Tampa Bay Rays News and Links: Getting ready for West Coast baseball

The Rays salvaged the getaway game from the Houston series, and are heading out to California to meet up with the Angels and Athetics this week.

Rays News:

So at least we can all agree that Tropicana Field has some advantages:

From Marc Topkin, how players deal with batting slumps. Pro tip from Kevin Cash: if you never hit well, you never slump! ($)

From Eno Sarris, which metrics can best tell you which players are having sustained breakouts? Austin Meadows is part of the conversation($).

From ESPN, it does not surprise me that Kiley McDaniel thinks other teams are emulating the Rays in evaluating prospects, but that they are emulating the Rays in evaluating hitting prospects? ($)

I will never not be hurt by the trade of Evan Longoria, and I’m glad to see he is doing well, and getting recognized for it. Fangraphs and The Athletic have taken note.

My respect goes to anyone who manages to learn the gender of his unborn child without burning anything down:

Around the League

And speaking of men and their babies, Max Scherzer had himself a day:

Has umpire strike calling been worse this year? Certainly there has been more attention paid to some poorly called at bats. Like this one:

Or poorly called games, like this one:

Latest updates on stadium attendance policies. A few places will increase to full capacity by the end of May ($).

Ivy League universities did not resume sports this spring. Here’s how some of their baseball players have found a “Plan B”. ($)