Minor League Ball Gameday, Tuesday, April 4th, 2017

Good morning and good afternoon everyone and welcome to the Minor League Ball Gameday discussion thread for Tuesday, April 4th, 2017. The major league season is fully underway now and the Minor League season isn’t far behind, as farm teams begin play on Thursday. Here are some reading items worthy of your attention today.

****MLB Scoreboard

****Andrew Benintendi hit a home run for the Red Sox yesterday against the Pittsburgh Pirates, a fine way for him to begin the season. There is an enormous amount of hype about Benintendi right now but in his case it is not a matter of Boston media. More on that issue soon.

****Minnesota Twins outfielder Byron Buxton made the first “Five Star” catch of the 2017 season according to Statcast.

****If you like Madison Bumgarner and Noah Syndergaard, you will like this Beyond the Boxscore article from Devan Fink about the relationship between a pitcher’s ability to hit and his overall value.

****On a related note, Travis Sawchik at Fangraphs gives us the rundown on Japanese superstar Shohei Otani, who is the best pitcher in Japan as well as the best hitter. How will he change MLB once he arrives here in a year or two?