Baseball

Jonathan Dyer-USA TODAY Sports If you’ve been studying me with any frequency for the previous 20-some years — the final six of them right here at FanGraphs — you'll have seen that I’m susceptible to dropping the occasional quantity into my prose. In reality, Statcast says I achieve this in 57.6% of my sentences, which ranks within the 93rd percentile even amongst my FanGraphs colleagues. Admittedly, I simply made that half up, however the level is that I’m somebody who tends to current a good bit of information to the reader in help of my evaluation. At this website, we function so much of information, and as a consequence, not all of it's straightforward to search out, however we do our greatest to prepare it logically in order that customers can achieve this. Once once more, I’...

Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports How about this: How about you and I overlook for a pair minutes that we’re at FanGraphs, deep within the stat-swamped soul of the sabermetrics neighborhood? Let’s simply faux you’re studying an article on an internet site with a reputation like SuperCoolBaseballStuff.com. This will not be the time to get misplaced within the weeds. Spring is within the air, and we’re rhapsodizing concerning the scent of the freshly lower grass. The birds have returned, and so they’re waking us up at daybreak with their incessant noises. Now is the time to be enthusiastic about baseball (and irritated concerning the birds), and fairly merely, no one does extra thrilling stuff on a baseball area than Oneil Cruz and Elly De La Cruz. So let’s hold it easy. Let’s speak abo...

Allan Henry-USA TODAY Sports I noticed Dylan Cease’s begin on Monday evening and wished to go alongside some notes and video of him following his commerce to the Padres. I additionally wished to share contemporary spring notes on the brand new White Sox prospects acquired yesterday. Let’s begin with Cease. Here is my video from his unbroadcast begin: Cease sat largely 95-96 mph, with a handful of pitches within the 97-98 vary. His slider was its normal 85-87, with late, nasty break and plus size for a pitch of that velocity. His curveball is a second plus or higher providing at 80-81 mph and has hitter-freezing depth. He seemed like a contender’s entrance line starter. Padres and Rangers personnel have been in attendance (there have been a ton of scouts there — it was certainly one o...

CLEARWATER, Fla. -- Tigers starter Jack Flaherty was dealing right here towards the Phillies. He struck out 5 and allowed just one hit over 4 innings in Wednesday’s 4-1 loss. “He was great,” Detroit supervisor A.J. Hinch stated. “He did everything from show his power and strength to his ability to pitch, and change speeds with both breaking balls. I loved everything about his outing today.” Flaherty was a handful for a strong Philadelphia lineup, and stored the sellout crowd of 9,215 at BayCare Ballpark hushed throughout his 57 pitches, other than Bryce Harper’s line single to proper area within the first inning. However, it was his subsequent encounter with Harper that offered his most spectacular pitching. Flaherty acquired Harper to swing and miss at a first-pitch changeup. Then he acqu...

2:03 Jay Jaffe: With that, let’s get going. 2:03 wheelhouse: I’m making an attempt to rebalance right here, but when Cole is out for the season, do you assume the Yankees are:A) a menace for the third wild cardB) 100% useless within the water, stick a fork in them 2:05 Jay Jaffe: To borrow from Monty Python for a line that’s typically quoted in our family, “A fair question and one that in recent weeks ‘as been much on my mind.” 2:07 Jay Jaffe: I believe the reply to that relies upon upon how near the perfect variations of themselves different starters comparable to Cortes, Rodón and Stroman are in 2024. If the 2 holdovers pitch as they did final 12 months, the Yankees shall be toast 2:08 Jay Jaffe: if the three o...

CLEARWATER – All the massive life stuff that got here together with this spring is out of the best way for Zack Wheeler now. His mega-extension is signed. His new daughter is born. Now it’s time to pitch, and to lock in for the lengthy season forward. It appears like that received’t be an issue. Wheeler wasn’t good, however he certain did look near midseason type in Monday’s 2-1 loss to the Yankees at BayCare Ballpark. Wheeler struck out three and walked two throughout three no-hit innings, constructing as much as 47 pitches (27 strikes) in solely his second begin of the spring. Wheeler wasn’t thrilled concerning the two free passes. But he was happy with the progress his new splitter is exhibiting. His tempo was good. His stuff was crisp. And he did what he does in addition to anybody wit...

Coby Mayo is No. 23 on our Top 100, and a power-packed stroke is a giant motive why. Drafted by the Baltimore Orioles out of Parkland, Florida’s Stoneman Douglas High School in 2020, the 6-foot-5, 230-pound third baseman is coming off of a 2023 season the place he bashed 29 dwelling runs whereas logging a 156 wRC+ between Double-A Bowie and Triple-A Norfolk. Moreover, he did in order a 21-year-old. His maturation as a hitter has been extra nuanced than pronounced. When I talked to Mayo in March 2022, he informed me that he doesn’t “like to think about hitting too much,” and has “always been a see-ball-hit-ball kind of guy.” For essentially the most half, that hasn’t actually modified. “I try not to think too much when I get into the box,” Mayo stated when reminded of these phrases. “T...

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter concerning the retirement of Meg favourite Mike Zunino, some groups’ mismatched grey jerseys and pants, whether or not Blake Snell remains to be unsigned partially as a result of his pitching isn’t enjoyable to observe (and whether or not he walks batters by chance or on goal), and Joey Votto’s minor league cope with the Blue Jays, then preview the 2024 Tampa Bay Rays (36:14) with MLB.com’s Adam Berry, and the 2024 Pittsburgh Pirates (1:09:21) with MLB.com’s Alex Stumpf. 2024 EW Season Preview Series ALBALCHWHOUBOSCLELAANYYDETOAKTBRKCRSEATORMINTEX NLATLCHCARIMIACINCOLNYMMILLADPHIPITSDPWSNSTLSFG ...

Junfu Han/USA TODAY NETWORK A humorous factor occurred in Detroit in direction of the top of the 2023 season: In September, the Tigers have been tied with the Minnesota Twins for one of the best file within the American League. Tarik Skubal’s breakout and Spencer Torkelson’s second-half rampage helped them end second within the AL Central, albeit 9 video games behind Minnesota. You could keep in mind the pleasure surrounding the workforce after their sizzling end to the 2021 season and subsequent spending spree in free company. With that false begin in thoughts, it’s sensible to not learn an excessive amount of into the ultimate month of the 2023 season, but it surely does seem to be the group has truly progressed in direction of breaking out of their rebuilding part. The space the pl...

Mike Watters-USA TODAY Sports After an extended, chilly winter, it’s a welcome sight to have groups again on the sector this spring. The recreation’s greatest stars are getting again into their rhythms, some heated place battles are underway, and — most significantly, in fact — new knowledge is pouring into websites like FanGraphs. Caution is at all times suggested when evaluating gamers primarily based on their spring coaching statistics, however we are able to nonetheless study loads from what occurs in these exhibition video games. One of the most secure locations to start out is with a metric that gamers (pitchers, on this case) have probably the most management over: velocity. Most statistics are contingent on circumstance, making them much less dependable, notably this time of y...