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

1. SCOUT Leaderboards: Double-A Southern League
2. Today’s MLB.TV Free Game
3. Today’s Game Odds, Translated into Winning Percentages

SCOUT Leaderboards: Double-A Southern League
Previously considered: International League (April 10) / Pacific Coast League (April 11) / Eastern League (April 12).

Below are the present SCOUT hitting and pitching leaderboards for the Double-A Southern League.

“What is a SCOUT leaderboard, gentleman author?” perhaps a person is asking somewhere — to which question that same author has provided a (hopefully) reasonable answer here. In brief, however, it’s this: an attempt to use our knowledge of certain metrics, and at what sample sizes they become reliable, to measure run production and prevention in instances where small samples prevail.

Below are the leaderboards, as I say, for the Double-A Southern League, followed by some brief comments. (Note: statistics current as of Monday.)

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Episode 325
Managing editor Dave Cameron is the guest on this edition of FanGraphs Audio, which has been released during twilight in Boston.

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 46 min play time.)

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

1. SCOUT Leaderboards: The Week’s Top Performances
2. Today’s MLB.TV Free Game
3. Today’s Game Odds, Translated into Winning Percentages

SCOUT Leaderboards: The Week’s Top Performances
Much as with skinning a cat, but far less gruesome, there are a number of ways, theoretically, to determine the “best” performances in baseball over a timeframe as short as a week. One could, for example, merely sort by WAR. If WAR seems inappropriate, one can use WPA, instead — to see which player, that is, most improved his team’s chances of winning (offensively, at least) over the course of the week. Alternatively, one might prefer simply to look into his or her own heart for the answer — or any of the other more vital organs.

What the author has done, in this particular instance, is to give readers another tool — namely, the SCOUT leaderboards below for the past week’s best hitters and pitchers.

“What actually is SCOUT?” a reasonable person might ask — to which question the author has provided a (hopefully) reasonable answer here. In brief, however, it’s this: an attempt to use our knowledge of certain metrics, and at what sample sizes they become reliable, to measure run production/prevention in instances where small samples are all that’s available.

In so doing, we learn lessons like:

• For as excellent as Atlanta’s Evan Gattis has been in an uncertain role, St. Louis’s Matt Adams has been that excellent in an even less certain role.

• Oakland third baseman Josh Donaldson is making more contact than would have otherwise seemed likely.

• Apart from a rather unfortunate blown save in Chicago, Giants closer Sergio Romo was dominant last week.

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

1. Featured Game: Cincinnati at Pittsburgh, 13:35 ET
2. Today’s MLB.TV Free Game
3. Today’s Game Odds, Translated into Winning Percentages

Featured Game: Cincinnati at Pittsburgh, 13:35 ET
Regarding This Game, Who’s Starting It for Pittsburgh
In terms of who’s starting this game for Pittsburgh, right-hander Phil Irwin is starting it for Pittsburgh and making his major-league debut while so doing.

Regarding Phil Irwin, A Notable Thing
A notable thing in terms of Phil Irwin is how, after posting merely above-average numbers (104.1 IP, 19.5% K, 4.0% BB, 3.40 FIP) in 16 starts last season at Double-A Altoona, how he posted elite numbers (21.0 IP, 31.5% K, 7.9% BB, 2.30 FIP) following a mid-August promotion to Triple-A Indianapolis — which elite numbers don’t even include a glorious start (7.0 IP, 24 TBF, 11 K, 1 BB, 0 HR, 2 H) in the International League playoffs.

Regarding Phil Irwin, Another Notable Thing
Another notable thing regarding Phil Irwin is his curveball — to which curveball one might theoretically refer as a “12-to-6” sort, but only on a clock face that was crafted by the all the gods together from all the world’s different spiritual traditions and then presented to Phil Irwin whilst he was losing his virginity.

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

1. Mostly Idle Thoughts Regarding Garrett Richards
2. Today’s Notable Games (Including MLB.TV Free Game)
3. Today’s Game Odds, Translated into Winning Percentages

Mostly Idle Thoughts Regarding Garrett Richards
Regarding Angels right-hander Garrett Richards — who makes his first start of the season tonight in place of the recently injured Jered Weaver — it has generally been the case that he’s possessed a plus fastball but little else to complement it. As a result, his strikeout numbers (20.9% K in the minors, 14.7% in the majors) have been somewhat lower than one might expect from a pitcher who sits at 94-95 mph.

Richards, however, has begun the season in promising fashion so far as strikeouts are concerned, recording 5 of them against the first 19 batters he’s faced (26.3%) while also halving his major-league walk rate, as well.

Here are some idle, but eventually relevant, points regarding Richards’s success so far, and how it will or won’t carry over to his starting role (all of which points one might augment by reading Jack Moore’s own recent piece on Richards, as well).

• Richards has thrown exclusively in relief so far — whereas his numbers from previous seasons include a plurality of innings from starts, in which capacity pitchers are almost always less effective.

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

1. SCOUT Leaderboards for the Eastern League
2. Today’s Notable Games (Including MLB.TV Free Game)
3. Today’s Game Odds, Translated into Winning Percentages

SCOUT Leaderboards for the Eastern League
Considered recently: International League (April 10) / Pacific Coast League (April 11).

On Monday, in the Notes, we considered the earliest statistical returns from the majors, according to SCOUT. What follows is a very similar thing to that, except for the Double-A Eastern League.

“What actually is SCOUT?” a reasonable person might ask — to which question the author has provided a (hopefully) reasonable answer here. In brief, however, it’s this: an attempt to use our knowledge of certain metrics, and at what sample sizes they become reliable, to measure run production/prevention in instances where small samples are all that’s available.

Below are those same leaderboards, as I say, for the Double-A Eastern League, followed by some brief comments. (Note: doesn’t include games from Thursday, for reasons that have everything to do with the author’s love affair with sleep.)

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Episode 324
Dayn Perry is a contributor to CBS Sports’ Eye on Baseball, the author of two books (one of them serviceable), and is the guest on this haphazardly organized and ultimately disappointing 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 1 hr 1 min play time.)

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download

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

1. SCOUT Leaderboards for the Pacific Coast League
2. Today’s Notable Games (Including MLB.TV Free Game)
3. Barely Necessary Footage: A.J. Griffin’s Changeup, As Reference
4. Today’s Game Odds, Translated into Winning Percentages

SCOUT Leaderboards for the Pacific Coast League
Considered earlier: International League (April 10).

On Monday, in the Notes, we considered the earliest statistical returns from the majors, according to SCOUT. What follows is a very similar thing to that, except for the Triple-A Pacific Coast League.

“What actually is SCOUT?” a reasonable person might ask — to which question the author has provided a (hopefully) reasonable answer here. In brief, however, it’s this: an attempt to use our knowledge of certain metrics, and at what sample sizes they become reliable, to measure run production/prevention in instances where small samples are all that’s available.

Below are those same leaderboards, as I say, for the Triple-A Pacific Coast League.

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Episode 323
Nick Piecoro is both (a) a fine Italian-American beat reporter for the Arizona Diamondbacks (for the Arizona Republic, specifically) and (b) 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 32 min play time.)

Read the rest of this entry »

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

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

1. SCOUT Leaderboards for the International League, Already
2. Today’s Notable Games (Including MLB.TV Free Game)
3. Today’s Game Odds, Translated into Winning Percentages

SCOUT Leaderboards for the International League, Already
On Monday, in the Notes, we considered the earliest statistical returns from the majors, according to SCOUT. What follows is a very similar thing to that, except for the Triple-A International League.

“What actually is SCOUT?” a reasonable person might ask — to which question the author has provided a (hopefully) reasonable answer here. In brief, however, it’s this: an attempt to use our knowledge of certain metrics, and at what sample sizes they become reliable, to measure run production/prevention in instances where small samples are all that’s available.

Below are those same leaderboards, as I say, for the Triple-A International League.

Read the rest of this entry »