The Best of FanGraphs: February 27-March 3, 2017
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
FanGraphs on Tour With Pitch Talks 2017, by Dave Cameron
Come out and baseball it up with us this summer!
Are We at the High-Water Mark for Shifting in Baseball?, by Eno Sarris
The answer lies within.
Oral Examination: Testing the Stories of “The Glory of Their Times”, by Shane Tourtellotte
Shane goes in-depth to see if some of the stories from one of the most famous baseball books hold up to scrutiny.
TUESDAY
KATOH’s 2017 Top-100 Prospects, by Chris Mitchell
Where does your favorite prospect rank?
The Over/Under Prospect Game: Home Edition, by Carson Cistulli
Hopefully it’s better than most home editions.
Jose Altuve Should Be the Second Overall Pick, by Al Melchior
I’m not sure if I agree, but Al makes a good case nonetheless.
WEDNESDAY
The Consensus Top Prospect KATOH Hates, by Chris Mitchell
There was a glaring omission from both KATOH rankings. Chris explains why.
Rotographs Rankings Spreadsheet-February 2017, by Paul Sporer
The ATC Projection System, by Ariel Cohen
NEW PROJECTION SYSTEM ALERT!!! NEW PROJECTION SYSTEM ALERT!!! NEW PROJECTION SYSTEM ALERT!!!
WAR and the Relief Pitcher, Part II by Doug Lampert
It was a Part 2/II kind of week at the Community blog. Be sure to also check out Matt Malkus’ “Adjusting Appearance Data for Base-Out State” and Harris Kingsley’s “An Attempt to Quantify Quality At-Bats (Part 2),” both of which easily could have been the featured piece here.
THURSDAY
If the Red Sox Lose David Price…, by Craig Edwards
Craig shows that the AL East just became a whole lot more competitive. Assuming that is that David Price is out for the season. Which, maybe he isn’t, but he’s still probably going to miss some time.
How to Defeat Mike Trout in the AL MVP Voting, by Nicolas Stellini
I was surprised to find that the answer did not involve either Voltron or Frank Costanza.
Which Hitters Could Benefit From Lift?, by Jeff Sullivan
Jeff is over here suggesting that hitters get high.
Eh, it worked for Manny Ramirez. (Also see Travis’ fly-ball piece.)
FRIDAY
The 2017 All-KATOH Team, by Chris Mitchell
Chris rounds out his KATOH drop with a team that would probably be pretty decent on its own.
Bryan Price Elaborates on Workloads and Pitcher Injuries, by David Laurila
David follows up on something that piqued his interest during the Winter Meetings.
Paul Swydan used to be the managing editor of The Hardball Times, a writer and editor for FanGraphs and a writer for Boston.com and The Boston Globe. Now, he owns The Silver Unicorn Bookstore, an independent bookstore in Acton, Mass. Follow him on Twitter @Swydan. Follow the store @SilUnicornActon.