SnakeBytes 5/6: Quiet Off Day

An off day means the writers of the world didn’t spend much time talking about the Diamondbacks, when other, frankly more interesting teams, were actually playing baseball. One thing of note from the Diamondbacks though

(Yahoo! Finance) MLB Executive Pursues Career in Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

“We thank her for being the founding member of and her 22 years of service in our legal department and applaud her for being a local and national role model due to her expertise, leadership, and internal rise which ultimately made her a member of the executive leadership team as Executive Vice President and Chief Legal Officer,” says Derrick Hall, President/CEO of the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Other than that, not much else for the Diamondbacks yesterday. Around the rest of the league, though, we do find some interesting stuff, starting as we so often do with Shohei Ohtani

(MLB.com) Ohtani matches a Babe Ruth feat at Fenway

Hitting third and making his first start on the mound at Fenway Park, Ohtani became the first starting pitcher to bat in one of the top four spots in a game at the historic ballpark since Babe Ruth did so on Sept. 20, 1919.

Ohtani scattered six hits across seven scoreless innings, falling one shy of a career best with 11 strikeouts before he was relieved by right-hander Mike Mayers in the Angels’ 8-0 win over the Red Sox.

(ESPN) Starling Marte caps seven-run rally in ninth as New York Mets stun Philadelphia Phillies

The previous 330 times the New York Mets trailed by six runs in the ninth inning, they had lost.

The Mets staged a most remarkable comeback Thursday night, erasing a six-run deficit in the ninth inning to beat the flabbergasted Philadelphia Phillies 8-7.

(CBS Sports) MLB home runs are way down so far in 2022; here’s how the league’s recent tinkering deadened the baseball

Suffice it to say, MLB’s recent history is rife with inconsistency when it comes to the properties of the actual, physical baseball itself. This has resulted in a great deal of unpredictability from year to year, especially when it comes to home run rates.

Now let’s undertake a brief chronicling of how the ball has changed over the last half-decade-plus or so, which will set the scene for a deep dive into the 2022 season thus far.

(The Athletic) MLB Draft Big Board 2022: Keith Law ranks the top 100 prospects

This is not a prediction of where players will go in the draft. It’s a ranking. It’s not a prediction. Did you catch that part? It’s not a prediction. Or a mock. I’ll do one of those soon. This is just a ranking, and considers only the players’ abilities, projections and ages, but not where they might be drafted or their possible signability. There are a number of players on here who I expect will go to college, and will either be drafted late or not drafted at all.

(NBC Sports) What is the worst team start to a season in MLB history?

It’s May 5, and the Reds aren’t even the winningest major professional sports team from The Queen City in the calendar year. Joe Burrow and the Cincinnati Bengals went 4-2 in their final six games dating back to a Week 17 victory over the Kansas City Chiefs. They fell to the Cleveland Browns in Week 18, won their first three playoff games and then lost to the Los Angeles Rams in Super Bowl LVI.

How does the Reds’ abysmal beginning compare to other MLB teams, though?