By Scott Barancik, Editor
Here are your MLB highlights for the week of August 17-23, 2020:
Stats to share
- Alex Bregman (Astros) has safely reached base in 40 straight games, dating back to 2019 (see rankings). The next best current streak? Mike Yastrzemski, at 20 games.
- One of the knocks on Kevin Pillar (Red Sox) has been his plate discipline, but he’s turning things around. After drawing just 18 walks in 628 plate appearances in 2019 (a career low of 2.8%), so far this season the star outfielder has 8 walks in 106 plate appearances (a career high of 7.5%). The current MLB average is 9.2%.
- Max Fried (Braves) leads the National League with a 1.32 ERA. By comparison, Hall of Fame pitcher Sandy Koufax had a career-best 1.73 ERA in his final season (1966). But Fried certainly won’t match Koufax’s win-loss record that year: 27-9.
At the plate
- C Ryan Lavarnway (Marlins) hit .500 (1-for-2) last week. Despite playing well since his August call-up — he hit .364 (4-for-11), made no errors, and tossed out one of two attempted base stealers — Lavarnway was designated for assignment on August 21.
- OF Joc Pederson (Dodgers) hit .333 (4-for-12) with a home run, double, RBI, two hit-by-pitches, and a .467 on-base percentage.
- 3B Alex Bregman (Astros) hit .300 (3-for-10) with 2 doubles and a .300 OBP. He joined the injured list on August 20 after hurting his right hamstring (see video).
- 1B Rowdy Tellez (Blue Jays) hit .214 (3-for-14) with a massive home run (see video), 3 RBIs, and a .267 OBP.
- OF Kevin Pillar (Red Sox) hit .200 (6-for-30) with a home run, double, 2 RBIs, a stolen base, and a .314 OBP. Although Pillar historically has played center field, he has spent most of this season in right.
- OF Ryan Braun (Brewers) hit .200 (4-for-20) with a home run (see video), double, 3 RBIs, and a .273 OBP. Although Braun played nearly 100% of his 2019 games in left field, so far this season he is playing in right field.
- C Garrett Stubbs (Astros) hit .000 (0-for-2) with a sacrifice.
On the mound
- Max Fried (Braves) improved his record to 4-0 on August 21, yielding one earned run on 5 hits and 2 walks over 5.0 innings while striking out 5 (see video).
- Much like his MLB debut, Rob Kaminsky (Cardinals) pitched a perfect inning of relief on August 17, striking out one and retiring all three batters on 14 pitches. St. Louis optioned Kaminsky back to minor-league camp on August 18, but hopefully he’ll return to Busch Stadium soon.
- Robert Stock (Red Sox) was called-up for the second time this season but had a rough go of it on August 23, yielding 2 earned runs on 3 hits over one inning. A two-run double that sailed over teammate Kevin Pillar’s head did the damage (see video).
- Back from the injured list, Richard Bleier (Marlins) earned his fourth straight ‘hold’ on August 22, yielding one hit and no walks over 0.2 scoreless innings.
Injured list
- 3B Alex Bregman (Astros), since August 20.
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