Daily Notes: Totally on Fiers

Table of Contents

1. The Mike Trout Leaderboard
2. Michael Fiers in a Notable Game of the Day, Among Other Such Games
3. Complete Schedule of Today’s Games

The Mike Trout Leaderboard
Why Does the Mike Trout Leaderboard Appear Today of All Days?
Because no one besides me is going to do it.

And because it’s Mike Trout’s birthday; he turns 21 today.

Where Might Mr. Trout Choose to Imbibe Legally, Now That He’s 21?
Why, quite fittingly at Trout River Brewing.

Which Other 20- or 21-Year-Old Has Done What Mike Trout Has Done?

The Mike Trout Leaderboard

As you can see, no 20- or 21- year old in the history of Major League Baseball has hit at least 19 HR, 21 doubles, and stolen at least 35 bases while posting an OPS over 1.000.

Eliminate the OPS requirement and it’s still only one other player who’s done what Trout has done: in 1972, as a 21-year-old centerfielder* for the Astros, Cesar Cedeno hit 39 doubles, 22 HR, and stole 55 bases while posting an OPS of .921 in 625 PA. Cedeno posted 8.8 WAR that year, but was out-fielded* by a couple of Reds that year and thus missed out in the MVP voting.

Trout should surpass Cedeno’s HR total and could approach his SB total. However, one would be remiss not to note that Cedeno was caught stealing 21 times in 1972; Trout has been caught just three times so far this year.

What Should You Do With the Mike Trout Leaderboard?
I recommend printing off several copies and distributing them around the office, or during show and tell at your next family reunion.

What Should You Do With the Printed Copies of the Mike Trout Leaderboard After Your Family and Co-Workers Are “Done” With Them?
You might papier-mâché them into a piñata to serve as a centerpiece of a party that celebrates the birth, life, and young achievements of Mike Trout.

Why Throw Such a Party?
For the enjoyment of said.

*These items were edited based on reader comments below. Thanks!
 
Michael Fiers and Bartolo Colon in Today’s Notable Games
Cincinnati at Milwaukee | 20:10 EDT

Wade Miley pitched well again last night, strengthening his case for NL Rookie of the year: in 132.2 IP this year now, Miley has posted over 3 WAR, the most by any NL rookie. Meanwhile, Michael Fiers, who takes the hill tonight for the BrewCrew, has pitched just over half that number of innings — 72, to be exact — and has already posted 2.4 WAR going into tonight’s contest.

While Fiers’s 1.88 ERA is probably not “for real,” his advanced metrics suggest that he’s been a well above average player this year nevertheless (2.31 FIP, 3.44 xFIP, 3.28 SIERA). His .298 BABIP isn’t helping him too much, but, as the difference between his FIP and xFIP might suggest, he has been getting a bit lucky with the gophers, posting a well below league average 3.7% HR/FB.

That said, Fiers retuned his repertoire from last year: he’s relying more on a new cut fastball that ranks third amongst rookie cutters (per the weighted PitchFx values) and less on what seems to be, at best, and average change-up (per the same measure).

It’s possible — though highly unlikely given Miley’s huge lead in IP — that Fiers could work his way into serious discussion for Rookie of the Year, should he keep pitching like he has so far. Despite the fact that Fiers was a 27-year-old with two major league innings pitched coming into 2012, the preseason ZiPs loved him, and they still love him, calling for a 3.47 the rest of the season. Today’s the first day of the rest of the season for Fiers.

Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: Milwaukee Radio.

 
Los Angeles AL at Oakland | 22:05 EDT

Bartolo Colon, at least in this edition of the Daily Notes, is a man of zeros: he scores a zero in my version of the NERD Scores, and he has given up zero runs in the last 15.2 innings he’s thrown. That’s not a historical streak by any means, but it’s still pretty impressive considering his modest repertoire (he throws either a two- or four-seam fastball 90% of the time), and he is capable amazing things, like when he threw a record 38 consecutive strikes, or the fact that he is an oblate spheroid in shape.

Oh yeah, this is also a notable game because Mike Trout is playing in it, and IT’S HIS BIRTHDAY (he’s turning 21), and he leads all Major Leaguers in WAR despite having played in fewer games than many of the other leaders.

Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: Oakland Radio.

 
Today’s Complete Schedule
And now for the requisite list of all of today’s games. The chart below includes my version of NERD, which indicates a completely different type of “watchability” than that which Carson normally indicates through his NERD scores. My scores are visually based: the Team Scores consider the relative fugliness/comeliness of each team’s uniform; the pitcher scores reflect the handsomeness of the pitcher’s face — or the complete lack thereof in the case of Aaron Harang and Bartolo Colon. Game Scores take into account the above mentioned scores and also the aesthetic pleasure of the home park. If C.J. Wilson was pitching for the Red Sox at Fenway tonight, oh boy. Hoh boy.

Pitching probables and game times aggregated from MLB.com; the photos there are the ones that I used to judge handsomeness of pitcher faces, except in the case of Brooks Raley, for whom I used this image. All scores are entirely my doing.

Note: the following table can be sorted, by category, using the magic “mouse” wand in your Internet Wizard Hand.

Away		SP	Tm.	Gm.	Tm.	SP		Home	Time
Patrick Corbin	ARZ	6	3	7	8	1	PIT	Jeff Karstens	19:05 EDT
Mike Minor	ATL	5	6	5	6	8	PHI	Cole Hamels	19:05 EDT
Sam Deduno	MIN	5	6	4	3	5	CLE	Corey Kluber	19:05 EDT
Phil Hughes	NYY	4	9	6	8	5	DET	Rick Porcello	19:05 EDT
Blake Beavan	SEA	5	3	6	10	3	BAL	Zach Britton	19:05 EDT
Wade LeBlanc	MIA	4	7	6	6	6	NYM	Jon Niese	19:10 EDT
Ryan Dempster	TEX	3	4	7	9	2	BOS	Jon Lester	19:10 EDT
J.A. Happ	TOR	7	8	5	7	6	TB	James Shields	19:10 EDT
Ross Detwiler	WAS	4	7	5	0	6	HOU	Jordan Lyles	20:05 EDT
Johnny Cueto	CIN	3	5	5	6	6	MIL	Mike Fiers	20:10 EDT
Bruce Chen	KC	9	5	5	3	8	CHW	Jake Peavy	20:10 EDT
Barry Zito	SF	7	8	7	8	1	STL	Lance Lynn	20:15 EDT
C.J. Wilson	LAA	10	2	4	9	0	OAK	Bartolo Colon	22:05 EDT
Brooks Raley	CHC	8	5	5	0	4	SD	Ross Olendorf	22:05 EDT
Alex White	COL	3	0	2	6	0	LAD	Aaron Harang	22:10 EDT