This Week in Baseball – Ronald Acuna, 21 Pitch At-Bat, Portland Baseball, Jenny Cavnar, Pete Rose Gambling Debt
Moving On Up…
The Atlanta Braves finally called up Ronald Acuna, one of the top prospects in baseball and he already hit his first big league home run in just his second game. At just 20 years old, Acuña is the No. 2 prospect in baseball according to MLB Pipeline. He looked ready for big league action after posting a ridiculous .432/.519/.727 slash line during spring training. The Braves likely stashed him at Triple A for the first few weeks of the season for service-time purposes, so Acuña will now be eligible for free agency after the 2024 season instead of 2023. So, now he will only make a bazillion dollars instead of a kazillion.
Portland’s Pitch…
The Portland Diamond Project has made formal offers on two large parcels of local, commercial real estate for the purpose of building a 32,000-seat Major League Baseball stadium. The group is motivated, has the financial resources and the luxury of a number of viable stadium sites. Local hipsters are already saying they liked the land parcels’ earlier work.
Black Jack…
San Francisco Giants’ Brandon Belt broke the major-league record for the most pitches in an at-bat after facing 21 pitches against Angels’ pitcher Jaime Barria on Sunday. The historic at-bat took over 12 minutes, included 16 foul balls and finally ended with Belt flying out. It was intense, but not exactly speeding up the pace of play that baseball is worried about. Commissioner Manfred added, “Nice job, guys. Don’t do it again.”
It’s Ladies’ Night, Oh What A Night…
On Monday night, Jenny Cavnar became the first woman in twenty-five years to do play-by-play for a national broadcast. Colorado Rockies fans listened to longtime MLB analyst Jenny Cavnar, instead of the usual play-by-play announcer. As a tribute to the historic moment for all women, both teams only scored 70% of the runs they normally get.
I’ll Take That Bet…
Carol Rose, the estranged wife of Pete Rose, has filed new divorce documents in court. The filing revealed some information that will only surprise people who have never heard of the “Hit King” before. According to TMZ, Carol Rose claims that her soon-to-be ex-husband makes significant income from signing autographs, is a “degenerate” high-stakes gambler, and owes a lot of money to casinos and the IRS. Looks like Carol is the only Rose who knows when to fold ’em.
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