Snake Bytes: 02/15 – Spring Cleaning

Just two days left before pitchers and catchers report for Spring Training.

Diamondbacks news

[AZ Central] Arizona Diamondbacks looking to rebound as manager Torey Lovullo enters contract year

“Last year was a reflection of what kind of leader I was,” he [Lovullo] said, “and I don’t want that to happen this year”, as quoted by Nick Piecoro.

A must read for every fan that digs the self flagellation of Torey Lovullo.

[Twitter] D-Backs non-roster invitees

Pick your favourite non-roster player!

[MLB] Spring training schedule

So pitchers and catchers will report on the 17th, the first squad practice will be on the 22nd and after that the games start on the 27th. Are you excited as I am? Check out the entire schedule then!

Around The MLB

[Yahoo Sports] Bernie not happy with MLB

Bernie Sanders is always angry. Now he is not pleased with his Vermont Lake Monsters being officially forced out of the minors. Less baseball is always bad, so he has a point there, of course.

[NBC Sports Boston] Andriese embracing opportunity, analytics with Red Sox

“It’ll be nice to get back into a good organization that values that [analytics], so we can get back on track”, says Matt Andriese.

Zack Godley thought the same thing.

Across The Pacific

[Australia] Melbourne wins 2nd straight Australian Baseball League title

In all honesty, it was hard to get a grip on the 20/21 Australian baseball season. The ABL had to juggle with the schedule because of all COVID-restrictions and two teams deciding to pull out before the season started. So we had teams that started playing in December and other teams that did not play their first game until deep in January.

In the end 4 of 5 teams qualified for the play-offs, with the Sydney Blue Sox securing a spot with just 5 wins in 13 games. Best of all were the Melbourne Aces who won 19 of 28, well in front of Perth Heat and Adelaide Giants, who were able to play 22 games.

And although this year’s playoffs were “proudly supported by the Victorian Government”, where the play-off bubble took place (Melbourne), it was that very same government that forced ABL to shorten the baseball playoffs all of a sudden after new lockdown measures.

So, to wrap this up, some kind of a semi-final game became the Championship game, and the Melbourne Aces won that one. But they were arguably the best team anyhow, so it is all fine.

[Japan] Baseball teams left in the lurch for arrival of foreign stars

According to NPB, a total of 50 foreign players, like Justin Smoak and Eric Thames, and staffers have yet to join the spring training camps because of the tightened travel restrictions and immigration control due to the novel coronavirus pandemic.

“It is difficult to grant special treatment to athletes under the state of emergency,” said NPB Commissioner Saito.

[Japan] Japanese female baseball players practicing in snow goes viral

A Japanese girl’s baseball team from the former high school of Masahiro Tanaka loves the game so much that a field covered with snow would not stop a recent training session in Hokkaido.

Around The World

[WBSC] Baseball5 added to Youth Olympic Games Dakar 2022 sports programme

I did not pay much attention to this item when it was published in January. But this urban variant of baseball has proven to be pretty low-entry and has therefore gained some traction in “tropical baseball countries” like Iran, Tanzania, Egypt, Kenia, Benin, Argentina… Baseball5 might become one of the better ways to make baseball and softball popular around the world and that this sport is included by the IOC in its (youth) programme is proof that the WBSC is at least heading into the right direction.