Well the danger on the rocks is surely past


Dr Ron Taylor passed away this weekend, at the ripe old age of 87, and while my old alma mater has many distinguished graduates, I think Taylor is the only one who played major league baseball. And as I once noted, there are far, far more people capable of performing surgery on your brain than there are who can pitch in a World Series.

Ron Taylor was born right here in Toronto in 1937 and he signed with Cleveland out of high school in 1956. He spent the next seven years moving up through their system as a starting pitcher, while simultaneously pursuing a degree in electrical engineering at the U of T. He got his degree in 1961 and made his MLB debut the following April. It was memorable - he tossed 11 shutout innings against the Red Sox in Fenway. But the Indians couldn't score either and they sent Taylor back out for the twelfth inning. After Yastrzemski's leadoff triple and a couple of intentional walks, Carroll Hardy walked him off with a grand slam. He did get his first MLB win his next time out, but a couple of rough starts saw him banished to the bullpen and then back to AAA. He was traded to the Cardinals that winter, and carved out a role in their bullpen. He was especially good in the 1964 World Series, throwing four hitless innings to preserve a 4-3 victory in the fourth game. 

Taylor was traded to Houston in mid-1965. This didn't work - the Astrodome was one of the greatest pitcher's parks that ever existed but Taylor simply couldn't pitch effectively there. Go figure. He went to the Mets in a straight cash deal in 1967 and promptly became a useful relief pitcher once again. He collected his second World Series ring with another four scoreless appearances in the 1969 post-season, picking up a save against the Braves in the NLCS and another against the Orioles in the series finale. 

Taylor pitched in four World Series games, and in seven innings allowed zero runs and zero hits. Hard to be much better than that. He was briefly an Expo in 1972, but was released before getting into a game, and he finished up with San Diego in 1972. At which point, he decided to go to medical school. The dean of admissions wondered just what the hell he'd been doing since graduating eleven years earlier, and warned that the U of T didn't look favourably upon candidates as old as Taylor (he was 34 by then.) But his academic excellence would get him in the door, he graduated from medical school in 1977,and two years later became the Blue Jays team physician, while operating a general practice in downtown Toronto, and a sports medicine clinic at Mount Sinai. And as the team doctor, he collected another two World Series rings along the way.

A life well lived.

After their surprising run to the 2023 World Series with an 84-78 record, the Diamondbacks improved by five games last year. Their reward for this level of improvement was missing the post-season entirely. They had the highest scoring team in the major leagues last year, and while Citizens Bank is a very fine place to hit (and the Snakes scored a major league leading 457 runs at home), they also scored 429 runs on the road and only the Dodgers could beat that mark, with 439. Their problem was the other team was scoring almost as often - just four teams allowed more runs, and all four of those outfits also lost at least 99 games. So the Diamondbacks went and ponied up for the best starting pitcher they could get their hands on. Seemed like a good idea, and indeed Corbin Burnes was pitching very well for them until his elbow blew up. Now he gets to keep Jordan Montgomery company in the rehab room. So nothing much has changed - the D'Backs still allow more runs than any team in the NL except Miami and Colorado. 

They still score lots of runs, of course. But it's not quite as impressive as what they were doing a year ago. The biggest change has taken place in centre field. Jake McCarthy, their main centre fielder last season, got off to a terrible start and was optioned to Reno in mid-April - he's still there, hitting pretty well, and Alek Thomas isn't exactly blowing away the league in his place. Other changes saw Josh Naylor take over for Christian Walker at first base, and Pavin Smith for Joc Pederson as the main DH, and those moves have gone smoothly enough. And Corbin Carroll is having an excellent bounce back season. But it's not adding up to quite as much in the way actual Runs Scored as a year ago, and the biggest change I can see is a rather large drop off in how they've been hitting with men in scoring position. In 2024, the D'Backs had 1,742 PApps with men in scoring position. They hit .285/.365/.487 and drove in 644 runs, which was quite a bit better than the NL as a whole in those situations (.255/.333/.417). Not this year. At their current pace, the Diamondbacks will have 1,660 PApps with men in scoring position - which is not quite as many as a year ago - and they've hit .248/.325/.426, which is pretty close to the league average. They've cashed 244 of those baserunners, and over a full season that would amount to 564 runs driven in. It's .5 runs per game less than a year ago, which is pretty close to how much their offense has decreased from 2024.


Matchups

Tue 17 June - Pfaadt (8-4, 5.50) vs Bassitt (7-3, 3.70)
Wed 18 June - Rodriguez (2-3, 6.27) vs S.Guy
Thu 19 June - Nelson (3-2, 4.14) vs Gausman (5-5, 4.08)