Devised originally in response to a challenge issued by sabermetric forefather 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.

How are they calculated? Haphazardly, is how. An explanation of the components and formulae which produce these NERD scores is available here. All objections to the numbers here are probably justified, on account of how this entire endeavor is absurd.

Most Highly Rated Game
Colorado at Minnesota | 19:10 ET
Chatwood (48.0 IP, 92 xFIP-) vs. Berrios (7.2 IP, 136 xFIP-)
The Mysteries are a series of episodes from the life of Jesus of Nazareth on which Catholic people meditate while praying with a set of rosary beads. Twins right-hander Jose Berrios is a different sort of mystery — one who features impressive physical tools and an excellent minor-league track record but who has nevertheless had trouble preventing runs at the major-league level. His season debut was superficially promising (he allowed just one run in 7.2 innings) but troubling in other ways (he struck out only four of 27 batters and allowed a lot of fly balls). His opponent, Tyler Chatwood, has recorded one of the league’s lowest strike percentages but has compensated for it — from an aesthetic point of view — with one of the majors’ quickest paces.

Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: Colorado or Minnesota Radio.

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Episode 741
Over the past few years, a number of players have benefited from a change in swing mechanics or approach. Josh Donaldson and J.D. Martinez most famously. Yonder Alonso and Aaron Altherr more recently. Now that the means exist to recognize adjustments more quickly, is it also possible to anticipate breakout performances before they actually occur? This is the question that managing editor Dave Cameron nearly answers on this edition of the pod.

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Audio after the jump. (Approximately 39 min play time.)

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Devised originally in response to a challenge issued by sabermetric forefather 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.

How are they calculated? Haphazardly, is how. An explanation of the components and formulae which produce these NERD scores is available here. All objections to the numbers here are probably justified, on account of how this entire endeavor is absurd.

Most Highly Rated Game
New York AL at Kansas City | 20:15 ET
Pineda (41.1 IP, 58 xFIP-) vs. Vargas (44.2 IP, 90 xFIP-)
Yankees right-hander Michael Pineda has produced strikeout and walk rates of 30.3% and 3.6%, respectively, this year. The 26.7-point difference between those two figures represents the second-best mark — behind only Chris Sale (32.9) — among baseball’s 99 qualified pitchers. He’s elite in that regard, is the idea.

Of some interest, as well: Kansas City starter Jason Vargas has recorded the league’s second-highest WAR figure — largely, that, by allowing the fewest home runs per fly ball among major-league qualifiers. The Yankees, meanwhile, have produced the highest park-adjusted home-run rate in the American League. “Will or won’t Vargas allow a home run?” one wonders. The suspense is terrible.

Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: Kansas City Radio.

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Episode 740
The prolific Travis Sawchik is a former beat reporter for the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review and author of the book Big Data Baseball. He’s also the guest on this edition of the program, during which he discusses both (a) Eric Thames and the transformative power of boredom and also (b) the Hardball Dynasty league in which he participates with notable beat writers, whose names he reveals here!

A reminder: FanGraphs’ Ad Free Membership exists. Click here to learn more about it and share some of your disposable income with FanGraphs.

Don’t hesitate to direct pod-related correspondence to @cistulli on Twitter.

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Audio after the jump. (Approximately 1 hr 15 min play time.)

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Devised originally in response to a challenge issued by sabermetric forefather 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.

How are they calculated? Haphazardly, is how. An explanation of the components and formulae which produce these NERD scores is available here. All objections to the numbers here are almost certainly justified, on account of how this entire endeavor is absurd.

Most Highly Rated Game
Tampa Bay at Cleveland | 18:10 ET
Odorizzi (31.0 IP, 98 xFIP-) vs. Salazar (36.1 IP, 79 xFIP-)
Boston’s Chris Sale has recorded the top WAR among major-league pitchers by nearly a full win so far this year. Unfortunately, he isn’t pitching tonight. Who is pitching is Danny Salazar. Salazar hasn’t recorded the best or second-best or even fifth-best WAR among major-league pitchers. What he has done, though, is produce a better swinging-strike rate than both (a) Boston’s Chris Sale and also (b) all 95 other qualified pitchers. His changeup is mostly the reason. Salazar has registered a swing and miss on more than a quarter of the changeups he’s thrown this year.

Here are three examples of that changeup from Salazar’s most recent start:

Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: Cleveland or Tampa Bay Radio.

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Below, one finds the first edition of this year’s daily NERD scores. Devised originally in response to a challenge issued by sabermetric forefather 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.

How are they calculated? Haphazardly, is how. An explanation of the components and formulae which produce these NERD scores is mostly available here. Please do not expect to be impressed by any of it.

Most Highly Rated Game
New York NL at Arizona | 21:40 ET
Wheeler (32.1 IP, 92 xFIP-) vs. Godley (12.0 IP, 69 xFIP-)
While Zack Godley’s occasional appearances on a major-league mound might not be universally regarded as “appointment television,” he’s been excellent over two starts this year, recording a swinging-strike rate (14.3%) and ground-ball rate (75.0%) that would rank sixth and first among the league’s 97 qualifiers at this point of the season. As a club, meanwhile, Arizona continues its exemplary baserunning, having recorded nearly twice as many runs as baseball’s second-best club by that measure.

Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: New York NL Television.

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Fringe Five Scoreboards: 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013.

The Fringe Five is a weekly regular-season exercise, introduced a few years ago by the present author, wherein that same author utilizes regressed stats, scouting reports, and also his own fallible intuition 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 among the Five) is any rookie-eligible player at High-A or above who (a) was omitted from the preseason prospect lists produced by Baseball America, Baseball Prospectus, MLB.com, John Sickels*, and (most importantly) lead prospect analyst Eric Longenhagen and also who (b) is currently absent from a major-league roster. Players appearing on a midseason list will also be excluded from eligibility.

*All 200 names!

In the final analysis, the basic idea is this: to recognize those prospects who are perhaps receiving less notoriety than their talents or performance might otherwise warrant.

Beau Burrows, RHP, Detroit (Profile)
Burrows is unusual among the players typically included here. He’s a former first-round selection, for one. And for two, he’s considered one of the top prospects in his organization. These aren’t the sort of qualities shared by residents of this column like Sherman Johnson or Max Schrock. Indeed, including a player here who possesses those qualities would appear to contradict the very mission of this weekly effort.

And yet, Burrows has appeared within zero of the relevant top-100 lists as a professional — was, in fact, omitted from John Sickels’ list of 200 prospects published before the season. A bit of context reveals why that might be. As Eric Longenhagen noted in December, Burrows was “seen as a bit of an overdraft” when he was selected out of a Texas high school in 2015. Moreover, the organization to which he belongs, the Detroit Tigers, has routinely featured fewer high-end prospects than almost every other system. Nor does this year represent an exception to that rule: Detroit placed 25th in Baseball America’s preseason organizational talent rankings, the club’s best ranking since 2012. Being regarded as one of the Tigers’ best prospects, in other words, isn’t equivalent to a similar honor for those minor leaguers employed by Atlanta or the Yankees.

Whatever the reasons for his omission, he’s pitched well this season. After appearing among the Next Five last week, Burrows recorded a 7:0 strikeout-to-walk ratio against 24 batters over 7.0 innings in a start versus St. Louis’s High-A Florida State League affiliate (box).

Here’s video from last year of the three main pitches in his repertoire, a fastball (usually in the mid-90s), a curve, and then probably a changeup:

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Episode 739
Managing editor Dave Cameron is the guest on this edition of the program, during which he addresses not those players who declare that they’re in the best shape of their respective lives, but rather those players who claim to have changed their swings. Yonder Alonso is one of them. In his case, at least, the early returns are strong.

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Don’t hesitate to direct pod-related correspondence to @cistulli on Twitter.

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Audio after the jump. (Approximately 36 min play time.)

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Episode 738
Dayn Perry is a contributor to CBS Sports’ Eye on Baseball and the author of three books — one of them not very miserable. He’s also the impatient guest on this edition of FanGraphs Audio.

A reminder: FanGraphs’ Ad Free Membership exists. Click here to learn more about it and share some of your disposable income with FanGraphs.

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 56 min play time.)

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