Pittsburgh's Rookie Infielder Makes Good
PLUS: GAMBLING QUESTIONS HOVER OVER DODGERS STAR SHOHEI OHTANI
Pregame Pepper
Did you know . . .
Texas outfielders Wyatt Langford and Evan Carter could stage the best 1-2 Rookie of the Year battle by teammates since Jim Rice and Fred Lynn of the 1974 Boston Red Sox . . .
Healed from two surgeries to repair a torn Achilles, Michael Soroka will start the second game of the season for the Chicago White Sox after allowing two earned runs in 13 exhibition innings and posting a strikeouts-to-walks ratio of 17:5 . . .
Hitting .395 with five homers in 18 spring training games didn’t help catcher Eric Haase, released by the Brewers in favor of free agent signee Gary Sanchez . . .
Jackson Holliday went 6-for-14 in spring training with two home runs but delaying his debut until May gives the Orioles an extra year of team control before he qualifies for free agency . . .
Pittsburgh’s roster represents the Cast of the Unknowns. Jared Triolo is the starting second baseman, Edward Olivares snared an outfield spot, and Hunter Stratton and Ryder Ryan have joined the pitching staff, along with Bailey Falter, Josh Fleming, Luis Ortiz, Jared Jones, and Roansy Contreras — the best-known name of the group …
Because the retractable roof at Chase Field can’t be opened or closed with fans present, the Arizona Diamondbacks played a rain-shortened, six-inning exhibition game against Cleveland Monday night . . .
With the the Phillies and Dodgers in mind, the 2024 Braves have the luxury of four left-handed relievers: Tyler Matzek, AJ Minter, Dylan Lee, and newcomer Aaron Bummer.
Leading Off
Jared Triolo Sees His Hard Work Pay Off
By Jamie Gatlin
Over the last year, Jared Triolo has made the most of his opportunities with the Pirates. On Thursday, he will reach an important milestone as he takes part in his first Opening Day at the MLB level.
Entering spring training, Triolo was fighting for a spot on the roster. He rose to his latest challenge by posting a .310 batting average in 16 games. He also showed some power with four extra-base hits, including two home runs. While Triolo was a human highlight reel, his success was no surprise.
In 98 games during his first MLB season, Triolo posted a .298 batting average. He drove in 21 runs while playing around the diamond. Although the Nashua, New Hampshire native struggled to drive the ball at times, he still found a way to get on base. In a Pirates lineup that was missing a critical infield bat in Oneil Cruz, Triolo helped fill the void in the second half of the 2023 campaign.
However, Triolo’s impact does not solely lie in his offense. He can play multiple positions, including second base, third base, and first base. While Triolo is expected to see the majority of his time at second, the Pirates can move him around the infield if needed.
Importance to the Pirates
One thing that has impressed many in the Pirates organization beyond Triolo’s versatility is his ability to make adjustments.
“ We saw what he did last year in September,” Shelton told the Pittsburgh Post Gazette’s Jason Mackey. “The adjustment he made when he went to Indy, he carried it over into September. He’s carried it into spring.”
As Triolo begins his second season in the majors, continuing to get on base will be key. He is not expected to lead the Pirates offense but be a solid complementary piece like last year. It is a challenge he is ready to face.
“I just came in with the intent of making the team, getting my legs underneath me and feeling good at the plate,” Triolo told the Pittsburgh Gazette. “I’ve been taking ground balls everywhere. I feel like I accomplished that, and I’m ready for the season.”
When the Pirates season begins against the Marlins on Thursday, Triolo will get his first opportunity to strengthen his stake on the second base job. In the minors, the Pirates also have infield prospects such as Liover Peguero and Nick Gonzales, who saw time in the majors last year. While they are both talented, Triolo showed during spring training that he is the better option at the moment.
On a Pirates team looking to surprise people, Triolo will be a player to watch. He has had success in the majors and provides reliable defense, which the Pirates need badly. Over the last few years, second base has been a revolving door.
Expectations for 2024
Entering the 2024 season, the Pirates will play the underdog role in a wide-open NL Central. Many experts have picked them to finish last, but Triolo knows a thing or two about defying expectations.
Since making his Pirates debut, Triolo has gone from a bench piece to an important part of the roster. That is due to his hard work and ability to make adjustments against more advanced competition, traits that have gotten him far.
As the Pirates look to build on their success, Triolo will be an important piece as he looks to further cement himself as part of the Pirates' future.
Jamie Gatlin is a Red Sox fan covering Boston sports for Beyond the Monster. He also covers Rutgers Athletics and the Big Ten for USA Today. He can be contacted on Twitter @JamieGatlin17 or via email gatlinjamie1@gmail.com.
Cleaning Up
Black Clouds Gather Over Shohei As Dodgers Seek to Dodge Growing Gambling Scandal
By Dan Schlossberg
Just when it looks like baseball has found its next matinee idol, gambling raises its ugly head.
Say it ain’t so, Shohei.
In little more than a week since the Los Angeles Dodgers played their two-game Seoul Series to open their 2024 season, heralded free agent signee Shohei Ohtani has become the center of unwanted off-the-field attention.
Starting his first year with the Dodgers after six losing campaigns with the Angels, the two-time MVP is under investigation by Major League Baseball, the IRS, the FBI, and even the Dodgers following allegations that his interpreter paid off a gambling debt with $4.5 million of Ohtani’s money.
That interpreter, 39-year-old Ippei Mizuhara, had been close to Ohtani both on and off the field during his Anaheim seasons — so close that the two men and their significant others socialized together.
Ohtani, who seldom speaks to the media, delivered a statement to the press in which he painted himself as the victim of a theft. But the story changed several times in the first few days, raising all kinds of unpleasant questions.
First of all, how could Mizuhara access any of Ohtani’s money, let alone that much. Secondly, did he bet on baseball — the cardinal sun that cast hit king Pete Rose into purgatory and still remains strictly forbidden.
Although Major League Baseball clubhouses carry a written warning threatening a one-year suspension to anyone caught betting on the game, that same rule warns of a lifetime ban to anyone who bets on a game in which they are involved.
Just consider the Black Sox Scandal, in which eight members of the Chicago White Sox were banned for allegedly throwing the 1919 World Series to the Cincinnati Reds. Years later, Mickey Mantle and Willie Mays were slapped with temporary suspensions for taking jobs as greeters at Atlantic City casinos.
And then there was Rose, who apparently placed bets during his five-year stint as manager of the Cincinnati Reds. Since a manager can make his team lose but cannot make his team win, historians still wonder whether Rose bet against his own team — and was the reason a team that should have finished first at least once during that span never did.
Now they’re wondering whether Ohtani will turn out to be the Japanese Pete Rose.
Spotlessly clean in Anaheim, Ohtani now has more money to burn than any other player. The Dodgers gave him a 10-year contract for $700 million that made him the richest athlete in any American sport.
Even with most of it deferred, the two-way star still pulls down $2 million a year, not to mention whatever he brings in from endorsements. He can afford an interpreter, luxurious homes in California and Japan, any car he’s capable of driving, and a lot more.
He also has lots of free time as a ballplayer who works from mid-February through October (if his team reaches post-season play).
We’re not saying Ohtani is guilty — far from it — but that he needs to come clean if he wants to keep clean.
Healing from elbow surgery, he won’t return to pitching before 2025 but should be able to hit enough (after 44 home runs last year) to challenge Ronald Acuna, Jr. as Most Valuable Player of the National League.
But he’ll have to put the gambling fiasco out of his head — and withstand the boos from distrusting fans on the road — to do that.
The investigations, also aimed at illegal California-based bookmaker Matthew Bowyer, began after Mizuhara apologized to the Dodgers in the Los Angeles clubhouse after the team won the opener in South Korea over San Diego. Even Ohtani’s attorneys got involved.
“We discovered that Shohei has been the victim of a massive theft and we are turning the matter over to the authorities,” said a statement from Berk Brettler LLP.
So far, nobody has been charged with a crime but it’s a good bet — to use a play on words — that someone will be.
Will that someone be the interpreter, a UC-Riverdale graduate who has worked as an interpreter for major-league players since 2006, or will it be Ohtani himself? And even if Ohtani is not directly involved, did he authorize the $4.5 million payment to cover his friend’s debts from his personal account?
Complicating the issue is that rookie pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto signed with the Dodgers out of the Japanese majors partly because he was recruited by Ohtani. After receiving a 12-year, $325 million deal, Yamamoto had an awful spring and was even worse in his regular-season debut, allowing five earned runs in the first inning — the only one he worked.
To all those prognosticators across the country who have already conceded the Dodgers the 2024 world championship as a good return for their investment of $1 billion in the two Japanese stars, maybe they should hold their horses (yes, another reference to gambling).
Things can change in a heartbeat when big money is involved.
It will be curious to see how well Ohtani jerseys sell in the wake of this potential scandal.
Former AP newsman Dan Schlossberg of Fair Lawn, NJ is the author of Home Run King: the Remarkable Record of Hank Aaron, to be published next month by Skyhorse. His email is ballauthor@gmail.com.
Timeless Trivia
“It could — and should — be the best season in the franchise’s 141-year history. It could — and might — be the greatest sporting disaster in the annals of Western civilization.”
— Bill Plaschke in The Los Angeles Times
Since Shohei Ohtani never speaks, his now-fired interpreter did more driving, working out, and serving as constant companion than actually speaking . . .
Ohtani’s wife assumed the job of interpreter immediately after the scandal broke . . .
A scout told Jon Heyman of The New York Post that the Dodgers have the worst infield defense in the game, with Max Muncy, Mookie Betts, Gavin Lux, and Freddie Freeman from third to first . . .
Despite 10 division crowns in 11 seasons, the Dodgers face serious challenges from San Francisco, which added Jorge Soler, Blake Snell, and Matt Chapman, plus Arizona, which signed Jordan Montgomery and fellow lefty Eduardo Rodriguez plus lefty-hitting outfielder Joc Peterson, among others . . .
Chapman and Snell love Bob Melvin, who left San Diego to manage San Francisco, and cited him as one of the biggest attractions there.
Know Your Editors
HERE’S THE PITCH is published daily except Sundays and holidays. Benjamin Chase [gopherben@gmail.com] handles Monday and Tuesday editions, Elizabeth Muratore [nymfan97@gmail.com] does Wednesday and Thursday, and Dan Schlossberg [ballauthor@gmail.com] edits the weekend editions on Friday and Saturday. Readers are encouraged to contribute comments, articles, and letters to the editor. HTP reserves the right to edit for brevity, clarity, and good taste.