The Best of FanGraphs: July 17-21, 2017

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July 22, 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
Diving into Statcast Sprint Speed, by Mike Podhorzer
Mike goes exploring to answer the question on his mind — can we use Sprint Speed to predict stolen base breakouts in the future? He also wrote about Sprint Speed again on Tuesday.

The Political Nature of Baseball Jargon, by Mary Craig
Our words have meaning, even if we’re not choosing them carefully.

Losing Contact: The Shift From Singles to Power Hitting by Richard Ferri
To put this in hip-hop terms, singles are like Jay-Z — not as cool as they used to be, but still pretty awesome.

TUESDAY
Travis Shaw, Breakout Hitter and Contrarian, by Travis Sawchick
Make sure you read Travis on Travis.

Arizona Diamondbacks Get Major Upgrade in J.D. Martinez, by Craig Edwards
Of course, he then got hurt right away, but that certainly doesn’t invalidate Craig’s analysis.

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The Juiced Ball is Helping Flyball Pitchers, Not Sure Why., by Jeff Zimmerman
Being able to admit your mistakes and continue to probe subjects that challenge conventional wisdom are two of the most important traits to being a good researcher or journalist. Jeff has both in spades, as he demonstrates in this piece.

Cleveland’s New Catcher Is Streaking Toward the Majors, by Marisa Ingemi
In her THT debut, writing phenom Marisa catches up with catching phenom Mejia.

Aaron Judge Among 25-Year-Old Rookies by hscer
Context is king.

WEDNESDAY
Brad Zimmer Is Ridiculous, by Eno Sarris
As Eno demonstrates, tall and fast don’t always go together. Not in baseball, anyway.

Yankees Build a Super Bullpen and Find a Real First Baseman, by Travis Sawchick
It’s been a bit since the Yankees got the guy the Red Sox were supposed to get.

THURSDAY
The White Sox’ Big Bets On Risk, by Dave Cameron
Dave wrote a calm, reasoned piece on the prospects the White Sox have received. As you would expect, the reaction was also calm and reasoned. (That’s sarcasm.)

Projecting Yoan Moncada, by Chris Mitchell
It’s easier to sell a deal where you trade away established major leaguers when you turn around and promote the shiniest prospect in your system immediately afterward. Chris looks at what we can expect.

Mariners Get David Phelps, Who Is Good, by Jeff Sullivan
The Mariners are also making trades, in case you’re curious.

A Joyful Celebration of Baseball, by Sarah Wexler
The Baseball Reliquary honors what makes the game special.

FRIDAY
Do Teams Still Overpay for Free Agents from Other Teams?, by Matt Swartz
One of Matt’s more well-known pieces is his O.P.P. piece from The Hardball Times Baseball Annual 2012. He revisits that piece here, and he also wrote about how teams discount the future on Tuesday.





 

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.

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