Posts by: Ryan P. Morrison
Unless you were born on an April 29th, the date probably doesn’t have any special significance to you. It’s not a Major Baseball Event. But it is a nice little D-backs milestone, because as others have raised repeatedly — especially Jeff, on The Pool Shot — the team had a borderline cruel schedule for this month, and yet things are …
Continue Reading →One of the first evolutions in sabermetrics was the idea that pitchers didn’t control nearly as much as was widely believed for a very long time. Some things pitchers clearly do influence heavily: strikeouts, and walks. And with those “defense-independent pitching” principles, we got the first generation of “ERA estimators,” statistics that derive most of their meaning from the outcomes …
Continue Reading →The D-backs have adopted an aggressive old-school approach to building a baseball team. Maybe we should have seen it coming after renowned experimenter Tony La Russa took the helm; you can almost imagine him taking the job as Chief Baseball Officer in part because of some zeal in adopting strategies he wished he could have adopted as a manager. However …
Continue Reading →Once upon a time, Archie Bradley was a top prospect with two plus or better pitches, a developing change and command issues that seemed to be improving. In June 2013, he rose to become Keith Law’s “best pitching prospect,” ahead of a recently-drafted Mark Appel and hit-or-miss types in Taijuan Walker and Dylan Bundy. Nothing was guaranteed, but with …
Continue Reading →When the D-backs last wore one of the new teal uniforms/won a game, they did so in dramatic fashion on Tuesday, felling the Dodgers 4 to 2 on the back of home runs from Nick Ahmed and Paul Goldschmidt, a Socrates Brito triple, and the finest pitching performance this club has had to date this year: a sturdy 6-inning, …
Continue Reading →Last season, Robbie Ray seemed to balance on the edge of a knife. He lived on the edge of the zone to his arm side, tantalizing hitters with fastballs that normally they could drive — if only they didn’t have Ray’s tremendous arm-side run, carrying them even farther outside. When “The Slurge” was delivered, you couldn’t help but lose your …
Continue Reading →We warned you over the winter not to forget Evan Marshall, and he reemerged in spring training, holding Cactus League hitters to a .205 batting average in 11 innings with 8 punchouts and just 2 free passes. Marshall’s rookie season was excellent by any metric, but it wasn’t just the 2.74 ERA over five months of pitching: it …
Continue Reading →Time shares among position players are great; they add value. Positional flexibility is also valuable, regardless of how a team takes advantage of it. This year, the D-backs look poised to take advantage of both of those things, in a way that could affect their place in the standings. Chris Owings and Brandon Drury each played a second position last …
Continue Reading →I’ve used this metaphor before, but I can’t think of a better one. Say 30 people are in a room for a meeting, and in comes a giant plate of sandwiches. Maybe more sandwiches than are needed (35?), but not so many that people aren’t eyeing the buffet to see if they need to make a bold move to get …
Continue Reading →Go to Chase Field this April, and you may notice some sliders missing. In addition to that glaring omission from the stadium menus, Patrick Corbin may be throwing his best pitch less often — and “throwing his best pitch less often” doesn’t exactly sound good. Corbin has had a lot of his success by limiting his fourseam usage in favor …
Continue Reading →Shelby Miller is an unusual pitcher. Remaking himself partway through 2014, even the batted ball exit velocity data shows him to have been a contact manager last year — and you have no farther to look than the quality of the contact against him to see that his 3.02 ERA last year wasn’t as much about luck as you might …
Continue Reading →Not long ago, we worked through some research that betrayed a general principle: the more horizontal the movement on a pitch, the more susceptible to large platoon splits it was likely to be. The converse — that when the movement of a pitch was more or mostly horizontal, the bigger the platoon splits — clashed with the D-backs’ sinker …
Continue Reading →If you needed a reminder that D-backs have their baseball operations helmed by Tony La Russa, you’ve gotten it most games this spring in the lineup card. After Zack Greinke was signed, there was immediate speculation about the D-backs experimenting with the pitcher’s spot in the order again, just as they had on a more limited basis last year. We’ve …
Continue Reading →If “spring training” means “roster battles,” then “roster battles” means “second lefty reliever competition” almost as much. You may not end up having too many conversations about it this year, but there is news, and new analysis to be done — and how things have shaped up so far sheds some light on other, bigger ticket questions this spring. Today, …
Continue Reading →Considering the D-backs’ struggles to build a pitching staff, it’s strange and probably unfortunate that the catchers the team has in camp right now are likely to rate poorly on the defensive side of the ball. At the plate, though, the story could be a lot different. Welington Castillo will undoubtedly lead the way, barring injury; his 17 home runs …
Continue Reading →@ryanpmorrison
Best part of Peralta’s 108 mph fliner over the fence, IMHO: that he got that much leverage despite scooping it out… https://t.co/ivBrl76adF, 
RT @OutfieldGrass24: If you're bored of watching Patrick Corbin get dudes out, you can check out my latest for @TheAthleticAZ. https://t.co/k1DymgY7zO, - Of course, they may have overtaken the league lead for outs on the bases just now, also...
But in 2017, Arizona ha… https://t.co/38MBrr2D4b,
- Prior to the games today, there had only been 5 steals of 3rd this season (and no CS) in the National League. The… https://t.co/gVVL84vPQ5,
- RT @OutfieldGrass24: Patrick Corbin has a WPA of .318 and it's only the fifth inning.,
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- Every once in a while you get a beer that's just a little off... Usually happens to me at airports.,
- If Pollock doesn’t sign with a team that wears red uniforms I’m going to be really disappointed. Working theory: Se… https://t.co/zHn9DqzEiD,
- The work here by @Britt_Ghiroli is splendid https://t.co/c8tSq0vw3T,
RT @TheAthleticAZ: Plenty of #Dbacks fans gave it some time - and they still don't like the idea. The "why" from @ZHBuchanan
https://t.co/9oDlvue3fV, 
RT @CardsNation247: Episode 30 of the Cardinals Nation 24/7 Podcast, Hosts @ToR_Ron75 & @JMRedwine welcome @buffa82 of @KSDKSports &… https://t.co/7dbIEzcahN,
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