trite confessions are encouraging.
“I’m staying through balls a little bit better, hitting the offspeed better and seeing the ball better, so I feel good. … Right now it feels a little awkward, but we’re getting there.”
It’s a learning curve for every player. The prestigious collegiate summer leagues that players visit every year typically play in three-game spurts. It is not uncommon to have two days off a week in the college and summer seasons and while the net total of games played might be similar from college to the pros, it is an altogether different haul when players have two days off a month.
The adjustments are endless, something Collins will have to adjust to as he continues developing into the player White Sox officials expect him to be.
The things the Blackhawks were doing to the Penguins in the season opener were borderline pornographic. You liked it but didn’t know if you should keep it on. As a Blackhawks fan, I hope you kept it on.
We all know how filthy Patrick Kane’s hands are and he set the tone with a beautiful no-look assist to Ryan Hartman to open the scoring. He would add another no look assist later in the period that was just as filthy. Kane wasn’t done there as he added yet another assist and a highlight reel backhand goal. He would end up with 1g and 3a and if tonight is any indication of the rest of the season, Kane will be a Hart Trophy contender.
Ryan Hartman is off to hot start following his 31 point season in 2016-2017. He had a great night with 1g 4a and had great chemistry with Kane and Schmaltz. Schmaltz looked like a superstar with 2g 1a but left the game in the third period. The way this second line looked tonight, hopefully nothing is seriously wrong.
The story of the night had to be Brandon Saad’s return. Saadfather led the way with a hat trick highlighted by his second goal where he dangled and undressed the defense. Toews set him up perfectly for goal number three and Saad of course put it in the back of the net.
Also, let’s not forget this grotesque hit that Alex Debrincat put on Ian Cole. A man much older and larger than him.
The Blackhawks broke the team record of 8 for goals in a home opener and are on pace for 820 goals (the record is 446 by the 1983-1984 Edmonton Oilers). It will be interesting to see if the Blackhawks can keep up this pace all season. We are in for a lot of cold showers if they do.
Follow @Pappy_Hour on Twitter for more Blackhawks news and musings.
There have been many boisterous cheers throughout 23 years at the United Center but few rank up there with this one. Bryan Bickell received a well-deserved “One More Shift” tribute from the Chicago Blackhawks on Thursday night and the fans responded, loudly.
Bickell was a fan favorite through his nine years wearing a Blackhawks sweater and won three Stanley Cups with the organization. He will always live on in Blackhawks lore as the guy who tied game six of the 2013 Stanley Cup Final with the first of the two “17 Seconds” goals.
His battle with Multiple Sclerosis has been well-documented since 2016 but he returned to play for the Carolina Hurricanes in April of 2017. Bickell received many great gestures from the Hurricanes after he announced he would retire following the season but Chicago was his rightful place.
That’s why this week the Blackhawks signed Bickell to one-day contract to retire with the team and honored him with “One More Shift” on opening night. You can see in the video and from the fan’s reactions that he was a special person.
Follow @Pappy_Hour on Twitter for more Blackhawks news and musings.
Football has an injury problem. I know that sentence may not come as a shock to you, as football is a hard-hitting, violent game in which the only outcome can truly be gut-wrenching or chronic injury. But with all the advancements in player-safety measures the NFL preaches, the game is more dangerous than ever before. Viewing this from a Chicago Bears’ fan perspective, I can tell you first and foremost that out of all the problems the 2017 Bears’ team faces, and there are A LOT of them, injuries have caused the most frustration early this season.
Already lacking sufficient talent, the Bears caught the injury bug early and often, losing Wide Receiver Kevin White to a broken collarbone, Wide Receiver Cam Meredith to a torn ACL and Linebackers Nick Kwiatkoski and Jerrell Freeman to peck injuries. But I don’t have to remind you the misery of the last four games.
Sitting in the stands, I always ask myself, “if these players are in pristine shape and are some of the best athletes in the world, why do they keep dropping like flies the second the ball is snapped? Shouldn’t they be able to withstand almost anything?” Just ask Kevin White that question, as he has only seen action in five games in three years. He can’t seem to catch a break. It seems as great of shape as these athletes are in; they’re not in “football” shape. Football shape and regular athleticism are two completely different things. While you are taking my word as someone who is currently 5’5″ and champions himself as a beer-league softball clean-up hitter, I think you’ll be able to understand where my thought process is headed.
There are two re-occurring reasons why we continue to see a spike in NFL injuries, especially the devastating ones as we’ve seen to the Patriot’s Julian Edelman or the Eagles’ Darren Sproles, breaking his arm and tearing his ACL on the same play.
This is the play Darren Sproles broke his arm and tore his ACL. Both in one play, 8 second span. pic.twitter.com/8DMGwNfotn
As the NFL has continued to evolve in the past decade, player safety has been at the forefront of everyone’s minds. This effort however has brought a false sense of safety when it is actually doing more harm and leading to worse, long-term injuries. Back in 2011, the Bucky Brooks of NFL.com wrote about how the change in practice schedules could actually hurt the NFL moving forward. Six years later, he is absolutely right and echoes my first reason for increased injuries.
Bucky highlights how the NFL disbanded the ‘two-a-day’ practices during training camps, allowing for only one full-contact padded practice per day as well as the mandate monitoring the number of padded practices the NFL can have during the season. NFL teams are now allowed only 14 full padded practices a year, with 11 having to come in the first 11 weeks of the season (a maximum of one per week). While he argues many points of how this will affect the skill in the game, I focus on his point surrounding how tackling will suffer.
The loss of traditional full-contact practices has allowed for the decline in fundamentally-sound tackling on the field. How can players be expected to complete a tackle if they barely learn how in practice? This lack of hard-hitting practices still allows players to get into prime physical shape, but not football shape. They have to get used to getting their bell rung day in and day out in order to be able to take that first hit of the season as they fight for the first-down marker, or make that first hit to stop the running back on 4th Down. Just look at the injuries to Jerrell Freeman and Nick Kwiatkoski mentioned above. They both had ‘peck’ injuries simply from making tackles. This is not a very common football injury and looking at this trend I can tell you it was from a lack of padded practices coming into the season.
I know opponents of this article will yell and scream that the game is too violent and that it has to go away. I understand the dangers of what you’re talking about, but in viewing the game today, as it stands, the game is becoming more dangerous the safer they try to make it.
And trust me, I understand the fact that repeated head trauma is the root to the problem in the NFL, but in reality, the NFL will continue to be a violent sport, and as the player’s have said, they know what they are signing up for. What they are not signing up for is to play the game they love at a disadvantage each and every week because the lack of tackling in practice has not gotten them ready for in-game scenarios.
The lack of fundamental tackling in practice however has not only lead to more pre-disposition for injury, but has allowed targeting to be used as compensation, and the helmet as a weapon
The lack of fundamental tackling in practice however has not only lead to more pre-disposition for injury, but has allowed targeting to be used as compensation, and the helmet as a weapon, my second reason for the of injuries in the NFL. If a player does not learn how to properly tackle, they still have to find a way to make a play right? Because they are so athletic, why don’t they just bulldoze a player at top speed with their helmet to make sure they make the tackle? Well, that’s exactly what they do. While the advent of the helmet has done a lot of good for the game, the players’ fitness and ability has changed a lot since the 1940’s and the helmet can give a false sense of security when making a big play.
If a player doesn’t practice tackling and it appears easier to make a bigger impact by leading with their head, and they think they may not become as injured because the helmet is ‘protecting their head,’ why not do it? Well, this play will be just as devastating to the player making the tackle as the one getting hit.
Your head is not supposed to be an attacking part of your body, unless your head butt champion Ben Kline of Penn State…
However the head has now become that weapon in the modern NFL, causing more harm and debilitating injury.
Take a look at everyone’s favorite 1950’s tackle instructional video; no heads are used as the main extremity of tackling.
My dad has been preaching that football should get rid of the helmets and then you’ll see just how many people will lead with their head. After seeing what has been the injury trend in football, I am starting to agree, and so is former Super Bowl Champion Hines Ward. Football is always going to be a hard-contact sport and as long as the NFL continues these practices in an effort for player safety, they are actually endangering the players even more. Like I mentioned earlier, the players know what they are signing up for when they join the league, but what they are not signing up for is a league that has hypocritical safety regulations that hurt them and their career longevity even more.
As the injuries continue to pile up, and Fantasy Football owners groan about how their $200 investment is now flushed down the toilet, remember, you’re not to blame for picking these often-injured players. The NFL is to blame for trying to make a violent sport safer through illogical thought. Go back to the fundamentals and what is needed to make the game great and actually safer.
You’ve created this vicious injury monster NFL, now it’s your job to fix it.
