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Felix Hernandez‘s quest to take the Seattle Mariners‘ strikeout record from Randy Johnson is over.

Now all King Felix has to do is get as close as he can to the Big Unit on Major League Baseball’s all-time strikeout list. Considering Johnson is one of only four pitchers to record 4,000 strikeouts, this is otherwise known as the hard part.

But that can wait. Though the milestone came in a 4-2 loss to the Los Angeles Angels at Angel Stadium of Anaheim on Saturday night, Hernandez’s focus should now be on celebrating his latest accomplishment. With his first-inning strikeout of Rafael Ortega, Hernandez became Seattle’s franchise leader with 2,163 strikeouts.

Behold the moving pictures!

Hernandez finished with four strikeouts in seven innings, bumping his career total to 2,166. Beyond being the most in Mariners history, that’s also an awful lot by the standards of active pitchers. Only CC Sabathia and Bartolo Colon are ahead of Hernandez on that list.

And that’s not even the most impressive part of the strikeout collection Hernandez is working on.

Because it feels like the right-hander has been with the Mariners since the time of the Taft administration, it’s easy to forget King Felix only recently turned 30 years old. Through the age of 30, only seven pitchers racked up more strikeouts than he has:

Fernandez has some pretty good company in this court. And since he’s only now beginning his age-30 season, the list of pitchers ahead of him should dwindle as 2016 progresses. If he follows his career rate of 8.5 strikeouts per nine innings to his usual 200 or so strikeouts, he’ll pass Pedro Martinez and Don Drysdale for sure, and he could make a run at Bert Blyleven.

From where he stands, Hernandez looks like a lock for 3,000 strikeouts—a club that boasts only 16 members. If all goes really well, he might even have a shot at joining Johnson, Nolan Ryan, Roger Clemens and Steve Carlton in the 4,000-strikeout club.

The latter is an ultra-optimistic projection. But for anyone out there who feels like taking the side of the ultra-optimist, there are a few things to hang your hat on.

Because it’s pretty hard to strike guys out from the bench, the first thing Hernandez needs to make it to the peak of baseball’s strikeout mountain is one thing that’s rarely been in question in his career: durability. Hernandez is the only active pitcher who’s made at least 30 starts and logged at least 190 innings every year since 2006.

Hernandez also has a signature strikeout pitch in his changeup. Houston Astros right-hander Lance McCullers told Ted Berg of USA Today that it’s on the “Mount Rushmore of changeups.” And these days, it’s up to its usual tricks. According to Brooks Baseball, the whiff rate on Hernandez’s changeup was back over 20 percent entering Saturday after it had dipped below that mark in 2015.

Another advantage Hernandez has is that modern baseball is all about the strikeout. Baseball’s strikeout rate has been going nowhere but up for years, and by now we know this is no coincidence.

In 2014, Jon Roegele of the Hardball Times wrote about how huge the strike zone had become. In 2012, Jayson Stark of ESPN wrote about baseball’s increasing obsession with data and how it was helping pitchers more than hitters. Stark also wrote that it probably didn’t hurt that baseball wasn’t as juiced as it once was. Add up these things, and more strikeouts would happen.

So though there’s a huge gap between Hernandez and the tippy-top of baseball’s all-time strikeout list, his credentials and the landscape in which he exists make it look smaller than it is. Another 10 seasons with 200 or so strikeouts to take him over 4,000 sounds almost reasonable.

But let’s talk about that “almost.”

Though King Felix’s track record of durability is commendable in an era when the injury bug has quite the appetite for pitching arms, he’s at an age where his history of durability shouldn’t be taken as a predictor of the future.

Only seven pitchers since 1969 (the year the mound was lowered) logged more innings through age 30 than Hernandez has. And among the players Hernandez is due to pass in 2016 is Sabathia, who’s as good a cautionary tale as anyone. He made it to 200 innings in his age-31 and age-32 seasons, but then his body rebelled and turned him into a shell of his former self.

Lest anyone think the same can’t happen to Hernandez, let’s not forget his elbow sent up some red flags just last season. If that becomes a bigger issue, he’ll be lucky to pitch another five years, much less 10.

It’s also fair to wonder just how much longer Hernandez can be a strikeout pitcher. He may have his good changeup this year, but his velocity is continuing a distressing trend:

That’s a noticeable leak, and the odds of Hernandez reversing it are slim. As Mike Podhorzer of FanGraphs wrote, Hernandez’s velocity may end up “well below expectations given what we would expect him to lose this season.”

This isn’t going to be a one-year thing. Less velocity in 2016 will lead to less velocity in 2017 and less velocity in 2018. That’s how the aging curve works, and it’s among the chief reasons why, as Bill Petti and Jeff Zimmerman of FanGraphs noted, starting pitchers’ strikeout rates take a marked downturn as they age. In other words: the 8.5 career K/9 rate that’s gotten Hernandez to where he is now isn’t going to stick around for the long haul.

As such, the pie-in-the-sky hope of 4,000 strikeouts will likely remain just that. Even if we assume that Hernandez will stay on the mound for another five to 10 years, the bar probably shouldn’t be set any higher than even 3,000 strikeouts.

But to one extent, that’s also as high as it needs to go. Of the 16 members in the 3,000-strikeout club, only Clemens and Curt Schilling aren’t in the Hall of Fame. If King Felix joins such company one day, he might as well punch his ticket to Cooperstown on the spot.

For now, though, Hernandez can say he broke one of Johnson’s records. There aren’t many who have done the same.

Stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com and FanGraphs unless otherwise noted/linked.

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It’d be hackneyed—and overkill—to begin a dissection of the Houston Astros‘ slow start with “Houston, we have a problem.”

It’s April. There are 145 games left on the schedule. Grains of salt must still be liberally sprinkled over every statistic and slot in the standings.

But this isn’t how things were supposed to go for the Astros.

After blossoming ahead of schedule in 2015, snagging a wild-card slot and pushing eventual champions the Kansas City Royals to five games in the division series, the ‘stros entered the season as a popular American League darling.

Sports Illustrated picked Houston to win the World Series in 2016—and again in 2017.

Call it a double SI cover jinx if you want. But the point is Houston was a trendy pick to not only contend in the AL West but blast deep into October.

That goal, and those prognostications, are far from dashed. But after losing 6-2 to the Boston Red Sox Friday night, the Astros are languishing in last place at 5-12.

They were recently swept by their in-state rivals, the Texas Rangers, and they have dropped six of eight overall. The rocket isn’t smoking or plummeting to Earth, but warning lights are flashing.

The most obvious culprit so far has been the starting pitching.

Ace and reigning AL Cy Young Award winner Dallas Keuchel has been unspectacular, posting a 3.71 ERA through four starts while allowing 27 hits and 11 walks in 26.2 innings. 

After that, it’s Scott Feldman (4.11 ERA), Doug Fister (5.94 ERA), Mike Fiers (6.48 ERA) and Collin McHugh (7.56 ERA). 

One thing this Astros rotation is missing—other than results—is heat. Entering play Saturday, their starters were dead last in MLB with an average fastball velocity of 87.8 mph, per FanGraphs. 

The return of the 22-year-old Lance McCullers, who is working his way back from a shoulder issue that surfaced in spring training, ought to help. He might be back by May, according to the team’s official website.

Last season, in his rookie campaign, McCullers fanned 129 in 125.2 innings while rankings among the game’s top 20 hardest throwers, again per FanGraphs. 

Speed isn’t everything, of course. But it’s important to give opposing hitters a variety of looks, and adding McCullers to the mix should do exactly that for Houston.

The team’s issues, however, don’t end there. 

The bullpen has also wobbled, particularly late-inning arm Ken Giles—acquired this winter from the Philadelphia Phillies for a package of prospects—who owns a 6.75 ERA.

The offense, meanwhile, has gotten a boost from the likes of second baseman Jose Altuve (.292 AVG., 5 HR, 7 SB), right fielder George Springer (.275 AVG., 4 HR, 11 RBI), left fielder Colby Rasmus (.286 AVG., 5 HR, 11 RBI) and shortstop Carlos Correa (.283 AVG., 3 HR, 7 RBI).

But others, including center fielder Carlos Gomez, third baseman Luis Valbuena and designated hitter Evan Gattis, are scuffling. Overall, Houston is hitting a pedestrian .238 and ranks in the bottom half of both leagues in runs scored.

All of that could be an early, anomalous blip. Perhaps the Astros are merely pressing under the weight of increased expectations.

That’s the diagnosis Keuchel seemed to suggest recently, per MLB.com’s Brian McTaggart:

It’s a very team-oriented sport, but at the same time, you have nine individuals on the same field, and if one guy is breaking down and not [paying] attention to the game or being a very knowledgeable baseball player, it shows. At times, that’s what we’ve had. We have to clean that up and be in sync, all nine of us, at the same time. You saw that last year, and we know what to do and we’ve got to get back to it.

The Astros aren’t the only up-and-coming club that has limped to a slow start. The Minnesota Twins, another 2015 darling, are also 5-12. 

Both squads have the talent to reverse course and jump back in the race. Of the two, Houston is the more complete team. 

McCullers‘ return, coupled with more consistent production up and down the lineup, would do wonders. 

Plus, as Angel Verdejo Jr. of Chron.com pointed out, the Astros, “played a loaded schedule to start, opening against the [New York] Yankees and facing the Royals and [Detroit] Tigers to open their home slate before playing the Rangers and [Boston] Red Sox.”

You could argue, correctly, that those are the teams Houston has to beat to claim American League supremacy.

The point, though, is the Astros will get another chance. And another. And another. The season is just beginning. 

The Astros don’t have a problem—not yet anyway. That doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be searching for solutions.

All statistics current as of April 22 and courtesy of MLB.com unless otherwise noted.

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Seattle Mariners starting pitcher Felix Hernandez was scratched from his start Friday night against the division-rival Los Angeles Angels due to an illness.

Continue for updates.

Hernandez’s Status Uncertain After Scratch

Friday, April 22

The Mariners announced Hisashi Iwakuma will start Friday instead of Hernandez. No further information about the ailment or how long it could keep the starter sidelined was immediately disclosed.

Hernandez remains the ace of Seattle’s staff and one of the most reliable starters in baseball. Few pitchers have matched his overall impact across the past decade. The Mariners hope that trend is able to continue for the foreseeable future.

The 30-year-old right-hander has made at least 30 starts in every season dating back to 2006. The team did shut him down one start early last year, but that was more for precautionary reasons than any major health concerns.

If the latest ailment forces him to miss more than a few days, the Mariners will need Iwakuma and Taijuan Walker to step up to lead the staff. While those other starters aren’t proven aces, they are certainly capable of stringing together several strong starts in a row.

Of course, the Seattle rotation is nowhere near as imposing without Hernandez leading the way.

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The Houston Astros are missing something, but it’s hard to put a finger on it…

Wait, no. There it is. Clearly, what they need is a healthy Lance McCullers.

Following their return to the postseason in 2015, the Astros’ starting rotation has been their biggest problem in their disappointing 5-10 start to 2016. It’s struggling with a 4.83 ERA, and even that figure doesn’t do its mediocrity justice.

Though he hasn’t been especially sharp, reigning American League Cy Young winner Dallas Keuchel is doing fine with a 2.18 ERA through his first three starts. After him, however, Collin McHugh, Mike Fiers, Scott Feldman and Doug Fister have done this:

Based on their track records, these four should settle down eventually. But even if they do, they might not answer the big question: Do the Astros even have a legit No. 2 starter to go with Keuchel?

That job officially belongs to McHugh, but his slow start is a reminder that his 19 wins last season oversell how good he was. His 3.89 ERA equated to an ERA+ of just 102, qualifying him as only a slightly above-average pitcher.

McHugh also doesn’t have the wares of a dominant pitcher. He has solid control to go with an approach that’s heavy on breaking balls, but that basically just makes him a Bronson Arroyo clone. That comp highlights McHugh as a good guy to have, but not so much the best guy to trust as a No. 2 starter.

The Astros would be better off with a No. 2 who’s legitimately dangerous, which naturally brings us back around to McCullers.

McCullers isn’t already around because he’s still recovering from right shoulder inflammation that sidelined him in spring training. That process could be going more smoothly, as the 22-year-old recently had a rehab start scratched due to nagging soreness.

It doesn’t sound like that was a major setback, though. Brian McTaggart of MLB.com reported that McCullers threw a bullpen session on Tuesday, and he is scheduled for another on Friday. The Astros website listed McCullers as a possible May return.

If McCullers can return at full strength, the Astros will be welcoming back a former first-round pick who posted a 3.22 ERA and struck out roughly a batter per inning in 22 starts as a rookie last season. Even better, his stuff would be a much-needed change of pace for Houston’s starting staff.

One thing that’s noticeably absent from Houston’s rotation is velocity. Astros starters went into Wednesday averaging only 87.9 mph on their fastballs—easily the lowest in baseball. In a much-related story, Astros starters are averaging only 6.4 strikeouts per nine innings.

McCullers can fix this. He averaged 94.5 mph with his four-seam fastball last season, which put him among the league’s top 20 hardest-throwing starters (min. 120 innings). For name-drop purposes, he threw as hard as Chris Sale.

And the heck of it is, McCullers‘ mid-90s fastball might actually be his worst pitch.

McCullers also throws a curveball that’s among the league’s hidden gems. It also has terrific velocity, as no other starter threw a faster curveball than McCullers last season. And despite its velocity, McCullers‘ hook didn’t skimp on movement. 

As Ryan Flaherty can vouch, sometimes McCullers‘ curve has a little extra of both:

With its combination of velocity and movement, Astros pitching coach Brent Strom told David Laurila of FanGraphs that McCullers‘ curveball reminded him of Craig Kimbrel’s devastating hook. When FanGraphs‘ Jeff Sullivan ran the numbers, he found that actually was the best comp for McCullers‘ curve. “The two pitches are essentially brothers,” Sullivan wrote.

McCullers‘ collection of nasty secondaries doesn’t stop at his curveball. His changeup took some time to develop, but it didn’t look like a pitch that was still in development last season. From Cespedes Family BBQ comes this GIF of a 94 mph changeup that made Melky Cabrera flail like a newborn:

Overall, McCullers sat close to 90 mph with his changeup in 2015. According to Baseball Prospectus, no other starter who threw at least 200 changeups did better.

Looking out across the present baseball landscape, another guy who can throw a 90 mph changeup is New York Mets right-hander/uber-pitcher Noah Syndergaard. The guy McCullers is trying to emulate, though, is Felix Hernandez.

“He’s on the Mt. Rushmore of changeups,” McCullers told Ted Berg of USA Today. “Before, you idolized guys because they throw like you, or you like the way they pitch, but now you can actually find guys that you think you kind of relate to—arm-angle wise and whatnot—and try to recreate pitches that they’ve mastered.”

McCullers did more than a fine job of recreating King Felix’s changeup last season. According to Brooks Baseball, both the velocity (89.8 mph) and arm-side fade (8.0 inches) of his changeup were reminiscent of Hernandez’s changeup at its peak.

Of course, McCullers isn’t perfect. He walked 3.1 batters per nine innings last season, topping the starting pitcher average of 2.7. And with so many moving parts in his delivery, it’ll be tough for him to drastically improve on that.

But when you have Sale’s fastball velocity, Kimbrel’s curveball and Hernandez’s changeup, you don’t necessarily need great control to thrive. McCullers showed as much last season. And if he can put his bad shoulder behind him, he should pick up right where he left off.

That would give the Astros an ideal No. 2 to go with Keuchel and would decrease the pressure on McHugh, Fiers and Feldman/Fister to be anything more than innings-eaters. With Houston’s offense already raking, the only outstanding problem left would be its bullpen. And considering that it was elite last year and now has a normally excellent Ken Giles, that problem should fix itself.

In so many words, the Astros may only be just one player away from taking off. Other sub-.500 teams around the league only wish they could say the same.

Stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com and FanGraphs unless otherwise noted/linked.

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It’s not a set-in-stone rule or anything, but it sure seems like a Major League Baseball season can’t qualify as modern unless at least one top-ranked hitting prospect takes the league by storm. 

In Nomar Mazara, the Texas Rangers may have just the guy for 2016.

The 20-year-old became the youngest player in the majors when the Rangers called him up to fill in for injured right fielder Shin-Soo Choo, and he started raking immediately. Mazara torched the Los Angeles Angels for three hits in his debut on April 10, including an absolute clout of a home run:

That remains the young outfielder’s lone home run, but the hits have otherwise kept coming in his first seven games. Mazara has 12 hits in 27 at-bats for a .444 average, and he boasts a 1.044 OPS.

As far as reasons not to get too excited, there’s obviously the whole small-sample-size thing. Seven games and 27 at-bats are not big numbers, as you well know.

But since a .444 average and a 1.044 OPS are big numbers, what Mazara is doing can’t be ignored. And if we really wanted to make him look good, we could note that his OPS is better than Mike Trout, Bryce Harper, Carlos Correa and Kris Bryant managed in their first seven games:

• Trout: .359 OPS
• Harper: .814 OPS
• Correa: .885 OPS
• Bryant: 1.035 OPS

I’m not sure why anyone would (he said with his tongue firmly in his cheek) take this as a sign that Mazara is going to be a better player than any of them, but please don’t do that. Rather, this is more of an indication that Mazara can indeed be the next greatly hyped young hitter to actually satisfy expectations.

The hype began to build when Mazara signed with the Rangers out of the Dominican Republic as a 16-year-old in 2011. They picked him up with a $5 million bonus, a record for an international amateur at the time.

It took some time for Mazara to find his stride in the minors, but he opened eyes with a .306/.381/.518 slash line at Double-A in 2014. That helped put him in a few top-100 prospect lists, and he moved further up the ranks after slashing .358/.409/.444 at Triple-A at the end of 2015.

Keith Law of ESPN.com and Baseball Prospectus were particularly high on Mazara coming into 2016. They rated him at No. 9 and No. 5, respectively, and painted him as a perfect hitting prospect. Law praised Mazara for his “advanced approach” and his willingness to use the whole field. And with his “bat speed, plane, hand-eye coordination,” Baseball Prospectus saw the goods for a plus-plus hit tool.

Seven games into Mazara’s career, you can already see what all the fuss is about.

Though he has only drawn two walks in 31 plate appearances for a 6.5 walk percentage, Mazara hasn’t been overly aggressive. He’s averaging 4.13 pitches per plate appearance, which is safely above the major league average of 3.87. The danger of seeing that many pitches is running into strikeouts, but only 4.7 percent of Mazara’s swings have resulted in whiffs, and he has only three strikeouts for a 9.7 strikeout percentage.

For anyone who’s wondering how Mazara compares to fellow breakout hitting stars Trevor Story and Tyler White, this means he doesn’t have the same crack in his armor that they have in theirs. And knowing him, that it’s not there isn’t so surprising.

Taking a cue from Chris Mitchell of FanGraphs, here’s a look at how Mazara’s MLB strikeout rate fits with a pattern of him getting better at making contact as the competition gets tougher:

Mazara’s improvement as a contact hitter traces back to a change he made while with Single-A Hickory early in 2014. He began the year with an exaggerated leg kick but toned it down to a point where it became more of a toe tap. He’s stuck with it and has enjoyed more consistent timing as a result.

“I took [the leg kick] out because sometimes I was too in front, sometimes I was too late. Probably one out of 10 times, I was on time,” Mazara told Chris Cwik of Yahoo Sports. “It wasn’t working, so I had to do something different to make it [work], so I have the toe tap.”

The reality that Mazara’s contact habit is carrying over to The Show is not to be overlooked. The league’s average strikeout rate has taken a jump from 20.4 percent last year to 21.9 percent in 2016. Guys who can strike out roughly half that often are rare commodities, and it looks like Mazara can be just that.

And when Mazara has made contact, he’s lived up to his reputation as a hitter with terrific bat control.

The lefty swinger has pulled only 23.1 percent of his batted balls, preferring instead to use center field (38.5) and left field (38.5). That’s him sticking with how he operated in 2015. As MLB Farm shows, he liked going up the middle and the other way just as much as he liked going to his pull side:

This is yet another quality that’s not to be overlooked. It theoretically makes Mazara shift-proof, and the winds are already blowing that way in reality. Per new data at FanGraphs, teams have shifted on Mazara only four times.

If there’s a nit to pick with Mazara’s early results, it’s that he hasn’t crushed every ball he’s put in play. According to Baseball Savant, his average exit velocity is only 85.7 mph. That’s safely below the MLB average of 89.1.

But this may be the one part of Mazara’s first impression that is misleading. ESPN.com and Baseball Prospectus agree he has enough power to hit 20 to 30 home runs per year at his peak. And as the 6’4″, 215-pounder showed with his 443.5-foot home run, he has plenty of raw power in him right now.

So the only thing clouding Mazara’s immediate future is Choo’s inevitable return. With him in right field, Prince Fielder at designated hitter and a red-hot Delino DeShields Jr. in center field, the Rangers’ only real option for continuing to play Mazara would be to play him over the slumping Ian Desmond in left field.

But don’t be surprised if that’s the route they choose. The Rangers only have $8 million invested in Desmond, after all, and moving him to the bench would give them a good right-handed platoon bat to use in tandem with either Mazara or second baseman Rougned Odor.

It’s either that, or the Rangers will send Mazara back to the minors. Despite the small sample size, it’s hard to see that happening. Mazara has done enough in the minors to establish himself as arguably the American League‘s best hitting prospect, and what worked for him there is already working for him in the majors.

The message he’s sending the Rangers is that the time is now.

Stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com and FanGraphs unless otherwise noted/linked.

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You see a foul ball. He sees a tryout opportunity.

For the Oakland A’s ball boy, opportunity came knocking in the third inning, when the Kansas City Royals‘ Christian Colon sliced a foul ball to the right side.

Springing easily from one leg, the young man casually plucked the ball out of the air, securing the errant hit before tossing it to a nearby fan—all while maintaining an understated confidence.

But the astounding grab didn’t just stun the front-row fans—it likely spared one of them from a whack in the head too.

Sometimes, rather than capes, heroes wear baseball gloves and helmets.

[MLB.com, h/t For The Win]

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You know what they say about $240 million contracts. It’s amazing how quickly they can go from looking like money well spent to money wasted and back to money well spent again.

That may not be going on in Albert Pujols’ neck of the woods, but it is in Robinson Cano‘s. This time last year, the power-hitting second baseman the Seattle Mariners paid the big bucks for seemed to no longer have power. But now, he can’t stop hitting home runs.

After slugging six homers in the entire first half of 2015, Cano is balancing out an ugly .250 on-base percentage with five dingers in his first nine games in 2016. The most recent came on Wednesday at Safeco Field against the Texas Rangers. The first four were against the Rangers at Globe Life Park in Arlington, and looked a bit like this:

Cano’s dinger display isn’t coming out of nowhere. The 33-year-old finished 2015 with 15 long balls in the second half. And in spring training this year, he launched seven home runs. All told, he’s now slugged 27 home runs in the last 91 games he’s played in.

Call it a hunch, but Cano is probably not staying on a 240-homer pace. Even topping 35 home runs could be difficult, as it’s something he’s never done before.

Then again, whether Cano can keep socking dingers at such a ridiculous rate isn’t the most interesting question worth asking. Rather, that would be simply: “How?”

For starters, it’s not hard to determine what originally killed the former New York Yankee’s power. The easy culprit is Safeco Field, which is definitely not the same as Yankee Stadium for left-handed sluggers. But the real culprit was Cano himself, who stopped operating like a power hitter. 

After cranking out 27 home runs in his final season with the Yankees in 2013, he preceded his slow start in 2015 by knocking just 14 home runs in his first year in Seattle in 2014. And overall in his first year and a half in Seattle, he stopped hitting as many balls in the air, didn’t use his pull side and struggled to make hard contact like he did as he was averaging 28 homers a year in his heyday (2009-2013):

None of this helped Cano’s power, but the ground balls hurt the most. Barring well-placed gopher holes, balls that skip across the infield don’t usually end up beyond the fence.

And Cano’s ground balls weren’t a fluke. When Dan Farnsworth of FanGraphs dove into the video, he found that Cano’s swing path had become flatter than it was in New York. When that happens, fly balls and line drives easily become grounders.

Cano’s age might explain his other troubles. Age tends to slow down bats, and Cano’s bat often did look slow last season.

But there was also more afflicting Cano than just age. He revealed to Jorge L. Ortiz of USA Today last summer that he had been battling a nagging stomach problem ever since August of 2014. He also broke his right pinkie toe during a tour in Japan the following winter. And in March, he was dealt an emotional blow when his grandfather passed away.

In short: By the time the 2015 All-Star break rolled around, the poor guy was a wreck.

But then, of course, came Cano’s turnaround. Beyond hitting 15 homers in the second half, he also slashed .331/.387/.540. In terms of adjusted offense, he was one of the 15 best hitters in the league.

How Cano did this is suspect at first glance. Relative to his first season and a half in Seattle, his batted ball profile really didn’t change:

On paper, Cano’s second half really shouldn’t have featured so much extra power. The ground balls were still there, and he wasn’t pulling the ball or hitting the ball hard at a higher rate.

What Cano was doing, however, was not wasting the balls he did get in the air.

That’s obvious to the extent that his home run per fly ball rate jumped from 8.1 in the first half to 25.9 in the second half. And though it didn’t show in his overall hard-hit rate, Baseball Savant can vouch that Cano did hit fly balls and line drives with more exit velocity than he did in the first half:

• First Half: 94.2 MPH
• Second Half: 96.3 MPH

The elephant in this particular room is that the Mariners hired team legend Edgar Martinez to be their new hitting coach last June. Now-former manager Lloyd McClendon told Shannon Drayer of 710 ESPN Seattle that Martinez “absolutely” had an impact on the club’s offensive turnaround. And though Cano’s ground ball rate suggests that Martinez didn’t fix his swing path, MLB Network’s Harold Reynolds may be right in thinking that Martinez was able to improve Cano’s balance and timing:

This brings us, finally, to what Cano is doing this year.

He’s operating like a hitter who’s fully confident in his power revival. He went into Thursday with a much-improved 0.80 ground ball to fly ball ratio, while also pulling the ball at a 56.7 percent clip. Though this does help explain his inconsistency, it’s certainly a solid foundation for all his power.

The working theory for why Cano is having an easier time hitting the ball in the air is that his swing plane is no longer flat. But for now, it’s hard to say for certain whether that’s true. None of his highlights (to my knowledge) offers a handy side view, and his swing path looks different depending on the pitch anyway.

But as for why Cano is pulling the ball like he is, ROOT Sports color man Mike Blowers posited after Cano’s third home run: “Now that he’s healthy he’s able to pull the ball with authority. We’ve seen that a lot.”

It could indeed be that simple. Cano is well removed from his initial stomach trouble, and he also had surgery in October to repair a sports hernia. When he reported to spring training, he claimed to be feeling “98 percent” healthy.

Three scouts that Joel Sherman of the New York Post spoke to noticed as much.

“Looks better physically than I have seen in years,” said one.

“Not just on offense, he is moving well to his left on defense again,” said another.

And to the naked eye, Cano does look pretty good. Where his swing often seemed slow and sluggish last year, this year it looks quick and explosive, particularly when he turned on a high and tight fastball on Wednesday, which looked like this from the rear:

There’s more to the story of Cano’s power revival. For example, Owen Watson highlighted at FanGraphs that he seems to be back to punishing mistakes in the strike zone. You know, like a good hitter should.

But from a wider perspective, the big takeaway is that the return of Cano’s power isn’t due to any one thing. His power initially left for several reasons, and has come back seemingly thanks to some slight adjustments, improved health and, based on appearances, more confidence. 

For how long Cano can keep this up remains a good question. At his age, his body could very well betray him again. And if his OBP continues to suffer, he may resolve to cut down on his power and simply try for better at-bats.

For now, though, Cano is putting on a heck of a show. The fact that it’s a show that seemed to be on the verge of disappearing forever only makes it better.

Stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com and FanGraphs unless otherwise noted/linked.

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Oakland Athletics starting pitcher Felix Doubront underwent Tommy John surgery on Tuesday.

Continue for updates.

Doubront’s Estimated Recovery Time Is 12-18 Months

Tuesday, April 12

Jane Lee of MLB.com reported Doubront’s surgery was successful, and the pitcher will begin his rehab on Friday. Doubront’s wife posted a photo of the pitcher on Twitter after the procedure: 

On Monday, the San Francisco Chronicle‘s Susan Slusser noted the timetable for Doubront’s eventual return, based on the span often associated with those undergoing Tommy John surgery for the first time. 

The 28-year-old southpaw began his career with the Boston Red Sox but has bounced around a lot since 2014 in brief stints with the Chicago Cubs, Toronto Blue Jays and now with the A’s.

Doubront has a unique sweeping delivery but hasn’t lived up to his potential in the big leagues, posting a career record of 31-26 with a 4.89 ERA to date. Now he has an uphill climb just to get back to the mound in light of Monday’s severe injury news.

Based on the rather surprising move the A’s made in the first place to keep Doubront in their rotation and option Jesse Hahn to Triple-A, it stands to reason Hahn will get the call-up to be Oakland’s new No. 5 starter.

Twenty-six-year-old Sonny Gray, who is a solid ace but is the only proven commodity in the Oakland rotation, headlines the A’s staff. Hahn, Kendall Graveman and Chris Bassitt have potential but are inexperienced.

Manager Bob Melvin shouldn’t have too much trouble adjusting to Doubront’s absence. It’s bound to create even more opportunities for Graveman, Bassitt and Hahn, who will hopefully round out a solid staff of the future using the 2016 campaign as a springboard, pivotal development year.

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The Oakland Athletics finished off a three-game sweep of the Seattle Mariners with a 2-1 win on the road Sunday night and prepared to hop on a plane to return home for a series against the Los Angeles Angels.

However, outfielder Josh Reddick wasn’t thrilled to fly on this particular aircraft:

It’s hard to blame him, considering the rival San Francisco Giants logo was plastered across the front of it. The Giants noticed Reddick’s post and decided to have some fun of their own on Twitter, but Reddick wasn’t willing to let it go without again voicing his disapproval:

As far as Twitter beefs go, this one is tame, but props to the Giants for jumping at an opportunity to troll the A’s. Of course, they better hope Reddick doesn’t get his revenge at the plate when the two teams meet for a four-game series from June 27 to June 30.

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If you haven’t heard of the Texas Rangers’ Rougned Odor, you will soon. Consider this your advance notice on baseball’s next great second baseman.

People have saddled Odor with great expectations since he skipped rookie ball and went straight to Single-A at 17 years old. He made his MLB debut in 2014 and hit a disappointing .259. Last season, he hit only two points better.

But the belief in Texas is that in 2016, Odor will leap closer to becoming the All-Star second baseman the organization expects. Just ask Michael Young, a Rangers special assistant who played in Texas for 12 seasons, including seven All-Star campaigns.

When asked on SportsDayDFW’s Ballzy podcast about what could stop Odor this season, Young offered this:

Maybe the Zika virus? Nothing. I mean this guy is an absolutely… I think he’s just a fantastic player. I think the sky is the limit. He has every skill you could possibly ask for. You combine that with his work ethic, his mentality, his approach to the game, his aggressiveness, the obvious enthusiasm he has for the game and the sky really is the limit. I think the biggest thing — and this isn‘t a knock, this is just an experience thing — he’s a very young left-handed hitter. … I’m a huge fan of this kid, have been since day one and I expect him to really build on what he did after his recall last year.

Traditionally, a player’s third season is when he makes the biggest jump.

Young’s average went from .262 in his second full season to .306 in 2003. For the next four seasons (2004-07), Young hit at least .313.

Los Angeles Dodgers second baseman Chase Utley, who spent the first 12 seasons of his career with the Philadelphia Phillies, saw a similar jump in his third year when he hit .291. That was 25 points up from his second season.

Generally, there is a two-year adjustment to major league pitching.

There are some, like Robinson Cano and Jose Altuve, who made an instant impact as rookies. Even in Altuve’s third full year, he saw his average jump from .283 to .341.

But at 20, Odor was younger than all of those players when he made his debut.

Young argued in the same interview with Ballzy that a young hitter just needs more time to see top-flight big league pitching.

And this spring, Odor proved he had learned through his struggles. He hit .349/.349/.698 with a team-leading four home runs to go with 11 RBI.

So far this season, Odor has struggled at the plate with only one hit in 10 at-bats, but he has still managed to score three of Texas’ 10 runs. Plus, three games isn’t a large enough sample size to judge whether he has improved.

His struggles through three games may be, in part, due to him moving throughout the lineup. With his speed, Odor is a natural top-of-the-order hitter.

Odor’s performance in the spring is a greater indication of where he is as a player.

The power he showed this spring, however, caused the Rangers to hit him fifth for a game and seventh for two more. A player doesn’t prepare the same, from a scouting standpoint, regardless of where he is hitting in the lineup.

Different spots see a different number of breaking balls.

Even as he’s struggled at the plate, though, Odor has proved to be a toolsy player. He contributes heavily on defense. Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News reported Odor made several impressive defensive plays in the Rangers’ first three games.

Odor turned 22 on Feb. 3. Remember: He is playing in his third major league season at an age when some enter the draft.

There’s still time—plenty of it.

Loaded with talent apparent to both the Rangers and observers this spring, Odor can be expected to become baseball’s next great second baseman.

And as far as this promising, young Ranger is concerned, consider yourself introduced.

Seth Gruen is a national baseball columnist for Bleacher Report. Talk baseball with Seth by following him on Twitter @SethGruen.

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