The Best of FanGraphs: May 1-5, 2017

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May 6, 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
Why Ivan Nova Isn’t Phil Hughes 2.0, by Alex Stumpf
Say hello to our Resident for May! Alex also wrote about the continuing search for baseball talent all over the world later in the week.

The Strike Zone Is Smaller Than Last Year’s… For Now, by Jon Roegele
Jon establishes the baseline for the season.

Robert Gsellman’s Ominous Velocity and Spin Trends, by Gerald Schifman
The Mets have not received a lot of good news lately.

Adam Eaton Forces The Nationals to Make Another Big Decision, by Dave Cameron
Michael Taylor’s ceiling is probably as a two-win player, which is probably good enough to help deliver the NL East to the Nationals. But the NL pennant? That’s the tougher question.

The Hitter FB% Surgers, by Mike Podhorzer
See the players who are most rapidly converting to team #nogrounders.

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We hope you'll consider a Membership today, for yourself or as a gift! And we realize this has been an awfully long sales pitch, so we've also removed all the other ads in this article. We didn't want to overdo it.

TUESDAY
Could Ichiro Have Been a Power Hitter?, by Eno Sarris
Maybe, but as Eno finds, becoming one might not have led to his best career.

Another Reason to Avoid Giants Hitters, by Ben Kaspick
As if you needed another reason.

WEDNESDAY
Stop Throwing Things at Other People, by Nicolas Stellini
The sideshow needs to stop.

Trading Eric Thames, by Paul Sporer
Paul steps up to fill our Eric Thames Content Quotient.

Atlanta’s SunTrust Park: The First of a New Generation?, by Woody Studenmund
The first of our two Atlanta ballpark pieces focuses on the fan experience. Woody is our resident reviewer, and brings his experience to bear in this review.

THURSDAY
It Remains a Game of Constant Home Runs, by Jeff Sullivan

I Find Your Lack Of Faith Disturbing., by Andrew Perpetua
From a Star Wars pun comes a look at three players who are having unexpected seasons, including Jackie Bradley Jr.

Estimating Wind Effects at SunTrust Park, by Andrew Perpetua
Our second Atlanta ballpark piece focuses on the player experience, specifically how the wind will affect play on the field.

FRIDAY
Xander Bogaerts Is a Very Weird Good Player, by Dave Cameron
Good players come in all shapes and sizes, though they rarely come like Boston’s shortstop.

Can Noah Syndergaard Make it Through the Next Year? by Ben Bailey
Not even the speculative news about the Mets is rosy these days.





 

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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