We’re about two months away from the 2021 Major League Baseball draft, which is unique among the major North American sports in that it takes place during the middle of the regular season. Of course, in baseball, it is also much more rare for a draft choice to go right to the major leagues than it is to see a rookie in the other major sports contribute with the top team. In the case of the 2021 draft class, there really is no player who stands out as the automatic top overall pick, so the Pittsburgh Pirates have some thinking to do about their first pick, as they will start the draft. There are only about a dozen players who come into the draft without any visible flaws in their game, and another feature of this year’s class is that the position players coming out of high school are actually stronger than the position players coming out of college. The COVID-19 pandemic has also limited the amount of information available to scouts.
Let’s take a look at some news items that will also influence your MLB betting choices in the national pastime.
MLB News: The Rumor Mill
Oakland A’s to begin looking for a place to move
The Athletics are a storied franchise that dates all the way back to 1901, when the Western League became the American League and declared itself a major league, ready to compete with the National League. The A’s were formed in Philadelphia to compete with the Phillies of the National League, and Connie Mack, a onetime catcher, was brought in to manage the club. In 1955, the team moved to Kansas City after the franchise went through bankruptcy, and then the team moved to Oakland in 1969. Even in Oakland, the city has failed to do much to invest in the team, and Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum, now an aging relic that already lost the NFL Oakland Raiders to Las Vegas, is about to lose the A’s too. MLB has encouraged the A’s to start looking for another place to play, which might motivate the city to move forward on a new stadium project that has stalled for years. The A’s would like a stadium near the Howard Terminal in Oakland, but if the city cannot come forward with a deal, such cities as Portland, Vancouver, Nashville, Charlotte and Montreal have emerged as favorites.
Yanks slugger Voit returns from IL
Luke Voit, the 2020 MLB home run champion, has returned from the 10-day injured list. He underwent surgery on March 29 for a meniscus tear in his left knee. He had a five-game injury rehab assignment with Scranton/Wilkes-Barre (AAA), and he went .389 with two doubles and three home runs, going 7 for 18 overall. He makes his debut on Tuesday with the Yankees, who went 18-16 during his absence. He will take over first base; his replacements had gone 19 for 124 in those 34 games, hitting just .153 with three homers, 10 RBI, 17 walks and 36 strikeouts. Jay Bruce played ten games at first, hitting .118 with one home run and 13 strikeouts — and then he retired. Mike Ford played 13 games, hitting just .103 with two home runs and four RBI, striking out 14 times in 39 at-bats. D.J. LeMahieu fared the best, hitting .282 over 15 games. He should move to second base with Voit returning to the lineup.
Braves boost bullpen by adding Shane Greene
Reliever Shane Greene has come back to the Braves, inking a one-year, $1.5 million deal that is prorated, as he missed the season’s first 38 days. He will head to Gwinnett (AAA) to prepare for a return to the majors. In 2020, he posted a 2.60 ERA with a 1-0 record, fanning 21 batters in 27 ⅔ innings. Atlanta’s bullpen has a combined 4.56 ERA, 22nd best in MLB. Last year, the unit had a combined 3.50 ERA, fourth-best in MLB. Greene was the setup man for Mark Melancon a year ago, and he should slot into that same role for closer Will Smith.
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