Sunday Notes: Dominic Canzone Developed a High Finish and is Slugging in Seattle

Dominic Canzone is having a strong season with the stick. Playing on a Seattle Mariners team that went into last night having scored the fewest runs in MLB, the 29-year-old outfielder/DH has slugged 22 home runs while putting up a .258/.327/.482 slash line and a 131 wRC+ over 474 plate appearances. Along with Randy Arozarena he is only player in Dan Wilson’s lineup with 300 or more plate appearances and a wRC+ higher than 108. His performance hasn’t come out of the blue — at least not to fans in the Pacific Northwest. Canzone began establishing himself last season. The sample size wasn’t particularly large, but he nonetheless logged a .300 batting average, 11 round-trippers, and a 141 wRC+ in 268 trips to the plate. Selected in the eighth round of the 2019 draft by the Arizona Diamondbacks and subsequently swapped to Seattle in 2023, Canzone has turned into a formidable presence in the batter’s box. The most meaningful developmental stride he’s made since coming to pro ball? “Approach,” Canzone told me. “I would say that the hardest part to get as a Major League hitter is understanding how pitchers are going pitch to you in certain situations, and then having a solid approach. Everybody has the ability, so it’s all about looking for the right thing in the right spot. “In college, it was so much easier,” added the erstwhile Ohio State Buckeye. “You pretty much just hunt the heater, because they’re not too great at landing multiple off-speed pitches for strikes. It’s easier to spit on that type of stuff and, obviously, everything isn’t as sharp.” Canzone does still hunt fastballs, with a primary difference being that he is now hyper aware of the percentages contained within scouting reports. Citing tendencies with runners in scoring position as an example, he allowed that he sometimes sits offspeed. 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Get FanGraphs Walk-Off, a customized year end review! Find out exactly how you used FanGraphs this year, and how that compares to other Members. Don't be a victim of FOMO. 9. A weekly mailbag column, exclusively for Members. 10. Help support FanGraphs and our entire staff! Our Members provide us with critical resources to improve the site and deliver new features! We hope you'll consider a Membership today, for yourself or as a gift! And we realize this has been an awfully long sales pitch, so we've also removed all the other ads in this article. We didn't want to overdo it. “I think you have to in certain spots,” he opined. “Maybe it’s bases loaded and the guy on the mound likes to spin it a lot. You know that he’s not going to just groove one down the middle. So, select situations, but definitely situations.” And then there is his swing. The Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio product has tweaked his mechanics to add more juice to his left-handed stroke. “I’ve developed a little bit more of a high finish,” he explained. “I have a very flat swing, so it’s a little bit tougher for me not to roll over. My dominant hand is on the bottom, so I need to make sure that my top hand is staying through the ball and working higher, rather than letting the bottom one take over and kind of be snappy. “I really struggled with that in rookie ball and single-A,” added Canzone. “Then I started working on the high finish and began to get some balls in the air. I’d been hitting balls hard, but not getting the launch angle I needed to get extra-base hits. My exit velocities have always been good, it was a matter of getting those exit velocities in the air.” ——— RANDOM HITTER-PITCHER MATCHUPS Bill Almon went 5 for 7 against Mark Clear. Art Brouthers went 5 for 6 against Jesse Tannehill. Chris Bando went 5 for 7 against Tom Seaver. Virgil Trucks went 5 for 7 against Eric McNair. Huck Betts went 5 for 9 against Verne Clemons. ——— Which opponent has most impressed you this season? A handful of managers have answered that question in recent Notes columns, and today we’ll hear from one more. “It would be the Brewers,” Los Angeles Angels skipper Kurt Suzuki told me earlier this week. “They’re the team that most comes to mind. Their pitching is obviously really good, but there is also the way their offense works. They have a bunch of guys that put the bat on the ball. They can run. They don’t try to do too much. They don’t strike out. Stuff like that. They also play great defense. They’re a very complete team.” I asked the first-year manager if he’s seen any other teams who are Brewers-ish in how they play the game. “Tampa, to a point,” replied Suzuki, who caught for 16 big-league seasons before moving into his current role. “They kind of play like that. Off the top of my head, I can’t think of [other teams]. But the Brewers have a good thing going right now. They have a good farm system, too. They do a nice job over there.” ——— When the Angels acquired Moisés Ballesteros from the Cubs at this summer’s trade deadline — Ryan Zeferjahn went to Chicago in the deal — they brought on board a 22-year-old backstop with a bat-first profile. As Eric Longenhagen wrote when ranking him atop our Cubs list back in May, “Ballesteros can catch, but you don’t want him doing so every day… [he] is one of those guys whose best position is “hitter.” Given his druthers, would the 5-foot-8, 240 pound Los Teques, Venezuela native be crouched behind the dish on a regular basis? “Yes,” Ballesteros replied to my question. “It’s my best position. It’s what I play. I love that position.. I’m working a lot on my defense [and] feel that I am better than I was a few years ago. I’m working and trusting myself.” To date, Ballesteros’s MLB ledger to date includes 17 starts as a catcher, three as a first baseman, and 75 as a DH. At the plate, he has 10 home runs and an 86 wRC+ over 370 plate appearances. All but 66 of his PAs have come this season. ——— A quiz: Two players in Angels history have 2,000 or more plate appearances and a batting average of .300 or higher. Who are they? (A hint: one is a right-handed hitter, the other a left-handed hitter.) The answer can be found below. ——— NEWS NOTES The San Francisco Firebells advanced to the WPBL championship series by beating the Boston Hunters by scores of 6-4 and 9-6 in their semifinals matchup. Kelsie Whitmore went five innings for the win in Game 1 and homered in Game 2. The Los Angeles Queens and New York Heights will need a Game 3 to determine which moves on to face the Firebells. Los Angeles captured the opener 10-3, only to have New York even the series last night with a 9-7 win. Claire O’Sullivan homered to break a 7-7 deadlock, and Keira Izumi followed with a dinger of her own. “Walpole Joe” Morgan died last weekend at age 95. Known mostly for leading the 1988 “Morgan Magic” Red Sox to the playoffs after taking over as interim manager midway through that campaign, the longtime (16 seasons) minor-league skipper spent three-plus years at the helm in Boston, with his 1990 club also advancing to October. An infielder during his playing days, Morgan appeared in 88 games while suiting up for five MLB teams from 1959-1964. As many in the New England area know, he also drove a snowplow on the Massachusetts Turnpike during the winter months. Rollie Sheldon, a right-hander who played for three teams across the 1961-1966 seasons, died on August 31 at age 89. The Putnam, Connecticut native went 38-36 with a 4.09 ERA while toeing the slab for the New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox, and Kansas City Athletics. ——— The answer to the quiz is Vladimir Guerrero (.318) and Rod Carew (.314). If you guessed Garrett Anderson or Howie Kendrick, they finished at .296 and .292 respectively. ——— Craig Kimbrel is nearing the end of the line. Now 38 years old and with his fifth team in the past two seasons, he is no longer the elite closer he once was. And he was definitely an elite closer. Fifth on the all-time list with 441 saves, Kimbrel crafted a 2.40 ERA and a 39.4% strikeout rate across the 2010-2023 campaigns. His current manager referred to him as a Hall of Famer prior to Friday night’s game at Fenway Park. Upon hearing that, I asked Matt Quatraro for his overall opinion on closers and Cooperstown. Are the best of them worthy of the honor? “It’s a huge part of the game, and it has been, so I don’t see any reason they should be considered any differently than other players who are being considered,” the Kansas City Royals skipper replied. “Knowing how hard it is to lock down a game, for a guy that’s done what he’s done, I don’t see any reason why he wouldn’t be.” Along with Kimbrel, current closers who will be on the ballot in the not-too-distant future include Kenley Jansen and Aroldis Chapman. Along with their other credentials, Jansen has 495 saves, while Chapman recently became the ninth to reach 400. ——— FOREIGN AFFAIRS Do Yeong Kim fractured a tibia earlier this week and is expected be out for the remainder of the KBO season. The 22-year-old Kia Tigers third baseman had 40 home runs to go with a .307/.412/.637 slash line and a 168 wRC+ when he suffered the injury. Japan annihilated their Group A opponents in the U-18 Asian Baseball Tournament, mercy-ruling each of Hong Kong, Sri Lanka, and the Philippines, by scores of 18-0 , 27-0, and 15-0. Korea was nearly as formidable in Group B, beating Taipei 2-0, Singapore 15-0, and Thailand 14-0. The two powerhouses proceeded to play each other on day one of the Super Round, with Korea rallying from an early deficit to edge Samurai Japan 3-2. Ryoya Kurihara leads all NPB hitters with 37 round-trippers. The 30-year-old Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks third baseman is slashing .268/.362/.567 with a 169 wRC+ in 557 plate appearances. His previous home run high was 21, in 2021. Kaima Taira is 11-4 with a 1.36 ERA, a 2.37 FIP, and a 23.8% strikeout rate over 132 innings for NPB’s Seibu Lions. Per ESPN’s Jeff Passan, the 26-year-old right-hander is expected to be posted in November. NPB’s Central League race continues to be a dogfight. At 69-52-1, the Hanshin Tigers hold a half game lead over the Tokyo Yomiuri Giants, who are 70-56-2. ——— Mitch Voit is having an impressive first full professional season. Over 479 plate appearances between High-A Brooklyn and Double-A Binghamton, the 21-year-old middle infielder in the New York Mets system is slashing .273/.372/.432 with 13 home runs and a 119 wRC+. Moreover, he’s put up better numbers since being promoted to the higher of the two levels in late July. Of all the pitchers he’s faced this year, which one most had him walking out of the batter’s box thinking, “Man, this dude is nasty”? “Oh man, I’ve faced more pitchers this year than I probably have in my entire life,”responded Voit, whom the Mets drafted 38th overall last year out of the University of Michigan. “I can’t even remember most of them. But there was someone rehabbing with the Yankees who had 100th percentile extension and a bowling ball of a two-seamer. This was early in the season, against Hudson Valley. It was the only fastball I’ve seen where it left the hand and appeared in the glove. If I had to think back to a moment where I was surprised by what I saw, that would be it.” Voit recalls the pitcher being a righty, although he couldn’t remember the name. ——— FARM NOTES Josiah Hartshorn slashed .290/.412/.527 with 23 home runs and a 143 wRC+ across 553 plate appearances between Low-A Myrtle Beach and High-A South Bend. Drafted in the sixth round last year out of an Orange, California high school, the 19-year-old switch-hitting outfielder is ranked first in the Chicago Cubs system with a 50 FV. Rainiel Rodriguez has 26 home runs to go with a .323/.413/.570 slash line and a 149 wRC+ in 525 plate appearances between High-A Peoria and Double-A Springfield. The 19-year-old catcher/first baseman is ranked first in the St. Louis Cardinals system with a 55 FV. Theo Gillen is slashing .314/.420/.548 with 22 home runs and a 152 wRC+ in 529 plate appearances between High-A Bowling Green and Double-A Montgomery. The 21 year-old (as of yesterday) outfielder is ranked second in the Tampa Bay Rays system with a 55 FV. Dylan Dreiling has drilled 22 home runs while slashing .313/.381/.518 with a 127 wRC+ over 529 plate appearances for Double-A Frisco. A second-round pick in 2024 out of the University of Tennessee, the 23-year-old outfielder from Hays, Kansas is ranked 18th in the Texas Rangers system with a 40 FV. Franklin Primera slashed .367/.499/.581 with 13 home runs and a 176 wRC+ between the FCL (134 plate appearances) and Low-A Salem. Now ranked fifth in the Boston Red Sox system with a 45+ FV (an update on The Board is forthcoming), the 19-year-old catcher fanned 36 times and drew 48 walks. ——— Kaleb LaFavor has a high ceiling and a long way to go to reach it. Drafted in the 10th round this summer by the Boston Red Sox out of Sioux City, Iowa’s Bishop Heelan High School, the 6-foot-7 southpaw has yet to make his first professional appearance. Moreover, he is in the early stages of his education. The organization’s reputation for pitching development influenced his decision to sign rather than play collegiately at the University of Iowa. “The Red Sox do a great job on that front,” LaFavor told me this summer. “Seam-shifted wake and stuff like that. I also know that they’ve done a great job with guys who are taller, like me, and have good extension. It definitely factored into my decision. “I didn’t have much access to technology where I’m from,” the 18-year-old hurler went on to say. “But I have gone down to Kansas City a few times and worked in front of a TrackMan, and just getting around that stuff is helpful to my development. That I’ll be able to have it in every bullpen now is really cool.” LaFavor’s low-90s fastball — he has reportedly touched 95 — plays up thanks to a low arm slot and extension that “averaged something like 7’ 3” or 7’ 5” at the combine.” In terms of carry, he has been up to 20 inches but is typically in the 15-18 range. Repertoire-wise, he features a four-seamer, a sweeper, a changeup, and a work-in-progress cutter. ——— A random obscure former player snapshot: Kurt Stillwell represented the Royals in the 1988 All-Star Game. Then 23 years old and in his first Kansas City campaign after two in Cincinnati, the switch-hitting shortstop went on to finish the season with 10 home runs, a 103 wRC+, and 2.8 WAR. It turned out to be his best in the big leagues by far. All told, Stillwell played from 1986-1996, seeing action with five teams and logging 34 homers, an 82 wRC+, and 1.2 WAR. A lot more was expected when the Reds drafted him out of California’s Thousand Oaks High School in June 1983. Then under the direction of general manager Dick Wagner (who was relieved of his duties a month later) the NL club selected Stillwell second -overall, this after the Minnesota Twins tabbed Tim Belcher with the top pick. Both teams — ditto several others — missed out on a gem. With the 19th-overall pick, the Red Sox.took Roger Clemens. As for Stillwell’s move from Cincinnati to Kansas City, the November 1987 deal sent both him and Ted Power to the Reds in exchange for Danny Jackson and Angel Salazar. Jackson proceeded to go 23-8 with a 2.73 ERA and a league-best 15 complete games in 1988. ——— LINKS YOU’LL LIKE At The Guardian, Howard Bryant opined on how is always 1926 somewhere for MLB’s Black and Latino Players. At ProPublica, Gus Garcia-Roberts wrote about how the Dominican baseball factory traps young players. Pitcher List’s Jack Foley wrote about how Miami Marlins right-hander Eury Pérez is trending upward. Who owns the San Francisco Giants? As John Shea explained at the San Francisco Standard, the answer is more complicated than you think. Isao Harimoto, a Korean-Japanese legend who recorded 3.085 hits in a Hall of Fame career died recently at age 86. Ko Bong-Jung has the story at the Korea JoongAng Daily. ——— RANDOM FACTS AND STATS The Detroit Tigers have had eight position players make their MLB debut this season, their most since 2010. The only pitcher to do so has been Andrew Sears. Per the Tigers’ press notes, the last time only one pitcher debuted in a Detroit uniform was 1985, when Chuck Cary took the mound for the first time. Luke Keaschall has reached base via a HBP a total 21 times, tying him with Willi Castro for the most in Minnesota Twins history. Chuck Knoblauch’s 19 plunkings in 1996 ranks third in club annals. Hunter Goodman’s 38 home runs are the most for a catcher in Colorado Rockies history. Goodman went deep 31 times for the Rockies a year ago, while Wilin Rosario’s 28 dingers in 2012 ranks third-most in franchise annals. Freddie Freeman’s 579 doubles are 24th most in MLB history. Immediately in front of him on the all-time list are Cap Anson (582), Robin Yount (583), and Rafael Palmeiro (585). Brian Downing and Albert Pujols each slugged 222 home runs while playing for the Angels. Pujols did so while logging a 105 wRC+, Downing while logging a 128 wRC+. On today’s date in 1986, Texas Rangers batters torched Minnesota Twins pitchers for seven home runs in a 14-1 shellacking. Darrell Porter and Ruben Sierra each went deep twice, while Bert Blyleven allowed a career-worst five round-trippers. On today’s date in 1946, Ted Williams hit the only inside-the-park home run of his career as the Red Sox beat the Cleveland Indians 1-0,. Boston clinched the American League pennant with the win. Willie Mays hit his 500th career home run on today’s date in 1965. Frank Robinson hit his 500th career home run on today’s date in 1971. Players born on today’s date include Thornton Lee, a left-hander who toiled for three teams, mostly the Chicago White Sox, from 1933-1948. The father of fellow big leaguer Don Lee (1957-1966), the Cal Poly product logged 117 wins over the course of his career, with his best season coming in 1941 when he went 22-11 with an AL-best 2.37 ERA across 300-and-a-third innings. Also born on today’s date was Chan Perry, an outfielder/first baseman whose MLB career comprised 13 games for the Cleveland Indians in 2000 and five games for the Kansas City Royals in 2002. The Live Oaks, Florida native — and brother of fellow big leaguer Herbert Perry — notched a pair of hits in 25 at-bats.