Snake Bytes 8/17: For Whom The Bell Tolls

Arizona Diamondbacks News

[MLB.com] Players of the Week: Hernández, Gilbert - Blue Jays outfielder Teoscar Hernández and D-backs pitcher Tyler Gilbert have been named the Players of the Week presented by Chevrolet... Gilbert earned NL Player of the Week following a historic performance Saturday night, when he became the fourth player to throw a no-hitter in his first career start. The California native surrendered three walks and recorded five strikeouts across his nine innings of work, becoming the third pitcher in D-backs history to throw a solo no-hitter. Including three relief appearances earlier this month, the 27-year-old Gilbert sports a spotless 0.00 ERA with 10 strikeouts across 12 2/3 innings pitched.

[The Athletic] ‘There was never a doubt’: How Diamondbacks rookie Tyler Gilbert went from nobody to no-hitter - In the stands and on television, they hooted and hollered. They were the assembled loved ones of Diamondbacks rookie Tyler Gilbert, at Chase Field to watch him make his first big-league start after a long minor-league journey. As each pitch parted with the tips of his fingers — not a single one of them resulting in a hit — they increased the pitch of their support. They yelled and cried and cheered and chewed fingernails. Gilbert’s father, Greg, seemed to do them all at once.

[Arizona Sports] D-backs LHP Tyler Gilbert’s no-hitter earns him NL Player of the Week

Around the League

[Yahoo Sports] Cole Hamels gets $1 million from Dodgers to throw 0 innings - The Los Angeles Dodgers were hoping MLB veteran Cole Hamels could provide some help in their rotation down the stretch. Instead, they were only left with the bill. The team announced Monday that it had placed Hamels on the 60-day injured list, effectively ending his season. According to MLB.com’s Juan Toribio, Hamels experienced arm pain during a simulated inning on Monday.

[MLB.com] Arrieta signs with Padres, to start Wed. - The Padres, in dire need of starting pitching as they cling to the National League’s second Wild Card spot, signed right-hander Jake Arrieta to a Minor League deal, the club announced on Monday. He is expected to be called up to make his first start with the club on Wednesday against the Rockies. Arrieta, a 12-year veteran and the 2015 NL Cy Young Award winner, has struggled this season, posting a 6.88 ERA across 20 starts. Nonetheless, the Padres are hoping a change of scenery can help rekindle at least some of Arrieta’s prior dominance. Arrieta, who was released by the Cubs last week, joined the Padres on Monday afternoon and threw a bullpen session in preparation for his start on Wednesday.

[The Washington Post] MLB umpires are squeezing the strike zone, and it’s hurting some teams more than others - While umpires are usually correct in interpreting baseball’s definition of the strike zone and whether a ball traveling upward of 90 or 100 mph passes over the plate or misses high or low, they’re wrong often enough. And a Washington Post study of umpires’ calls this season shows they are missing strike calls at an increasing rate. The advent of technology to track pitches and broadcast virtual strike zones to viewers has not only exacerbated the grumbling over calls — because now everyone can see a pitch’s location, often in real time — it also has allowed for the examination of a growing trend: the inconsistency of umpires calling strikes on pitches in the zone. A study conducted by The Post based on pitch-tracking data from TruMedia and Baseball Prospectus through the games of Aug. 1 showed umpires appear to be squeezing pitchers in 2021. Specifically, pitches that should have been called strikes this season have instead been called balls at a higher rate than ever before.

[The Wall Street Journal] Baseball Has a High Vaccination Rate. It Still Hasn’t Been Able to Shut Down Outbreaks. - The New York Yankees in the late spring were one of the first entities to alert the world to a troubling possibility: People who were fully vaccinated could still test positive for Covid-19. Now the whole country is grappling with that reality, plunging local and state governments into bitter fights over how to handle the latest phase of the pandemic after hopes were dashed that the arrival of shots would herald a rapid exit from the Covid era. It’s the latest in a series of lessons Major League Baseball has delivered regarding the complexities of continuing to work while keeping the virus at bay. In this instance, baseball is revealing another hard reality of the pandemic: A higher percentage of MLB employees are vaccinated than the general U.S. population, and it hasn’t been enough to completely prevent outbreaks.