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In the first year of collecting exit velocities, we’ve uncovered a few truths. The first and most important, although also the most obvious, is that the old adage of “hit the ball hard and good things will happen” is consistent with the data that’s been recorded. When the ball is blasted to virtually any field, the odds of a good …
Continue Reading →With the way the Diamondbacks have hit the ball in 2015, everyone knows that the pressure will be on the team to improve the pitching staff. That was a concern heading into the 2015 campaign and acquiring Rubby De La Rosa, Allen Webster and Jeremy Hellickson served as more of a band-aid than a solution. Robbie Ray’s earned …
Continue Reading →Nick Ahmed led off for the Diamondbacks last night. That was a surprise, but given what he’s done against lefties (at times) this year, it wasn’t a total shock. Chris Owings hit second and that was surprise, too. Considering that Owings has managed to be worse against lefties than righties in 2015, showing a neat little reverse platoon split, that …
Continue Reading →When Yasmany Tomas was signed last winter, I certainly did my best to describe the asset the Diamondbacks had just purchased. But that was a difficult task. Tomas hailed from Cuba and there wasn’t a lot to go on. We had a few scouting reports from international sources, but little video, and even the reports were based on limited viewings. …
Continue Reading →Brad Ziegler is a unique pitcher. You don’t have to see him throw more than two pitches to understand that. His mechanics, his motion, his repertoire, how his pitches move – all of these fall well outside the norm. As a reliever, he’s particularly unique in that he doesn’t generate a lot of strikeouts in an era where strikeouts have …
Continue Reading →Good news comes in many forms. Sometimes you get a raise or a promotion, sometimes you find an old Snickers from last Halloween in the bottom of your sock drawer (how’d it get there?) and sometimes you’re long-lost uncle from the Ivory Coast writes to tell you that you’ve inherited millions of dollars that can all be yours if you’ll …
Continue Reading →Ups and downs are part of the game of baseball. Whether you want to admit it or not, it’s this series of changes that helps make baseball so compelling. Without the ebbs and flows, the waxing and the waning, the ever-changing currents, the game would be far too static. This a lot easier to admit when you’re working with that …
Continue Reading →Hey, here’s something fun! Well, it’s fun to me, maybe it’s not fun for you. How should I know what you think is fun? That first sentence is all kinds of presumptive but, really, I just don’t care. I’m betting that you think this is fun. Luckily, I’m not betting very much. But anyways, here’s the challenge:
Tell me what …
Continue Reading →Okay, the title is a little ominous, but hear me out. Jeremy Hellickson is entering his third year of arbitration this winter. He’s making $4.28 million this year, a figure that was decided upon after he missed a good chunk of 2014 with injury and had uninspiring results. Hellickson has stayed healthy in 2015 and has improved his stock on …
Continue Reading →Patrick Corbin’s 2014 Tommy John surgery was bad news for a number of reasons. First, it probably hurt like hell. Second, he didn’t get to pitch at all in 2014 and missed the first half of 2015. Third, it did cast some doubt on his ability to rediscover his role as a staff-leading pitcher. TJ’s are so common these days …
Continue Reading →Welington Castillo. Man. Who saw this coming? The guy who was supposed to help solidify a beyond-shaky catching situation has, unexpectedly, turned into an offensive juggernaut for the Diamondbacks. To get the full effect of how blown away we should be about his performance, I guess you have to understand two things. The first of those things is just how …
Continue Reading →Let’s face it, Paul Goldschmidt hasn’t been going so well lately. I mean, he’s still been good, but good isn’t great and great is what we’re accustomed to seeing out of Goldy. He’s an MVP-caliber player who’s been playing like a solid regular for the last month. Guys like David Peralta, Welington Castillo and A.J. Pollock have been picking …
Continue Reading →When Goldy made the Near-MVP Leap from a 124 wRC+ 2012 season to the 156 wRC+ level he attained in 2013, it seemed almost too good to be true. Here he was, this guy who was supposed to be pretty good but probably not great, and his hot start that year just never seemed to disappear. It was a new …
Continue Reading →If you look at ERA, Rubby De La Rosa has been pretty bad. That’s usually what we think anyways when we see an ERA hovering around five. And if that’s of concern to you, perhaps you’ve also asked yourself why he’s even still in the rotation. Survivorship is a big part of it – he hasn’t missed a start – …
Continue Reading →When this season began, the Arizona Diamondbacks were an afterthought for most of baseball. Several major publications picked them to be the worst team in their division despite a very obvious purple sinkhole in Denver. On The Pool Shot, we made some predictions and I went with something like 72 wins while Ryan went with 78. He looks smarter …
Continue Reading →@ryanpmorrison
Congrats to @OutfieldGrass24 on a beautiful life, wedding and wife. He deserves all of it (they both do). And I cou… https://t.co/JzJtQ7TgdJ, - 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,
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RT @Sky_Kalkman: Anyone have Phoenix food and/or golf recommendations? Bonus points for vegan-friendly., 
RT @cdgoldstein: As we head towards the end of the year, much of my time (and many others', in fact) has been absorbed by the BP Ann… https://t.co/RW3XwQxMA3, - Yeah okay this is the best beer label I’ve seen in a while (beer was great, too) https://t.co/CwMw4D7jy9,
- Five sleeping dogs (finally) https://t.co/mKQms5M3lM,
- Just posted a photo @ Oregon https://t.co/xLwWn4jzTI,
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