Table of Contents
Here’s the table of contents for today’s edition of Daily Notes.

1. Featured Game: Oakland at Texas, 19:15 ET
2. Other Notable Games (Including MLB.TV Free Game)
3. Today’s Complete Schedule

Featured Game: Oakland at Texas, 19:15 ET
What’s Notable About This Game
What’s particularly notable about this game is left-hander Martin Perez is starting it for Texas.

Regarding Perez, Who That Even Is
Perez has been a top prospect in the Rangers organization for some time, having been ranked by Baseball America among said organization’s top-five prospects each of the last four years — including third overall this season.

Regarding Perez, Where He’s Ranked on Four Other Lists
Here’s where Perez was ranked on four other preseason prospect lists:

• Kevin Goldstein, Baseball Prospectus: 2nd

• Marc Hulet, FanGraphs: 2nd

• Jonathan Mayo, MLB.com: 2nd

• John Sickels, Minor League Ball: 2nd

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It’s probably true that basically any idiot can capture and render into GIF form video footage of a few pitches from Trevor Bauer’s much-anticipated major-league debut on Thursday. Only one such idiot, however, both (a) writes for FanGraphs and (b) has 15 free minutes on Friday evening.

This guy, is who.

So, without anything further in the way of preface, here are three select pitches from Bauer’s debut. (Note: for each pitch, both velocity and movement — horizontal and then vertical — are listed. League-average velocity/movement indicated in parentheses).

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Episode 207
RotoGraphs contributor Howard Bender is the guest on this Fantasy Friday edition of FanGraphs Audio.

Discussed:
• Reliever turnover, what points in the season are more and less prone to it.
• Trevor Bauer vs. Andrew Cashner, the eternal debate of the last day and a half.
• Stephen Drew, his value in the second half.

Don’t hesitate to direct pod-related correspondence to @cistulli on Twitter.

You can subscribe to the podcast via iTunes or other feeder things.

Audio after the jump. (Approximately 43 min. play time.)

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When the Red Sox acquired Franklin Morales from the Rockies last season, no one paid much attention. At the time of the deal, he hadn’t pitched in four days, and hadn’t recorded an out in seven. When he began his Red Sox career by allowing four runs in three innings in his first two outings, there was similarly no reason for Red Sox nation to sit up and take notice — he was just another re-tread lefty that the team would have to cycle through now that Hideki Okajima had turned back into a pumpkin. Fast forward one year though, and Morales is catching everyone’s attention, as — for the moment — he is once again impressing as a starter. The difference is that this time, there is reason to believe it’s for real.

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Arizona Diamondbacks third base prospect Matt Davidson began the 2012 season in quite an offensive groove. In April, his .330/.450/.549 slash line left the 21-year-old amongst Southern League Leaders. In fact, his 16 home runs to date is still tops amongst qualified hitters and double any player considered age appropriate for the league. However, Davidson’s numbers have been in steady decline as the weather has warmed up, leaving prospect followers questioning how well his bat will translate at the major league level.

Video after the jump

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Office of the Commissioner: Senior Software Developer

MAJOR PURPOSE
Develop and support critical baseball software systems and provide general support to the Software Development Manager.

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It’s no secret that the Mariners home park is one of the more pitcher friendly ballparks in the Majors. Because of it’s asymmetrical dimensions, its especially beneficial to left-handed pitchers who can take advantage of the large area in left-center field, allowing right-handed batters to pull the ball without getting penalized by as many home runs as they’d allow in a neutral ballpark. Jason Vargas is the best current example of this phenomenon, as he’s allowed just five home runs at home and 16 on the road this season.

However, what is happening in Safeco this season looks like it goes beyond just the park effects that we already know about. For some reason, Safeco Field is just destroying offense this year in a way that it never has before.

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Marc Krauss, OF, Arizona Diamondbacks
Current Level: AA
2012 Top 15 Prospects Ranking: NR
Current Value: Improving

Krauss spent the first two years of his career destroying pitching in the low minors. Promoted to double-A in 2011, the now-24-year-old outfielder faced the first true, long-term struggles of his pro career which saw him hit .242 with a wRC+ of 109. Returning to the level in 2012, Krauss has shown steady improvements and currently sports a wRC+ of 168, as well as an ISO rate of .234. The left-handed hitter could carve out a solid career as a platoon left-fielder (and/or DH) who beats up on right-handed pitching but runs screaming like a school girl from southpaws.

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Table of Contents
Here’s the table of contents for today’s edition of Daily Notes.

1. Featured Game: Detroit at Tampa Bay, 19:10 ET
2. Other Notable Games (Including MLB.TV Free Game)
3. Today’s Complete Schedule

Featured Game: Detroit at Tampa Bay, 19:10 ET
Regarding This Game, What’s Notable About It
What’s notable about this game between the Tigers and Rays is how the starters for both teams — that is to say, Justin Verlander (117.2 IP, 82 xFIP-, 3.8 WAR) and David Price (97.2 IP, 83 xFIP-, 1.9 WAR) — are generally regarded as Top Ace Pitchers, Thumbs Up!

Regarding What Makes Them Top Ace Pitchers
In terms of why both Verlander and Price are considered top aces, a lot of it — the lion’s share, one might even say — has to do with their ability to prevent runs.

Verlander and Price, Another of Their Praiseworthy Qualities
Another of Price’s and Verlander’s praiseworthy qualities is how they’ve recorded the second- and fourth-highest average fastball velocities (95.6 and 94.5 mph, respectively) among qualified starters this season.

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Craig Kimbrel is really freakin’ good. While his blown save in the final game of the 2011 season gave him a bit more fame for the wrong reasons, Kimbrel has been downright tremendous in his young career. He has only gotten better this season, and at just 24 years old, still stands to improve a bit. Improvements beyond his current performance would make for one scary closer against whom almost nobody would reach base.

Kimbrel has now logged 126.2 innings in his career, and has the following marks: 1.71 ERA, 1.46 FIP, 15.3 K/9, 42.7% K/PA, 45.4% groundball rate. He has an 83.5% strand rate, a .157 opponents average and a 1.01 WHIP, even with a relatively high walk rate. But he’s getting better in that area as well, as his walk rate has decreased each year: from 18.2% to 10.5% down to his current 9.1% mark.

Whether we’re looking at the career numbers of all relievers in the history of baseball, or pitchers through their first three or four seasons, Kimbrel ranks ahead of everyone in most important categories. This is only his third season — and second full year — in the majors, but he is off to a historic start. It wouldn’t be out of line to suggest that, through three years and 120+ innings, Kimbrel has the best numbers of anyone ever.

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