The Best of FanGraphs: January 30-February 4, 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
A Champion’s Outfield: Where Line Drives Go to Die by Casey Boguslaw
Coincidentally, it’s just a few miles north of where fun goes to die.

Maybe the Rockies Are Contenders in 2017 by Dave Cameron
Everyone knows the Rockies aren’t contenders. What this post presupposes is…

TUESDAY
How Often Is the “Best Team” Really the Best? by Cavarretta
Not even half the time, concludes the author. Life is cruel, concludes the reader.

It’s Ottoneu Cut Day! by Brad Johnson
More accurately, it was Ottoneu Cut Day.

Rich Hill: “A Role Model for Failure” by Travis Sawchik
Writes Emil Cioran: “I get along quite well with someone only when he is at his lowest point and has neither the desire nor the strength to restore his habitual illusions.” Not entirely irrelevant in the case of Rich Hill.

Switch-Hitting with the Two Jonathan Villars by Eno Sarris
Jonathan Villar contains multitudes.

The Astros Have a Completely New Look by Jeff Sullivan
Houston is going to make a lot more contact this year, evidence suggests.

Top 24 Prospects: St. Louis Cardinals by Eric Longenhagen
Another installment from one of the top lead prospect analysts today.

WEDNESDAY
The Worst Pitch in Baseball by The Kudzu Kid
Isn’t a middle-middle fastball, this Community author contends.

THURSDAY
Carlos Martinez Gets Paid, Leaves Money on Table by Craig Edwards
A young player frequently has only one opportunity to become absurdly wealthy.

Why the Astros Didn’t Catch Chris Correa by Ryan Pollack
A cocktail of human error and insufficient resources, among other factors.

FRIDAY
Aaron Nola and the Rich Hill Prescription by Travis Sawchik
More curveball.

Projecting MLB.com’s Top 100 Prospects by Jeff Zimmerman
In spite of his myriad personal flaws, Zimmerman has produced some very compelling work on the relationship between scouting grades and production. Here’s another example of it.