Episode 568
Jim Callis is both (a) a writer for MLB.com and (b) the guest on this particular edition of FanGraphs Audio, during which he discusses Monday’s MLB Draft with guest host Kiley McDaniel and his bag of infuriating audio tricks.

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 54 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
St. Louis at Los Angeles NL | 22:10 ET
Martinez (60.1 IP, 87 xFIP-) vs. Anderson (55.1 IP, 89 xFIP-)
Between 2013 and -14, St. Louis right-hander Carlos Martinez produced a 21.2% strikeout rate over 117.2 innings, the majority of the latter in a relief capacity. Over 60.1 innings this season, Martinez has recorded a 25.4% strikeout rate — which is to say, a mark about four points better than his career figure — while working almost exclusively in a starting capacity. This is unusual. As a rule, the same pitcher — because he’s able to throw harder and is likely to face a greater percentage of same-handed batters — the same pitcher will produce better strikeout numbers as a reliever than as a starter. To the extent that Martinez has exhibited the precise opposite trend, one is compelled to entertain the possibility that the rules don’t apply to Carlos Martinez. Or that, at least, one of the universe’s nearly infinite and oppressive rules doesn’t apply to him.

Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: Los Angeles NL Television.

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The Fringe Five is a weekly regular-season exercise, introduced a couple 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 both (a) absent from the most current iteration of Kiley McDaniel’s top-200 prospect list and (b) not currently playing in the majors. Players appearing on any of McDaniel’s updated prospect lists 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
Chicago NL at Washington | 19:05 ET
Arrieta (65.0 IP, 72 xFIP-) vs. Gonzalez (59.0 IP, 84 xFIP-)
It’s possible that the people in American society who aren’t thinking, with at least some kind of regularity, about Cubs right-hander Jake Arrieta — it’s possible that the reason for this absence in their lives is because they don’t particularly care for the sport of baseball or are working to give their children the opportunities they never had or are otherwise engaged. It’s also possible, however, that those same Americans have just never been given the opportunity to observe four of Arrieta’s curveballs in a row by means of embedded looping video. The purpose of this post at FanGraphs.com is to facilitate that opportunity for people in American society.

Regard:

Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: Chicago NL Television.

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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
Minnesota at Boston | 13:35 ET
Hughes (64.2 IP, 106 xFIP-) vs. Rodriguez (7.2 IP, 75 xFIP-)
A combination of faux science and the author’s own discretion suggest that this afternoon’s Twins-Red Sox game is the most likely, objectively speaking, to facilitate baseball pleasure. Largely that’s because it’s also the most likely — among all today’s various contests — to feature Boston rookie Eduardo Rodriguez, which left-handed pitcher recorded a 7:2 strikeout-to-walk ratio in his debut last week at Texas while also sitting in the mid-90s. Eno Sarris provided some brief comments on Rodriguez’s impressive velocity after the latter’s impressive debut. Chris Mitchell, meanwhile, utilized his KATOH machine to examine some of Rodriguez’s historic comparables. As for the present author, he merely wrote a paragraph of limited utility, which the reader has just now completed.

Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: Boston Radio.

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Episode 567
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 the Twins and the defensive spectrum among other disparate, but not uninteresting, baseball topics.

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.)

Read the rest of this entry »

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

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 Seattle | 22:10 ET
Sabathia (60.1 IP, 90 xFIP-) vs. Montgomery (MLB Debut)
One’s interest in this game — as opposed to the Toronto-Washington one, for example, featuring Max Scherzer — depends largely on one’s interest in Seattle left-hander Mike Montgomery. Acquired by the Mariners from the Rays at the end of March — and acquired by the Rays before that in the deal that sent James Shields to Kansas City — Mongtomery appeared three times among the top-50 prospects on Baseball America’s annual list. The last such appearance occurred in 2012, however, and the now 25-year-old left-hander has produced pretty ordinary results in the high minors since then. This year the numbers are more promising, though. Over nine starts and 53.0 innings for Triple-A Tacoma, Montgomery has produced strikeout and walk rates of 21.8% and 6.9%, respectively, while all signs indicate that he still possesses the above-average fastball cited by Kiley McDaniel this offseason. The combination of performance, physical tools, and pedigree conspire to produce not only an unintentional burst of alliteration but also some interest wherein Montgomery’s near future is concerned.

Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: Seattle Radio.

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Episode 566
Michael Matuella is both (a) a junior right-hander at Duke and also (b) among the upcoming amateur draft’s likely first-round selections. Lead prospect analyst Kiley McDaniel spoke with him — regarding his recovery from a recent Tommy John procedure, among other topics — for 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 31 min play time.)

Read the rest of this entry »

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

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 Seattle | 22:10 ET
Pineda (64.1 IP, 63 xFIP-) vs. Hernandez (70.2 IP, 67 xFIP-)
The reason faux science has identified tonight’s Yankees-Mariners contest as Monday’s most compelling one is not a product of how the starter for the former of those clubs was previously employed by the latter of them, but mostly just of how that first starter (Michael Pineda) and also his opponent (Felix Hernandez) have produced among the league’s best numbers by an assortment of measures. That Pineda not only was employed by the Mariners, however, but also traded by them (for a player who currently resides at Triple-A) certainly establishes a foundation for a revenge narrative. Although, the extent of Pineda’s vengeance is likely to skew mild, resembling less the slaughter of numerous Trojan soldiers by a grieving Achilles and more just a solid athletic performance on a Monday night.

Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: Seattle Radio.

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