The canine days of summer time have arrived. Groups made their strikes on the July 30 commerce deadline and now the postseason races (and awards races) are heating up. Lower than seven weeks stay within the common season. With that in thoughts, right here now are three MLB developments value realizing as we enter the stretch run.

Hernández turning season round with new glasses

For a lot of the primary half, Dodgers utility man Enrique Hernández was pressed into motion at third base due to Max Muncy’s indirect damage. The outcomes weren’t good. Hernández took a .191/.258/.299 batting line into the All-Star break, and each the defensive metrics and the attention take a look at say his glove at third base is OK. Actually not stellar, and positively not sufficient to hold the bat.

Hernández has been a distinct hitter over the previous few weeks although, slashing .276/.336/.434 in 21 second half video games. As he tells it, there’s a tangible rationalization for his improved efficiency: Hernández bought fitted for eyeglasses. On the behest of longtime good friend Martín Maldonado, Hernández had his eyes checked earlier this 12 months, and the examination revealed an astigmatism.

The Los Angeles Occasions has the small print:

“(Maldonado) informed me that him and a few his teammates wanted glasses, they usually did not actually know via the spring coaching take a look at,” Hernández mentioned.

…

“They went via a extra thorough take a look at [to learn they needed glasses],” Hernández mentioned, referring again to his dialogue with Maldonado. “So I used to be like, ‘All proper, I am gonna attempt it out.'”

The astigmatism is in Hernández’s proper eye, and within the last collection of the primary half, he started carrying glasses with a prescription proper lens. He’d by no means worn glasses in his life previous to that. The slash line speaks for itself, however beneath the floor, Hernández has additionally proven enchancment in his contact and chase charges together with his new glasses:

Mookie Betts returned Monday and Muncy began a minor-league rehab task this previous weekend. He is inching nearer to a return and the Dodgers want him. When Muncy does return, Hernández will slide again into a standard utility position, and it is for one of the best. Even together with his new glasses, he is stretched as an on a regular basis participant. Hernández is only sparsely.

For a lot of the primary half, Hernández’s bat was primarily unplayable, however the Dodgers had little selection however to play him given their third base scenario. The attention examination, the astigmatism analysis, and the brand new glasses have helped Hernández get his season on observe. It form of makes you marvel why we do not hear about extra struggling gamers going for rigorous eye exams, no?

The extremely clutch Melendez

There isn’t any two methods about it: MJ Melendez’s .205/.267/.403 slash line getting into play Tuesday is ghastly. It is 28% beneath league common as soon as adjusted for ballpark, and it is beneath the .243/.314/.398 league common for left fielders. That .267 on-base proportion ranks 204th among the many 210 hitters with no less than 300 plate appearances this season. Yuck.

For Melendez and the Royals, the saving grace is that he is been outrageously clutch, moreso in high-leverage conditions than in conventional runners in scoring place spots. Timing is every part and Melendez’s timing has been impeccable:

wRC+, or weighted runs created plus, is like OPS+ on steroids. It is extra finely tuned, and it presents a participant’s manufacturing relative to the league common. 100 is common. Something above that’s above common and something beneath that’s beneath common. Among the many 234 hitters with 25 excessive leverage plate appearances, Melendez’s 232 wRC+ is sixth highest, simply behind Juan Soto.

Championship likelihood added (CPA) is like win likelihood added (WPA) on a bigger scale. WPA tells you ways a lot nearer a play brings you to profitable that sport. CPA tells you ways a lot nearer a play brings you profitable the World Collection. On Aug. 4, Melendez hit a go-ahead pinch-hit three-run dwelling run with the Royals down 2-0 with two outs within the ninth in Detroit. By CPA, it’s the third-biggest hit in baseball this season, and the largest non-walk-off hit of the 12 months.

Melendez has three of Kansas Metropolis’s 9 greatest hits by CPA this season, greater than anybody on the crew, together with Bobby Witt Jr. and the ageless Salvador Perez. Right here is the whole checklist of hitters with three hits registering at 0.33% CPA or higher: MJ Melendez. That is it. Solely three others have even two such hits: Witt, Joc Pederson, and Nelson Velázquez. (Should be a Royals factor.)

In fact, 27 plate appearances is a minuscule pattern, although that’s the nature of high-leverage stats. No participant has even 60 high-leverage plate appearances in 2024, and solely 17 have 50. In addition to, we’re not right here to say Melendez has a particular clutch gene and that his high-leverage efficiency is predictive. We’re simply giving him props for what he is executed in his alternatives. The Royals are battling for a wild-card spot and he is gotten loads of huge hits this season, even whereas operating a poor total batting line.

“I prefer to be in these conditions. It’s do or die and that is loads of enjoyable,” Melendez mentioned after his go-ahead homer in Detroit earlier this month (through Related Press). “I’ll be prepared late in video games, whether or not they want me to hit or play protection. I’ve to remain as locked in as doable, similar to I am within the sport.”

Margot the pinch out-maker

This has been a bizarre season for Twins outfielder Manuel Margot. The Rays traded him to the Dodgers within the Tyler Glasnow deal in December, then Los Angeles flipped him to the Twins in February so they might re-sign Enrique Hernández, who serves the identical position offensively (righty platoon bat) whereas offering extra defensive versatility. Margot’s been on three groups within the final 9 months.

With the Twins, Margot’s taking part in time has been sporadic at finest. He is began solely 52 of the crew’s 118 video games getting into Tuesday, and solely as soon as all season has he began 4 consecutive video games: July 27-30. Margot’s taking part in time is fairly evenly cut up, although he has been way more productive in opposition to lefties, which is his position and is in step with a lot of the whole remainder of his profession.

Margot is a textbook fourth outfielder and righty platoon possibility, and while you’re a platoon man, it means you are going to pinch-hit. You are going to pinch-hit lots, in reality, and no participant in baseball has pinch-hit extra instances this season Margot. His 31 pinch-hit plate appearances lead the league. Andy Ibáñez (29) is the one different participant with greater than 25 pinch-hit plate appearances.

And in these 31 pinch-hit plate appearances, Margot has exactly zero hits. Not one. He’s 0 for 27 with 4 walks and 5 strikeouts as a pinch-hitter. It is a .000/.129/.000 line. Margot’s not hanging out excessively as a pinch-hitter, however the hits aren’t falling in. Sadly, he is closing in on a report. Listed here are essentially the most pinch-hit plate appearances in a season with no hit:

1. Jonny Gomes, 2011 Nationals/Reds: 34
2. Manuel Margot, 2024 Twins: 31
3. Jim Holt, 1974 Athletics/Twins: 30
4. Bobo Osborne, 1959 Tigers: 29
5. A number of tied with 27 hitless pinch-hit plate appearances

Coming into 2024, Margot was a profession .213/.273/.311 pinch-hitter, so it is not like he is excelled on this position prior to now. Additionally, he had solely 66 profession pinch-hit plate appearances earlier than 2024, so 32% of his profession pinch-hitting appearances have come this season. It is onerous to come back off the bench chilly and hit. It is a comparatively new position for Margot and he is battling it.

Lefty swingers Trevor Larnach and Matt Wallner want platoon companions, and when he isn’t pinch-hitting, Margot is a reasonably good platoon possibility. The issue pops up within the late innings, when the opposite crew brings in a southpaw for left-on-left matchups, and Margot comes off the bench. At this level, possibly the Twins are higher sticking with their lefties slightly than pinch-hitting Margot?