Month: October 2019

Royce Lewis named 2019 Arizona Fall League MVP

Royce Lewis #9 of the Salt River Rafters bats against the Mesa Solar Sox during the game at Salt River Fields. (Photo by Buck Davidson/MLB Photos via Getty Images)

After leading the 2019 Arizona Fall League with 30 hits and slashing .353/.411/.565 with three homers and 20 RBIs over 22 games, Royce Lewis the Minnesota Twins top prospect according to MLB Pipeline was chosen as the league’s most valuable player. MLB Pipeline has Lewis as the ninth best prospect in all of baseball and the second highest rated prospect playing in the AFL this season.

Lewis had a great AFL season as he also won the Fall Stars Game MVP Award with a two-run homer in the East’s 4-2 win over the West and was named the Championship Chains Hitter of the Week after going 6-for-10 in the fourth week of the AFL season. 

You may have heard of the previous three winners of the AFL MVP award. They are Brewers 2B Keston Hiura in 2018 and debuted with the Brewers this past season, Braves OF Ronald Acuna Jr. in 2017 who debuted in Atlanta in 2018 and Yankees 2B/SS Gleyber Torres in 2016 who debuted in 2018. Some pretty nice players. I think I here Royce Lewis knocking at the Target Field door.

The strong AFL performance was huge for Lewis, who hit just .236/.290/.371 over 127 games with Class A Advanced Fort Myers and Double-A Pensacola during the regular season after suffering some injuries. The Twins claim they are still committed to keeping Lewis at shortstop but in the AFL this fall Lewis spent most of his time playing third base but did spend some time in centerfield and second base. I can’t help but wonder if the Twins see a time in the not too distant future when they can make Royce Lewis their third baseman and move Miguel Sano to first base full time.

Former Twins shortstop Jackie Hernandez losses his battle with cancer

Jackie Hernandez

Jackie Hernandez (Jacinto Hernández Zulueta) was born on September 11, 1940 in Central Tinguaro, Cuba and passed away on October 12, 2019 in Miami, Florida after a short battle with lung cancer. His given name (Hyacinth in English) was difficult for many people in the U.S. to pronounce, leading to his Anglicized nickname; he was also called simply “Jack or Jackie.” 

Hernandez played pro ball from 1961 through 1974 and then spent some time playing ball in Mexico from 1975-1976 before retiring as an active player.

Continue reading Former Twins shortstop Jackie Hernandez losses his battle with cancer

The Angels knew and now they have to pay

Tyler Skaggs – Photo by Jayne Kamin-Oncea/Getty Images

The recent news that the Angels organization was aware that pitcher Tyler Skaggs was an opioid abuser and that they actually helped him acquire the drugs is an unforgivable act and obviously a crime. In my opinion this is many times worse than cheating, gambling, or hacking into another teams data.

The fact that the Angels knew what was going on and didn’t report it is inexcusable. In today’s business world harassment must be reported but in MLB apparently drug use is not only allowed but encouraged. Looking the other way is not acceptable, what happened to “if you see something, say something”? How did Skaggs get by with this? Where is the drug testing that MLB is so proud of? Do we need to test front office personnel too?

The Los Angeles Angels organization must be punished and longtime Angels PR official Eric Kay should be arrested and should be looking at serious jail time. But what kind of punishment should be applied to the Angels organization? No question Eric Kay should get a lifetime ban from MLB, but what about the others?

I think you start at the very top of the Angels food chain with owner Arte Moreno. The man has more money than he knows what to do with so a fine is not in play. If I am the the MLB commissioner I give owner Moreno a choice, either sell the team in the next 180 days or face a life-time suspension whereas he can’t even be seen at any Angels facility or provide any input into how the team is run for a minimum of two years at which point his case would come up for review. Team President Joe Carpino is also suspended for one season with no pay simply because this happened on his watch, the buck stops at the top. No excuses here!

That addresses some of the key individuals, but how about the team itself? They can’t go scot free in this ordeal. There has to be a severe punishment applied and there are not many ways to do this. You could fine the organization a ton of money but I don’t think a fine is the answer. As far as I know no MLB team has ever been banished from the playoffs but that is an option. Taking away draft choices is an option that has been used in the past. How about a imposing a salary cap on the Angels for a couple of years?

The team must be punished in some fashion to send a message to all of MLB but no matter how you look at it, Angels fans and players that are clean in this terrible situation are the big losers. None of the penalties that MLB will impose on the Los Angeles Angels will compare to the price paid by Tyler Skaggs who paid the ultimate price just to play a game. In the end, that is all baseball really is, a game.