FanGraphs Baseball

Devised originally in response to a challenge issued by viscount of the internet 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
Houston at Cleveland | 18:10 ET
Keuchel (124.1 IP, 71 xFIP-) vs. Carrasco (97.1 IP, 70 xFIP-)
By the haphazardly derived methodology utilized by the author, this Houston-Cleveland encounter is the day’s most appealing by a considerable margin. With the exception of the White Sox game, for example — which features left-hander Chris Sale — it appears to offer all the day’s most noteworthy pitchers. And with the exception of Pittsburgh or Toronto, it offers probably the day’s most noteworthy teams, as well. And really, regardless of all that, it provides yet another opportunity to observe the Houston Astros, itself less a professional baseball club and more a loosely organized group of physically precocious neighbor children who’ve somehow been permitted to compete against actual, financially compensated adults.

Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: Cleveland Radio.

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If you’re a Yankees fan, you probably know that Chris Young (the hitter) has been on a bit of a tear lately, forcing himself into the starting lineup on a daily basis. If you’re a general baseball fan, you also might know that Young is from Houston, Texas. How would you know a sort of random bit of information like that? Most likely because there are two known Chris Youngs, the hitter: Mr. Young the usually fringy outfielder, and Mr. Young when he’s playing in Houston.

The former Mr. Young we’ve known for some time. He had a ton of expectations put on him early in his career, a few momentary flashes of what could have been, then he’s bounced around in a fourth-ish outfielder role for a number of clubs in the past few years. He owns a career line that supports such a role:

A little power, a little speed, but not really enough there to merit full-time work. Young is almost 32 years old, so the ship sailed long ago on him becoming the guy people expected when he was called up. However, the main point: there’s a place on some major-league team for a guy like Chris Young, even if there barely is, and even if that role is limited in nature.

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Devised originally in response to a challenge issued by viscount of the internet 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
Cleveland at Pittsburgh | 13:35 ET
Salazar (85.1 IP, 78 xFIP-) vs. Cole (102.1 IP, 77 xFIP-)
Were one to insist today on watching an encounter between the two hardest-throwing starting pitchers in all of baseball, that same one would be disappointed by the major-league games scheduled for this afternoon and evening. Were one to lower his expectations even slightly, however, this Cleveland-Pittsburgh contest featuring Danny Salazar and Gerrit Cole — who’ve produced the fifth- and third-highest average fastball velocities, respectively, among qualifiers — would likely represent a source of considerable pleasure. Meanwhile, were one to recalibrate one’s tastes entirely, he could compete with an immortal god for happiness merely by eating a barley cake.

Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: Cleveland Radio.

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The kerfuffle that led to Jerry DiPoto resigning as Angels GM has received plenty of attention, and for good reason. The reported power struggle is seemingly a clash of philosophies. Harkening back to the nascent days of Moneyball, more than a modicum of us-versus-them appears to be at play.

I’m certainly not privy to the club’s inner workings. Nor do I believe in taking sides based on conjecture. Until I learn more, I’ll question, but refrain from criticizing either faction.

Two things stand out from my most-recent time around the team. One is the length of the pre-series meeting the Angels had at Fenway Park earlier this season. It was notable for its duration, and apparently not atypical. According to an Anaheim beat writer, Mike Scioscia’s squad routinely spends a lot of time on scouting reports.

Reportedly, the DiPoto-Scioscia discord was related to Angels coaches not being willing to convey scouting information provided by the front office. That leads one to wonder what is covered in the meetings, and what type of information is being withheld.

A conversation I had with Angels pitching coach Mike Butcher also stands out. Read the rest of this entry »

Devised originally in response to a challenge issued by viscount of the internet 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
San Francisco at Washington | 11:05 ET
Bumgarner (108.1 IP, 82 xFIP-) vs. Strasburg (57.1 IP, 90 xFIP-)
Roughly 240 years ago on this date, American colonists declared independence from the tyranny of British rule — an event to which the Washington Nationals pay homage each July 4th (i.e. today) by declaring independence from the tyranny of afternoon and night baseball. Fortunately for all involved, the latter event generates much less in the way of bloodshed and political turmoil. Also fortunate, is this: that this year’s edition of the ante-meridian game features starting pitchers Madison Bumgarner and Stephen Strasburg, each of whom possess objectively compelling traits according both to the methodology laboriously crafted by the author and also just everybody’s normal judgment.

Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: San Francisco Radio or Television.

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Devised originally in response to a challenge issued by viscount of the internet 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
Tampa Bay at New York AL | 19:05 ET
Archer (109.0 IP, 61 xFIP-) vs. Tanaka (53.1 IP, 79 xFIP-)
To the degree that the reader is a human person, that same reader likely holds the opinion that the process of updating one’s resume is among the most tedious activities one is compelled to endure. Indeed, Greek mythology reveals to us that, when Zeus condemned Sisyphus for the latter’s hubris, he gave Sisyphus the option either of rolling a boulder uphill for all eternity or re-writing his cover letter to better reflect his passion for streamlining workflow. The choice was easy.

The advantage of working primarily as a Major League Baseball Pitcher is that one’s performance, whether positive or negative, is recorded by a number of well-known media outlets. As such, one isn’t compelled to dedicate much time or effort in the resume department. In fact, the present media outlet reveals that Chris Archer is currently among the most likely candidates to be recognized at year’s end as the American’s League’s top pitcher. One finds, for example, that he’s produced the third-best park-adjusted xFIP among all qualifiers, and also the fourth-best pitcher WAR. This game against the division-leading Yankees represents an opportunity to make his case even more strongly.

Readersí Preferred Broadcast: Tampa Bay Radio.

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Each week, we publish north of 100 posts on our various blogs. With this post, we hope to highlight 10 to 15 of them. You can read more on it here. The links below are color coded — green for FanGraphs, brown for RotoGraphs, dark red for The Hardball Times, orange for TechGraphs and blue for Community Research.
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Carlos Carrasco’s Wednesday night ended with a smile, but few others were smiling, as Joey Butler broke up a would-be no-hitter in the ninth with two outs and two strikes. Throw in the fact that Butler’s liner just barely sailed over Jason Kipnis and you could argue Carrasco came as close as you can come to a no-hitter without pulling it off. Still, it was rather obviously the performance of a lifetime — Carrasco struck out Rays hitters 13 times, and he missed a full 30 bats. The line-drive hit came on pitch no. 124; Carrasco’s previous season high was 114.

A performance like Carrasco’s is interesting on its own. Yet in this case, it’s even more interesting in context. Carrasco dominated the Rays on July 1, just missing a no-hitter. Carrasco got knocked around by a very similar Rays lineup on June 19, getting pulled with a 10-hitter. The Rays, in other words, got to go up against Carlos Carrasco twice in two weeks, and the first time around, they got the better of him. But it turned out that didn’t give them an advantage. In the second game against the same team, Carrasco simply pitched like someone else.

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USA Baseball’s Tournament of Stars is an annual event held in Cary, N.C., that serves as a tryout for the 18U national team trials roster. Six teams that include more than 100 players compete in a tournament-style showcase over six days, and USA Baseball selects 40 players for the trial roster who then compete for 20 spots on the team that will go to the World Baseball Softball Confederation 18U World Cup, set for Aug. 28-Sept. 6 in Japan.

For scouts, TOS represents the No. 2 stop on the high-school summer showcase circuit after PG National, and it’s a prime opportunity for evaluators to watch many of the nation’s best draft-eligible high-school players do battle against each other while hitting with a wood bat. Often, showcase performance factors heavily into a prep prospect’s evaluation and helps put relatively unknown players on the map. This was the case for Cardinals first-rounder Nick Plummer, whose outstanding play on the summer circuit carried more weight since he played in a Michigan high-school league that starts the count at 1-1, thus complicating the evaluation. Another recent example is Manny Machado, who emerged from relative obscurity and turned heads at the 2010 TOS and East Coast Pro showcases. He became a high-level follow for Florida area scouts entering the spring, and you know the rest.

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Many of my recent articles in this space have centered upon assessment of batted ball quality for hitters. In this day of StatCast and Hit f(x), discussion of such information has intensified in the public realm, and with it has come much misunderstanding. There is a whole lot more to batted ball quality than authority itself. The Mariners hit the ball much harder than the Cardinals, but aren’t nearly their equal as an offensive ballclub, for instance. Today, let’s examine the relationship between hitters’ contact score and their OPS+, based on their K and BB rates relative to the league. Read the rest of this entry »