Hitting a Major League Home Run Before One's First Major League Home Run

"Yesterday's" home run by Juan Soto, in a game that was suspended May 15th and completed yesterday, will be part of a great trivia question in the future.

Quoting from the article to which I linked:

On Monday, the Washington Nationals rookie crushed a tiebreaking, pinch-hit, two-run homer against the New York Yankees in the continuation of a game that started May 15 — five days before his big league debut.

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Soto's blast will not be considered his first major league homer, but it will be counted as a home run hit on May 15.

Box Score of the Day

Today's game between San Diego and Tampa Bay was a bit odd. The team (Tampa Bay) that allowed 15 runs used 2 pitchers, and the team (San Diego) that allowed 1 run used 5 pitchers.

Meanwhile, Chase Utley of the Dodgers returned to his old stomping grounds in Philadelphia as a visiting player for the first time. The fans greeted him very warmly indeed in his first couple of plate appearances, and then he got a curtain call from the Phillies fans for each of his two homers today. Very classy!

Prince Fielder's Baseball Career is Over

While Prince Fielder hasn't technically officially retired, he has announced that his playing career is over because medically he will never be able to play again.

As this graphic illustrates, Fielder finishes his career with very similar statistics (including the same number of home runs) as his father Cecil. I guess it's the circle of life. This is pretty cool, and they are the same type of player. I do like how Prince makes Cecil look positively sleek with this pair of pictures.

Also, because of their defensive "value", the two Fielders (despite their monicker) also both have "high" ranks among the players with the lowest Wins Above Replacement (WAR) for all Major League players with 300+ home runs.

Several other notable sluggers are also finishing off their Major League careers. Alex Rodriguez is playing his last game this coming Friday, Mark Teixeira is retiring at the end of the year, and David Ortiz has been doing a retirement victory lap all season. Of these sluggers, only Ortiz is going out on top of his game.

Adam Dunn and the Three True Outcomes

Adam Dunn is almost certainly going to retire after the 2014 season is over. He is currently third all time in strikeouts among hitters, and he's only 34 years old. He would only need to play a couple more seasons to set the record.

Jayson Stark wrote about Dunn's career today, and some of the numbers are mind-boggling (like how often fielders weren't particularly needed when he came to the plate). Amazing.

Update (10/01/14): It's now official (and unsurprising): Adam Dunn is retiring. He is on the Oakland Athletics, who just lost to the Royals last night in the AL Wildcard one-game playoff. This season was the first time that Adam Dunn got into the playoffs (after more than 2000 games played, which made him the active "leader" in that category), and he didn't even get to play in the game.

Bizarre Game

I watched the first game in today's double-header between the Orioles and the Rangers, and this was a rather bizarre game. The Orioles became the first American League team ever to start a game with 3 consecutive homeruns. In fact, all five of their hits were homers and Rangers starter Colby Lewis set careers in both homers allowed (5) and strikeouts (12). Baseball never ceases to amaze me.

Jim Thome Hits 600th Career Homer

Jim Thome hit 2 home runs tonight and has become the eighth Major League player with at least 600 home runs. Very nice!

Home Run Derby

Baseball has tweaked the format of the All-Star Game Home Run Derby in a way that I think is very, very cool. Namely, the last two winners (David Ortiz of the American League and Prince Fielder of the National League) have been named the captains of their respective teams, and they will each be the ones who pick their 3 teammates. I think this is a refreshing way to do this. I wouldn't necessarily want it this way every year, but at least this once I like it very much.