Angels prospect Kaleb Cowart opened this season as the fourth-youngest player in the Double-A Texas League, and he’s currently experiencing the growing pains that often come with being a youngster in the upper levels. However, although the 20-year-old third baseman is hitting just .204/.271/.317 through 38 games, he has the highest ceiling of any position player in the Angels’ system.

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When you imagine the awful accident that will someday result from a broken bat, you probably think about the pitcher first, then maybe the baserunner coming down the third base line, then a corner infielder, and then maybe a fan. But, of course, the catcher is closer to that bat than all of them, and it actually only takes a little bit of imagination to see how a broken bat could theoretically endanger a catcher. Or, if you have no imagination, a GIF.

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Mark Reynolds can't see this pop-up, if you know what I mean.

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All in all, a very good week for Albert Pujols playing through pain. Not necessarily for Pujols, who appears to be in pain, and playing. But he was able to do things (presumably through pain) this week that he wasn’t able to do, because of pain, in previous weeks. Maybe he’s not in pain anymore, but probably he’s still in pain. Here’s pained he pained pain.

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This GIF is called "a baseball is hit to Mark Reynolds' right," or, alternately, it's called "Mark Reynolds goes to his left."

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Mark Appel | RHP | Stanford University
Ht/Wt: 6-5/215 | B/T: R/R | Age at Draft: 21y 11m

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I’ve always loved long plate appearances. If one of the best thing about baseball is the batter-pitcher matchup, and one of the other best things about baseball is that it has no clock or appointed time for anything to end, then it stands to reason (sort of) that double-digit-pitch batter-pitcher matchups would be the absolute best thing about baseball. So each Friday, I’m going to highlight the most extended sequence of the seven-day period from the previous Thursday-Wednesday. If there’s a tie, I’ll pick the most interesting plate appearance.

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I'm dumb, so when I see something like the Angels falling nine games out of first place after 31 games, I think "welp, that'll do it then." And then when I look at the playoff odds and see that they're still 20 percent likely to make the playoffs, I'm surprised. I understand the mechanisms at work -- the Angels are probably a good team, and so the odds expect them to play like a good team going forward -- but it's impossible to imagine any team making up an 11-20 stretch. It's impossible to imagine it because I'm dumb. It shouldn't be that hard to imagine.

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On Sunday, Albert Pujols sat out. The Angels are off Monday, so he'll get the two-day rest, after which, Mike Scioscia says, the Angels will "see where he is Tuesday." Which might just mean "we'll see if he feels better Tuesday." Or if might mean "we'll see where he is Tuesday, as we decide what to do about this." The team "stepped up" his treatment Saturday. Poor guy keeps trying, keeps being hard to watch, keeps being in a lot of pain. 

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As you’ve probably heard, pitcher-turned-commentator Jack Morris has accused Red Sox hurler Clay Buchholz of throwing pitches with illegal substances on his hand during his start on Wednesday against Toronto. Buchholz, his manager, and his catchers have taken turns explaining that that’s a ridiculous proposition.

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Clint Frazier | OF | Loganville HS (Loganville, GA)
Ht/Wt: 5-11/190 | B/T: R/R | Age at Draft: 18y 9m | Commit: Univ. of Georgia

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