The Fringe Five is a weekly regular-season exercise, introduced last April by the present author, wherein that same ridiculous author utilizes regressed stats, scouting reports, and also his own heart to identify and/or continue monitoring the most compelling fringe prospects in all of baseball.

Central to the exercise, of course, is a definition of the word fringe, a term which possesses different connotations for different sorts of readers. For the purposes of the column this year, a fringe prospect (and therefore one eligible for inclusion in the Five) is any rookie-eligible player at High-A or above both (a) absent from all of three notable preseason top-100 prospect lists* and also (b) not currently playing in the majors. Players appearing on the midseason prospect lists produced by those same notable sources or, otherwise, selected in the first round of the current season’s amateur draft will also be excluded from eligibility.

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Devised originally in response to a challenge issued by viscount of the internet Rob Neyer, and expanded at the request of nobody, NERD scores represent an attempt to summarize in one number (and on a scale of 0-10) the likely aesthetic appeal or watchability, for the learned fan, of a player or team or game. Read more about the components of and formulae for NERD scores here.

Most Highly Rated Game
Seattle at Cleveland | 19:05 ET
Felix Hernandez (158.1 IP, 62 xFIP-, 5.6 WAR) faces Corey Kluber (149.1 IP, 72 xFIP-, 4.3 WAR). The pair rank first and third, respectively, among all pitchers by WAR this season — the former on the strength largely of the league’s most valuable changeup by linear-weight runs; the latter, owing to a cutter and curveball which both rank among the top three in the league by runs according to their respective pitch type.

Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: Cleveland Radio.

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Devised originally in response to a challenge issued by viscount of the internet Rob Neyer, and expanded at the request of nobody, NERD scores represent an attempt to summarize in one number (and on a scale of 0-10) the likely aesthetic appeal or watchability, for the learned fan, of a player or team or game. Read more about the components of and formulae for NERD scores here.

Most Highly Rated Game
Washington at Miami | 19:10 ET
Stephen Strasburg (137.1 IP, 68 xFIP-, 3.0 WAR) faces Henderson Alvarez (130.2 IP, 95 xFIP-, 2.0 WAR). The latter, it would appear, is almost an exact replica of yesterday’s starter for Miami, Nathan Eovaldi. While neither have recorded particularly notable fielding-independent numbers, both have produced overall strike rates and average fastball velocities at least a standard deviation better than the average of all major-leaguer starters. In Alvarez’s case, those figures are as follows: 66.9% strikes and 93.6 mph. As for characterizing Strasburg’s virtues, one is reduced merely to the employment of tautology — to the extent, I mean, that Strasburg is what he is.

Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: Washington Radio.

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The last time he was permitted to participate in this daily Watch of baseball Prospects, the author submitted a statistical report on the most recent collection of first-round draft picks — which report revealed, among other stirring truth, that Cubs draftee Kyle Schwarber was meting out much in the way of Baseball Justice on minor-league pitchers.

What follows is almost the same exact exercise as that one from three weeks ago, except applied to last year’s first-round picks instead. As in the case of that first post, what I’ve done here is to produce a pair of leaderboards (one for batters; one, pitchers) of the relevant first-rounders. Links to the relevant FanGraphs leaderboards are available here: Batters / Pitchers.

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Episode 466
Dave Cameron is both (a) the managing editor of FanGraphs and (b) the guest on this particular edition of FanGraphs Audio — during which edition he considers the approaching trade deadline in some depth and even greater width.

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 37 min play time.)

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Devised originally in response to a challenge issued by viscount of the internet Rob Neyer, and expanded at the request of nobody, NERD scores represent an attempt to summarize in one number (and on a scale of 0-10) the likely aesthetic appeal or watchability, for the learned fan, of a player or team or game. Read more about the components of and formulae for NERD scores here.

Most Highly Rated Game
Washington at Miami | 19:10 ET
Jordan Zimmermann (118.0 IP, 84 xFIP-, 2.7 WAR) faces Nathan Eovaldi (130.2 IP, 108 xFIP-, 1.8 WAR). The virtues of the former are manifest. As for the latter, despite having posted merely average-ish fielding-independent numbers, he’s also recorded an overall strike rate (66.4%) and average fastball velocity (95.6 mph) one and two standard deviations, respectively, better than the mean produced by starting pitchers this season. A recipe, that, for tolerable baseball.

Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: Washington Radio.

Read the rest of this entry »

Devised originally in response to a challenge issued by viscount of the internet Rob Neyer, and expanded at the request of nobody, NERD scores represent an attempt to summarize in one number (and on a scale of 0-10) the likely aesthetic appeal or watchability, for the learned fan, of a player or team or game. Read more about the components of and formulae for NERD scores here.

Most Highly Rated Game
New York NL at Milwaukee | 14:10 ET
Jacob deGrom (80.2 IP, 90 xFIP-, 1.3 WAR) faces Jimmy Nelson (16.0 IP, 115 xFIP-, 0.2 WAR). The former, as illustrated by the table below and further supported by this hyperlink to the relevant leaderboard, has recorded the best park-adjusted xFIP among all qualified starters in July so far.

The 26-year-old deGrom faces a Milwaukee club which possesses the highest current odds of winning the NL Central division.

Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: Milwaukee Radio or New York NL Television.

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Devised originally in response to a challenge issued by viscount of the internet Rob Neyer, and expanded at the request of nobody, NERD scores represent an attempt to summarize in one number (and on a scale of 0-10) the likely aesthetic appeal or watchability, for the learned fan, of a player or team or game. Read more about the components of and formulae for NERD scores here.

Most Highly Rated Game
Washington at Cincinnati | 16:05 ET
Gio Gonzalez (86.2 IP, 99 xFIP-, 1.4 WAR) faces Johnny Cueto (148.2 IP, 84 xFIP-, 2.8 WAR). Of some (perhaps trivial) interest regarding the Washington Nationals: the club features three players (Anthony Rendon, Denard Span, and Jayson Werth) to have produced more than four runs by means of baserunning — a fifth of all major leaguers, that total, to have crossed the four-run threshold by that measure this season.

Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: Washington Radio.

Read the rest of this entry »

Devised originally in response to a challenge issued by viscount of the internet Rob Neyer, and expanded at the request of nobody, NERD scores represent an attempt to summarize in one number (and on a scale of 0-10) the likely aesthetic appeal or watchability, for the learned fan, of a player or team or game. Read more about the components of and formulae for NERD scores here.

Most Highly Rated Game
Cleveland at Kansas City | 19:10 ET
Josh Tomlin (81.1 IP, 81 xFIP-, 0.8 WAR) faces Yordano Ventura (107.2 IP, 95 xFIP-, 1.5 WAR). The latter has recorded the highest average fastball velocity (96.8 mph) among all qualified pitchers while also throwing strikes and preventing runs at a slightly above-average rate. The former has somehow improved upon his previously established strikeout rates by about 50% while also — despite conspicuously modest armspeed — while also producing the same exact park-adjusted xFIP as considerably more celebrated starters Madison Bumgarner and Max Scherzer.

Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: Cleveland Radio.

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Episode 465
Rob Neyer, with FOX Sports, has recently launched a microblog called Just a Bit Outside. He’s also the guest on this edition of FanGraphs Audio.

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 51 min play time.)

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download

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