Episode 199
RotoGraphs editor and semi-notable German-American Eno Sarris is the guest on this Fantasy Friday edition of FanGraphs Audio.

Discussed:
• How and why Shawn Camp is closing games for the Cubs.
• How and why pitchers like Shawn Camp end up closing games — and what information, generally, is predictive of future save opportunities.
• Noted prosecpts Trevor Bauer and Wil Myers: their roles in the near future.

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 42 min. play time.)

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That bracket for the College World Series everyone continues to talk about. (Click to embiggen.)

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

1. The College World Series: A Nerd’s Guide, Part II
2. Today’s MLB.TV Free Game
3. Today’s Complete Schedule

The College World Series: A Nerd’s Guide, Part II
A Note on What This Is
The College World Series begins tonight, at 5pm ET, with a game between Stony Brook and UCLA.

What follows is part two (of two) of a guide to said event for the sort of person who (a) reads FanGraphs, but (b) pays basically zero attention to college baseball, and yet still (c) has a passing interest in the Series itself.

All manner of disclaimer, qualification, and caveat appears in the first part this impossibly helpful guide.

Click on college names for team stats. Scouting reports for each team — of no little use to the author in the composition of this document — are available at Baseball America. The full schedule of the CWS is available here.

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Episode 198
David Laurila, curator of FanGraphs’ Q&A Series, talks with Washington Nationals reliever Brad Lidge about playing with a pair of phenoms, great sliders of yore, and the prospect of reading War and Peace.

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 15 min. play time.)

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This is the bracket for the College World Series everyone is talking about. (Click to embiggen.)

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

1. The College World Series: A Nerd’s Guide, Part I
2. Today’s Notable Games (Including MLB.TV Free Game)
3. Today’s Complete Schedule

The College World Series: A Nerd’s Guide, Part I
A Note on What This Is (And Also What It Isn’t)
The College World Series begins Friday, June 15th, at 5pm ET with a game between Stony Brook and UCLA.

What follows is part one (of two)* of a guide to said event for the sort of person who (a) would read FanGraphs (or, currently is reading FanGraphs, as appears to be the case), but (b) pays basically zero attention to college baseball, and yet still (c) has a passing interest in the Series itself.

*Read part two here.

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Episode 197
Dayn Perry, contributor to CBS Sports’ Eye on Baseball and author of two books (one of them serviceable), isn’t apologizing — not for his behavior on the present edition of the podcast, and not for the terror he’ll likely visit someday upon you and your family.

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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On Tuesday night in Miami, Clay Buchholz had one of his best performances in recent memory, posting his highest single-game strikeout total (nine) since April of 2010 (when he struck out 10 at home against Texas) and second-lowest single-game xFIP (2.77) in over a year (box).

It’s probably not controversial to suggest that Buchholz has been somewhat mercurial in his brief-ish major-league career. Despite a no-hitter and a more or less successful 2010 campaign, Buchholz has a career xFIP that’s precisely league average.

Still, with a five-pitch repertoire, there’s always the sense that Buchholz has the potential to be something better than league average.

Not only did Buchholz utilize his entire repertoire on Tuesday — throwing a four-seamer, two-seamer, changeup, cutter, and curveball each at last 14 times, per Texas Leaguers’ PITCHf/x data — he actually threw his entire repertoire to Giancarlo Stanton alone, recording strikeouts in each of the pair’s three encounters.

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

1. Two Useful Tables Regarding First-Round Draft Signees
2. Today’s Notable Games (Including MLB.TV Free Game)
3. Today’s Complete Schedule

Two Useful Tables Regarding First-Round Draft Signees
A Note on the Following
On Sunday, we published in these electronic pages a table of the first-round picks who’d signed so far, along with (a) the amount of each signee’s bonus, (b) MLB’s suggested bonus for each corresponding slot, and (c) probably some really well-crafted prose that improved your outlook on life.

In any case, what follows is that same table, updated to include signings that’ve occurred in the interim.

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Right-hander Ernesto Frieri is currently closing games for the Los Angeles Angels of You-Know-Where. He also currently owns a strikeout rate of 43.2%, which mark is not only over 10 percentage points above his previous high (albeit, in a short career so far), but is also the second-highest rate among all pitchers who’ve thrown at least 10 innings — behind only Aroldis Chapman (46.6%).

A curious thing is how Frieri is getting those strikeouts — which is to say, largely by way of his fastball. According to Texas Leaguers, Frieri has gotten a swing and miss on roughly 20% of the fastballs he’s thrown, while the league-average fastball has induced a whiff only about 5% or 6% of the time*. Frieri’s breaking ball, alternately classified as a slider or curve, has gotten whiffs only about 8% of the time — almost half of league average.

*Note: there are indications that Frieri might be throwing two fastballs, a four- and a two-seamer. Even if that is the case, they’re both above average and all comments made here apply to both. For the sake of ease, I’ll just use the term “fastball,” singular.

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

1. By Popular Demand: Notes on the Can-Am League
2. Today’s Notable Games (Including MLB.TV Free Game)
3. Today’s Complete Schedule

By Popular Demand: Notes on the Can-Am League
Here are those notes on the Can-Am League which you, the Public, demanded via a purposeful and spirited letter-writing campaign to various media outlets and civic leaders.

First of All, What Is the Can-Am League
The Can-Am League is an independent baseball league which appears to consist presently of five teams: the New Jersey Jackals, Newark Bears (formerly of the Atlantic League, also independent), the Québec Capitales, the Rockland Boulders, and Worcester Tornadoes.

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Episode 196
FanGraphs managing editor Dave Cameron makes his weekly appearance.

Discussed:
• Luck and unsustainability, the difference therein (especially as regards Tim Lincecum).
• How the Pirates are accidentally in first place; the Cardinals, accidentally in third.
• Mike Trout: early MVP candidate?

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 33 min. play time.)

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