With the month of June coming to a close, the three MLB Pack Pros turned in a mixed bag of performances in the last week. Washington Nationals shortstop Trea Turner is showcasing his trademark speed again, but the Cy Young hopes of Chicago White Sox left-handed pitcher Carlos Rodón are starting to dwindle and St. Louis Cardinals catcher Andrew Knizner has hardly seen the field at all.
Trea Turner, shortstop, Washington Nationals
With the July 13 MLB All-Star game on the horizon, Turner is making his case to be included on the National League roster. The speedy shortstop is returning to the style of play fans have come to know him for since his major-league debut in 2015: hitting for contact and stealing bases.
In the final game of a home series against the New York Mets, Turner only managed a hit and a walk, but he was able to swipe two bags in the Nats’ 5-2 win. Three days later on June 23, Turner exploded along with the rest of the Nationals’ offense, as the shortstop went 3 for 4 with two RBIs in a 13-12 win over the Philadelphia Phillies. His most significant contribution to the victory was a two-run double in the top of the sixth that diminished the Phillies’ lead to 9-7, bringing Washington within two runs.
Turner’s bat has since cooled off a bit, as he is 2 for 11 with three walks and three strikeouts through three games of an away series against the Miami Marlins. Despite this fall back to earth, Turner is still one of the best shortstops in the game, statistically. He leads the National League in stolen bases with 16 and is third in OPS among qualified National League shortstops. Although he was not selected from the first phase of All-Star voting, the 27 year old has a good chance of making the final roster if he can keep up his numbers on the season.
Andrew Knizner, catcher, St. Louis Cardinals
Much like prior weeks, Knizner has seen much more Cardinals baseball from the dugout than he has from behind the plate. That being said, he does have a few plate appearances to his name in the past week.
On June 20, Knizner got his first start in 12 days as he went 0 for 3 with a strikeout in a 1-0 loss to the Atlanta Braves on the road. Outside of playing a part on a double-switch on June 24, the 26 year old has not been mentioned in the box scores this week. As St. Louis tries to close the seven-game gap between itself and the division-leading Milwaukee Brewers, it is unlikely that Knizner will get any more playing time than necessary.
Carlos Rodón, left-handed pitcher, Chicago White Sox
Rodón pitched one outing this past week and it was not a good showing by him. On June 25, the Seattle Mariners roughed Rodón up pretty good to the tune of three runs on five hits over five innings, including a two-run shot by Mariners designated hitter Luis Torrens in the second inning.
Though his swing-and-miss was there, as five of Rodón’s eight strikeouts were swinging strikeouts, the southpaw struggled to find the strike zone as the game went on. He plunked Mariners catcher Tom Murphy just two at-bats prior to Torrens’ home run and walked two batters in the fifth, his final inning of the evening.
This outing was an anomaly in the context of the lefty’s season so far, as Rodón ended the day with a season ERA above 2.00 for the first time in 2021. If the 28 year old wants to stay competitive in the American League Cy Young race, he will have to keep outings like this one to a minimum.
