Tigers fire general manager Avila after seven seasons. Bader pens touching goodbye to Cards fans, Braves' top prospect Grissom homers in his first major league game, and more baseball news.
Detroit Tigers fire general manager Al Avila after 7 seasons
After seven seasons, the Detroit Tigers have fired general manager Al Ávila. While Ávila promised to end the seven-year postseason drought for the Tigers, an eighth seems imminent with the Tigers with a 43-68 record. This makes them the worst team in the AL Central, and the worst offense in baseball, the Detroit Free Press reported.
On Wednesday, Tigers owner Christopher Ilitch said: "I've said it for years, each and every season, we need to make progress. If we do that, we'll ultimately reach our goals and objectives. This year, it became evident that we did not make progress, particularly at the major-league level."
Bader pens thank you note to Cardinals fans
As center fielder Harrison Bader heads for the New York Yankees via a trade, he paused to pen a heartfelt thank you note to the St. Louis Cardinals fans, KSKD reported.
"I’ll never forget how awesome it felt to walk around this city, knowing that I was a part of something truly unique," Bader wrote in the Players' Tribune. "Being a Cardinal in St. Louis is just special. And I just want to make sure all the fans understand how much I enjoyed playing in front of you guys every single second."
"The origin of this smile for me in St. Louis, it wasn’t the diving catches or the home runs or winning runs, whatever it was," Bader continued. "The smile was the reaction to the fans cheering that that just happened on the field."
"And no matter where my career takes me, the smile I’ll have about this place is forever," Bader concluded.
Braves' top prospect Vaughn Grissom homers in first major-league game
Atlanta Braves top prospect Vaughn Grissom, who was playing with Double-A Mississippi in Tennessee, got the call on Tuesday he would be making his MLB debut on Wednesday at Fenway Park against the Boston Red Sox. In the top of the seventh inning, Grissom faced Boston reliever Darwinzon Hernandez who hurled a 94-mph fastball. Grissom slammed the pitch, which left the bat at 101.7 mph and flew 412 feet over the green monster and landed on Lansdowne Street, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. Grissom got his first MLB hit with a homer, as the Braves won 8-4 over the Red Sox.