Snake Bytes 3/8: It Has Begun

Diamondbacks News

Zac Gallen Labors in First Spring Training Outing
It was not the most promising of spring debuts for Arizona’s ace.

Gallen, Ahmed Learning the Gray Areas of the Pitch Clock
While the buzzer lets everyone know how long is too long, there is still a great deal of ambiguity as to how quick is too quick?

Other Baseball News

Lorenzo Cain to Retire as Royal
Lorenzo Cain is hanging up his cleats. The two-time All-Star and former American League Championship Series MVP will officially retire this summer as a Kansas City Royal.

Rays Discussing Extension with Curtis Mead
Tampa Bay likes his bat enough that his glove doesn’t seem to matter much - nor does the fact that the young man has yet to even make his MLB debut.

WBC News

Why this WBC is so Important
Between the pandemic, a lack of insuring body to protect teams from injury concerns, and previous iterations featuring a decided lack of interest by U.S. players, the WBC has had its struggles establishing itself. Things seem to be changing though and this time, the stage is set for the WBC to truly make its mark with the sorts of stars and commitments being made to the competition.

Team USA Embracing Expectations
Lack of enthusiastic participation by the game’s best resulted in it taking Team USA four tournaments to finally secure a championship. Then Mike Trout announced his intention to play. Now the pressure is on for Team USA to repeat.

This is a good start.

Names to Know in the WBC
Some stars are easy to expect. Others, many people outside the country being represented will be names that few have heard of. Here’s a bit of help in identifying some names that could have a big impact on the tournament for their team.

WBC Schedule and Scores
A guide to where games can be found with score updates.