MLB.com – Jesse Sanchez: Diamilette Quiles took the field this past week. It shouldn’t be news, yet it is, because in most places around the globe she would be told she couldn’t play or that she had to play in a different all-woman league if one existed in her area. Liga Béisbol Superior Doble A de Puerto Rico, specifically, Montañeses de Utuado, is a semi-pro league giving Quiles a chance to play in an all-male environment. It’s a start, and hopefully one day I won’t have to highlight articles about this topic because women ballplayers will be afforded the same opportunities as their male counterparts without question.
ESPN – Jeff Passan: Carter Stewart could have waited a couple of months, been drafted, and signed with a Major League Baseball club. He could have received a moderate signing bonus and then spent a few years playing in Minor League Baseball for sub-minimum wage pay. Stewart could have done that, but he’s not, because like most people he, and his agent Scott Boras, knows that MLB’s amateur draft and minor league system is broken. Instead, Stewart signed a big deal with the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks of Nippon Professional Baseball’s Pacific League. Why work for poverty wages when you can actually get paid what you deserve for your skills?
FanGraphs – Sung Min Kim: For many years in both MLB and NPB Koji Uehara was a stellar pitcher. He first excelled as a starter, then later he dazzled as a reliever. Uehara pitched at a high level well into his early 40s. Injuries and the fact that the National Baseball Hall of Fame isn’t a real Hall of Fame but rather a prop for MLB will keep Uehara from where he most likely belonged. That doesn’t change the fact that in 2018 Uehara wrapped up a Hall of Fame caliber career because excellence always finds a way.
Lead photo courtesy of Jorge A. Ramírez – Especial El Nuevo Día
