MID-WEEK QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

AND THE TROUBLES OF JUAN SOTO AND THE RED SOX

IS JUAN SOTO HITTING MORE GROUNDERS THIS SEASON?

He is. And it’s coming at the expense of his line drives and fly balls.

In 54 games this season, the New York Mets' Juan Soto has banged into 10 double plays. In 157 games last season, the New York Yankees' Juan Soto banged into 10 double plays. He only hit into six in his first 54 games last year. He hit into 10 in the first 54 games of the last two seasons combined.

Through 54 games, Soto has a 52.5% ground ball rate compared to the 46.2% he had last season through 54 games. He has a 20.0% line drive rate compared to his 22.2% rate last season. He has a 23.8% fly ball rate compared to 26.9% last season.

Soto’s fly ball distance this season is 327.4 feet. That’s the least of his career through 54 games. Last season, it was 343.8 feet.

I still feel that he will straighten out as the season progresses.

WHEN WILL THE HANDGUARD BECOME A MANDATORY PIECE OF EQUIPMENT?

Rangers designated hitter Joc Pederson needed a break. Just not this kind. The guy was hitting just .131 (16-122) with two homers and six RBI on the season when he suffered a fractured right hand when he was hit by a pitch in Saturday’s game. He’s expected to miss about six weeks.

Could this have been avoided? Probably. At least maybe. I have known (through the interwebs) Will Carroll for many years, dating back to the original Billy-Ball. As he has honed his skills, he has become baseball’s injury expert, and I value his insights. For quite a while, he has been writing about the value of handguards for batters.

Take a look at Shohei’s right hand as he circles the bases after a homer.

If more players, like Shohei Ohtani, used a handguard at the plate, fewer players, like Joc Pederson, would be on the IL with broken hands. If the league doesn’t insist on it, individual teams should. These injuries are avoidable.

ARE CATCHERS HITTING BETTER?

Catchers are hitting .244 with 175 homers so far this season (1640 games). Through May 28 of last season (1644 games), catchers were hitting .239 with 170 homers. Maybe it just feels like catchers are hitting better because there are standouts like Will Smith of the Dodgers, who is hitting .323, with a .959 OPS, Cal Raleigh of the Mariners, who has 18 homers and a 1.138 OPS, Hunter Goodman of the Rockies, hitting .316 with an .854 OPS, and Logan O’Hoppe of the Angels, hitting .272, with 12 homers, and an .845 OPS.

I don’t expect most of these numbers to be sustainable, as it’s exhausting to be a catcher, but it’s fun now.

YOU YELL, I YELL, WE ALL YELL FOR YELICH

Christian Yelich hit the 214th homer of his career last night, and it was a walkoff grand slam. It was his sixth career slam, but his very first walkoff. Yelich has now just one category shy of completing the home run spectrum.

• Yelich has 131 solo homers

• 51 two-run homers

• 26 three-run homers

• Six grand slams

• Nine leadoff homers

• One walkoff homer

• Three extra-inning homers

• 27 tying homers

• 71 go-ahead homers

• One inside-the-park homer

• He has never hit a pinch homer.

YOU’RE THE TOPPS?

The owners of Topps now produce short-run cards commemorating special events. This card above features Juan Soto and Francisco Lindor delivering for the Mets in their 2-1 walkoff win over the White Sox, who are slightly less hapless than they were last season. Someday, this card will be for sale at a card show, and a young fan will prepare to spend some good money, presuming these two superstars had homered to win the game for the Mets. While they did deliver, the fact is that they each hit sacrifice flies. Sigh.