Nolan Arenado has been on an absolute tear lately

By Bill BaerJun 28, 2015, 11:35 PM EDT
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Rockies third baseman Nolan Arenado had another big game on Sunday despite losing to the Giants, as he went 2-for-4 with a two-run home run and a solo homer. It’s his third multi-homer effort in his last six games, and he’s now on a 15-game hitting streak. During that streak, Arenado is batting .379/.410/.966 with nine home runs and 21 RBI.

If Todd Frazier weren’t in the National League, Arenado would be a lock to start at third base in the All-Star Game. Here’s a comparison of the two players:

PA HR RBI SB AVG OBP SLG fWAR
Frazier 326 25 53 8 .287 .350 .618 4.3
Arenado 301 24 68 0 .293 .326 .632 3.4

Arenado, 24, will become eligible for arbitration for the first time after this season. As a result, the Rockies will be under some pressure to sign him to a contract extension which would cover some or all four years of his arbitration eligibility and potentially a year or two beyond that.

Japanese Baseball to begin June 19

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By Craig CalcaterraMay 25, 2020, 10:31 AM EDT
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Japanese League commissioner Atsushi Saito announced that Japan’s professional baseball season will open on June 19. Teams can being practice games on June 2. There will be no fans. Indeed, the league has not yet even begun to seriously discuss a plan for fans to begin attending games, though that may happen eventually.

The season will begin three months after its originally scheduled opening day of March 20. It will be 120 games long. Teams in each six-team league — the Central League and Pacific League — will play 24 games against each league opponent. There will be no interleague play and no all-star game.

The announcement came in the wake of a national state of emergency being lifted for both Tokyo and the island of Hokkaido. The rest of the country emerged from the state of emergency earlier this month. This will allow the Japanese leagues to follow leagues in South Korea and Taiwan which have been playing for several weeks.

In the United States, Major League Baseball is hoping to resume spring training in mid June before launching a shortened regular season in early July. That plan is contingent on the league and the players’ union coming to an agreement on both financial arrangements and safety protocols for a 2020 season. Negotiations on both are ongoing. Major League Baseball will, reportedly, make a formal proposal about player compensation tomorrow.