Currently viewing the tag: "Silvino Bracho"

2017 Spring Preview: A Wide Open Bullpen

On March 6, 2017 By

My goodness, there are a ton of relief arms in camp this spring. I know, I know. This isn’t exactly unheard of as relievers, especially those not slated for late inning duty, are probably the most fungible assets in the game. They’re also the most volatile. With performances fluctuating wildly and sample sizes small, evaluating relievers is difficult in the …

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2017 Preview: Pitcher Forecasts

On January 30, 2017 By

How do you know if something is broken? Usually, you give something a go and don’t get the desired effect. Maybe you try again and still get an error. Other times, after a second try, everything works just fine. There always little blips on the radar of life. I mean, we all have to cycle our routers once in a …

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Raising the Bar for Relievers

On January 3, 2017 By

A new year provides an opportunity for reflection. I was doing a bit of that recently, thumbing through some old episodes of The Pool Shot while being delayed at the airport again. The experience was fun and while I’d like to think we were right more than we were wrong, the episodes help harken back to a time that the …

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40-Man Roster Roulette is Underway for the D-backs

On November 9, 2016 By

The game of Diamondbacks musical chairs continues. I sometimes wonder what song they’re playing when the music is on. Is it light pop music? Maybe White Snake? Perhaps it’s some modern house music to confuse the middle-aged participants? Either way, the music stopped briefly yesterday and several people were left without a chair, notably coaches Mark Grace and Matt Williams…

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Another Day, Another Meltdown: Which D-backs Relievers Will Stick?

On August 4, 2016 By

The Diamondbacks’ bullpen burned down another one yesterday. Another day, another meltdown it seems. With pitching under the microscope every time out, the ninth inning getting away from Jake Barrett felt like just another blow during a difficult year. He recorded the first two outs of the inning, then deflected a ball that should have been the routine third out, …

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What Happened to Silvino Bracho?

On April 27, 2016 By

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 …

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The Platoon Continuum for D-backs RHP Relievers

On April 5, 2016 By

The D-backs will roll with just Andrew Chafin as a lefty out of the ‘pen to start the season, with Brad Ziegler, Daniel Hudson, Tyler Clippard, Randall Delgado, Silvino Bracho and Jake Barrett all throwing from the right side. With Josh Collmenter omitted because of a trip to the DL and Enrique Burgos and Evan Marshall…

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Opening Day and Bold Predictions

On April 3, 2016 By

It’s that time, sports fans: Opening Day for the Diamondbacks and 19 other teams. If you follow the D-backs, you’ve survived a slow death to the season in 2013, a 2014 that was derailed before it got going, and a 2015 season that included some long-lasting experiments that were at least as frustrating to watch as they were smart to …

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Double Plus: Silvino Bracho Spinning His Way to Success

On February 26, 2016 By

Pitchers and catchers and everyone else have reported to Spring Training. The season is drawing nearer all the time (not hyperbole, this is really happening). Arizona’s roster will start to take shape over the next couple of weeks as games start, someone (or two) gets hurt, etc. The team doesn’t appear to be all that close to putting a roster …

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A Unique Set of Skills

On February 23, 2016 By

Relief pitchers are weird. Wait, that’s unfair. I’m sure most of them are normal in so far as professional athletes are concerned. But analyzing them is weird. There are so many variables to account for that it’s really difficult to do them justice. Which part of the lineup are they facing? What’s the leverage of the situations they’re placed in? …

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Why the 2015 Sinker Experiments Didn’t Work: Understanding Platoon Splits of More Kinds of Fastballs

On December 31, 2015 By

Its not that often that I feel like the scales have fallen from my baseball eyes, but it just happened, and I’m excited to share why. It’s not that this one thing Explains All Baseball, but the effect seems to be enormous: whether or not a pitch has a platoon split has much to do with how vertical the movement …

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Aaron Blair, Braden Shipley and Brandon Drury Lead the BayBears and Aces

On October 27, 2015 By

The upper minors are a mixed bag. On one hand you have some of the most talented, close-to-the-majors guys in system playing their tails off in AA, trying to get the call. On the other, you have a big crop of major league vets who are toiling at AAA hoping to get one last crack at the big leagues. The …

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Silvino Bracho Doesn’t Want Your Stinkin’ Ground Balls

On October 1, 2015 By

The results are mixed, and yet the D-backs have had plenty of success getting ground balls out of their pitchers. It’s not that they’ve cultivated a ground balls staff through acquisition; it’s more that they’ve changed some of the pitchers they have. With some, like Josh Collmenter, that didn’t work out too well. With others… well, Zack Godley wasn’t …

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Westbrook, Diaz and Others Gaining Momentum in the Minors

On August 26, 2015 By

There’s been a ton of focus on the major league club around here and that’s for a good reason. They’re doing pretty well and certainly have blown those preseason expectations out of the water, plus they’re a pretty damn fun team to watch play baseball. The gears are still grinding in the minors, however, and it’s about time a few …

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Aaron Blair is Stealing the Limelight for AA Mobile

On May 29, 2015 By

Last year it was High-A Visalia where the bulk of the exciting minor league talent began the season, this year it’s Double-A Mobile. This wave of good young prospects has moved along, somewhat in unison, as the BayBears are loaded with interesting guys. But if you know anything about the strengths of the Diamondbacks’ minor league system, you’re well aware …

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Visalia Rawhide (A+) 2015 Preview

On April 14, 2015 By

It’s hardly a secret, but Visalia is a disorienting place to play. It’s notorious for warping statistical outcomes and any time a batter’s performance exceeds expectations or a pitcher’s performance disappoints, it’s common to say, “well, hey, it was at Visalia.” In fact, the entire California League is brutal on pitchers and rewards hitters like no other.

That’s not a …

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