Oh, Man

I’m not sure how many of you remember Will Ohman, a forgettable part of the forgettable 2008 Braves. He actually pitched a fairly respectable 58 innings of relief, vulturing a few wins and generating 0.4 WAR. He came to the Braves in a trade with the Cubs which also brought us Omar Infante, and sent José Ascanio to the Windy City. It was an excellent trade for the Braves as Infante was quite solid and Ohman’s one year wasn’t bad, while Ascanio never developed into anything. In any case, Ohman skedaddled out of town to the Dodgers at season’s end as a free agent, put in another five years as a relief pitcher, and I can honestly say I never thought about him again until this morning.

That’s when I learned about his son, Jack. I have no idea where the Jack Ohman story will end, but there are so many things I love about it so far, with some limitations. Please read either of the two links, but if you’re lazy, Jack is the star pitcher for my Yale Bulldogs and apparently a likely first round draft pick next year. there are som many interesting things abouit his story.

  • He barely pitched at all in high school and only got two college offers: from Yale and Seattle University, whatever that is. Yeah, I’d have chosen Yale too.
  • He got to Yale and couldn’t find the plate, but the coaches lit a fire under him and he had the ability and mindset to completely change his pitching around and became the best Freshman pitcher in college baseball. Good for him and good for the coaches, doing the sort of things college coaches ar supposed to do: inspire positive change.
  • Subsequently deluged with NIL offers, he turned them all down and returned to Yale where he has started his Sophomore season. To be completely honest, I’m not sure whether that says more about him or the desperation of schools with NIL money to burn. the stories about being harangued by recruiters in those two stories are really, really bad.
  • His father is an interesting addition to the story. He runs a baseball training center in Phoenix, he thought his kid would make a much better pitcher than everyday player, but he let his kid follow his own path. Only when Jack said: “OK, make me a pitcher” did he completely change his mechanics — after he had already entered college. It takes some parental wisdom to be both supportive and hands-off on your son’s choices in a profession you know only too well. Props to Will.
  • Although in both articles, Jack is described as a likely first round draft pick, nobody is going to promise that status to a kid who’s going back to Yale for his Junior year. So Jack’s eschewing NIL money, while cool, is somewhat tempered by the fact that it’s only one year of NIL money and the fact that his father made $9,000,000 pitching probably means that he can afford to be loyal. Also, given the fact that his ultimate goal is apparently to be Theo Epstein or Craig Breslow, he might even have some incentive to finish his degree, but there are limits, and I’d probably advise him to take his first-round money.
  • You can’t coach genetics, of course, but once combined with the right attitude, genetics is awesome. Boola, Boola Jack.

Just Connect

The Braves CityConnect uniforms last year were clear throwbacks to the Henry Aaron Era. They debuted new ones tonight that are clear throwbacks to the Dale Murphy era. The man himself threw out the first ball tonight. If you are, as I am, a fan of the Apple series For All Mankind, you know that every year forward covers abot ten years of history. If the CityConnect uniforms continue at this rate, they’ll be wearing spacesuits in a few years.

Quis Custodiet Ipsos Custodes?

Loosely translated from the Latin poet Juvenal (whose curve ball was legendary), this phrase is “Who will watch the Guardians?” I guess the answer is Me.

Bryce Elder

We have often commented here on the inconsistency of Bryce Elder. i think I may have foiund the underlying cause: not only does he have a job as a pitcher, he’s also got a full-time job at the Financial Times. I’ve gone back and read Elder’s columns, and I note that his really good columns correlate with bad game scores from the pitcher. I would provide the numbers, but I’m planning a major exposé, and I need to keep the data private for now.

Some of you might feel these aren’t the same person but simply two semi-famous people with the same name. Having followed the Braves careers of Will Smith, Ian Anderson and Bill James, you obviously have no idea what you’re talking about.

The Game

Those of you who thought Bryce Elder would not give up a run this year are no doubt disappointed, but since none of you exist, your disappointment is muted. But although Bryce gave up a long homer to Kyle Manzardo of the Coeur d’Alene Manzardos to end the streak his ERA rose to 0.53. He gave up another in the 5th, raising his ERA to a cool 1.02. As well as he has pitched this year, I am aways in awe of the fact that Bob Gibson pitched at this level for an entire season. Aaron Bummer put out a bases-loaded fire and it was 2-1 going into the bottom of the 6th.

The bottom of the 6th was fun. Señor Ronald Acuña Jr. lead off the inning with his first home run of the season. He began the year with uncharacteristic warning track power, but a 411 foot shot left the warning track well behind. Two batters late, Matt Olson hit one almost out of the stadium to make it 4-2 and end the night for Madonna’s nephew, Slade Cecconi, Enter Uncle Matt Festa, who gave up a run on a Dom Smith single, and then two more on a 425 foot blast from Michael Harris II. Six run innings can paper over a lot of sadness.

Two more runs crossed for the Braves in the seventh as Peyton Pallette was cleansed, leaving the Braves room to bring in José Suarez (Suarez Space?). He gave up three and yielded to Joel Payamps, but another two runs in the 8th allowed a comfortable 11-5 win.

Strategery

The minimum batter faced rule has, it has been remarked, narrowed the opportunities for the fabled LOOGY. But bases-loaded two out LOOGYs are still valuable, and that’s how Walt Weiss used Aaron Bummer in the 5th. Two things about this that mark more of the differences that Weiss brings. He removed a guy with 1 02 ERA one out away from potentially qualifying for a win and used Aaron Bummer as a LOOGY. Managers can win games in the fifth inning as well.

Damn Lies

Stamton asked me how three homers in the 6th correlates with winning. In the Retrosheet database, 210 teams have hit 3 homers in the 6th inning. They are a collective 175-35 in those games. The Braves are a collective 8-2 in these games, counting tonight. The two losses were April 30th, 1967 and July 20, 2024, a game in which Bryce Elder took the loss. Both, oddly, were parts of doubleheaders.