FanGraphs+ Player-Profile Game: Question #5

Play the player-profile game every day this week at 11:15am ET. We’re giving away a free annual subscription to FanGraphs+ to the first reader who guesses correctly the identity of that day’s mystery player. (Limit one copy per customer).

As Eno Sarris announced Monday, the newest iteration of FanGraphs+ is now available for purchase with money. As in recent years, we’re celebrating the release of FG+ by way of the player-profile game.

Said game is easy: the author offers the text of an actual player profile from the newest iteration of FG+, being careful to omit any proper names that might reveal the identity of the player in question. The reader, in turn, attempts to identify the player using only the details provided in the profile.

First reader to guess correctly (in the comments section below) gets a free annual subscription to FanGraphs+.

Today’s entry was composed, once again, by FG+ editor Eno Sarris.

Who is it?

Sometimes you fall in love with one pitch and everything else just follows suit. Only five pitchers threw their curve as often as [THIS PLAYER] last year and still got more whiffs per curve than the former [SINGULAR FORM OF FORMER CLUB’S NAME], so let’s say this writer isn’t telling his wife about [THIS PLAYER’S] breaker. She might get jealous. Though [THIS PLAYER’S] velocity (around 91 mph) is below average, his command is decent to good. And though his change hasn’t gotten average whiffs (6.5% whiffs), it goes eight miles per hour slower than his fastballs, and moves very differently from his four-seamer, and moves mostly differently from his two-seamer. [THIS OTHER PLAYER] has already shown us what this kind of pitcher can do in [THIS FIRST PLAYER’S NEW PARK], so it’s worth taking a shot on him. Even if his health isn’t great and his change isn’t great and you haven’t heard these same violins yet, [THIS PLAYER] absolutely owns the upside to be relevant in leagues of every size.

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