These aren’t your Moneyball Athletics, or so the saying goes. This Athletics team is thriving despite the third-worst on base percentage in the American League — Billy Beane must have moved on to a new statistic to find his undervalued assets. In any case, after being projected to finish below .500 and about 15 games out of the second wild card, the A’s have already matched their preseason win total and are in the catbird seat for the first wild card — and their offense is the most surprising aspect of their run so far. It’s a phenomenon worth unpacking.

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After seeing Jurickson Profar play in the South Atlantic League in mid-2011, I returned home and wrote a piece for the now defunct Roto Hardball discussing the teenage phenom as the best shortstop prospect in baseball. In fact, if asked to name the top five prospects I’ve ever scouted in person, Profar would be listed alongside Jason Heyward, Mike Stanton, Bryce Harper and Dylan Bundy.

Video after the jump

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One of the bigger pre-season storylines this year was the numerous relievers who were being used in their respective rotations. A number of them struggled, but a few have exceeded expectations. Jeff Samardzija has relied heavily on his split-fingered fastball and has had a solid season; Lance Lynn was an all-star; and then there’s Chris Sale — the player who made the most seamless transition.

Sale relies on his slider more than all but five qualified American League starters, and while his fastball and changeup combination has been big reasons for his success, the slider without a doubt is his out pitch. As a reliever, Sale got away with being close to a two-pitch pitcher, despite having a solid changeup in college. He used his changeup about 12% of the time against righties, but Sale and the White Sox staff understood the pitch needed to become a more heavily used offering if he was going to be successful in the rotation. Sale now throws the pitch 25% of the time against righties, though he doesn’t use it at all against lefties. The pitch’s success has been a large reason why righties have just a .289 wOBA against Sale — an impressive number for a first-year starter. But even with the success of his changeup, only 21 of the 162 batters he has struck out fell victim to the changeup. The slider, on the other hand, has been the pitch. It’s been used on 95 of his 162 strikeouts and accounts for 59% of his Ks.

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Very recently, Dan Uggla was one of the better players in baseball. Two years ago, his 135 wRC+ put him in the same company as Ryan Braun, Prince Fielder, Adam Dunn, and Joe Mauer. He hit for average, he hit for power, he drew walks, and he faked it at second base well enough to provide a lot of value, averaging +4 WAR per season during his first five years in the big leagues.

Last year, Uggla looked lost for the first three months of the season, as he wasn’t drawing walks and his BABIPs were below .200 in each month from April through June. However, for as bad as his first half was, his second half was equally amazing, as his power spiked, his BABIP returned to normal, and he closed the year looking like the Dan Uggla of old. The overall line was down a bit from his years in Miami, but given how well he closed the season, it didn’t seem like an early decline was in his future.

However, there was some evidence of worrying trends, even while Uggla was killing the ball last summer, and this year, the continuation of those trends has cost him his job as the Braves starting second baseman.

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As I was flipping channels last night I managed to stumble on the Padres – Dodgers game. Andrew Werner, a 25 year-old rookie making only his third career start, was on the hill for the Padres. It only took me a few pitches to determine I should stick with the game for a little while.

Although the Dodgers would eventually win the game in extra-innings, Werner pitched a great game as his final line can attest to (6 IP, 8Ks, 1BB). And although he posted an equally dominant performance in his previous game against the Atlanta Braves (6 IP, 7Ks, 0BBs), the way he went about shutting down the Dodgers was quite different.

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Drew Pomeranz takes the mound today for the Colorado Rockies. The 23-year-old lefty came into the 2012 season with Matt Moore expectations, but so far has Jamie Moyer results. On Tuesday, he takes the bump aiming for a solid 4.0 IP against the playoff contending Atlanta Braves, and if he hopes to salvage anything from his forgettable rookie season, he will need to get his secondary pitches working for him.

Pomeranz has improved over the last two months, as his K-rate and BB-rate have both moved in the right direction:

But in order for his success to grow, Pomeranz will need to dramatically alter his approach, and that starts with his curveball.
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Table of Contents
Here’s the table of contents for today’s edition of Daily Notes.

1. List: Three September Callups Who Aren’t Jurickson Profar
2. Today’s Notable Games (Including MLB.TV Free Game)
3. Today’s Complete Schedule

List: Three September Callups Who Aren’t Jurickson Profar
First of All, Regarding What Is a Callup
A callup is a call-up — as in, September call-up — with the hyphen removed, so’s to confine the entirety of this post’s title to a single line.

Second of All, Also Regarding the Title of This Post
Provided enough space, the author would likely have titled this post something to the effect of “Daily Notes, Featuring Three Notable September Call-Ups Who Aren’t Jurickson Profar,” with a view, that is, to emphasizing how the following prospects are notable in their own right — in addition, that is, to simply being not Jurickson Profar.

Regarding Jurickson Profar, Who That Even Is
In the event that the reader is unfamiliar with him, here’s who Jurickson Profar is: the shortstop prospect in the Rangers system who (a) was ranked first overall on our Marc Hulet’s midseason top-50 prospect list and (b) homered in his first major-league plate appearance (action video).

The Aforementioned Three Other Call-Ups
Here are three notable prospects to’ve been promoted in September so far who are not also Jurickson Profar:

Player: Didi Gregorius, SS, CIN
Line: 558 PA, .267/.325/.396 (.304 BABIP) at Double- and Triple-A
Notes: Gregorius has been overshadowed, probably, owing to the presence both of Zack Cozart (the young and current starting shortstop) and Billy Hamilton (the very fast, but perhaps defensively inadequate, shortstop prospect) in the Reds system. Reports suggestt that the latter of that tandem will play mostly outfield at the Arizona Fall League this, uh, fall — and, provided he acquits him decently, is maybe a better fit there for the long-term. Gregorius has reached Triple-A as a 22-year-old, which is generally a promising thing.

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Ben and Sam discuss two baseball mysteries: the Orioles’ success in 2012, and MLB’s blackout policy.

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

1. Featured Game: New York NL at St. Louis, 14:15 ET
2. Today’s MLB.TV Free Game
3. Today’s Complete Schedule

Featured Game: New York NL at St. Louis, 14:15 ET
Regarding This Game, Why It’s Notable
One reason why this game is notable, is on account of right-hander Collin McHugh is making his second major-league start in it for the Mets — and his first major-league start in front of one of the league’s finer cameras.

Regarding McHugh, His First Major-League Start
McHugh, 25, was excellent in his first start, on August 23rd against the Rockies. Regard: 7.0 IP, 23 TBF, 9 K, 1 BB, 4 GB on 12 batted-balls (33.3%), 2.01 xFIP.

Regarding McHugh, His Repertoire
The author — who isn’t bragging or anything, but just noting it for the benefit of the reader — the author recently wrote a piece, with sexy, animated GIFs, examining McHugh’s repertoire of sexy pitches.

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