— QB Brendan Sorsby is done with semi-pro/college football, and will apply to the NFL supplemental draft. He had been given a temporary injunction by a Texas judge June 8th that appeared to clear the way for him to play for Texas Tech this fall.
He had placed more than 9,000 bets, totaling at least $90,000, on professional and college sports over four years while enrolled at Indiana, Cincinnati, Texas Tech.
First held in 1977, the supplemental draft allows teams to bid future draft picks on players. The league hasn’t had a supplemental draft since 2023, and no one has been picked in one since 2019.
Very curious which NFL team, if any, will draft him.
— One reason that hitting now is harder than it used to be: Washington Nationals 1B James Wood won’t be 24 until September, but he has already faced 447 different pitchers in his career, which is the same amount of pitchers Hall of Famer Ted Williams faced in his entire 19-year career.
American League had eight teams when Williams played; there was no interleague play, so he only played against the other seven AL teams.
Williams was one of the greatest hitters ever, if not THE best, but he faced five different pitchers 100+ times in his career.
By way of comparison, the most times Wood has faced any pitcher is 19 (David Peterson).
— By the way, if you’re voting for this year’s All-Star Game, Wood deserves to be a starter.
— Monday night against the Royals, Washington’s catcher challenged two of the first 13 pitches and lost both challenges, so they were out of challenges for the rest of the game. Not ideal.
In fairness, it didn’t look like the catcher tapped his head on the 2nd challenge, but the umpire said he did.
Tuesday night in Cincinnati, Mets ran out of challenges in the bottom of the 2nd inning. Oy.
— Mets are the only major league team this year who only have two pitchers with 10+ starts. Lot of injuries and ineffective pitchers.
— Chicago Cubs have nine walk-off wins this season, most in the major leagues.
— A wish for college basketball season this fall: former Florida/NBA coach Billy Donovan as a TV analyst. Think we could learn a lot listening to him during games.
— Famous birthdays, June 17th:
Dave Concepcion, 78
Mickey Brantley, 65
Greg Kinnear, 63
Mike Magnante, 61
Jason Hanson, 56
Kyle Boller, 45
Cory Harkey, 36
Andrew Chafin, 36
Shane Baz, 27
— Giants-Braves game was suspended by rain in the second inning; it will resume at 2:00 Wednesday, creating a day/night doubleheader.
— Cardinals 3, Padres 2
Andre Pallante allowed four hits in seven IP.
Rookie 2B JJ Wetherholt went 3-for-4; he has a .764 OPS
San Diego lost eight of its last ten road games.
— Astros 4, Tigers 2
Hunter Brown got 17 outs, allowed one run in his return from the IL.
Raynel Delgado had the game-winning hit in his second MLB game.
Framber Valdez gave up an unearned in 6 IP against his old team.
— Dodgers 1, Rays 0
Shohei Ohtani’s 15th sixth-inning homer was the game’s only run.
Juston Wrobleski improved to 8-2, 2.72 this season.
Tampa Bay lost six of its last seven road games.
— Blue Jays 6, Red Sox 1
Dylan Cease needed 108 pitches to finish 5 IP, but didn’t allow a run.
George Springer hit his 300th career home run.
Red Sox slipped to 12-23 in their home games.
— Angels 7, Diamondbacks 0
Mike Trout homered, had three RBI
Reid Detmers gave up three hits in 7 IP.
Bottom three guys in Angels’ batting order went 7-for-12, scored three runs.
— If the baseball playoffs started today (they don’t):
NL: Braves, Brewers, Dodgers. Wild Cards: Cardinals-Phillies-Nationals
AL: Bronx, White Sox, Mariners. Wild Cards: Rays-Guardians-A’s
