The Best of FanGraphs: April 17-21, 2017

Note: this week’s edition of Best Of has been published on Sunday instead of Saturday because (a) Paul Swydan is away and (b) he asked an irresponsible colleague to take his place.

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 and blue for Community Research.

MONDAY
Eric Thames Is Still Mashing by Nick Stellini
What was true when Stellini published this on Monday remains true today.

Starting Pitcher Pitch Mix Changes by Mike Podhorzer
Danny Salazar’s throwing more changeups, Kendall Graveman more fastballs. Podhorzer’s on the case.

TUESDAY
Daily Prospect Notes, 4/17 and 4/18 by Eric Longenhagen
As part of his duties as lead prospect analyst, Longenhagen has begun publishing daily notes.

Marte Suspended, Pirates Lose… Margin for Error by Travis Sawchik
The prolonged absences of both Jung Ho Kang and Starling Marte aren’t ideal developments for a club with relatively modest resources.

Projecting Infield Defense by Eli Ben-Porat
In the age of Statcast, outfield defense has received considerable attention. Ben-Porat turns his attention to infield defense in the newest installment of his Scouting the Minors Pitch by Pitch series.

The Even Scarier Eric Thames Stat by Dave Cameron
Thames is making contact on in-zone pitches at an unusually high rate.

The Scariest Eric Thames Stat by Jeff Sullivan
Thames is hardly swinging at pitches out of the zone, too.

WEDNESDAY
Charlie Blackmon and the Good Side by Eno Sarris
Colorado’s center field looks good from all angles. There’s one direction, however, in which has some difficulty catching fly balls.

Francisco Lindor: Challenger to Trout’s Throne by Matthew Tobin
Tobin renders the impossible merely implausible.

Kyle Hendricks Walked Tommy Milone on Four Pitches by Jeff Sullivan
Sullivan documents an implausible outcome that became an actual outcome.

Replacing Starling Marte by Paul Sporer
Sporer confesses here that he’s a “Hicks honk” — a comment that, were it uttered for the benefit of our ancestors, would perplex and/or disappoint them.

THURSDAY
Starling Marte… in the Era of PED Testing by Joe Sheehan
Baseball has instituted a rigorous drug-testing program and yet home-run frequency is higher now than during the peak of the so-called PED Era. “What’s the deal?” Joe Sheehan, our April resident, asks about that.

FRIDAY
[O]f Interest to Potential Bidders for Eric Hosmer by Dave Cameron
Eric Hosmer has been the offensive equivalent of Mitch Moreland.