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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 21, 2019)
SPORTS Thursday, November 21, 2019 East Oregonian B3 U.S. baseball’s prospects struggle to reach Olympics By RONALD BLUM AP Baseball Writer Brandon Dickson, the U.S. closer who blew a ninth-inning lead, threw his last major league pitch in 2012. Caleb Thielbar, who gave up the game-winning hit in the 10th, threw his last big league pitch in 2015. The entire 28-man Ameri- can roster at the Olympic qualify- ing tournament that ended Sun- day combined for a career 2.1 Wins Above Replacement, according to Baseball Reference — less than a quarter of Cody Bellinger’s 9.0 WAR for the Los Angeles Dodgers this year alone. Little wonder the U.S. failed to earn an Olympic berth at the Pre- mier12 competition, where cham- pion Japan and runner-up South Korea brought many top players. Mexico qualified for the first time, rallying twice for a 3-2 victory over the U.S. in the bronze-medal game that determined an Americas berth. The U.S. will have two more chances to join host Japan, Mex- ico, South Korea and Italy in the six-nation Olympic field: an Amer- icas tournament in Arizona start- ing March 22 and, if it flops again, a final tournament that includes mul- tiple regions in Taiwan from April 1-5. “We cannot make major league players available for the actual tour- nament in August,” Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Man- fred wrote in an email to The Asso- ciated Press. “In fairness to the other AP Photo/Jeffrey Phelps, File This Sept. 1, 2011, file photo shows St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Brandon Dickson throwing during the first inning of a baseball game against the Milwaukee Brewers in Milwaukee. qualifiers and to protect the integ- rity of the competition, it seemed best to try and qualify with the level of players that will be available in August.” Just six U.S. players at the Pre- mier12 had major league expe- rience, none of them All-Stars: 39-year-old catcher Erik Kratz along with five pitchers: Dickson, Thielbar, Clayton Richard, Brian Flynn and Brooks Pounders. While many players on the ros- ter were high draft picks, just three first-rounders were among the 13 position players: Los Angeles Angels outfielder Jo Adell, Phila- delphia third baseman Alec Bohm and Chicago White Sox first base- man Andrew Vaughn. And the only first-rounder on the pitching staff was Boston right-hander Tan- ner Houck. Just two players on the roster are among MLB.com’s top 100 prospects, Adell at No. 5 and Atlanta outfielder Drew Waters at No. 23. American pitchers at the tourna- ment had pitch limits — no starter threw more than five innings. “I think that’s just expected for good prospects pitching in Novem- ber,” said U.S. team general man- ager Eric Campbell, a veteran of three seasons with the New York Mets. “I think that’s the expectation then it will be in March, as well.” MLB was a proponent of restor- ing baseball to the Olympics, believing it will spread the sport around the world “Baseball is an international sport,” Philadelphia Phillies general manager Matt Klentak said. “As it becomes even more international, the presence of the United States in international tournaments is really important.” Baseball was a medal event from 1992-2008. When the IOC voted in 2007 to drop the sport after the Beijing Games, British IOC mem- ber Craig Reedie cited “the lack of the MLB players.” The sport was restored three years ago for 2020 at the request of the Tokyo Orga- nizing Committee, but in Febru- ary the organizers of the 2024 Paris Games said they were recommend- ing to the IOC that baseball again be dropped. Seahawks think they’ve found a role for Shaquem Griffin By TIM BOOTH Associated Press RENTON, Wash. — Shaquem Griffin had not played a defensive snap since Week 16 of last season. He seemed locked into just being a special teams player for the Seattle Seahawks, despite assur- ances from Pete Carroll and oth- ers that they were trying to find the best way for Griffin to contribute on defense. Suddenly, Griffin was out there on defense when Seattle beat San Francisco two weeks ago. It was for more than one play — 13 live snaps not counting one play that was a penalty — and Griffin was lining up as a rush defensive end, despite being vastly undersized. It was a nod to Griffin’s college days at UCF when he was one of the most dis- ruptive players in the country when he was rushing the quarterback. After nearly 1 ½ seasons of try- ing to figure out how Griffin could best fit into the Seahawks’ defen- sive scheme, they may have stum- bled into a possible way to use him. “It always feels good to be out there and get after the ball a little bit and just be able to use my speed,” Griffin said. “It’s less thinking. It’s just more playing ball.” Griffin’s story is well known by now. He became a college star and an NFL draft pick despite not hav- ing a left hand. He started the first NFL game of his career at line- backer at the beginning of last sea- son, bringing a level of notoriety and attention that seemed over- whelming at times. But his playing time on defense quickly disappeared during his rookie season as Seattle struggled to find Griffin’s best role. He wasn’t a true linebacker. He wasn’t skilled enough yet to be an effective pass rusher. After playing 41 snaps in the first game of his career, Griffin totaled nine the rest of last season. But Griffin and Seattle remained patient and committed to finding a role. The Seahawks decided in the offseason to use Griffin as a spe- cialty pass rusher, but the plans were delayed by Griffin’s linger- ing injuries during training camp. It took until Week 10 for Seattle and Griffin to finally bring those plans to fruition. “They could have just threw me in there like, ‘OK, let’s see what you’ve got,’ and then not having a clue of what to do,” Griffin said. “So, I’m glad coach (Clint) Hurtt and coach Jethro (Franklin) just taking me in like, ‘Let’s work on this, work on get off.’ And even keeping me after practice to work on that to make sure that I wasn’t going out there just to go crazy and not know what I’m doing. That’s not fair to anybody else.” What was notable about Grif- fin’s snaps against San Francisco was they seemed to come at the expense of veteran Ziggy Ansah, whose Seattle tenure has so far been a disappointment. Ansah and Griffin ended up playing the same amount of snaps against the 49ers and were on the field together only once. Neither recorded an official statistic, but Griffin seemed to have more of an impact in the pass rush than Ansah. “The thing that he really brings is a whole level of speed and activ- ity that we like,” Seattle coach Pete Carroll said of Griffin. “We’ve been working him in practice. We just want to continue to expand that and see how that goes. We have to use him better. As we see him, we’re learning more about what we can do with him. He was a good addi- tion I thought.” EAST'40OREGON marketplace Place classified ads online at www.eastFSOoregonmarketplace.com or call 1-800-962-2819 between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. After hours, leave a voicemail and we’ll confirm your ad the next business day. Email us at classiGieds@ eastoregonian.com or fax: 541-278-2680 East Oregonian Deadline is 3 p.m. the day before publication 211 S.E. Byers Ave. 333 E. Main St. We accept: Pendleton, OR 97801 Hermiston, OR 97838 See www.eastFSOoregonmarketplace.com for classified ads from all over Eastern Oregon EAST OREGONIAN • HERMISTON HERALD • BLUE MOUNTAIN EAGLE • WALLOWA COUNTY CHIEFTAIN 104 Special Notices 110 Announcements Win $3,000 in cash! PLEASE CHECK YOUR AD ON THE FIRST DAY OF PUBLICATION. While we are happy to make any necessary corrections, we can not be responsible for errors appearing for mul- tiple days. Thank you! CLASSIFIED LINE AD DEADLINES East Oregonian 2:30PM the day prior to publication Hermiston Herald 10am Tuesday Enter to win. Take our survey at www.pulsepoll.com and tell us about your household shopping plans and media usage. Your input will help us improve the paper and get the advertising specials you want. Thank you! 181 Lost & Found Lost at Hat Rock on October 27: Brand new red 4 propel- ler camera drone. Wind took it away,daughter is very sad!! 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