TBNL: Rookies, food trucks, and weird injuries

A handful of rookies with little to no experience made Opening Day rosters. It happens most years, as it’s almost inevitable that someone in one of the 30 spring training camps performs above all expectations and earns himself a roster spot.

This year was no different. I highlighted three of them in late March: Ryan Johnson, Cam Smith, and Kristian Campbell.

Johnson’s debut didn’t go well. The White Sox hit him hard, connecting for a pair of home runs among the four hits he allowed. Johnson walked one, struck out two, and allowed five earned runs in his 1.2 IP.

His five appearances since have been better, totaling 4.2 IP with just one earned run. He’s allowed seven hits, walked one, and struck out six. Johnson even picked up the save in an Angels’ extra-innings win.

Longterm his future is still likely in the rotation, but for now, the Angels might have a solid arm in their bullpen.

Smith singled to right field on Opening Day against the Mets’ Clay Holmes, picking up his first career hit in his first at bat. The adjustment to big league pitching has been a slow one though for the 22-year-old.

Through 47 plate appearances, Smith is batting just .214/.298/.333 with just one home run (a two-run shot to left field in Houston off the Angels’ Ian Anderson).

Smith has looked overmatched and he’s also still learning a new position (he’s a third baseman by trade but playing right field). Houston can likely afford to give him some time to figure things out, but if he’s still hitting like this in another two weeks, they will have to consider sending him down to Triple-A. Keeping him in right field while struggling will only stunt his development and the organization clearly thinks highly of him.

Campbell’s bat has not had trouble adjusting like Smith. Through 74 PA, the 23-year-old is hitting .302/.392/.508 with four doubles and three homers. He’s also walked 10 times.

Campbell started his career by reaching base safely in each of his first 17 games, second only to George Scott (26) in franchise history. Ted Williams was in second at 15 games.

Boston clearly has confidence in Campbell’s abilities, considering they signed him to an eight-year, $60M extension already.

Meanwhile, the Cubs added Matt Shaw to their roster before opening the season in Japan and few blinked an eye. Shaw was expected to at least contend for if not win the starting third base job in spring training and he did just that.

Shaw has struggled at the plate, hitting .172/.294/.241 with a homer and 18 strikeouts through his first 68 PA. The Cubs sent Shaw down to Triple-A on Thursday. It might be a short stint there, just to regain his confidence a little.

Liam Hendriks, good dude

It’s become more and more common for big leaguers on minor league rehab assignments to “treat” their lesser-paid colleagues — usually to expensive dinners, but occasionally other things (headphones, for instance) get worked into the mix. The gestures often go relatively unnoticed.

Red Sox reliever Liam Hendriks is the latest to make a big gesture.

Hendriks is with Boston’s Double-A Portland affiliate. The Sea Dogs are in Hartford to play the Yard Goats for a six-game series. Following Wednesday’s game, in which Hendriks worked an inning, walking one and striking out another, the 36-year-old right-hander rented a food truck for his team.

Hendriks reportedly took things a step further, inviting the Yard Goats players and all of the Dunkin’ Park employees to eat, too.

Kim Ng’s new gig

With softball returning to the Olympics in 2028, efforts are heavily underway to launch a new pro softball league in the US. The AUSL (Athletes Unlimited Softball League) took another major step forward this week, naming former Marlins GM Kim Ng as the league’s commissioner, according to ESPN’s Jeff Passan.

The four-team league already has several NCAA and USA Softball legends lined up to fill key roles. Cat Osterman (Volts), Lisa Fernandez (Talons), Dana Sorensen (Blaze), and Jenny Dalton-Hill (Bandits) will be the general managers for each team. Jennie Finch and Jessica Mendoza will serve as advisers to the league. That’s a ton of knowledge and experience in the room helping to make decisions (a critical step to how Ng plans to run things).

Elsewhere, around the sport …

• Baseball history is littered with strange-but-true injuries. Twins infielder Jose Miranda can now add himself to the list. Shortly after being optioned to Triple-A St. Paul, Miranda went shopping at Target on an off day. Miranda strained his right hand when “a case of water slipped from his grasp and he felt pain when he re-grabbed it before it fell,” according to Bobby Nightengale at the Minneapolis Star Tribune. Miranda was placed on the injured list. It’s unclear how long he’ll be out.

• Luis Gil went down during spring training with a strained lat muscle and the initial thought was that he could begin working out in about six weeks, with the hope that he’d return to the Yankees rotation by late June. It’s been six weeks and Gil reportedly isn’t ready to start any baseball activities yet. The team is shutting him down at least another 10 days before evaluating him again. As much as the Yankees need last year’s Rookie of the Year back in the rotation, his injury history has long led me to think his future lies in the bullpen.