FanGraphs Weekly Mailbag: July 5, 2025
Hello FanGraphs Members and readers. I hope all of you here in the U.S. are enjoying your holiday weekend. I’ve spent much of this week on vacation, so I didn’t get to watch as many games as I usually do. Still, I followed some of the action from afar, enough to see Clayton Kershaw record his 3,000th strikeout, the Yankees fall out of first place, and the All-Star Game’s starters be named.
This week’s mailbag is a bit more evergreen than our previous ones, when we’ve answered your questions about the Rafael Devers trade and the impact of his contract, Jacob Misiorowski and perceived velocity, and the weirdness of the Twins. Instead, today we’ll discuss how we watch baseball, players of the past who could still mash in the modern game, and so much more.
Before we get to all that, I’d like to remind all of you that while anyone can submit a question, this mailbag is exclusive to FanGraphs Members. If you aren’t yet a Member and would like to keep reading, you can sign up for a Membership here. It’s the best way to both experience the site and support our staff, and it comes with a bunch of other great benefits. Also, if you’d like to ask a question for next week’s mailbag, send me an email at mailbag@fangraphs.com.
Matt is the associate editor of FanGraphs. Previously, he was the baseball editor at Sports Illustrated. His work has appeared in The New York Times, Men’s Health, Baseball Prospectus, and Lindy’s Sports Magazine. Follow him on Twitter @ByMattMartell and Blue Sky @mattmartell.bsky.social.
I think with modern medicine for his knees, in a world where even smaller guys (Betts, Altuve, Ramirez, Carroll…) find power all the time, that Mantle would be fine.
Heck, give Mickey a world where Yankee Stadium doesn’t have a drain in the OF, so he doesn’t wreck his knee and he would probably have 30-40 SB a year
A world where Mantle can have Sabathia’s outcome rather than the one he faced would be a happier one, indeed (“adaptability” takes a lot of willpower and discipline, but support and understanding go a long way, too)
He hit a ball over the roof at old Tiger Stadium (maybe first to do it?). His power would play.