Devised originally in response to a challenge issued by sabermetric nobleman 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 Los Angeles NL | 22:10 ET
Strasburg (93.0 IP, 70 xFIP-) vs. Kershaw (108.0 IP, 49 xFIP-)
The author, who has made a habit in life of stating the obvious, is compelled to state it here once again: a ball game featuring both Stephen Strasburg and Clayton Kershaw promises to be an absorbing ball game. One doesn’t require the assistance of an arbitrarily calculated “pleasure” metric to reach this sort of conclusion. Indeed, it’s common knowledge.

To render this brief entry worthwhile, then, let’s consider some knowledge that’s less common — in this case, regarding the etymology and provenance of the surname Kershaw. No less than 30 seconds of research reveals that the name is derived from northern Middle English kirk (meaning “church”) and shaw (“grove”). Both logic and also Ancestry.com suggest that one bearing such a surname would have likely resided near the church grove.

In conclusion, this entry has eluded total worthlessness.

Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: Los Angeles NL Television.

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Devised originally in response to a challenge issued by sabermetric nobleman 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 Boston | 13:35 ET
Walker (70.2 IP, 91 xFIP-) vs. Price (91.2 IP, 78 xFIP-)
While the arbritraily calculated NERD metric produced by the author indicates that this afternoon’s Mariners-Red Sox game is likely to offer the day’s best example of the Pastime, it’s unlikely that either he — or many other of this site’s contributors, in fact — will have the opportunity to inspect it closely. Instead, that same cadre of adorably nebbish men and women will be present at the Staten Island Yankees’ Sabermetrics Day event — for which event it’s necessary to leave literally right now, if managing Dave Cameron’s expression and wild gesticulations are a reliable indicator.

Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: Boston Radio.

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Episode 660
Eric Longenhagen, previously of ESPN’s Draft Blog and Crashburn Alley (among other sites), has recently been named the lead prospect analyst for FanGraphs. On this edition of the program he discusses the half-life of scouting reports, the Mariners’ Kyle Lewis and elite small-conference draft prospects, and the improbable rise of the White Sox’ Tim Anderson.

This episode of the program is sponsored by SeatGeek, which site removes both the work and also the hassle from the process of shopping for tickets.

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 14 min play time.)

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Devised originally in response to a challenge issued by sabermetric nobleman 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 Houston | 16:10 ET
Reed (MLB Debut) vs. Keuchel (87.2 IP, 81 xFIP-)
There’s not what one might call a “surfeit” of compelling reasons either to have watched or continue watching the Cincinnati Reds this year. They’ve recorded among the league’s worst offensive numbers this season, and the actual worst pitching ones. Their 27-41 record, already poor, is roughly five wins better than their BaseRuns numbers suggest it ought to be. If the Reds have succeed this year, it’s only at reminding the public that life is fleeting; joy, ephemeral.

What this game represents, however, is the major-league debut of left-hander Cody Reed — the sort of player, it seems, who might be partially responsible for that moment when the club returns to adequacy. Reed, who has produced strong numbers this year to complement his above-average arm speed, is well acquitted both by Chris Mitchell’s computer numbers and Eric Longenhagen’s scouting report.

Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: Houston Radio.

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Two notes regarding his edition of the Five. Firstly, on account of the bulk of it was composed hastily and at a hotel room, no video footage has been included. Secondly, the author has also included Jonathan May’s top-100 list for MLB.com as one of those which determines eligibility for the Five. The reason, mostly: Mayo included Mets shortstop prospect Gavin Cecchini among this top-100 prospects. Given his first-round pedigree and rapid ascent through the minors, Cecchini really oughtn’t be eligible for this weekly exercise. Mayo’s list precludes him from eligibility.

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 in the Five) is any rookie-eligible player at High-A or above who (a) received a future value grade of 45 or less from Dan Farnsworth during the course of his organizational lists and who (b) was omitted from the preseason prospect lists produced by Baseball America, Baseball Prospectus, MLB.com’s Jonathan Mayo, and John Sickels, and also who (c) is currently absent from a major-league roster. Players appearing on an updated prospect list or, otherwise, selected in the first round of the current season’s amateur draft will also be excluded from eligibility.

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.

Chance Adams, RHP, New York AL (Profile)
Adams appeared among the Next Five last week on the strength both of strong fielding-independeng numbers and promising reports. Since then, he’s actually improved his credentials for inclusion here. First, facing Pirates affiliate Bradenton last Friday, the 21-year-old right-hander recorded a 10:0 strikeout-to-walk ratio against just 17 batters over 5.0 no-hit innings. Then, in the middle of this past week, he earned a promotion to Double-A Trenton, where he debuted on Thursday. The results of that start (5.1 IP, 3 K, 1 BB) were more modest, but still indicate that Adams is unlikely to be overwhelmed by the level.

Selected by the Yankees out of Dallas Baptist University in the fifth round of the 2015 draft, Adams has worked mostly in a relief capacity in recent years — both as a collegiate and also in the Yankees system. He’s made all 12 of his appearances this season as a starter, however, and has flourished in the role, recording the best strikeout- and walk-rate differential among over 200 qualified pitchers at the High-A level. Nor is that the product merely of a polished college player facing inferior competition: Adams features plus arm speed, sitting at 92-95 mph, for example, during a recent appearance observed by 2080’s James Chipman.

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Devised originally in response to a challenge issued by sabermetric nobleman 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 Tampa Bay | 13:10 ET
Paxton (16.0 IP, 45 xFIP-) vs. Snell (5.0 IP, 86 xFIP-)
If you’re the sort of person who’s impressed by strong fielding-indepenent pitching performances, then James Paxton’s most recent start (his third of the season) is for you. If you’re the sort of person who’s concerned only with a pitcher’s capacity to prevent runs — regardless of how he manages it — James Paxton’s most recent start is for you. If you’re the sort of person who’s like, “I’m more about guys with electric stuff. Like, they have this stuff, right? And that stuff is composed either mostly or entirely of electricity.” In that case, you might be Norm Macdonald, because he talks like that. But also, James Paxton’s most recent start is for you, probably. Finally, if you’re the sort of person who detests the rhetorical device anaphora, then this brief paragraph likely possesses little appeal for you. For that reason, and others too, maybe.

Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: Tampa Bay Radio.

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Devised originally in response to a challenge issued by sabermetric nobleman 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
Baltimore at Boston | 19:10 ET
Gausman (60.0 IP, 93 xFIP-) vs. Wright (82.0 IP, 101 xFIP-)
At one point, Tyler Wilson was listed as Baltimore’s starting pitcher for this game. Now, he’s not. Now, Kevin Gausman is. The future outcome of this contest is likely different for it: Gausman has been more successful than Wilson in ways that suggest he’ll continue being more successful. As for the effect on the world, this is less clear. If a butterfly flaps its wings in Brazil, it sets off a tornado in Texas. If Kevin Gausman starts against the Red Sox instead of Tyler Wilson… one doesn’t know. That said, if the state of Texas experiences a particularly fraught week of violent storms, there’s likely to be finger-pointing in the direction of a certain Orioles right-hander.

Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: Baltimore Television or Boston Radio.

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Devised originally in response to a challenge issued by sabermetric nobleman 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 NL at Washington | 19:05 ET
Lackey (82.0 IP, 84 xFIP-) vs. Gonzalez (71.0 IP, 88 xFIP-)
Three questions to contemplate while leisurely consuming this leisure game:

QUESTION NO. 1
Both the Cubs and Nationals are in first place. At what point does the prospect of a pennant chase begin to feel “real”?

QUESTION NO. 2
How would Nigel Warburton, host of podcast Philosophy Bites, pronounce the phrase “feel real”?

QUESTION NO. 3
How would one render Warburton’s pronunciation into print by way of the International Phonetic Alphabet?

Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: Chicago NL TV or Washington Radio.

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Episode 659
Dave Cameron is the managing editor of FanGraphs. During this edition of FanGraphs Audio he discusses the utility (or lack thereof) of “ceilings” where amateur prospects, such as those selected in the recent draft, are concerned; how players and player agents might valuate offseason time in terms of future contract dollars; and also how much he himself is paying per hour, in effect, to spend time with his own child.

This episode of the program is sponsored by SeatGeek, which site removes both the work and also the hassle from the process of shopping for tickets.

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.)

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download

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