This is Part One of the May edition of my monthly column, in which I recap what’s been going on in the Korean Baseball Organization on both a league- and team-wide scale. In case you missed them, be sure to check out Parts One and Two of my April recap. If you have any questions, feel free to leave them in the comments or reach out to me via Twitter. Also, don’t forget to check out our expanded KBO stats offering!

Without further ado, let’s talk some KBO.

Standings

League Trends

The League Has Split Into Two Groups

As evidenced by the standings, we’re starting to see a division between the contenders and the bottom-dwellers. The Landers, Twins, Lions, Wiz, Dinos, Bears, and Heroes are all within a few games of each other, while the Tigers, Eagles, and Giants have fallen behind.

Still, this is weird. There’s usually an even gap between each team; rarely does the league split into clear haves and have-nots. The parity of the first month or so has simply been partitioned into two groups, with teams fighting for the upper hand as we enter the heat of summer. It’s good fun, and I especially enjoy the Korean media’s attempts at celebrating the ascendance of team X, only for team Y to dethrone it the next week.

So who ultimately joins the group of five headed for the playoffs? It’s early, but I’d pick (in no particular order) the Dinos, Twins, Bears, and Wiz, with a toss-up between the Lions and Heroes for the final spot. Next, it’s time to check on the individual teams. Have they been good? Bad? Just hanging in there? Find out below:

Team Notes

SSG Landers

When I first wrote about the Landers, I blasted them for hogging the fifth place spot with a shoddy run differential. One month later, they’re in first. Nostradamus, I am not. The run differential is still negative, but it’s better than before – I’ll give them credit for that. All-Star third baseman Jeong Choi 최정 went on an absolute tear in May, slashing .357/.495/.743 with seven home runs. I underestimated Wilmer Font 폰트 in my initial recap, but he’s blossomed into an ace. Here’s footage from his most recent start, in which he struck out 12 and didn’t issue a walk:

As the GIF shows, Font’s repertoire is anchored by a fastball that touches 98 mph and a 12-6 curveball with massive vertical drop. He throws a slider, too, which looks average at best but does generate whiffs. He drastically reduced his sinker usage in recent starts in favor of the four-seamer, which could explain the uptick in strikeouts. Barring a sudden collapse, Font looks to be the Landers’ No. 1 starter moving forward.

But the team isn’t without strife. After removing himself from a start due to right elbow pain, submariner Jong-hun Park 박종훈 flew to LA to receive a diagnosis from Dr. ElAttrache (uh-oh). The Landers have replaced foreign pitcher Artie Lewicki, whose health issues became apparent, with Sam Gaviglio. So at least for now, the team lacks two reliable starters.

Meanwhile, I want to direct your attention towards Shin-Soo Choo 추신수’s .268/.427/.451 line. After posting an uncharacteristically low BABIP in April and parts of May despite hard contact, Choo’s batted balls have begun to land for hits. He isn’t hitting for consistent power, a fact that’s garnered criticism. It seems unjustified, though; his career slugging percentage stateside was .447. Choo’s value lies in his plate discipline, and it’s been on full display en route to a 143 wRC+. He’s doing his best.

LG Twins

Most of what I wrote about the Twins last month is still relevant: The bullpen is excellent, and while Roberto Ramos 라모스 is finding his footing, this is still one of the league’s best teams. Since then, they’ve become even better. I noted that the rotation beyond Andrew Suárez and Casey Kelly 켈리 was bare. But Woo-chan Cha 차우찬, who hadn’t pitched for nearly a year due to injuries, made a successful comeback with five scoreless frames. Twenty-year-old Min-ho Lee이민호 has settled in as a fifth starter, and veteran righty Chan-heon Jeong 정찬헌 has been solid with a 4.42 FIP.

In addition, I’m surprised by how useful the team’s depth has become. Bo-gyeong Moon 문보경 was called up this season to share first base with Ramos, and it’s Moon’s ability to draw walks that has mitigated the position’s weakness. The Twins have two fantastic options at right field. Hyung-jong Lee 이형종 is a consistent pull-hitter with 20 home run potential, and Eun-seong Chae 채은성 has a 144 wRC+ this season via a higher rate of line drives.

Rhe Twins also have breakout stars who are continuing their success in 2021. The most notable example is outfielder Chang-ki Hong 홍창기. After playing in just 38 games from 2016-19, he became the team’s everyday center fielder in 2020 and excelled, posting a 126 wRC+. Similar to Moon, his greatest asset is plate discipline, and it’s scary to think it might have improved. Hong has 43 walks against 27 strikeouts this season, for an on-base percentage of .457; that’s third-best in the league. The team as a whole has the KBO’s highest strikeout-to-walk ratio, hinting at an organizational philosophy.

Samsung Lions

The Lions have followed up on their torrid April start, and they don’t seem out of place at third. That being said, I’m slightly worried that cracks will begin to form. For example, I do think Tae-in Won 원태인 is legitimately good, but batters are figuring out his changeup and are making more contact against it. Jose Pirela and Minho Kang 강민호 have the team’s best and third-best wRC+ respectively, but it seems like their production has been driven by grounders, which is less ideal even in the KBO.

David Buchanan 뷰캐넌 has been a rock solid ace. The team hoped for Chae-heung Choi 최채흥 to successfully rejoin the rotation, but a few disastrous starts have shown that he’s nowhere near ready; it could be that the effects of his injury still linger. Speaking of injury, the Lions signed Mike Montgomery to a one-year deal after it became necessary for Ben Lively 라이블리 to undergo surgery on his shoulder. It’s a decision that should have fans excited given Montgomery’s pedigree. I’m also optimistic about his pitching style, which prioritizes soft contact over strikeouts and reminds me of Aaron Brooks or Eric Jokisch.

In the bullpen, Seunghwan Oh 오승환 is still closing out games despite a heater that now averages 90 mph. He’s been effective, too, with a 2.57 ERA and 3.42 FIP. The longevity of his career is awe-inspiring, and I hope he has a few years left in the tank – watching him lob fastballs down the pipe is a can’t-miss KBO experience. He’s accompanied by 36-year-old Kyumin Woo 우규민, who has technically been the Lions’ best relief arm. It’s great to see the former-starter-turned-reliever receive the spotlight.

NC Dinos

See, there’s no need to worry about our swole daddy overlords. The Dinos are just two games behind first, with more runs scored than any other team. Among the many standouts in the Dinos’ lineup, Euiji Yang 양의지 deserves his own paragraph. First, his offensive line is ridiculous: .360/.475/.646, which works out to a 196 wRC+. Here are some frequently asked questions about him:

• Is he a first baseman or a designated hitter? He’s a catcher, though he does occasionally DH to preserve his strength.
• Does that mean his defense is lacking? Several pitchers, including foreigners, have praised his ability to call games.
• He must be in his prime then, right? About that – Yang turned 34 this year. Overall, if you fused Joe Mauer’s contact, Mike Piazza’s power, and Yadier Molina’s defense into one athlete, the end result would be Euiji Yang. He struck out once in May while slugging above .700. As a 34-year old catcher.

But enough fanboying on my end. Once again, the pitching has been an issue for this team, though it’s at least looking up. Min-hyeok Shin 신민혁, who I covered last month, has indeed become a reliable starter. Wes Parsons’ pre-season injury didn’t lead to a dramatic decline in performance; his FIP (3.31) is lower than his ERA (4.13) and that, along with an elite strikeout rate (by KBO standards) of 27.1%, suggests that he can be a No. 2 starter.

The Dinos snagged last-standing free agent pitcher Yongchan Lee to bolster their bullpen, which is currently seventh in WAR. And best of all, after multiple setbacks and murky progress reports, Chang-mo Koo 구창모 finally appeared in a one-inning rehab start. His velocity was down as expected, but manager Dong-wook Lee 이동욱 expressed his satisfaction with the outing. If Koo can recapture some of the magic of his 2020 campaign, that’s one less worry for the Dinos.

Part Two to come!

Last week, I wrote about how June is reach-out call season and how teams gather beforehand to establish an agreed upon outbound messaging to other teams about their plans. In that spirit, I tried to insert myself into each team’s discussions, and craft a suggested script for each club’s initial calls. We begin today with the National League.

National League East

New York Mets

We’ve had a ton of injuries and some big players haven’t really gotten going yet, but at the same time we are in first place, so we’re definitely going to be making a push. We feel good about the top of our rotation, but will be looking for some second tier starters for the last one or two slots. They’re the kind of guys who help get us to the playoffs, but probably don’t start in a series and so are lower acquisition cost types, unless Kevin Gausman or Max Scherzer become available. We’re also in the market for a center fielder, but there’s not much out there and we would want them to be a clear upgrade. We have financial room and we can be aggressive, but it’s going to take something really wild to access any of our top prospects like Francisco Álvarez, Ronny Mauricio and/or Brett Baty.

Atlanta Braves

We’ve been under .500 for most of the year, but we’re in second place and feel like we are a better team than this, so we will be looking to add. It’s tough because we’re owned by a corporation and not a person, so budget stuff is always going to be in play and we’ll need clarity from the top. We’re operating under the assumption that Marcell Ozuna’s tenure as a Brave has come to an end, so between that and Cristian Pache not hitting, the outfield is a point of focus for us, both in terms of finding a bopper for the middle of the lineup and someone to provide some depth. Travis d’Arnaud is arriving for the second half, so we’re fine at catcher for now. We feel good about our rotation, especially once Huascar Ynoa comes back from his silly injury, but we’ve had problems in the bullpen, especially with the bridge innings that get us to the end game; we should be players in the reliever market.

Philadelphia Phillies

It’s hard to say where we are at right now. We’re scuffling around .500 and feel like we’re better than this, but we’re not ready to get aggressive in terms of buying or selling. Let’s check back at the beginning of July? We’re happy with the everyday lineup for the most part, but our bench is pretty barren, so we’ll be looking to shore up there and get some ‘pen help should we decide to make a push.

Washington Nationals

We are not ready to open up for business yet, but we are close, so we would like your thoughts on Max Scherzer should we start listening on him in the coming weeks. Keep in mind that Max has 10-5 rights, so we will need to get approval from him for any trade. He’s aware of that, obviously, but we haven’t had specific talks with him yet in terms of potential destinations. And while he’s technically a rental, he also has all sorts of deferred money, so how we handle that will help define the return we are looking for. If we decide to sell, it will be a full court press. Brad Hand and Daniel Hudson make any bullpen better, and Jon Lester isn’t what he used to be, but he provides some stability and presence in the back of a rotation. In terms of position players, Starlin Castro and Josh Harrison should be decent infield depth pieces for someone, and Kyle Schwarber provides a lefty power source. We’re just putting out feelers for now, but unless something really positive happens over the next two weeks, expect things to pick up and get serious by the end of the month.

Miami Marlins

We don’t have the biggest names available, but we have a lot of players on the table, and might be your best option for a package deal that addresses multiple concerns. Keep in mind that we are already down the road on some of these players with teams, so if you want to get in, you might not want to wait until next month. Starling Marte is our best player as well as our best performer this year and will be the one we are looking to get the greatest return for. In terms of outfielders, Corey Dickerson hasn’t had a great year, but he has a track record of hitting and could be the lefty bat you are looking for. We’re getting a lot of calls on Jesús Aguilar; he’s a good power source and great guy to have in the clubhouse. Miguel Rojas can be a solid everyday shortstop or downright outstanding utility player for the right team. And while he’s obviously not a guy who is going to give you a lot of offense, Sandy León is a veteran catcher who knows how to fold up back there in the playoff setting. We’re holding on to our young starters, but in terms of ‘pen arms, Yimi García has been really good for us in a closer role and could set up for most playoff teams. On a smaller scale, Ross Detwiler can provide some lefty depth. It’s an expansive menu and we’re all ears.

National League Central

Milwaukee Brewers

We’re unlikely to move on anything big, as much as we are looking to make a series of incremental improvements. We’re still not comfortable with our first base situation and would like to find a mid-range bopper we can just plug in there who hits in the five or six hole every day. We’re very happy with our rotation, especially the potential playoff parts of it, so in terms of arms, we’re shopping for some bullpen improvement. Brent Suter has been up and down, and we’re hoping Hoby Milner will help, but an upgrade from the left side would help us feel better about it. That said, we’re not restricted to lefties and the way we use our starters, any additional ‘pen pieces would be of interest.

Chicago Cubs

The team is playing very well of late, so we’re not taking any calls on the impending free agents; it would take quite a collapse for that to change. We will feel better about our lineup once everyone is healthy, but we could use some more outfield depth. I know we told Joc Pederson that he would play every day here, but we can’t keep throwing him out there against lefties if we are making a playoff push, so a platoon piece to give us more firepower against southpaws would help. Our bullpen has exceeded all expectations, but we’re not comfortable at all with our rotation, especially in a playoff setting. If we get the green light from ownership, we will be laser focused on starting pitching.

St. Louis Cardinals

We’re a little stuck in terms of both our roster and payroll, so while we expect to make some moves, they will likely be on the margins unless we can find a clear upgrade to play a corner outfield. Like everyone, we’ll look at some bullpen arms and starter depth, but with our performance over the last week, we’re back in assessment mode, so feel free to check in a little bit later in the month while we figure out where we are going.

Cincinnati Reds

We’re only a handful of games out of first place, but there are also three teams ahead of us in the standings and we know that this division is highly unlikely to produce a Wild Card team. Right now we are standing pat, but we would talk about Tucker Barnhart right now in order to allow us to play Tyler Stephenson every day once Joey Votto comes back from the Injured List.

Pittsburgh Pirates

We’re ready to move on deals right away, we just don’t have much to deal. We’d listen on Adam Frazier, but with one year of arbitration remaining, we see him as much more than a rental and will want something real in return. We’ve already taken a lot of calls on Bryan Reynolds, and unless somebody wants to really blow us away, we’re not looking to move him. He’s still a Pirate for at least four more years and we’re hoping to turn this ship around faster than that. Yes, Gregory Polanco has been bad, but maybe a change of scenery would do him well, and if you want to get creative we can eat some of the money in order to improve our prospect return. We know it’s not a lot in terms of pitching, but Tyler Anderson doesn’t impact your payroll and might give you some consistency at the end of the rotation. In terms of bullpen arms, we’d listen on Richard Rodríguez and spin king Chris Stratton, but both still have two years of control left, so we’ll need to get back something we really like.

National League West

San Francisco Giants

Look, we are in first place and have the best record in baseball. We’re in no position to talk about moving our impending free agents. Maybe in a month if something bad happens, but we’re not even considering it right now and making no plans for it. We’re going to make a run here, but anticipate incremental improvements as opposed to a headline deal. With Evan Longoria’s injury we’d like to improve our infield situation, especially at second and third base. On a smaller scale, a veteran backup catcher to help get Buster Posey through the season would be of interest to us, and while we’re happy with the back of our bullpen, we’d like to improve our middle relief depth.

San Diego Padres

We’re the Padres, we’re splashy, and we’re going to look to make more waves in July. Interest is in any and all impact players available, and we have the prospects to get a deal done. We’d love to find a big bat we can plug into our outfield, allowing us to transition Tommy Pham into more of a flex role in the grass. It’s hard to find starting catchers in the middle of a season, but finding one to move Victor Caratini to a backup role would be a low-key big upgrade for us. We just don’t need any pitchers unless they’re absolute studs who win postseason games for us.

Los Angeles Dodgers

Yeah, I can’t believe we’re in third place either, but nothing has really gelled for us and we still think we have one of the, if not the, best teams in baseball. Once Corey Seager returns, our lineup is kind of locked in, but we might have interest in a bench bat or two. Like everyone else, we will be looking to lengthen our bullpen.

Colorado Rockies

Trevor Story will be healthy soon and as soon as he is, let the bidding begin. We would prefer to get one or two prospects we really like as opposed to a bigger package that includes more players but ones we’re not as crazy about. We need to get into the top of your prospect list to start a discussion. The same goes for Jon Gray. His imaging came back clean, and he’ll be back on the mound soon. The ways things are going, he will likely be one of the better starters on the block, and we’re going to treat him that way in regards to discussions. We’d be willing to eat some of Charlie Blackmon’s money in order to get a real prospect back. On a smaller scale, C.J. Cron provides some pop and on-base skills from the right side and doesn’t impact your payroll much. Mychal Givens is a consistently solid reliever who can be had for a rental price. We’re ready to talk about any of these guys starting yesterday, but frankly would discuss anyone on our roster if we thought a deal would make us better in the future.

Arizona Diamondbacks

Phones are open, so call now. We’ve already had a few inquiries on David Peralta as a veteran hitter at a decent price, while Eduardo Escobar and Asdrúbal Cabrera are both infielders who could play a starting or bench role on the right club. It’s early, but Josh Reddick has been hitting well and could be had for a low acquisition price. We don’t have much in the way of pitching, but if you get a little desperate for a starter, we’d give away Madison Bumgarner just to get out from under the contract.

These are notes on prospects from lead prospect analyst Eric Longenhagen. Read previous installments here. Today’s notes feature thoughts on three college hitters who played in the NCAA Regionals, as well as three pitching prospects currently in the big leagues.

Reed Trimble, CF, Southern Miss
Draft Class: 2021  Age: 21
Regional Line: 14-for-25, 4 HR

Notes
When I named Trimble one of Conference USA’s top prospects in a tournament preview post from a couple weeks ago, I made a mistake with respect to his draft eligibility. He’s indeed a (COVID) freshman, but his 21st birthday was Sunday, so he’s a draft-eligible freshman. Trimble hit .345/.414/.638 this year, and the Southern Miss schedule was no cakewalk even though they’re a mid-major. It included 12 games against eventual regional host and top-16 team Louisiana Tech, as well as games against Mississippi State, Alabama, Florida State and Ole Miss, and four against South Alabama, who made a deep regional run. Read the rest of this entry »

In May, I took a look at some of the most compelling storylines in the American League for the teams least likely to make the postseason. Since that post ran, Shohei Ohtani has been involved in a benches clearing incident (don’t worry, he’s fine) and Miguel Cabrera inched closer to his 3,000th hit with this bases-clearing double to put the Tigers ahead of the Brewers:

The Brewers are in first place in the NL Central right now, so they will not be making another appearance in this post, as our projections like their chances in a tight division race and predict that they’ll hold that spot to win the division. No, this post is for the teams that are much less likely to make the postseason — the teams that won’t play meaningful baseball in October, but that can hopefully still offer something to the fans who continue to show up. Let’s delve into the prospects, players, and milestones on the horizon for the non-contenders in the Senior Circuit. Read the rest of this entry »

With the adoption of the Hawk-Eye tracking system before the 2020 season, analysts and fans alike can directly measure the orientation of the baseball’s spin axis as it heads towards the pitcher. Previously the readings we would see on Baseball Savant were based on the movement of the pitch; the spin axis was inferred. Tom Tango, Senior Data Architect over at MLBAM and author of The Book, delves into the nuances between the spin axis readings here. The differences are derived from the nature of the tracking system before (TrackMan radar) and after (the aforementioned technology from Hawk-Eye, which consists of a series of high-speed cameras placed around the ballpark) 2020. During the offseason, the good people at Baseball Savant rolled out some leaderboards with the new measured spin axis data and compared that to inferred spin axis by pitcher and pitch type. The deviation between the two quantities is the result of the seam-shifted wake effect, a new idea permeating the baseball analyst community. Christian Hook from Driveline has a good piece introducing the phenomenon, as do our very own Ben Clemens and The Athletic’s Eno Sarris; I’d also point you to Barton Smith, Alan Nathan, and Harry Pavlidis’ excellent piece at Baseball Prospectus, as well as Barton’s other work on the subject.

At some point in the future, I hope to add to the discourse regarding seam-shifted wake. For now, though, I want to look into another idea we can analyze with this new access to measured spin axis. Until recently the ability to dive deep into the new spin axis data has been limited. We, the public, only had access to data summarized by pitcher and pitch type. Now, thanks to the wonderful work of Bill Petti and his baseballR package (and MLBAM for deciding to release the information), we can extract the measured spin axis on the pitch level in 2020. With this influx of new data, I re-scraped and stored the pitch-by-pitch data in my Statcast database (which I could not have done without Bill’s tutorial).

With that being said, my first inclination was to look at how pitches paired together in the context of spin mirroring. The idea behind spin mirroring is to deceive the hitter. Two pitches that rotate about the same axis but in opposite directions are hard to discern by the batter. For insight into spin axis and how it differs for different pitch types, I recommend checking out this comprehensive piece from Dan Aucoin at Driveline where he explains the importance of understanding a pitch’s spin axis, how it explains pitch movement, and deviations between axis and expected movement based on the axis via the magnus force. Mike Petriello at MLB.com has also given good insight into how spin axis allows certain pairs of pitches and repertoire’s to yield better results than just velocity and movement would indicate. He specifically dug into Shane Bieber’s diverse repertoire, which lacks elite velocity and correspondingly elite spin. Read the rest of this entry »

Emerson Hancock brought a power arsenal with him to the Seattle Mariners organization. Drafted sixth-overall last year out of the University of Georgia, the 22-year-old right-hander features a mid-90s fastball, a biting slider, a plus changeup, and a capable curveball. But he’s not your prototypical flamethrower. While not backing away from the power-pitcher label, Hancock fashions himself more as a craftsman, a starter who can go deep into games by mixing and matching, and by commanding the strike zone. His track record backs that up. Over his final two collegiate seasons — this in the talent-laded SEC — he logged 131 strikeouts, and walked just 21, in 114-and-a-third innings.

No. 4 on our Mariners Top Prospects list, Hancock currently has a 2.19 ERA in four starts comprising 12.1 innings with the High-A Everett AquaSox. He talked pitching with FanGraphs over the weekend.

———

David Laurila: To start, give me a self scouting report. How do you identify as a pitcher?

Emerson Hancock: “One thing I’ve always tried to do, especially since college, is be able to ‘pitch’ — mix speeds, throw pitches in different locations, throw anything in any count to get hitters off balance. That’s something I take pride in. Another thing is trying to do the little things right, like holding runners.”

Laurila: You have plus stuff. How do you go about balancing power and command?

Hancock: “Something that’s helped me is that I haven’t always had the power. In high school, I struggled to have that big-time velocity, so I kind of had to learn at a younger age how to ‘pitch.’ At Georgia, [velocity] started happening — it came along — so now I had this other way. I had to learn how to use it. Even now, in the minor leagues, I’m trying to find different ways to use it. It’s something that’s always evolving for me.” Read the rest of this entry »

These are notes on prospects from lead prospect analyst Eric Longenhagen. Read previous installments here.

Ethan Small, LHP, Milwaukee Brewers
Level & Affiliate: Double-A Biloxi  Age: 24   Org Rank: TBD   FV: 45
Line: 5.2 IP, 2 H, 2 BB, 0 R, 8 K

Notes
Small had a sketchy spring with the big club and has walked an uncharacteristically high number of hitters early on this year, but his last couple of starts have been more in line with expectations as he blows his low-90s fastball (which has big time carry) past opposing hitters. Small’s best secondary pitch remains his changeup and there were doubts about him ever finding a competent breaking ball when he was drafted. So far, his slider and curveball remain below average but that there are now two distinct breakers here is meaningful. He still projects as a No. 4/5 starter with a shot to make the back of the Top 100 as a 50 FV if the command and/or breaking balls tighten up. Read the rest of this entry »

Evan Longoria has been as critical to the Giants’ success this season as any of their grizzled veterans, but the NL West leaders (!) could be without the 35-year-old third baseman until after the All-Star break. Longoria suffered a sternoclavicular dislocation of his left shoulder in a collision on Saturday, and landed on the 10-day Injured List. Ouch!

The injury occurred during the top of the ninth inning of the Giants’ game against the Cubs. Shifted towards second base with lefty Anthony Rizzo at the plate, Longoria ranged to his left to field a soft chopper, where he ran into shortstop Brandon Crawford and got the worst of it, and not only because Rizzo was safe at first as Kris Bryant scored. Longoria remained on the ground for several minutes and left the field accompanied by the team’s head athletic trainer, Anthony Reyes:

Crawford was uninjured, but Longoria was placed on the IL on Sunday with what was initially termed a left shoulder sprain, and initial indications that he would miss four to six weeks. Sunday brought a bit more specificity, via The Athletic’s Andrew Baggarly:

Evan Longoria said he was diagnosed with a dislocated SC joint, which links the clavicle to the sternum. So the pain isn't in his shoulder. It's a weird injury and he isn't sure what to expect timetable wise. He's had X-rays but not an MRI yet.

— Andrew Baggarly (@extrabaggs) June 6, 2021

Sternoclavicular joint dislocations aren’t often seen in baseball; they’re more often associated with motor vehicle accidents or collision sports such as football and rugby. Anterior dislocations such as the one Longoria apparently suffered, are one matter, but posterior dislocations can be life-threatening, as they can affect a person’s esophagus, airway, or vital arteries. Read the rest of this entry »

Read the rest of this entry »

Brandon Crawford’s career has always centered around his elite defense; he’s won three Gold Gloves and has been one of the best defenders in baseball over the last decade. But behind the accolades for his glove was a quietly improving offensive player. He upped his wRC+ each season in his first five and earned down-ballot MVP votes in 2016 on the back of 5.2 WAR and career-best defensive metrics. Heading into his age-30 season in ’17, our positional power rankings pegged him as one of the best shortstops in baseball and projected him for 3.5 WAR.

Instead, Crawford started a sharp decline, putting up just 4.4 WAR over the next three years. By the time 2020 rolled around, his career was a half-sunk dinghy; coming off of a near–replacement-level season, he was expected to lose playing time. And his downturn couldn’t have come at a worse time, with free agency coming after the 2021 season and the Giants under new boss Farhan Zaidi beginning to transition away from the aging veterans who made up a big chunk of San Francisco’s roster. But facing the end, Crawford posted a 111 wRC+ and a career-high .209 ISO last season, then built on that improvement this year with a 141 wRC+ and 2.1 WAR — the latter the best figure than he’s put up since ’17.

The following chart shows a closer look at his late-career resurgence.

Read the rest of this entry »