NERD Game Scores: Julio Urias Debut Event
Devised originally in response to a challenge issued by sabermetric nobleman 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
Los Angeles NL at New York NL | 19:10 ET
Urias (MLB Debut) vs. deGrom (41.0 IP, 100 xFIP-)
If Julio Urias has failed to appear at the very top of those top-100 prospect lists produced each offseason, it isn’t for a lack of success as a professional. With little exception, the left-hander’s statistical record in the minor leagues reads like an exercise in best-case scenarios. At every level, Urias has produced one of the top strikeout rates amongs his peers. And frequenly one of the best strikeout- and walk-rate differentials, as well. The current season is no exception. Among qualified pitchers across Triple-A, Urias has recorded the second-best strikeout and walk figure, second only to Pittsburgh’s Jameson Taillon, who’s five years older than Urias. Which that’s not because Taillon’s particularly old, either, but rather because Urias has only recently reached majority age. For more on Urias, read Eric Longenhagen’s white-hot scouting report from yesterday.
Readers’ Preferred Television Broadcast: New York NL.*
*That said, newcomer Joe Davis receives excellent reviews as well for Dodgers.
Two Other Brief Notes
Today’s Free Game
Today’s free game features the same Dodger and Met clubs discussed above and can be accessed by means of this hyperlinked text.
Broadcaster Rankings
Recently, the present author facilitated a crowdsourcing effort to reproduce the broadcaster rankings which appeared on this site roughly four years ago. The results from that effort — for television broadcasts, at least — are available by means of this hyperlinked text.
Complete Schedule
Here’s the complete and very sortable table for all of today’s games. Pitching probables and game times aggregated from MLB.com and also the rest of the internet. Note that calculations both for team and game NERD scores feature adjustment for postseason odds that increases as season progresses. Read more about those adjustments here and here.
| Away | SP | TM | GM | TM | SP | Home | Time | ||
| Adam Morgan | PHI | 3 | 3 | 5 | 8 | 5 | CHN | Jon Lester | 14:20 |
| Jaime Garcia | STL | 7 | 7 | 8 | 6 | 10 | WAS | Max Scherzer | 19:05 |
| Joe Kelly | BOS | 4 | 8 | 6 | 4 | 9 | TOR | Aaron Sanchez | 19:07 |
| Mike Wright | BAL | 4 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 6 | CLE | Trevor Bauer | 19:10 |
| Julio Urias* | LAN | 14 | 5 | 9 | 6 | 7 | NYN | Jacob deGrom | 19:10 |
| Masahiro Tanaka | NYA | 7 | 4 | 7 | 8 | 8 | TB | Chris Archer | 19:10 |
| Adam Conley | MIA | 4 | 6 | 4 | 1 | 4 | ATL | Williams Perez | 19:35 |
| Jon Niese | PIT | 5 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 7 | TEX | Cole Hamels | 20:05 |
| John Lamb | CIN | 1 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 5 | MIL | Zachary Davies | 20:10 |
| Miguel Gonzalez | CHA | 2 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 8 | KC | Danny Duffy* | 20:15 |
| Matt Cain | SF | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 5 | COL | Tyler Chatwood | 20:40 |
| Christian Friedrich* | SD | 2 | 5 | 5 | 7 | 7 | AZ | Robbie Ray | 21:40 |
| Michael Fulmer | DET | 10 | 4 | 6 | 4 | 5 | OAK | Sean Manaea | 22:05 |
| Mike Fiers | HOU | 6 | 6 | 5 | 2 | 5 | LAA | Matt Shoemaker | 22:05 |
| Pat Dean* | MIN | 3 | 6 | 4 | 7 | 3 | SEA | Felix Hernandez | 22:10 |
TM denotes team score.
GM denotes overall game score.
Highlighted portion denotes game of the day.
* = Fewer than 10 IP, NERD at discretion of clueless author.
Carson Cistulli has published a book of aphorisms called Spirited Ejaculations of a New Enthusiast.
NERD Score 14 for Urias! Love it!
Had it pegged, too: I put the over/under at 13.5!
Obviously the Urias game had to be the featured game. Wonder how high his NERD score would have had to be if they were playing Atlanta.
The Reds have the lowest combined score today. Assuming I’m doing this right, if he had been pitching against them, he would have had to get like 27 to overcome their awful score and the Dodgers’ mediocre team score.
Urias being ranked at 14 made me instantly think of “These go to eleven.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOO5S4vxi0o
Bit of a shame that most of the top match ups are at the same time. Darn scheduling gods!
On the announcer topic, I like Joe Davis a lot. I just hope the booth doesn’t devolve into open hostility. He didn’t play himself, and he’s bringing up stats in a booth with two former players, both of whom don’t really care for stats, and both of whom are quite a bit older than Davis. Young, stathead, never played, that’s like three strikes right away on the old player shit list.