Mets' Catcher Travis d'Arnaud Heads Back to DL

By Peyton Wesner

2015 was suppose to be the year that Mets' catcher and former Blue Jays' top prospect Travis d'Arnaud would finally break out and show Major League Baseball the same player that destroyed Eastern League pitching with New Hampshire in 2011 and Pacific Coast League pitching with Las Vegas in 2012. Unfortunately, just like last year, d'Arnaud has been plagued by injuries that has lessoned the amount of games played for the Mets. 

The former first round pick of the Philadelphia Phillies was off to a fantastic start this season as he had thirteen hits in his first eleven games (.317 average) with two of them being home runs. Then, diaster struck as d'Arnaud was hit on the right hand by a pitch from Miami's A.J. Ramos, ultimately fracturing his pinkie on his throwing hand. The estimated recovery time was three to four weeks, yet it took the catcher twice the amount of time (a little over seven weeks) to return to action.

Upon his return, d'Arnaud played well and put together a five-game hit streak between June 10 and June 15. Although he did not record a hit in two games at Toronto, he rebounded with a huge game against the Atlanta Braves, in which he smacked a home run and drove in three of New York's four runs. Great game, right? Not so much considering d'Arnaud's left arm was nearly ripped off by Atlanta's A.J. Pierzynski on a tag play at home plate in the sixth inning. d'Arnaud was immediately taken out of the game and despite negative x-rays, the twenty-six year old had suffered a left elbow sprain and was placed back on the DL yesterday. 

As he heads back to the DL, d'Arnaud is batting .296 with four home runs and seventeen RBIs in nineteen game played. Rookie Kevin Plawecki (.231 average, two home run, and fourteen RBIs) will take over starting duties for the Mets while fresh from Triple-A Las Vegas Johnny Monell (one hit in seventeen career at bats) will assume the back-up duties. 

Who Should Golden State Select to End the First Round?

By Peyton Wesner

What could a team with as much depth as the 2015 NBA Champion Golden State Warriors need on Thursday night? A power forward! With former All-Star David Lee looking for a new home, the Warriors will be short a quality big man for their upcoming season. In addition, if General Manager Bob Myers decides not to match the offered amount to restricted free agent Draymond Green, another hole will need to be filled in Oakland by a power forward/small forward. Fortunately, if Freshman Chris McCullough from Syracuse is chosen with the last pick in the first round, he could fill the vacancy for the Warriors. Despite the twenty year old coming off an ACL tear, he showed great talent in sixteen games suited up for Jim Boeheim. Yes, McCullough lacks experience, but his defensive skill (6.9 rebounds, 1.7 steals, and 2.1 blocks per game) and potential to become a better player both offensively and defensively adds to his appeal. Besides, who would be a better fit for the highest three point shooting team in the NBA than a six foot, nine inch big that can nail three pointers.

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Josh Smith to Make Major League Debut Tuesday in Pittsburgh

By Peyton Wesner

If someone would have said at the beginning of Spring Training that prospects Raisel Iglesias, Michael Lorenzen, and Jon Moscot would all make their Major League debuts this season for the Cincinnati Reds, most residents of Ohio would have laughed at the thought, but due to injuries within the rotation all three have. Now, it is time to add another to the list. 

Josh Smith, the twenty-first round selection of the Reds in the 2010 MLB Draft, will be the fourth rookie pitcher to make his Major League debut for Cincinnati in 2015 as he is tomorrow's starter in the series opener with Pittsburgh. Smith was recalled from Triple-A Louisville this evening to start in the place of Johnny Cueto. According to a Reds' spokesman, the decision to call up the twenty-seven year old for tomorrow's start is to give Cueto a couple more days of rest for his next start, Friday against the New York Mets. 

The Lipscomb University product has possessed great stats the last four seasons in the Reds' organization (44-31 record overall) and has not won fewer than nine games in a season since 2010. So far this season, Smith is 4-4 with an earned run average of 3.04 and sixty strikeouts in thirteen starts between Dayton (Single-A), Pensacola (Double-A), and Louisville (Triple-A). 

After Smith's start on Tuesday, Reds' manager Bryan Price will start Mike Leake and Anthony DeSclafani to conclude the series. It is unknown whether Smith will be optioned immediately after his start for the reinstatement of Aroldis Chapman (paternity leave), but one would think, if not Smith, someone will be demoted very soon for the All-Star closer's return. The Reds head into PNC Park with four wins in their last five and a 32-36 overall record. Currently they are twelve and a half games behind the St. Louis Cardinals for first in the National League Central and four and a half games behind the team holding the last Wild Card spot, the San Francisco Giants. 

Cubs Option Kyle Schwarber to Iowa (AAA)

By Peyton Wesner

Six games, eight hits, one home run, and six runs batted in later, and Kyle Schwarber is still catching a flight to Des Moines to join the Iowa Cubs for Tuesday's contest at Principal Park versus the Omaha Storm Chasers, affiliate of the Kansas City Royals. 

From the get-go, Chicago Cubs' President of Baseball Operations Theo Epstein stated that Schwarber's stay in the Big Leagues would be a temporary one as he was recalled for the purposes of filling the designated hitter spot in Cleveland and Minnesota during an American League roadtrip. The twenty-two year old was promoted from Double-A Tennessee due to his tremendous power and fantastic numbers for the Smokies (.320 batting average, thirteen home runs, and thirty-nine runs batted in) in addition to Chicago wanting to get him acclimated to the daily routine of a catcher in the Bigs. Despite Schwarber starting in the Majors where he left off in Kodak, Tennessee, Epstein kept his word and is optioning the former Indiana Hooiser to Triple-A Iowa for further development behind the plate as a catcher. The former Boston Red Sox General Manager that was a part of two World Series titles, has currently made no indication of how long Schwarber will stay in the Pacific Coast League before being recalled for his second stay in the Windy City. 

When asked about his cameo in the Big Leagues, Schwarber responded by saying: 

"It was a great time here. Now, it's just going to be go back down and get my work in and keep going and keep grinding, and hopefully I'll be back up here." 

The fourth pick in the 2014 MLB Draft was the second highest selection to make his Major League debut after the White Sox's Carlos Rodon, who was taken third overall from NC State, plus the first Big Ten player from his draft class to get time at the highest level in baseball. 

2014 NL All-Star Devin Mesoraco to have Season-Ending Surgery

By Peyton Wesner

If 2014 was a dream season for Cincinnati Reds' catcher Devin Mesoraco, 2015 has been a growing nightmare. The 2014 National League All-Star, who had career highs of twenty-five home runs, eighty RBIs and a .273 batting average last season, has been plagued by a left hip impingement that has held him to forty-five at bats, twenty-five of which have came while serving as a pinch or designated hitter. 

A hip impingment is a significant problem for a catcher due to the bones constantly rubbing together while squatting, ultimately making one's range of motion very poor. 

Cincinnati Manager Bryan Price and the Reds explored the idea of playing Mesoraco in left field when Marlon Byrd went to the DL (wrist fracture), but after three rehab games at Triple-A Louisville, in which he was one for seven batting, the pain increased resulting in Mesoraco's decision to have surgery immediately rather than waiting until the end of the season. 

Currently, his procedure is scheduled to be performed by Dr. Bryan Kelly on June 29 in New York with the expected rehabilitation time estimated to be four to six months. With that being the case, Mesoraco joins the growing list of Cincinnati Reds to have season-ending surgery in 2015, including shortstop Zach Cozart and starting pitchers Homer Bailey and Jon Moscot. The fifteenth overall pick in the 2007 Draft hoped to return with a better range of motion in his squat in addition to being pain-free when the start of Spring Training rolls around. 

The Reds will continue to use a combination of Bryan Peña (.297 average and eleven RBIs) as starter and Tucker Barnhart (.226 average, three home runs, and five RBIs) as back-up behind the plate for the remainder of the 2015 season. 

Miami's Justin Nicolino Stars in Major League Debut

By Peyton Wesner

CINCINNATI---On November 19, 2012, the Miami Marlins obliterated their roster by shipping a bevy of veterans, including Jose Reyes, Mark Buehrle, and Josh Johnson, to Toronto for prospects Adeiny Hechavarria, Henderson Alvarez, Anthony Desclafani, and Justin Nicolino. The last two received by Miami faced off in the latter's Major League Debut this evening.

Tom Koehler was originally scheduled to start Saturday night's game against the Reds' Anthony Desclafani, but muscle spasms in his neck and back resulted in the promotion of the organization's third top prospect Justin Nicolino. Nicolino was 4-3 with an ERA of 2.87 in thirteen Triple-A starts for New Orleans and was seen by many to be ready for his call-up any day. It just happened that today was the day.

The task of pitching against the Reds would not be easy for the rookie as Cincinnati was coming in winners of three straight and starting all of their regulars. Nevertheless, Nicolino pitched very well Saturday night at Great American Ball Park by keeping runners out of scoring position and inducing double plays when the opposition reached base. A prime instance occurred in the bottom of the third inning as the Reds had runners on first and second, no outs with lead-off man Brandon Phillips at the plate. The left hander was able to get ahead in the count on the second baseman and throw him a 1-2 fastball that was hit to Hechavarria who started a 6-3 double play. Nicolino later walked back to the dugout with the score knotted at zero by retiring Joey Votto with a runner on third via the strikeout. 

The Orlando, Florida, native getting out of his third inning jam without surrendering a run shifted momentum to the Marlins and in the top of the fourth it showed. The first to face DeSclafani in the inning was Derek Dietrich and he blasted a home run high into the right field bleachers for Miami's first run of the series and first hit of the game. With the homerun, the flood gates opened on Cincinnati starter and the Marlins took advantage. Next up was Christian Yelich who drilled a double to center prior to Giancarlo Stanton singling.  After Marcell Ozuna flied out for out number one, production came from two unlikely sources: Justin Bour and J.T. Realmuto. Each was able to bring home one run apiece, which increased Miami's advantage to three heading to the home half of the fourth.

Run support was plentiful for Nicolino on Saturday as three innings later Derek Dietrich sent another ball to the right fielder bleachers for a home run, this time with one man on and off of Cincinnati's Manny Parra.

While the offense was clicking on all cylinders, the southpaw Nicolino continued to deal and was able to cause Bryan Peña and Eugenio Suarez to ground out into double plays in the fourth and seventh inning respectively to escape the innings unscathed. 

Even though Justin Nicolino exited the game after seven innings, Cincinnati was still unable to plate any runs in the eighth against Carter Capps and the ninth against A.J. Ramos resulting in the Reds'  winning streak coming to an end by scoring no runs in their fifth game of 2015.

Sunday in the rubber game, Cincinnati's manager Bryan Price will throw another rookie, Michael Lorenzen, against Miami's David Phelps. Both pitchers hope to continue personal winning streaks as Lorenzen tries to win consecutive starts for the first time in his career while Phelps looks for his third straight victory.

Washington's Max Scherzer No-Hits Pirates

By Peyton Wesner

Max Scherzer did it!!! He not only shut down the Pittsburgh Pirates for the second straight day, but he threw Major League Baseball's second no-hitter of the season! 

"Mad Max" had the ground work for a no-hitter in place during his last start Sunday against the Milwaukee Brewers as he retired the first sixteen batters before allowing a seventh-inning single to Carlos Gomez. Gomez's base knock would be the only blimesh in Scherzer's complete game one-hit shutout in which he struck out sixteen batters. 

Today, the right handed flame thrower fanned only ten, but he was able to achieve a no-hitter when retiring Josh Harrison via a flyout for the twenty-seventh out. In fact, Scherzer had a perfect game in the ninth inning but lost it by hitting Jose Tabata with a 2-2 fastball. 

While the pitching was unstoppable for the Nationals this afternoon, the offense led by Bryce Harper, who played in his first game since suffering a mild left hamstring strain, supported Scherzer with six runs, two of which came from his twenty-third home run of the season.

The last no-hitter by a Nationals' pitcher was on the last day of the 2014 season as Steven Souza Jr. secured the twenty-seventh out with an amazing catch on a line drive off the bat of Miami's Christian Yelich for Jordan Zimmerman.