We need to talk about defense. Well, not really defense, but how we measure defense. OK, not really how we measure defense, but what we do with it after we measure it. A couple of weeks ago, Matt Winkelman wrote something that questioned how defensive metrics were structured, specifically around the question of how we…
About a year and a half ago, Baseball Prospectus revealed a suite of catching stats that formed the basis for our industry-leading valuation of catchers. These new stats would shape how we perceived and discussed catcher value, but they also opened the door to better understanding the performance of pitchers. Two key statistics—CSAA and CS…
The date is June 21, and Justin Verlander has just struck out Mitch Haniger for the first out of the fifth inning. It was his 10th strikeout of the game, and if it wasn’t vintage Verlander that’s only because he didn’t throw his (once) devastating changeup, instead relying on a curveball with more drop than…
Let’s start here. In the now. After a shellacking at the hands of the Dodgers on Sunday, the ever-honest, 40-year-old Bronson Arroyo admitted that persistent shoulder pain might force him to call it a career. The guitar-strumming beanpole who forced us to consider the term crafty righty has made a habit of outrunning the jaws…
The Los Angeles Dodgers Launch Event By: Matt Sussman Words can’t possibly express the innovation that Dodgers president Andrew Friedman unveiled at their much-anticipated launch event, so below is an audio transcript of his presentation. CLICK TO PLAY Pride and Joy By: James Fegan My father’s favorite baseball player of all time was Emil Brown….
I was first introduced to the concepts behind sabermetrics in 1984. I was in first grade. My mother was taking classes to become a library technician at the local community college and a research project drew her, and me in tow, to the school library. On a bottom shelf I remember seeing an oversized book…
In Ralph Waldo Emerson’s 1841 essay “Self-Reliance” he wrote: “A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines.” It’s often presented without the phrase after the comma, which is okay. Sometimes people drop the word foolish, which is not okay. Let’s stick with the shortened “a foolish…
Do you remember “Operation Shutdown”? In 2001, Derek Bell hit .173 and battled injuries as an outfielder for the Pirates. Despite this, Bell believed he was entitled to regular playing time for a bad, bad Pittsburgh team heading into 2002. General manager Dave Littlefield didn’t agree, oddly enough, noting that the Pirates had some promising…
Last week, the BP Prospect Team worked long and hard to bring you the excellent Midseason Top 50 Prospect List. This week we’re doing something similar, and yet wholly dissimilar: ranking the top 50 prospect busts of the draft era, for your amusement. As we begin, hand in hand, through this journey of disappointment, please…
The Language of Peace By: Nathan Bishop I met a man earlier this year. Let’s call him Greg. The past decade of Greg’s life had seen a series of spiraling traumas. His home was foreclosed on during the housing crisis of the past decade. The stress and despair of the incident led to divorce, which…
One day I sat a dozen feet behind Maddux’s catcher as three Braves pitchers, all in a row, did their throwing sessions side-by-side. Lefty Steve Avery made his catcher’s glove explode with noise from his 95-mph fastball. His curve looked like it broke a foot-and-a-half. He was terrifying. Yet I could barely tell the difference…
On August 25, a bit of baseball history happened; only, hardly anyone noticed. The Red Sox were losing a blowout against the Orioles. To save an arm, first baseman Mitch Moreland pitched the top of the ninth inning. Hanley Ramirez took Moreland’s place at first base, replacing designated hitter Chris Young in the lineup. No…
To comb through the pitches Joey Votto saw in 2017 is to reevaluate how much can be done on purpose in half a second. After raising eyebrows with a swing-happy first couple weeks, Votto locked into an above-average zone-swing rate while chasing only 16.1 percent of the 1,377 pitches he saw that were deemed more…
1: as a Monday Morning Ten Six Pack Entry Sixto Sanchez, RHP, Lakewood Blue Claws (Philadelphia Phillies) “Sixto Sanchez was on various drafts of our 2017 Top 101” may end up the epitaph on my tombstone. I think he finally ended up getting bumped by Walker Buehler, and hey, that doesn’t look so bad right…
Mapping Cy Young By: Patrick Dubuque There is something grotesque about Cy Young’s statistics. I do not like to look at them. 453 innings pitched in 1892, a 35-10 record in 1895, a 0% home run rate in his age-43 season with the Naps in 1910. They’re reminders that baseball wasn’t really baseball, or it…
The view of those with the view.