MLB mailbag: Jazz Chisholm's CF adventures, Pete Alonso's leap, ballpark food ideas

By Jake Mintz
Updated Apr. 25, 2023 3:41 p.m. ET

Welcome to the second edition of my MLB Mailbag. My bosses liked it enough that we’re doing it again.

As always, this is not complicated.

You, the passionate reader, will ask questions about baseball. I, a large child who makes a living writing and talking about this dumb sport, will answer said questions, while trying to both inform and entertain you in the process. 

Make sense? Let’s dive in.

Thoughts on Jazz Chisholm at center field? — Ed

In a two-week span over the offseason, the Marlins signed Jean Segura and traded for Luis Arráez. So far Arráez has hit like the second coming of Tony Gwynn while Segura has hit like the second coming of Tony Baloney. But the most notable byproduct of Miami’s infield infusion was the team’s decision to move Chisholm, their oft-injured, sky-is-the-limit middle infielder, to center field, despite him having never played there before. A month in, how's that experiment going?

Is Chisholm good at center field? If you believe the numbers, Chisholm, at this point in time, grades out as ... average. UZR doesn’t love him, OAA doesn’t hate him, and the eye test is a mix of miraculous catches and incomprehensible mistakes, which in the end even out to make a perfectly fine defensive center fielder. Hilarious.

Will Chisholm one day be good at center field? Yes, almost certainly. With almost zero experience, relying entirely on raw speed, natural instinct and pure vibes, Chisholm has already made some special, special plays out in the grass. Once he irons out the occasional mega-biff, the 25-year-old could develop into one of the game’s most spectacular glovesmiths. 

Is having Chisholm play center field a "good idea?" No, absolutely not. The Marlins have given 17 shortstop starts to the entertaining but overmatched Jon Berti. The injured Joey Wendle isn’t exactly a potent bat you need to shoehorn into the lineup either. And you’d think that Chisholm, who only played 60 games last season due to a lower back injury, is more likely to get hurt diving around in the outfield than on the infield dirt. Meanwhile, the Bahamian dynamo has yet to get it going offensively. Maybe he’s too focused on defense?

Can y’all say one good thing about the Rockies — Suzie

Here’s three. 

  1. Coors Field rules. It is a mile-high beer garden with the occasional baseball game going on nearby.
  2. Purple.
  3. I think about this Carlos González homer once a week.

I am a huge Mets fan and seeing Pete Alonso get off to a hot start has me wondering what his ceiling is. We've seen him be streaky in the past and do you see this as just a hot start or his evolution into a top tier superstar? — Kevin

Alonso was awesome last year, the prototypical fearsome one-dimensional slugger every team would love to have in the middle of their order. But he’s always been just a crust below the "best hitter in the world" conversation. Why? What has been keeping him from the top of the top? And what’s enabled his hot 10-homer April?

Well, Alonso’s 36% chase rate last year, which was particularly bad on pitches above the zone, was notably higher than the 31.6% league average. But so far this year, he’s been able to lay off that tantalizing high heat at and above the letters. The result? A 6.6% decline in his overall chase rate. And while his walk rate hasn’t seen a similar spike, Alonso’s more conditioned approach has allowed him to get ahead in more counts, which has meant more hard contact on hitter-friendly pitches.

Can he keep this up? Who knows, it's early days. But just keep an eye on how Alonso handles elevated velocity. If he keeps laying off high heat, that’s a good sign.

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Do the Angels care? — anonymous

Yes, maybe even too much.

What’s a food that isn’t currently a traditional U.S. ballpark food (hot dogs, fries, popcorn, burgers, etc.) that should be in every ballpark ASAP? — John

What makes good ballpark food? Here’s a word dump: fatty, fried, flavorful, salty, good with beer, convenient, doesn’t need a knife, dippable, hand-held, bold, umami, breaded, saucy. 

But ballpark food these days is imaginative and somewhat limited and I don’t think deep-frying something seven times and crumbling Oreos on top of it is a real solution. In other words: Baseball stadiums should continue expanding beyond the under-seasoned American pallet.

I’m a big eater and an adventurous one. I’ll try any food put in front of me and I’ve been fortunate enough to chow my way across a number of countries and much of New York. I’m no Padma Lakshmi, but I have thoughts. That being said, using the brainstorm list above, I recommend ... 

  • Kimchi pancakes or scallion pancakes. Salty, crunchy, fried, dippable.
  • Steaming hot spinach knish on a cold spring or autumn day.
  • Khachapuri. Georgian cheese bread with piping hot gooey cheese and an egg in the middle. We Americans should eat more of this anyway, there are no vegetables at all.
  • This goes against everything I’ve already written, but give me spaghetti and meatballs. I think the idea of a bunch of ball-fans slurping down pasta out of a cup is so funny and I want it right now.

But the non-ballpark food that should absolutely be a ballpark food right away is lamb shawarma. Give me a huge rotating spit of juicy lamb meat on every concourse in the country, give me cucumber-tomato salad piled high, give me an oily pita hot off the grill, give me a creamy dollop of tahini with some kick and give me a cold pilsner to wash it all down.

What's the next big "between-innings race" idea, and which team should do it? (à la the Brewers' racing sausages, the Nationals' Presidents Race, etc.) — Elizabeth

Mariners: A reenactment of Moby Dick where a guy dressed up as Ahab chases someone in a whale costume around the outfield track, but never quite catches up. 

Astros: Nine people in various sizes and colors of bumper balls designed like the planets (Pluto still counts, fight me) sprinting around the outfield track. Imagine people booing when Earth loses.

Reds: Famous communists from world history race one another around the track. A sold-out Great American Ballpark going bonkers for an intern in a Joseph Stalin costume, who says no?

Twins: Normal everyday American twins have their legs tied together in a three-legged race.

Tune in next Tuesday for questions about: World Series grace periods, underrated pitchers, instruments beyond organs, face tattoos and much, much more.

Jake Mintz, the louder half of @CespedesBBQ is a baseball writer for FOX Sports. He played college baseball, poorly at first, then very well, very briefly. Jake lives in New York City where he coaches Little League and rides his bike, sometimes at the same time. Follow him on Twitter at @Jake_Mintz.

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