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
Kansas City at Cleveland | 19:05 ET
Yordano Ventura (88.1 IP, 87 xFIP-, 1.8 WAR) faces Josh Tomlin (64.1 IP, 84 xFIP, 0.8 WAR). The former has recorded not only the highest average fastball velocity among qualified starters, but also the sixth-fastest working pace among that same group. The latter, having typically survived off of his capacity to limit walks, has produced a strikeout rate thus far (21.9%) precisely 50% greater than his career average to date.

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
New York AL at Minnesota | 20:10 ET
Masahiro Tanaka (115.1 IP, 64 xFIP-, 3.0 WAR) faces Phil Hughes (103.0 IP, 85 xFIP-, 3.1 WAR). While the virtues of the former are conspicuous, it might interest the reader to learn that the latter (i.e. Phil Hughes) has produced (a) a slightly higher WAR this season than Tanaka and, indeed, (b) the highest WAR of his eight-year career already and (c) a league-best walk rate of just 2.4%. A second possibility is that none of this interests the reader, who has continued reading this paragraph out of only that sort of grotesque curiosity which afflicts men from time to time. In either case, there’s little more of substance to say on the matter.

Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: Minnesota Radio.

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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
Cincinnati at San Diego | 15:40 ET
Johnny Cueto (124.1 IP, 80 xFIP-, 2.7 WAR) faces Tyson Ross (107.2 IP, 88 xFIP-, 1.0 WAR). The former, by some combination of skill and good fortune, has conceded the fewest baserunners per inning this season among qualified starters. The club he faces this afternoon, meanwhile, has produced the lowest on-base percentage among major-league clubs — including the lowest road OBP, as well (suggesting that the Padres’ pitcher-friendly home field isn’t entirely responsible for their poor offensive numbers). To the extent that perfect games are unlikely, the probability of Johnny Cueto pitching a perfect game is unlikely. However, that low probability is probably slightly higher today than on most other days.

Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: Cincinnati Radio.

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What follows represents an attempt by the author to utilize the projections available at the site to identify the five major-league hitters whose WAR projections have most improved on a rate basis since the beginning of the season.

For every batter, what I’ve done is first to calculate his preseason (PRE) WAR projection per every 550 plate appearances (or 415 for catchers), averaging together Steamer and ZiPS forecasts where both are available. What I’ve done next is to calculate every hitter’s rest-of-season (ROS) WAR projection (again, prorated to 550 PA and using both Steamer and ZiPS when available). I’ve then found the difference in WAR per 550 PA between the preseason and rest-of-season projection.

When I attempted a similar exercise two months ago, I used updated end-of-season projections instead of rest-of-season ones. The advantage of the latter (and why I’m using it here) is that it provides the closest available thing to an estimate of any given player’s current true-talent level — which, reason dictates, is what one requires to best identify those players who have most improved.

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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
Colorado at Washington | 19:05 ET
Christian Friedrich (10.0 IP, 117 xFIP-, -0.1 WAR) faces Stephen Strasburg (104.2 IP, 70 xFIP-, 2.4 WAR). A discerning gastronome could very probably ask reasonable questions regarding the authenticity of certain dishes which appear on the menu of Chen Yang Li, a Chinese restaurant located in Bow, NH, and patronized with some regularity by the author’s family. What no one can deny, however, is the presence on that same menu of an entree called Chicken Amazing — which name, one notes, features the word chicken plus then then word amazing. Were one to employ a similar strategy in producing a sobriquet for Washington right-hander Stephen Strasburg, a likely result might be Pitcher Amazing — which is to say a noun describing Strasburg’s job title (i.e. pitcher) plus the adjective amazing again. As noted yesterday, Strasburg is among the league’s best starters by park-adjusted xFIP (70 xFIP-), swinging-strike rate (12.0%), overall strike rate (67.2%), and average fastball velocity (94.4 mph).

Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: Washington Radio.

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Episode 458
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 discusses every Mookie Betts there is.

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 45 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
Colorado at Washington | 19:05 ET
Yohan Flande (5.0 IP, 91 xFIP-, 0.0 WAR) faces Jordan Zimmermann (97.2 IP, 84 xFIP-, 2.3 WAR). The latter has produced a park-adjusted xFIP (84 xFIP-), swinging-strike rate (10.9%), overall strike rate (68.4%), and average fastball velocity (93.8 mph) all a standard deviation or better than the mean produced by the 190 pitchers who’ve thrown 20-plus innings this year in a starting capacity. Indeed, that nearly arbitrary statement can be made of only two other pitchers this season: Jose Fernandez and Stephen Strasburg, both of whom are regarded as the hottest possible stuff. Jordan Zimmermann is stuff, too, is the point of this brief paragraph — stuff that’s almost certainly above-average in temperature.

Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: Washington 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
Boston at New York AL | 20:05 ET
John Lackey (107.0 IP, 82 xFIP-, 2.6 WAR) faces Chase Whitley (42.0 IP, 105 xFIP-, 1.0 WAR). The attraction of this particular contest owes less to the identities of the probable starting pitchers (although neither Lackey nor Whitley are wholly without merit) and more to how it’s likely to represent the major-league debut of Boston prospect Mookie Betts. The 21-year-old has recorded not only impressive slash stats, but also equally impressive fielding-independent numbers, over ca. 250 plate appearances between Double- and Triple-A. A second baseman by trade, Betts is likely to play right field tonight — a position, that, at which he appears to have been deployed about twice ever in his professional career.

Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: Boston 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
Chicago AL at Toronto | 13:07 ET
Chris Sale (71.1 IP, 71 xFIP-, 2.3 WAR) faces Marcus Stroman (36.0 IP, 93 xFIP-, 0.5 WAR). With regard to the former, Jeff Sullivan recently noted within these pages that, in an attempt to decease the risk of injury, that Sale has made an effort to throw his changeup more often, his slider less. Indeed, one finds that, over the three starts Sale has recorded since Sullivan’s piece, that the left-hander has thrown his changeup almost precisely a third of the time. By way of comparison, his changeup usage in 2013 was over 10 percentage points less than that. His slider usage over those three starts, meanwhile, is much lower than in 2013: 13% vs. 29%.

Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: Toronto Radio?

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