I’ve written about projections a lot here. To me, they’re fascinating. You’ve got to put them in the right context, of course, but the idea that you can project with a fair level of accuracy how a baseball team will perform, with all of it’s moving parts and personalities and internal issues, is pretty amazing. Projecting Bryce Harper to be …
Continue Reading →On the radio broadcast last night, Greg Schulte lobbed a topic at Tom Candiotti: is it time to consider moving Goldy down in the batting order? Without skipping a beat, Candiotti responded: “I’d almost think about moving him up in the order,” citing his still-stellar on base percentage. Is that the right answer? If the D-backs move Goldy in …
Continue Reading →A.J. Pollock is one inspiring fellow. He’s helped Chris Owings with center field, even donating an outfielder’s glove to the cause in the early going. When Jake Lamb changed his swing a bit over the winter, he patterned his approach after Pollock, in part. And Nick Ahmed did the same thing, noting the similarities between his body and Pollock’s. An …
Continue Reading →It feel like just yesterday (actually it was Monday) that we were all roused up about how bad the Diamondbacks’ outfield defense is. Let’s face it: Yasmany Tomas is really just Mark Trumbo again. Well, in fairness to Mr. Trumbo, Tomas’ career UZR/150 in the outfield is far worse, but there are some sample size issues there. Chris Owings…
Continue Reading →Something weird is going on in MLB this year. Per FanGraphs, the rate of pitches in the zone has gone up sharply, from 44.7% to 47.1%. That may not sound like a lot, but 139,949 pitches have been thrown this year — that’s an extra 3,359 pitches in the zone, and it’s not even one fifth of the way …
Continue Reading →When Ender Inciarte was traded for Shelby Miller, it was a swap of production — from the outfield to the pitcher’s mound — with an extremely high transaction cost. Inciarte was a 2-3 win outfielder while Miller looked like a 2-3 win pitcher and the Diamondbacks were short on productive arms with established track records. It was a terrible …
Continue Reading →Patience is a virtue, and for much of baseball’s history, a heavy reliance on batting average was probably misplaced; players have wildly different walk rates, and a walk is as good as a hit in terms of 1) putting a player on base, and 2) not recording an out. No one has ever said that walks are as good as …
Continue Reading →Tonight, Lamb is once again out of the lineup against lefty Adam Conley in Miami, marking the 9th time in 30 games that Lamb has ridden the pine to start a game. He’s hitting a Herrmann-esque .188 in a paltry 16 at bats against lefties this year. Brandon Drury, .281 against lefties. Drury has been really good. When Lamb …
Continue Reading →As a few D-backs fans have noted, one Paul Edward Goldschmidt hasn’t really been himself to kick off the 2016 season. These feelings come from a place of privilege, it should be noted, because Goldy is still a perennial and current top performer in the National League, producing offense at a rate about 40% higher than league average. But this …
Continue Reading →It’s the the third season of team-initiated instant replay in baseball, and it’s becoming old hat. As you’re watching, the announcers remark on how close a particular play was. The manager walks up to the front step of the dugout, looking like he regrets waiting to hold the door open for someone who’s taking way too long to get there. …
Continue Reading →On Thursday night, Rubby De La Rosa threw a gem — the type of gem that makes you kind of wonder why you ever doubted him. Maybe you never doubted him, but I sure as hell did. It’s been a frustrating ride for De La Rosa with enough troubling outings to put his future into jeopardy and, somehow, enough …
Continue Reading →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 →Yesterday I had a little fun on Twitter dot com. I decided to run off some very brief, nearly context-free stats. That seemed to resonate pretty well with people because stats are cool and good, plus you’re probably busy and doing things quickly can be a positive sometimes. So here’s an unstructured little check-in on the Diamondbacks. You can call …
Continue Reading →If we’re being honest, Silvino Bracho was a pretty fringy big leaguer upon first glance. He’s listed at 5’10”, 190-pounds, which means he probably closer to 5’9″. There aren’t many good, sub-six-foot right handed pitchers in the majors. You’re mind is racing to find examples right now, and you probably thought of Marcus Stroman and/or Craig Kimbrel, which is …
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 →In case the secret isn’t out yet, Diamondbacks starters have had a bit of a rough go of things to start the season, with home runs allowed serving as the main bugaboo – 17 allowed by the starting rotation in their first 19 games. As Ryan wrote about after the team acquired Shelby Miller, the mix of his fastballs has …
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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- Old friend alert https://t.co/xwSHU0F8Hn,
- 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,
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