Month: December 2017

Dwight Evans Belongs in Hall of Fame Alongside Roberto Clemente

Baseball’s greatest right fielders have the most powerful and accurate arms.  They play shallow and charge the ball with aggression, preventing runners from taking an extra base.  A great right fielder is an intimidator, able to change the complexion of a game with aggressive play.  Offensively, the great ones typically anchor a lineup with power and production.  The all-time greatest was Hall of Famer Roberto Clemente.  The unquestionable best Red Sox right fielder is Dwight Evans, who should have a plaque in Cooperstown.

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In addition to winning four batting titles, an MVP award and two World Series championships with the Pittsburgh Pirates, Clemente established the modern day standard for right fielders, earning Gold Glove awards every year from 1961-1971 while patrolling Pittsburgh’s spacious Forbes Field.  His 12 career Gold Glove awards ties Willie Mays for the most in baseball history.  

Clemente led outfielders in assists five times thanks to one of the best arms baseball has ever seen. Just months before perishing in a plane crash while leading humanitarian efforts for earthquake ravage Nicaragua, Clemente became the 11th player to record 3,000 career hits. If not for his tragic death at the young age of 38, the Clemente name would figure even more prominently in the baseball record book.

You can make a strong case for Evans being considered the best outfielder in Red Sox history. He was the top right fielder of his era, earning eight Gold Gloves.  He played with outstanding instincts, carefully navigating the spacious, tight-cornered, wide-angled Fenway right field while displaying a canon of an arm.  

Evans made one of the greatest catches in World Series history in Game Six of the 1975 World Series.  In the 11th inning of a 6-6 ball game with one out and fleet-footed Ken Griffey Sr. on first, Cincinnati All-Star second baseman Joe Morgan slashed a sinking liner toward the right  field field pole. The  ball seemed destined to drop into the corner for an extra base hit that would have scored Griffey.  With an instinctive over-the-head stab of the  glove, Evans plucked the ball out of the Boston night.  He stumbled backward, regained his balance and threw to the infield to double up Griffey at first base.  Carlton Fisk secured arguably the most memorable game in Red Sox and World Series history with a dramatic 12th inning home run.

Somehow, Evans lasted only three years on the Hall of Fame ballot, never getting more than 10.4 percent of the vote.  Perhaps Evans was overshadowed by Hall of Fame teammates Fisk, Carl Yastrzemski, and Jim Rice.  Evans may have been prematurely labeled “a good hitter,” but not a “great hitter ”because his offensive prowess occurred in the latter half of his career,   Perhaps his steady production and contributions were just overlooked.  There was little fanfare to his game — he consistently produced offensively and defensively, but often in the shadows of more popular teammates.

Defensively, Evans compared favorably to Clemente, winning eight gold gloves while leading the league in assists three times.  The assist totals were kept down over the years as few runners dared to test the Evans’s powerful and accurate arm.  The only outfielders to earn more Gold Gloves are Clemente, Willie Mays, Al Kaline, and Ken Griffey Jr. — all Hall of Famers.

Offensively, Evans is not as far from elite as non-believers might think.  In fact, looking at his numbers over an extended period of time, Evans is indeed elite.  He was one of the best offensive players of his era.  During the decade of the ‘80s (1980-1989), Evans had more home runs and extra base hits than any other player in the American League.  At one time or another, he led the league in on-base percentage, OPS, runs, runs created, total bases, home runs, extra base hits, base on balls, and times reaching base.  

Ironically, his best season may be what’s keeping him out of the Hall of Fame.  During the strike-shortened 1981 season, Evans slashed .296/.415.522 while playing every game and leading the league in homers, total bases, walks, and OPS.  This was also one of his Gold Glove seasons.  The Dwight Evans legacy may have been different had Major League Baseball completed the season and Evans continued his MVP ways.  If Evans had hit 15 more homers in the 54 games missed, he would have finished his career with 400 home runs — and unofficial benchmark for HOF enshrinement.

By definition — at least my definition — the best players of any era are considered baseball’s elite and therefore belong in the Hall of Fame.  Evans was inexplicably kept off the HOF’s Modern Era final list earlier this month.  The committee will convene again over the next few years, hopefully with an open-minded look at forgotten players from the ‘70s and ‘80s such as Evans.

The Evans rookie card, also featuring Baltimore Orioles and Cleveland Indians fan-favorites Al Bumbry and Charlie Spikes, can be found in the 1973 Topps set.  In 1955, Topps issued the first Clemente baseball card, which features spectacular portrait and action photos across a horizontal design.

 

Shohei Ohtani Signs with Angels; Aims To Become Next Babe Ruth

Any comparisons to Babe Ruth are subject to hyperbole, but the exploits of 23-year-old Shohei Ohtani give us reason to believe the Japanese — and soon-to-be Los Angeles Angels —  star could be the next great two-way ball player.

The 2016 Most Valuable Player of the Pacific League of Nippon Professional Baseball was the first Japanese professional baseball player to hit 10 or more homers and win 10 or more games as a pitcher in the same season.  The only player in major league history  to score a double-double was Ruth, who stroked 11 home runs and won 13 games for the 1918 World Series Champion Boston Red Sox.

Ohtani’s 2016 season was one of the best in Japanese history when he boasted a 10-4 record with a 1.86 ERA.  The right-handed flamethrower posted a 0.95 WHIP while averaging 11.2 strikeouts and 2.9 walks per nine innings.  Moonlighting as a left-handed-hitting DH, the 6-foot-4 Ohtani slugged 22 home runs while hitting .322 with a whopping 1.004 OPS in 104 games.  With five professional seasons under his belt, Ohtani had a 42-15 record  with a 2.52 ERA in Japan.  He hit .286 with 48 homers and 163 RBI in 403 games, not to mention a.859 OPS.

Japanese baseball isn’t quite the  Major League Baseball, but  it’s step ahead of AAA-ball.  There is no question that Ohtani’s overall skills are off the charts.  Major League Pacific Rim scouts have long marveled at Ohtani’s skills, referring to him as the “modern-day Babe Ruth”.  A top-of-the rotation pitcher and a potentially middle-of-the-order slugger all in one, Ohtani throws a high-90s fastball that has reportedly topped out at 103 mph — the fastest ever thrown by a Japanese player. He uses a  low-90s forkball to keep hitters off balance with a changeup still a work in progress and is viewed as a major-league-ready top of the rotation pitcher.

Ohtani still has some holes to fill in his swing, but has natural power and a keen eye at the plate.  Showing off a powerful uppercut swing, the potential Angels clean up hitter has been compared to . Otani played 62 games as a corner outfielder his first two years as a professional.  A sprained ankle early in the 2014 season quickly put an end to Otani’s outfield duties.  With additional ankle woes that limited his time on the field last season last season, Ohtani was used exclusively as a DH when not pitching over the last three years.

 

Ohtani yearned to pitch and hit in the majors, to compete against the best in the world as a pitcher and a hitter since he was started

 playing.  The questions ahead for Ohtani, Mike Scioscia and the Angels brain trust are complicated:  How will he deal with the pressures associated with becoming the “modern day Babe Ruth”?  How will the  Angels schedule his workload between and during pitching assignments?  What happens when he hits a wall? It w

ill happen.  Afterall, Ohtani is human … we think.  When his pitching suffers due to the daily grind at the plate, do the Angels put his hitting duties on  the back burner?

otaniScioscia, a former catcher, has proven adept at running a pitching staff and the Angels have never hesitated to thinkout of the box. Based on Ohtani’s past success, the Angels will likely simulate his Japanese work routine as much as possible. This means the Angels will implement a six-man rotation for an entire season. He will likely DH when he’s not pitching and sit the day before pitching.  The chronic ankle injuries will keep Ohtani from playing first base or right field on a regular basis.  Although Ohtani insists on being a two-way player, pitching will be the priority for the Angels.  Ohtani has yet to reach his prime, which means great things are ahead.  The question is: How long will his body allow him to be a two-way player?  Ruth was only able to do it for four and one half years.

 

What the Angels and Ohtani are doing is ground breaking.  Their success — or lack of success — will have significant implications on the  future of baseball.  The mystery surrounding Ohtani’s skills and how they are implemented by the Angels will be the biggest storyline of the 2018 season. You can count Ohtani baseball cards to be the most coveted cards from now through the 2018 season. Ohtani’s first baseball card was an insert in Japan’s Sports Card Magazine #97 released in January 2013. It was a promo card for the 2013 BBM Rookie Edition set and is selling for $30.  His 2017 Bowman Chrome Refractor World Baseball Classic is selling for $160 and is on the rise.  He and teammate Mike Trout will be among the most collectible players of the year.