Opening day was particularly special for Fernando Tatis Jr. and

Eloy Jimenez.In large part because they weren’t stuck at El Paso and Charlotte.It’s common for baseball’s top prospects to spend a bit of time in the minors at the beginning of the season Paul DeJong Jersey , but the Padres and White Sox put Tatis and Jimenez on the roster this year, and they made their big league debuts Thursday. Tatis, a shortstop, had two hits in San Diego’s win over San Francisco . Jimenez, an outfielder, had a run and an RBI in Chicago’s loss to Kansas City .Jimenez hit .355 in 55 games at Triple-A Charlotte last year, and shortly before the start of this season, he signed a $43 million, six-year contract — a record high for a player under club control who hadn’t yet appeared in a major league game.So it was no surprise to see Jimenez in the majors right away. Tatis’ situation was different. Delaying a player’s service time for a few weeks can delay potential free agency down the road, and Tatis hadn’t played above Double-A. But instead of sending him to Triple-A El Paso, the Padres brought him right to the majors.“I told my dad, my head was in the minor leagues,” Tatis said. “If they sent me down, I was not surprised. If they called me up, it was going to be a big surprise.”Tatis, who turned 20 on Jan. 2, became the youngest player to start on opening day since 19-year-old Adrian Beltre in 1999. He became the youngest player with a multihit game on opening day since Robin Yount in 1975.Tatis is ranked as the game’s No. 2 prospect by mlb.com, behind only Vladimir Guerrero Jr. The debate about whether Guerrero should start the season with the Toronto Blue Jays or in the minors became moot when he went down with a strained left oblique.ALREADY?It didn’t take long for some position players to take the mound this year.The circumstances this time: The Dodgers and Diamondbacks played a 13-inning marathon Friday night that lasted over six hours. On Saturday, Los Angeles beat Arizona 18-5 lex Reyes Jersey , with Diamondbacks catcher John Ryan Murphy giving up seven runs in two innings of relief. Dodgers catcher Russell Martin also pitched, retiring the side in the ninth on 10 pitches.ALL OR NOTHINGThere’s been plenty of talk over the past few years about baseball becoming a game of home runs and strikeouts, and the very early returns in 2019 indicate nothing is changing in that regard. So far, 23.2 percent of all plate appearances have resulted in a strikeout, and 3.3 percent have resulted in a homer.The numbers last season were 22.3 and 3.0.HIGHLIGHTLorenzo Cain robbed Jose Martinez of a tying home run for the final out of Milwaukee’s 5-4 win over St. Louis on opening day. Martinez’s pinch-hit drive nearly cleared the wall in right-center, but Cain brought the ball back, giving the Brewers the victory.LINE OF THE WEEKWhile much of the focus was on Bryce Harper and Manny Machado as they began playing for the Phillies and Padres, Paul Goldschmidt got off to quite a start with the Cardinals. Goldschmidt, who was traded from Arizona to St. Louis in the offseason, homered three times in a 9-5 win over Milwaukee on Friday night.Goldschmidt was denied a chance at a fourth home run when he was intentionally walked in the ninth inning. NEW YORK (AP) — The big league batting average dropped to its lowest level since 1972, strikeouts topped hits for the first time and defensive shifts increased by another 30 percent while innings and pitches per starting pitcher dropped again in a another baseball season of rapid change.The batting average fell seven points to .248 in the regular season that ended Monday, down from a Steroids Era peak of .271 in 1999.Strikeouts set a record for the 11th straight year, increasing by 1,103 to 41,207, and topped hits (41,019) for the first time in big league history. Hits led by 2,111 last year and by 13,418 in 2006.Home runs dropped from a record 6 Evan Longoria Jersey ,105 to 5,585 but was the fourth-highest total behind last year, 2000 and 2016.In a game transformed by teams’ use of advanced analytics, defensive shifts on balls in play rose to 34,673 from 26,705, according to Sports Info Solutions. There were just 6,882 as recently as 2013 and 17,826 in 2015.Twenty-six of the 30 teams increased use of shifts, with Detroit, Kansas City, the New York Mets, Philadelphia and St. Louis doubling. Only the Los Angeles Angels, Milwaukee, Texas and San Diego declined, but the Brewers had the fifth highest overall total.Innings per starting pitcher dropped to 5.36 from 5.51 last year and 5.89 in 2012, and average pitches per start fell to 88 from 92 in 2017 and 95 in 2012. Relievers per team per game rose to 3.4 from 3.2 last year and 3.0 in 2012.As a result, complete games set a record low for the fourth straight year at 42, down from 59 last season and 104 in 2015. Complete game shutouts dropped from 27 to 19 Dustin McGowan Jersey , the fewest since 1874, when there were just eight teams. There were 65 shutouts as recently as 2014.There were 95 starts of one inning or fewer, more than double the 38 in 2017, and 244 of two innings or fewer, up from 133. Use of an “opener” reliever instead of a starter by Tampa Bay in many games was a factor, and some other teams started to copy the innovation.Sacrifice bunts dropped from 925 to 823, the fewest since a record-low 806 in 1900, the last season with eight teams. Toronto had a record-low five, while Oakland and the Los Angeles Angels had six apiece and Boston seven. There were 1,667 as recently as 2011 and no club dropped below double digits until Texas had nine in 2005. No team had fewer than 50 in 1972.Nine-inning games averaged 3:00:44, down from 3:05:11 for last season, helped by new restrictions that cut mound visits without pitching changes to an average of 4.01 from 7.41.There were 1,400 video reviews, an increase of four, and overturned calls rose by six, from 47.3 percent to 47.6 percent, and the average time of reviews dropped five seconds to 1:23.Disabled list placements rose from 702 to 737. There were 563 in 2016, the last season before the primary disabled list switched from 15 days to 10.