| 1:43 |
: Days from turning 37 and I’m not yet a but I will chat with you
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| 12:00 |
: Hello, friend!
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| 12:00 |
: Hello, Bork!
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| 12:00 |
: Danny Valencia: what’s true talent here?
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| 12:01 |
: .280/24?
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| 12:01 |
: Hyun Soo Kim: Legit? ROS Projections?
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Michael Pineda is having a hard time right now. Not when it comes to plate appearances ended by the umpire — his strikeout minus walk percentage is 21st in the big leagues, just ahead of Jake Arrieta’s. Usually that’s good enough, since K-BB% was once shown to be the best in-season predictor, and because it’s hard to be bad if you’re striking a bunch of guys out and not really walking anyone.
Usually. But not right now. Not in the Bronx, at least. Because, since 2000, nobody has recorded a K-BB% over 15% (Pineda is at 17.7% currently) and suffered from a worse batting average on balls in play. Nobody has allowed more homers per nine innings in that group, either. After contact, the ball has not been Pineda’s friend.
Still, we might just chalk it up to luck and call it a day. We might, if it wasn’t so obvious from watching Pineda that he’s having trouble with command and that things aren’t quite right.
Last year, there wasn’t a worse defensive shortstop in the big leagues than Marcus Semien. That’s what the numbers say — traditional and advanced — and it’s also what observers thought as they watched the Oakland A turn in Es with his arm and his legs. It was fair to ask if he’s a shortstop at all.
Then Ron Washington joined the fold, and the shortstop started working with his infield coach. Every day. Before anyone else hit the field, there were Semien and Washington, with their tools, running through the drills.
The turnaround has been remarkable, and deserves more attention.
| 1:34 |
: Be here shortly. Also, shuddleywap.
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| 12:01 |
: URIAS TIME BABY
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| 12:02 |
: Yes. Supposedly very polished. But I had a question about dropping Ryan Madson for him, I wouldn’t do that.
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| 12:02 |
: Think after Caminero “rehabs his quad injury” he can get things back on track?
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| 12:02 |
: Would take a bit to get back into setup, he’s droppable even in holds leagues.
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| 12:03 |
: Joey Gallo got called up to….sit the bench? WHY?!?!?
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Way back at the winter meetings, Brad Ausmus said a thing that I found interesting. It’s stuck with me ever since, gathering moss as I’ve pondered it occasionally. But by itself, it raised my eyebrow and set me on a path.
“Especially hitting,” began Ausmus. And continued:
[W]henever you recover from a struggle or go through a slump, you fall back on that experience anytime it happens again. That’s absolutely true. I can tell you that from experience. That’s why veteran players are much better equipped to handle slumps than young players just because of the experiences.
There’s a lot to unpack here, but before we ask the players and the numbers, I thought it would be interesting to call back to a psychology experiment with which I once assisted in college. In a study colloquially called The Beeper Study run by Laura Carstensen at Stanford University, we found that getting older led to more emotional stability and happiness.
Since a lineup-sized portion of the FanGraphs team will be in New York City for Sabermetrics Day at the Staten Island Yankees, we thought it would make sense also to run a meetup. Just another chance to come and hang out and talk baseball, except this one with (perhaps, if you’re into that sort of thing) a craft beverage in your hand.
So come visit on Saturday, June 18th, at Rattle N Hum West, from 7 to 10 pm. We’ll have free appetizers for everyone, baseball on the screens, and time to talk with some of your favorite writers, FanGraphs or not. It’s an all-ages event.
Details below.
Better not throw a ball to Ben Zobrist right now. Better throw it in the zone.
He’s got the lowest swing rate in baseball this year, and a bottom-nine number since we started tracking that stat. He’s always swung less often than most, but this is extreme, even for him.
“I’m just seeing the ball really well,” he said before a game against the Giants, reducing the answer to a simplicity that can be common from a player in the middle of a hot streak. “I don’t want to analyze it too much,” he continued, laughing. “That’s your job.” Pretty much the motto for all players in the midst of a good run.
But this isn’t really just a streak. It’s the convergence of a few factors that have put the Cubs second baseman in the position to put up these numbers. Health, approach, competition, and mechanics are all coming together to set the scene.
After the scrum was gone, after he’d answered all the difficult questions about his punch heard around the baseball world, after he’d deflected and postponed and shrugged, after he slumped into his seat and sighed, Rougned Odor looked up and saw me coming. To his credit, he raised his eyebrows for the coming question, ready for another round.
He was relieved when I asked him about being sent down in 2015, and what he learned when he was down there. Relieved, even though I was asking him about one of the more difficult times of his baseball life. Well, difficult in a different way than the difficult time he’s experiencing right now.
Yes. What is wrong with Matt Harvey? Because if you watch him pitch, it seems like everything is wrong, and yet nothing at all. At least, it’s hard to put your finger on it. You run down the list of things that could explain why he has an ERA near five and the worst ERA estimators of his career, and you find little things here or there. But do you find a smoking gun?
| 1:36 |
: things to fill your eye pieces and ear holes until I am here shortly
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| 12:00 |
: Tyler White is hitting much better of late. Still a chance he sticks with the team all year, or is he a goner when Reed is ready?
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| 12:02 |
: The Gattis to catcher thing is interesting here. That means that White could move to DH if he can be better than Gattis, and yes he can be better than Gattis. I believe in White. Played against a righty, sat, played against a lefty… I think he’ll push his way to playing daily. They throwing the high fastball against him and he’s had to resort to his more patient ways.
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| 12:02 |
: It’s finally Sam Dyson time!!! Do you expect him to hold down the job for the rest of the season?
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| 12:02 |
: Yes. Bush is there, but Dyson’s sinker gives him such a high floor.
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| 12:02 |
: Your recent article has be scared about JD Martinez. In a keeper league where both have same value forever and power is heavily weighed, would you deal him for Gregory Polanco?
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