Tampa Bay Rays news and links: “Bad things happen when people slide into first base”

The Rays spent plenty of effort this offseason trying to make sure they’re better positioned than they were last year if Kevin Kiermaier were to pick up an injury and miss time.

So while it’s nice to have Colby Rasmus, Peter Bourjos, and Mallex Smith, it would still be preferable if Kiermaier hadn’t gotten hurt sliding into first base yesterday. Quoted in Bill Chastain’s article:

"I know there was one out, but I feel like I had a good chance of beating Jose Abreu to the bag there," Kiermaier said. "You always see bad things happen when people slide into first base, but I'm just trying to keep the inning alive."

"The thing about it is, when you're running down to first base, I can't run through the bag, or else I'm going to collide with Jose Abreu, who's a big dude," Kiermaier said. "I made the decision to try to slide right there."

Kiermaier was on crutches after the game. He’ll be more fully evaluated today.

Links

• Jim Turvey takes an intriguing look at ERA-FIP discrepancies, particularly for rookie pitchers. Jeremey Hellickson warning.
• Patrick Dubuque continued his “who is the most average baseball player” series for hitters, and found that Evan Longoria is the third most average hitter.
• Part of the hitting more fly balls is swinging at pitches that can be hit for fly balls. Eno Sarris on Kevin Pillar’s adjustment.
• Continuing on the topic of zone judgement, does seeing more pitches make players better hitters?
• Baseball Prospectus scouting reports for several of the players the Rays may pick in the upcoming draft.
• Why does baseball seldom exist in fiction about the future?