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This Date in Team History
In 2011, the Rays signed journeyman reliever Juan Cruz. He was decent in his middle-relief role for the club, appearing in 56 games over the season, registering 48.2 innings on the mound, holding opponents to a .209 batting average while he had a 3.88 ERA and a 4.20 FIP. Cruz was particularly effective against lefties, holding them to a .171 average and a nearly 30% K-rate.
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Trivia Time! (Darby)
As I was researching Corey Dickerson's batted ball rates, I noticed he would rate as one of the top 5 Rays in Hard% of contact (among folks with at least a hundred PAs) and 3.6% behind Carlos Pena (39.7%) for top spot. Which leads me to the question today:
Which Devil Ray/Rays player has the lowest career Hard% contact in team history (min. 100 PAs)?
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There are 60 days until Opening Day!
That's the same number of stolen bases by Carl Crawford during the 2009 season (a career high).
Here's his 60th swipe of that year
Links! (Darby)
- Scout.com released their list of the top 100 prospects in baseball, and 5 Rays made the list (Snell, the highest, at number 14). They might have forgotten Brent Honeywell exists, because he is (somehow) completely absent.
- Athletics Nation took a look into Desmond Jennings and Brandon Guyer as trade targets for the A's.
- The Rays have done a great job of keeping their window open to be built to win now and contend later. Brisbee takes a look at the window for the rest of the MLB.
- Making all those running catches must have worked up an appetite, because later this week Kevin Kiermaier is going to try and eat a really big (35-ounce) steak for charity.
- It's time again for the SABR Analytics Conference Research Award, where you can read and vote on the best original analytics commentary and articles of the past year. Even if you don't feel like voting, it's a great list of some of 2015's best baseball writing (and writers).
- And finally, check out this fantastic read at The Hardball Times about Shoeless Joe Jackson, set in an alternate universe where the Chicago Black Sox Scandal never happened.
- In the Caribbean World Series, Juniel Querecuto's walkoff single in the 10th inning lifted Venezuela to an 8-7 win over the Dominicans, placing it in a tie for first with Mexico at 2-0. The Venezuelans meet the Mexicans Wednesday afternoon.
#SerieCaribeESPN #Venezuela dejó en el terreno 8-7 a #Dominicana Querecuto dio el hit de oro en el cierre del décimo pic.twitter.com/UXjsj4dmg7
— ESPN_Beisbol (@ESPN_Beisbol) February 3, 2016