The Best of FanGraphs: June 2-6, 2014

If you missed the inaugural post of The Best Of FanGraphs, you can do so here. In case you don’t feel like clicking through though, here is how this post is structured:

We’ll pull from the whole FanGraphs family, picking 10-15 stories that we feel you really should read before the week draws to a close. The links are color coded — green for FanGraphs, burnt sienna for RotoGraphs, purple for NotGraphs, dark red for The Hardball Times and blue for Community. They are listed in this order as well in each day, just for the sake of consistency.

Monday

Prospect Watch: Revisiting Rule 5 Recommendations, by Marc Hulet
Marc looks back on some of his picks from last winter, including one reliever who could be a target for teams come trading season.

Astros Officially Create the Sign-and-Promote with Jon Singleton, by Dave Cameron
The Astros open new ground with this contract, and it’s one with many layers.

How Corey Kluber Appears to Different Animals, by Carson Cistulli
Like the horse, you should have binocular vision for this post.

Tuesday

The Road to the Draft, by Tony Blengino
The first of two great posts this week from Tony on the draft covers all the myriad of things that happen before draft day.

Jose Bautista’s Counter-Shift, by Jeff Sullivan
The game within the game continues.

Talking Situational Wins, by Dave Studeman
So many truth bombs, so little time.

Wednesday

The Best and Worst Starters Against LHB and RHB, by Brett Talley
Tim Lincecum shows up here, but not for the reason you would think.

American League Tiered Outfield Rankings — June 2014, by David Wiers
A new month means updated rankings. Wiers gets the spotlight because he used Futurama in his rankings, even if he was too foolish to include Dr. John A. Zoidberg.

ChoneVision(TM): Giant Chone Bashes Haters, by Mississippi Matt Smith
Chone Figgins hears you talking, and Chone Figgins doesn’t like it.

Peter O’Brien’s Raw Power: Estimating Batted-Ball Velocities in the Minor Leagues, by GWR
Minor league data is scarce, but that doesn’t prevent the author from using physics to make a pretty darn close estimate of a recent Peter O’Brien home run.

Thursday

What Happens In The Draft Room, by Tony Blengino
The second of Tony’s posts on the draft. To quote Shankbone, what a treat on draft day.

Will Ditch of Switch Fix Aaron Hicks?, by Nicholas Minnix
This one makes it for the title alone.

Friday

Grounders in the Age of the Shift, by Jeff Sullivan
Shifts are happening more and more. Are outs happening more and more?

Little Giants, by Patrick Dubuque
Moose Adams doesn’t have a FanGraphs player page, but he did have a baseball card.