Albert Pujols' decade of dominance

February, 16, 2011
Feb 16
1:49


By Alok Pattani

AP Photo/Jeff Roberson
Are the stats that Albert Pujols put up from 2001 to 2010 the best first 10 seasons in history?

The noon ET deadline has passed for Albert Pujols and the St. Louis Cardinals to reach an agreement on a new contract. Does this mean that 2011 definitely will be Pujols’ last season in St. Louis? No, but if it is, then the Cardinals will be losing the services of one of the greatest players in the history of the game.

In fact, if you look at Pujols’ numbers from his first 10 seasons, they are absolutely stunning. The case can be made that Pujols has had the best first 10 seasons of any player in MLB history.

Don’t think so? Consider the following:

• One way to look at a player’s contributions (including pitching, hitting, base running and defense) is to look at his wins above replacement (WAR). This measures how many more wins a team had with the player in the lineup than they would have had if they had to replace him (taking into account his position). Baseball Reference has numbers that go back all time; however, the numbers are more estimates than actual the further you go back because of the lack of available data.

According to Baseball-Reference.com, Pujols accounted for 83.8 wins above replacement in his first 10 seasons, second to only Ted Williams among position players. Pujols’ total already is tied for the 31st-highest WAR among position players, and tied for the 47th-highest WAR if you include pitchers, as well.

Most WAR Through First 10 Seasons
Position Players, MLB History
Seasons WAR
T. Williams '39-42, '46-51 86.2
A. Pujols 2001-10 83.8 <
M. Mantle 1951-60 78.8
W. Mays '51-52, '54-61 76.3
R. Hornsby 1915-24 76.2

> T-31st as a career total in MLB history

• While WAR looks at a player’s “average” performance based on his cumulative numbers across the season, a more intricate way to look at how a player has performed in various situations within games is to use win probability added (WPA).

This looks at how a player increased or decreased his team’s chance of winning a game based on his offensive contributions, so it accounts for so-called “clutch” situations.

While WAR compares players to replacement level, WPA compares a player to average (which would be 0), so its numbers are lower in general.

According to Baseball Reference, Pujols has added 58.7 wins above the average player with his offense during his career. That’s the highest total for a player in his first 10 seasons as far back as play-by-play data goes (1950), more than five wins ahead of the player who ranks second, Mickey Mantle.

• There is the possibility that Pujols has come up in “higher leverage” situations (e.g. late in close games) more frequently than others, and perhaps that’s a reason his WPA is so high. You can account for this using a statistic called situational wins added, which essentially is WPA adjusted for the leverage of the situations that the player has come up in. This number can be interpreted as wins added above the average player in the same game situations.

Most Situational Wins Added
Through Player’s First 10 Seasons
Seasons WPA/LI
Albert Pujols 2001-10 62.0
Mickey Mantle 1951-60 56.5
Frank Thomas 1990-99 50.2
Jeff Bagwell 1991-00 48.2
Hank Aaron 1954-63 47.4

> Position Players, Since 1950

This makes Pujols’ career look even more amazing, as he has accounted for about 62 situational wins above average over his 10-year career. Not only is that the highest total through a player’s first 10 seasons since 1950, but it already ranks as the 15th-highest career total in that span.

For the traditionalists, Pujols has hit at least .300, with 30 home runs and 100 RBIs in each of his 10 seasons. That’s the longest streak of such seasons for a player at any point in his career. Look at the names that are second and third: Lou Gehrig (9, 1929 to 1937) and Babe Ruth (8, 1926 to 1933).

That alone should show you the elite company that Pujols can be compared with at this point of his career.

'The Extra 2%': Whiffing on Albert Pujols

ESPN.com

Editor's note: This excerpt from "The Extra 2%," by Jonah Keri, recounts how Tampa Bay, in 1999, failed to draft a young slugger named Albert Pujols despite a glowing recommendation from the team's area scout.

Copyright © 2011 by Jonah Keri. Excerpted with permission by ESPN Books, an imprint of ESPN Inc., New York, and Ballantine Books, an imprint of The Random House Publishing Group, a division of Random House Inc., New York.

*****



Jonathan Daniel/Getty ImagesAlbert Pujols was the NL Rookie of the Year only two years after being drafted in the 13th round.

The only thing that keeps this organization from being recognized as one of the finest in baseball is wins and losses at the major league level.

-- Chuck LaMar


There are few jobs in baseball less glamorous and more taxing than that of the area scout. These road warriors cover wide swaths of territory in pursuit of baseball talent. Their cars become their homes on their long, lonely drives down drab highways, burger wrappers and soda cups strewn all over the passenger seat. The area scout dreams of uncovering that hidden gem, the player other teams miss who goes on to stardom. The area scout isn't the person who makes the final decision on whether or not to draft a player. He doesn't even have a direct line to the scouting director, much less a team's general manager. For every player an area scout touts, a cross-checker -- itself a pretty thankless, often lonely job -- must travel to see that player perform, then report back to his bosses. Area scouts do gain credit if the team drafts and signs the player. But until that moment, the scout can only hope that someone will listen to him.

Fernando Arango understood the drawbacks of his job. Arango covered five states in his role as area scout for the Devil Rays: Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Nebraska. His region was nowhere near the baseball hotbeds of California, Florida, and Texas. But the relative lack of talent in his area could also mean fewer eyes on some intriguing players, thus causing a few to slip under the radar. One spring Arango drove to the tiny town of Republic, Missouri, to catch a high school tournament. One player stood out. This one kid, a burly third baseman, just a junior, was smacking line drives all over the park. Arango introduced himself, and the two hit it off. Both scout and player were students of the game, happy to talk about the finer points long after others would tune out. Arango saw a rare mix of natural ability and baseball intelligence in the third baseman. He got the player's contact information and promised to keep in touch.

The following year, Arango's prospect accelerated his education. A strong student with an affinity for math, he earned all his high school credits by January 1999, then transferred to Maple Woods Community College in Kansas City. Arango went back to see the young man play. This time there would be no covert operation. Several major league scouts and representatives, including former Kansas City Royals manager John Wathan, also showed up to see various players. The high school third baseman, now playing as an oversized shortstop, launched two long home runs over the fence in left-center, into a thicket of trees.

"The ball sounded like a cannon went off," Arango recalled. "It wasn't even fair for him to use an aluminum bat."

No way we'll get this guy, Arango thought to himself. Still, when he met with his cross-checker, Stan Meek, as well as scouting director Dan Jennings, Arango filed a glowing report on the player. Meek had gone to see the young man in action, but wasn't nearly as impressed as Arango.

"He was this paunchy, thick-bodied kid," Jennings recalled. "Stan said to me, 'I saw this kid strike out two or three times, I don't know what position he'd play, I can't do anything with him. I can't write him up.' "

Undaunted, Arango told his bosses, "All I want to say about this guy is that someday he'll hit 40 home runs in the big leagues." Jennings wasn't ready to dismiss Arango's report or his ranking of the top prospect in Arango's five-state area. So he sent in R.J. Harrison, a national cross-checker (who would take over, years later, as scouting director). Harrison's verdict: "I can't do anything with this guy."

Even after two emphatically negative reports, Jennings wanted to give Arango's find one last shot. The Devil Rays invited him to a pre-draft workout. No other team extended an invite. Not even the Royals, who played twenty minutes away.

Arango met his young protégé over Grand Slam breakfasts at a Denny's. The more they talked, the more Arango loved the smarts and grounded approach that went with the kid's talent. A huge contingent was waiting when Arango arrived at Tropicana Field. Jennings and Meek were there, along with fifteen other talent evaluators, Chuck LaMar, even Vince Naimoli. They watched a big group of draft hopefuls take their turns. Finally, the Missouri kid got his chance.

What happened next depends on who's telling the story. Arango claims his prospect looked like Lou Gehrig. Jennings saw no such thing.

Arango observed a 60-yard dash in 7.1 seconds, a good time for a player that size. The Devil Rays tried him at his college position of shortstop, where Arango says he handled an array of sharply hit grounders and showed good instincts for a big man. Jennings looked at the player's body, then suggested maybe he should catch. He'd never caught before and was worried he'd make a bad impression. Arango told him to relax, put on the equipment, and humor everyone for a few minutes. His first throw to second base came in a flash: 1.89 seconds. That time was phenomenal for a high school catcher and solid for a college catcher; several big league catchers show similar times. Only this player had never caught at any level. Then he got in the batter's box and started roping line drives all over the park. Growing up, his dad had taught him to hit the ball with authority to right-center. Do that consistently, his father told him, and he could one day hit .300 in the big leagues. Jennings wasn't impressed. "Where's the power?" he muttered. Arango got the message. "They'd like you to hit it a little farther," he told his pupil. On the very next pitch, the kid crushed the ball off the top of the left-field foul pole. Arango smiled. He was going to get his man. Jennings said he and the other scouts in attendance -- all except Arango -- remained concerned about the kid's thick build. They also focused on the negatives rather than the positives as Arango and Jennings both fell into a bit of confirmation bias. Jennings didn't like the player going down on one knee more than once to field grounders at short. He was also concerned about the player's performance at catcher: messy footwork and iffy throwing mechanics, despite a few good throws. At bat, he worried about the player's approach more than the results. "He's sitting very deep on his back leg, uppercut swing, back shoulder dipping pretty good," Jennings said.

"We go back upstairs, and I pose the question to the room," Jennings recounted. " 'This kid Fernando's got on his list, you see anything different today than what we've seen before?' Nope, no one saw anything. We left the workout with the same identical issues that caused us not to have him high on our board."

When draft day arrived, Arango waited. And waited. The Devil Rays weren't going to take his guy in the first round, he knew. But after the third, fourth, and fifth rounds passed, with the kid still undrafted, he started to wonder if his prediction of forty-home-run seasons had simply been forgotten. The D-Rays weren't the only team passing. On and on the draft went, and still no news. There were a bunch of reasons for the snub. The Devil Rays went after Florida players aggressively, giving them preference over other prospects -- and Florida-raised veteran free agents priority over non- Floridians -- in a constant quest for local identity and support. It was a shortsighted practice that never paid tangible dividends and often hurt the team. They still worried about the player's build, as Jennings had earlier, and wondered what position he would play. This was especially odd, since the player didn't get much chance to try out at third base, his natural position, or first, where Arango thought he could also fare well. Many skeptics also wondered about his age: he was born in the Dominican Republic, didn't move to the United States until high school, and always looked old for the age he was supposed to be. Meanwhile, the player's agent was new to the gig, and that uncertainty raised fears that just signing the guy could become dicey, even in the later rounds. Besides, the Devil Rays had their targeted names up on the draft board, and the draft was flying by. Jennings wasn't ignoring Arango's projection per se. There was just so much other stuff going on that they didn't give it much thought. By the time you get past the tenth round, most players have no shot of ever sniffing the big leagues, let alone becoming productive regulars, let alone becoming the kind of superstar Arango envisioned. No big deal.

With the first pick of the thirteenth round, the Devil Rays selected Jason Pruett, a left-handed pitcher out of a Texas community college. Seventeen picks later, the Cardinals threw their own dart. With the 402nd overall pick in the 1999 draft, St. Louis grabbed the player Arango had wanted all along. A pudgy kid from Missouri named Albert Pujols.

Arango was crushed. He quit his job and went to work at a sports agency. It didn't take long for the Devil Rays to realize their mistake. The player who once carried the weight of his abuela's rice and beans carved his body into granite. Pujols crushed the ball the minute he got to the minor leagues. He continued to mash in spring training of 2001, impressing St. Louis brass so profoundly that the Cardinals tossed him into their opening day lineup, despite Pujols having played only three games above A-ball to that point. He hit .329 that year with 37 homers, a .403 on-base percentage, and a .610 slugging percentage, one of the greatest performances by any rookie in major league history.

Arango never forgot his initial scouting report, and neither did Pujols. Late in Pujols's third season, he reached 39 home runs.

Arango called Pujols with a message: he and his wife had a bottle of champagne chilling that they would open as soon as Pujols cracked number 40. The next day Pujols called back. Arango already knew what he was going to say.

"I got forty," Albert Pujols told one of the few scouts who had believed in him, "and forty-one too. You can go ahead and call the Devil Rays now."

To be fair, twenty-eight other teams missed on Pujols too. But the D-Rays' whiff on the greatest player of the past decade epitomized the team's early struggles in building a productive farm system. Tampa Bay would eventually become known as a scouting and player development powerhouse, one built partly on high draft picks, but also on a smarter approach than the competition. That reputation would take a while to bloom, though. Before that, the D-Rays were a team that struggled to build the talent pipeline it needed to win at the major league level. Those failures were the results of poor choices, cheapskate spending habits, and in the case of the thirteenth-round pick turned future Hall of Famer, plain old bad luck. That and failing to listen to baseball's equivalent of a foot soldier -- the overworked, underpaid, underappreciated area scout.

Nelson Cruz matches Mays, McGwire

April, 4, 2011
Apr 4
8:31
PM CT



By Randy Jennings

ARLINGTON, Texas -- Rangers right fielder Nelson Cruz put his name in the record book along with a couple of baseball’s biggest names.

With a 419-foot home run into the seats in left-center in the fourth inning, Cruz became only the first American Leaguer and the third player overall to homer in each of his first four games of the season.

The only others to do it were Willie Mays of the Giants in 1971 and Mark McGwire of the Cardinals in 1998.

Cruz’ homer came on Erik Bedard’s first pitch of the at-bat. Cruz struck out in his first plate appearance in the second inning.

Rangers second baseman Ian Kinsler also homered in his first three games. He has flied out to left field in two trips to the plate Monday. UPDATE: Kinsler finished without a home run.

Former Ranger Mark Teixeira of the New York Yankees homered in his first three games but came up empty Monday night against the Minnesota Twins.

Dave Cameron - April 7, 2011

Yesterday, Tommy Rancel wrote about Alexi Ogando‘s impressive start to the season, but while Ogando pitched well and his team won, he wasn’t the big story in that game. His counterpart on Tuesday was Michael Pineda, a highly touted prospect who was making his Major League debut for the Mariners. At 6’7 and 250 pounds, Pineda looks the part of a dominating frontline starter, and after he showed off his mid-90s velocity and dispatched the Rangers on 10 pitches (despite racking up two strikeouts) in his first inning of work, it was easy to see why his arrival was so highly anticipated.

The Rangers were able to get to Pineda a couple of times later in the game, notching four extra base hits that led to three runs off the young hurler in his six innings of work, but it was certainly a successful debut overall; there’s no shame in giving up a few hits to the Texas Rangers, after all. However, while Pineda dominating the right-handed bats in the Texas line-up – they combined to go 2 for 16 with a walk and a sac bunt in their 18 attempts against him – his one big flaw was on display on Tuesday, and it’s one of the reasons why I’m not quite sure that he’ll be able to live up to the hype this year.

Put simply, Pineda really struggles against left-handed batters. Josh Hamilton and Mitch Moreland combined to go 3 for 5 with two doubles and a triple off Pineda, and while he was able to strike Hamilton out on a change-up in the first inning, that was the only good change he threw the entire night. As you can see from the Pitch F/x clusters (ignore the pitch type labels, the algorithm got them wrong), the system picked up nine change-ups from Pineda ranging from 86-91 MPH.

A power change-up is great if you can throw it at that velocity with good sink and tailing movement. Felix Hernandez throws that kind of diving hard change-up, and it’s one of his main weapons against left-handed batters. He gets them to chase that change-up as it sinks out of the strike zone, racking up swinging strikes against tough opposite-handed hitters. Pineda’s change-up doesn’t have that kind of movement, though – it’s more of just a slower version of his fastball. The one he threw to strikeout Hamilton had some sink, and he located it perfectly, but the rest of them were just “hit me” offerings.

And the Rangers did. LHBs put six balls in play against Pineda, and all of them were hit in the air. He used his slider (a significantly better secondary pitch right now, but one that is only effective against RHBs) to help him get ground balls against the Rangers right-handed bats, but when it came to the left-handed hitters, all he had was his four seam fastball and his hittable change-up. It wasn’t enough, and he was lucky that the Rangers only had two legitimate left-handed big league hitters (and Julio Borbon) in their line-up on Tuesday night.

He dodges a bullet again on Monday, facing another heavily right-handed line-up by matching up against the Blue Jays, but most right handed starting pitchers face 55 to 60 percent left-handed hitters over the course of a full season, and Pineda is eventually going to run into match-ups with teams that can run six or seven left-handed bats at him. By that time, his change-up will need to have taken a huge step forward, or else he’s going to be left attacking them with fastballs and sliders, and in general, that doesn’t really work very well.

Dominating right-handed hitters and hoping to minimize the damage against left-handed ones is the strategy essentially employed by the likes of Justin Masterson, Ervin Santana, and Jeremy Bonderman. It can work – sort of – but to be a frontline starting pitcher, you have to be able to get hitters from both sides of the plate out with regularity. Pineda can’t do that yet. This isn’t meant to be an indictment of his potential, as he’s still a 22-year-old with one of the best fastballs in baseball, and he’s really just improvement with the change-up away from being ridiculously good, but for 2011, I think it’s necessary to keep expectations somewhat realistic. Pineda is still a work in progress, and while his debut was good, his big weakness was on full display.

The future is bright for Michael Pineda, but the lack of a quality change-up makes me cringe when I hear the Baby Felix nickname. Realistically, until that pitch gets a lot better, he’s more Justin Masterson than Felix Hernandez.


2011 Fantasy Baseball Hot Prospects: Michael Pineda, RHP, Seattle Mariners
By
Jeff Mans
(Contributor) on March 22, 2011 - Seattle

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GOODYEAR, AZ - MARCH 11: Michael Pineda #36 of the Seattle Mariners delivers a pitch against the Cleveland Indians at Goodyear Ballpark on March 11, 2011 in Goodyear, Arizona. (Photo by Norm Hall/Getty Images) Norm Hall/Getty Images

Over the past five seasons, the Mariners have seen Michael Pineda transform from tall, lanky Dominican kid into a full-bodied, strong young man with a powerful right arm. During this time his velocity has increased from the low 90s to a regular 95 MPH with frequent triple-digit readings on the radar gun.

The biggest question for Pineda, the Mariners and fantasy owners is whether or not his arm can hold up long-term under this kind of torque. So, let's take a deeper look at the man who has Seattle fans interested in baseball once again.



Michael Pineda, RHP, Seattle Mariners

Height: 6'5" Weight: 250 lbs Hits: Right Throws: Right

2010 Stats (Double-A & Triple-A Combined) 11-4, 3.36 ERA, 139 IP, 154 K's, 1.11 WHIP



Scouting Report: Michael Pineda has gone from beanpole to powerhouse in a matter of four seasons. His development is every scout's dream, as he's outperformed even the highest of expectations before reaching the major leagues.

Best of all, Pineda's fastball has increased in velocity from the low to high 90s without losing any of its natural run or heavy sink. This fastball is among the best, if not the best, in the minor leagues.

In addition, Pineda also throws a hard-charging slider that he has improved the cut and tilt on since early last season. He still has a tendency to throw it too hard at times, thus limiting the break. It is still a quality pitch but one that needs constant refinement as Pineda matures.

He also throws a quality changeup that tops out in the upper 80s and is kept low in the zone. If he is to remain a starter, he will need to find a way to drop the velocity on his change and move it around more to alter the hitters' eye level and keep them honest.

With the body transformation and the excess velocity he has put onto his pitches, there is reason for concern regarding injuries. In 2009 he had several bouts with elbow soreness and had a brief recurrence of this in 2010 as well.

There are some who believe it would be in Pineda's best interest to be a late-inning reliever instead of racking up innings while tossing power fastballs and sliders.



2011 Analysis: Pineda has all but locked up the Mariners fifth starter gig after turning in a very impressive spring training thus far. He has little left to prove in the minor leagues as he can simply overpower hitters there with his fastball.

Seattle is a great place for a young pitcher to grow up for a variety of reasons. The ballpark is a plus for pitchers, as nothing carries well in the near-tropical climate in the Pacific Northwest.

Also, there are few distractions in Seattle. It isn't a city of clubs, drugs and nightlife, and thus younger players don't have the distractions they might in other cities such as New York and Los Angeles.

Best of all, however, is the great defense that the Mariners put out on the field every given night. The range and soundness at every position is unparalleled around the league. Although Pineda is a hard-throwing strikeout machine, he will have to learn how to get hitters out on contact.

That skill is much easier to master when there is a solid defense behind you that won't give the opposition extra outs.

Pineda is a legitimate breakout candidate as long as he can stay healthy and maintain command of all three pitches. He should be drafted in all AL-only leagues and should be considered highly in mixed leagues where you need four or more starting pitchers.

There is quite a bit of risk involved with Pineda, so buyers should beware. Still, the potential strikeout totals and low WHIP and ERA numbers are well worth the risk of injury.

Red Sox-Yankees series highlights globalization of baseball

The Christian Science Monitor



By Ezra Fieser – Fri Apr 8, 5:36 pm ET

Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic – When the Red Sox and Yankees met for the first time this season today at Fenway Park, the greatest rivalry in America’s pastime had a decidedly foreign flavor.

Fourteen of the 50 players on the field or in reserve were born outside of the United States, including Red Sox slugger David Ortiz, better known as “Big Papi” in his native Dominican Republic, and the Yankees’ Panamanian closer Mariano Rivera.

They are stars that represent the changing face of a game that once barred blacks but is now rapidly globalizing. From Australians to Venezuelans, a total of 234 foreigners – 27.7 percent of all players – graced opening day rosters this year, according to Major League Baseball statistics. The New York Yankees, with 16 foreign-born players, are the most international team in baseball.

Take the Monitor's daily baseball quiz

It is the third most-international season in MLB history. In 2005, 29.2 percent of players were foreign-born, and the 2007 season saw 246 players were born outside the US.

Yet no country outside of the US sends as many players to professional baseball as the Dominican Republic, a country of just over 9 million where 10 percent of this year's big leaguers were born. Nearly half the foreigners playing for the Red Sox and Yankees hail from this Caribbean nation.

Baseball may be America’s pastime, but it's the Dominican Republic's obsession. President Leonel Fernandez attends groundbreakings for baseball training complexes as readily as 14-year-old boys don spikes and find an empty patch of grass with a ball and a glove in hopes of catching a scout's attention.

The country has sent so many players to Major League Baseball franchises – 468 to the major leagues and thousands more to the minors – that Dominicans consider playing professional baseball more of a career path than a dream.

"Dominicans are the best baseball players in the world," says José Guerrero, 15, as he stretches his arms in preparation for throwing drills in a public park in the capital, Santo Domingo. "If you work hard enough, you'll get a contract."

A contract, which for top prospects included a signing bonus worth an average of $180,000 last year, is a one-way ticket out of poverty. In a country with annual per capita GDP of $8,600, signing means moving from a rented shack to an owned home, from taking the bus to driving your own car.

Take the Monitor's daily baseball quiz

Player personnel director A.J. Preller helped Texas take a chance on OF-turned- By Richard Durrett
ESPNDallas.com

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A.J. Preller was roaming the backfields in the Arizona desert one afternoon in 2004 when he saw a lanky outfielder throwing a ball on a rope to the infield.

Preller, now the Texas Rangers' player personnel director, took note of young Alexi Ogando and wondered to himself if the minor leaguer had ever tried to pitch. Ogando wasn't a bad position player and he could hit the ball a little bit, but Preller saw that arm and body type and pictured a pitcher.

So when Ogando became available in the Double-A phase of the Rule 5 draft in December 2005, the Rangers pounced. The selection cost them $12,500, and by then it was well known that Ogando might have trouble getting into the United States from the Dominican Republic because of his involvement in a human trafficking ring.


[+] EnlargeBrad Newton/Texas Rangers
Rangers director of player personnel A.J. Preller (left) saw an outfielder when he found Alexi Ogando but pictured him as a pitcher.

"A.J. came to me and wanted to draft him," Rangers general manager Jon Daniels said. "I said, 'Let me get this straight. You want to draft a guy who is an outfielder, turn him into a pitcher and then hope we can get him in the country?' So we did."

More than six years later, Ogando is now a member of the Rangers' rotation. He takes the mound for the second time in 2011 on Monday afternoon in Detroit after going six shutout innings last week in his first major league start.

He's come a long way -- from the outfield, to visa issues to the rotation -- for the defending American League champions.

Preller remembers the first time the Rangers worked Ogando out shortly after that Rule 5 draft. Preller and Scott Servais, the club's director of player development, asked Ogando to get on a mound and throw for them. He was hesitant at first.

"We had to talk him into it a little bit, but he came around and said he'd do it," Preller said. "We tell him to throw 10 or 15 pitches. The first one comes in at 94 mph. I look at Scott and we both couldn't believe it."

The second pitch hit a kid in the head. But by the end of the brief session, Ogando had managed to hit 97 mph on the radar gun.

"We knew we had something," Preller said.

But they had to harness it. That was the job of Ogando's coaches in the Dominican Republic. Ogando was invited to join the minor leaguers for spring training in 2005, but when he applied for his work visa, it was denied. Ogando admitted involvement in a human trafficking ring in which he had agreed to be paid to marry someone to get her into the United States. ESPN Deportes reported that the scandal involved about 30 Dominican minor league players between the 2004 and 2005 seasons.

"He was taken advantage of," Daniels said. "That's no excuse, but the punishment didn't fit the crime."

That punishment was five years without a visa to enter the United States. That relegated Ogando to pitching in the Dominican Summer League, winter ball and any international tournaments in which he could participate.

Ogando kept working with the Rangers' coaching staff in the Dominican Republic, including manager Jayce Tingler and pitching coaches Jose Jaimes and Pablo Blanco.


Alexi Ogando
#41 RP
Texas Rangers
2011 STATS

GM
1 W
1 L
0 BB
2 K
4 ERA
0.00

"They taught him how to pitch from the stretch, to throw a breaking ball [slider] and figure out his changeup," Preller said. "They did everything from holding on runners to how to approach hitters. They deserve a lot of credit."

Meanwhile, the Rangers kept working behind the scenes on the visa problem.

"Our guys were relentless about it," Daniels said. "They didn't give up."

But four years into the issues, the Rangers were concerned they were leaving Ogando and Omar Beltre, another Rangers minor leaguer involved in the ring, in what Daniels called "baseball purgatory." So Preller and Jim Colburn, director of Pacific Rim operations, took Ogando and Beltre to Japan to work out in front of scouts.

"Beltre was much more known and he goes out and was solid, throwing 94 to 96 [mph]," Preller said. "Alexi had some soreness under his armpit and wasn't going to throw."

But Ogando, knowing this might determine whether he could make money as a professional, decided to pitch anyway. Colburn announced to the scouts that Ogando would throw at about 75 percent.

"He throws his first one at 87 [mph], then 88, 90, 91, 93, 95 and eventually 97," Preller said. "They were all shaking their heads and saying, 'That's 75 percent?' He didn't even realize he was throwing that hard."

But after the session, the Rangers didn't feel as if they were going to get much for the rights to both players and decided to give it one more try to get Ogando and Beltre into the country.

"I always felt like we'd find a way," Preller said. "But this was our last chance. If it hadn't worked, I think that would have been it."

The players' agent, Charisse Espinosa-Dash, and assistant general manager Thad Levine and director of international scouting Mike Daly took a different approach. The players reached out into the community and spoke at various academies and did any public service announcements they could to fight against trafficking. The Rangers even appealed to President George W. Bush.

"They earned their way back in," Daniels said. "They spoke out against it, and they meant it. They didn't want others going through what they did."



Ogando, 26 years old at that time, and Beltre, who is on the disabled list after spinal surgery this spring, arrived in Surprise, Ariz., just prior to spring training last year. Despite a long layoff from pitching in the U.S., Ogando quickly showed off his skills and ended up in the Rangers' bullpen in June, staying there for the duration of the season. He made five appearances in the postseason, including 3 2/3 shutout innings in the World Series. Ogando left Game 4 with a left oblique strain. But he arrived at spring training this year and was stretched out to be a starter.

With less than two weeks left in spring training, Ogando was moved to the bullpen as the primary setup man for closer Neftali Feliz. All of that changed when Tommy Hunter's groin bothered him in a late spring outing. The strain meant a spot opened in the rotation, and after several front office meetings, Ogando was given the opportunity. And while the assumption was that it would be temporary, if Ogando keeps pitching well, he's not likely to lose his job.

"It's a great story and it was a great scouting job," Daniels said. "Our guys never gave up, Alexi worked hard and here we are."

Richard Durrett covers the Rangers for ESPNDallas.com.

Follow Richard Durrett on Twitter: @espn_durrett

Michael Pineda dazzles as Mariners win second straight, 3-2

Rookie pitcher Michael Pineda turned to his trusted heat, striking out seven as the Mariners beat the visiting Blue Jays 3-2 despite an eighth-inning scare.

By Geoff Baker

Seattle Times staff reporter

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Rookie pitcher Michael Pineda struck out seven and picked up his first career win as the Mariners won their second straight game Tuesday at Safeco Field.
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JIM BATES / THE SEATTLE TIMES

Rookie pitcher Michael Pineda struck out seven and picked up his first career win as the Mariners won their second straight game Tuesday at Safeco Field.

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Michael Pineda fidgeted in the dugout, hoping his first career victory wasn't about to go up in smoke.

But on a night when the most promising young pitcher in the Mariners organization came into his own, it took another key future franchise piece to ensure that everything ended as it should. It was Mariners first baseman Justin Smoak who helped preserve a 3-2 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays by ending a nervy eighth inning with a terrific catch in foul territory and a strong throw home to nab a tagging runner.

Pineda looked on from the dugout as Smoak's one-hop throw to the plate beat a speedy Corey Patterson by several steps.

"When the double play happened, I was thinking, 'Yes!' " Pineda said afterward. "I'd been working to get a double play but had a little trouble. But then, when I saw that double play, I went 'Yes!' It was a pretty good double play."

The crowd of 15,500 at Safeco Field also let out a huge sigh of relief. Moments earlier, what had seemed like a good idea in rewarding Pineda by allowing him to work the eighth inning had nearly blown up in everyone's face.

Pineda was cruising with a 3-0 lead, having thrown just 88 pitches through seven innings. He'd allowed only three hits, struck out six and walked just one.

It was all somewhat reminiscent of another young pitcher's Safeco Field debut, that one coming back in August 2005 when a guy named Felix Hernandez tossed eight scoreless frames on five hits and six strikeouts. The way Pineda was throwing, it looked like a two-run homer by Ryan Langerhans off Toronto starter Ricky Romero in the third inning was all the Mariners would need.

Seattle scored another that inning after Jack Wilson reached on an error and Milton Bradley singled him home.

Pineda looked dominant after surviving a fourth-inning scare and had ended the seventh with strikeouts of J.P. Arencibia and Travis Snider.

So when manager Eric Wedge opted to give Pineda one more inning, few could envision anything going too wrong.

"He was still strong," Wedge said. "He was commanding the ballgame. You could see with his pitch count that it was going to be tough for him to finish the game, but ultimately, in a tight ballgame like that, that's secondary to getting outs and keeping the ballgame where it is, anyway.

"But he deserved that opportunity to try to get through that eighth inning. And then we had to go get him."

Pineda gave up a leadoff single in the eighth and then — after notching his seventh and final strikeout — a walk. A passed ball charged to Olivo moved runners up to second and third.

That brought pitching coach Carl Willis to the mound, but the crowd cheered as he left with Pineda still in the game. Soon after, the crowd was on edge again after Patterson singled in two runs, prompting Pineda's removal and applause as he headed to the dugout.

Chris Ray came on and Patterson — a late cut by Seattle in spring training a year ago — stole second and then took third when Olivo's throw wound up in center field. That got Pineda fidgeting in the dugout, the crowd uneasy in its seats and Wedge and company wondering whether Monday night's comeback heroics were about to happen in reverse.

Until, that is, reigning American League home-run king Jose Bautista popped a ball up the right-field line foul. With the infield playing in, the guy with the best shot at the ball was Smoak.

"It's something we really didn't practice that much," Smoak quipped.

Smoak could have let the ball drop in foul territory and not risked having to make a throw home. But he didn't want to give the powerful Bautista a shot at hitting a go-ahead two-run homer either.

"The throw was the toughest part," he said. "You just try to get it right at him and Miggy (Olivo) made a great play on it."

Smoak said he'd never made a throw of that distance in a game before. He said having Pineda out there throwing strikes like he was kept the infielders on their toes.

"He's got the presence, he's got the stuff and he's got the mindset," Smoak said. "He's fun to play behind."

Fun to sneak up on from behind as well, apparently.

The Mariners gang-tackled the 6-foot-7, 265-pound behemoth afterward and herded him into the showers for a postgame beer dousing. It was another first for Pineda on a night filled with them.

"I was excited," he said. "It was my first game here. To win here, I was very excited."

And so are the Mariners. They needed something to get excited about after a rather ominous beginning to the 2011 campaign.

by Steve Slowinski - April 22, 2011

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/starlin-castro-shining-bright/

It’s funny how quickly we – and by we, I mean us fans – can shift our attention from one top prospect to the next. I like to call this phenomenon the “Shiny New Toy Syndrome”, as we become enamored with the Next Big Thing coming up from the minors and slowly forget the prospects we were falling for a week earlier. Prospects are showered with attention when they reach the majors and their performance is analyzed from 10 different angles. But once those players become established, they fall off the radar — and our attention shifts to the next big prospect. In many ways, prospects are like Christmas presents: anticipation builds until Christmas morning arrives; but within two weeks, the presents are forgotten and tossed in the toy bucket with everything else.

While Michael Pineda is currently dominating the prospect chatter, I want to shift our attention back to a top prospect who made his debut a little less than a year ago: Starlin Castro.



Before the 2010 season began, Castro was the top prospect in the Cubs’ system and one of the top 15 in baseball. He started the season in Double-A, but after tearing through the league with a .367/.413/.560 line through 26 games, the Cubs decided they’d had enough of Ryan Theriot’s defense at shortstop and brought Castro up. The then-20-year-old entered with a bang: he hit a three-run homer in his first at bat, hit a triple later that game and drove in six runs. All eyes were on Chicago.

Castro ended the 2010 season with a very impressive line for a young shortstop. He was roughly league average on offense (.325 wOBA) and slightly below league average on defense (-2.1 UZR). So far in 2011, Castro has blown the doors off the joint, posting a .375/.398/.513 line and a .405 wOBA. Such a fast start is obviously unsustainable, but right now Castro is one of the top-30 offensive players in baseball (as measured by wOBA) and tied for 11th in the majors in WAR. Not bad for a 21-year-old shortstop.

While Castro’s early season streak has been fueled by a .392 BABIP, that might not be as outrageous as you think. Not many players can post a BABIP that high for an entire season, but Castro is a speedy runner who hits a high percentage of balls on the ground. Like Ichiro, we can expect him to consistently post an above-average BABIP. Last season, he hit 20% of his balls for line drives and 51% for ground balls while posting a .346 BABIP. This season he’s only increased those numbers: Castro currently has a 24% line drive rate and a 53% ground ball rate. That’s a relatively high line drive rate, which goes to show how much solid contact Castro is making right now. I wouldn’t expect him to continue to post a .392 BABIP, but I also wouldn’t be surprised if he ends the season with a BABIP in the .350 range.

And there have been plenty of other good signs from Castro’s hot start. He’s only striking out in 6% of his plate appearances, which is down from last season’s 15%. While it’s early in the season and the small-sample caveat applies, strikeout rates are one of the first statistics to stabilize, taking only ~150 plate appearances to become reliable. Castro is currently at 83 plate appearances, and his plate discipline suggest this change may have something more to it than small-sample-size variance.

Castro is a free-swinger, taking a cut at about 4% more pitches than league average, but he’s improved his pitch recognition from last season. In 2010, Castro was swinging at 32% of pitches outside the zone (3% worse than average), and this season he’s cut that down to 29.5%. While not