Pitcher Madison Bumgarner has been lobbying to get into the Home Run Derby during All-Star festivities, touting his 13 career homers.
Last month, right-hander Noah Syndergaard of the New York Mets hit two home runs in a game, accounting for all of his team’s scoring.
When pitcher Tyson Ross of the San Diego Padres hits the ball, the average exit velocity off the bat is 93.5 miles per hour. That means he hits the ball harder than Bryce Harper and most of the rest of baseball’s celebrated sluggers.
The sport seems to be teeming with such fun stories, perhaps not coincidentally at the same time Commissioner Rob Manfred wrestles with the issue of uniformity: that is, bringing the designated hitter to the National League and doing away with pitchers hitting in both leagues.
Traditionalists and NL fans, of course, revolt over the idea. They argue that the NL game requires more strategy, tests managers’ abilities more and, yes, provides the occasional surprise of a pitcher coming through with the bat.
The key word is “occasional”. In fact, pitchers trying their luck in the batters box is one of the great killjoys of the game 90 per cent of the time.
Take Bartolo Colon, Syndergaard’s teammate. Last month, the 42-year-old delighted the sport when he became the oldest player to hit his first home run. Before that Colon was so pathetic at the plate that he inspired a collection of worst-swing videos.
Funny stuff. Mainly because if fans of the Mets didn’t laugh they would cry. Even worse than most pitchers, Colon has always been a hopeless rally-killer. A human rain cloud coming to bat.
Even the best hitting pitchers aren’t all that special. Zack Greinke has been called the toughest out among pitchers. He is 8-for-29 this year, with one double and two runs batted in.
Bumgarner may have 11 home runs over the last three years, but when he doesn’t meet the ball square with one of his all-or-nothing hacks, he’s awful. He has 14 strikeouts in 34 at bats this year, with a .147 batting average.
But the San Francisco Giants lefty is newsy. Two of his career home runs are against baseball’s best pitcher, Clayton Kershaw. And he recently entertained his teammates and a small media contingent by taking batting practice in St Louis. He hit several mammoth shots, including one into the upper deck where local observers say only Seattle Mariners bomber Nelson Cruz has parked one.
But the chances of Bumgarner participating in the derby next month are about as likely as him pitching a game right-handed. The Giants won’t let their ace risk injuring a muscle or a joint trying to belt the cover off the ball for an hour.
“He’s convinced he could win it,” his manager Bruce Bochy told reporters. “I can’t let him do it.”
Indeed, the fact that a few pitchers have developed a modicum of skills with a bat doesn’t make for a convincing argument against the designated hitter.
American League fans are more than happy watching their teams put together rallies, knowing that everyone in the line-up is proficient at the job. Knowing that the No 8 hitter won’t be walked intentionally so that a starting pitcher has to come to the plate with two outs and the bases loaded, a likely strikeout victim.
For designated hitter fans, the occasional surprise by a pitcher isn’t worth the long wait. If baseball does put the DH in the NL, “hitters” like Colon – and Bumgarner – won’t be missed for long.
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Ms Yang's top tips for parents new to the UAE
- Join parent networks
- Look beyond school fees
- Keep an open mind
The rules on fostering in the UAE
A foster couple or family must:
- be Muslim, Emirati and be residing in the UAE
- not be younger than 25 years old
- not have been convicted of offences or crimes involving moral turpitude
- be free of infectious diseases or psychological and mental disorders
- have the ability to support its members and the foster child financially
- undertake to treat and raise the child in a proper manner and take care of his or her health and well-being
- A single, divorced or widowed Muslim Emirati female, residing in the UAE may apply to foster a child if she is at least 30 years old and able to support the child financially
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THE SPECS
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Power: 420kW
Torque: 780Nm
Transmission: 8-speed automatic
Price: From Dh1,350,000
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RESULT
Arsenal 0 Chelsea 3
Chelsea: Willian (40'), Batshuayi (42', 49')
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THREE
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MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League final:
Who: Real Madrid v Liverpool
Where: NSC Olimpiyskiy Stadium, Kiev, Ukraine
When: Saturday, May 26, 10.45pm (UAE)
TV: Match on BeIN Sports
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
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The Book of Collateral Damage
Sinan Antoon
(Yale University Press)
