Laika

ICYMI https://www.mlb.com/video/vlad-jr-s-four-hit-game The first two hits were absolutely murdered. The fourth hit is a good example of what happens when he hits the ball in the air, even when he doesn't crush it. The single was a bit lucky I guess but he still hit it pretty hard and last year fat Vlad might not leg that out. But holy s***, those first two hits. The second double was a line drive that didn't get five feet off the ground but look how quickly it got to the wall... Two of the hits today were essentially dingers.

Or did he get picked off, lol? picked off so fast you didnt' even notice! lightning cat

Am I drunk or does Tanner Roark look a tiny bit better? Just hit 93 on this Phillies gun and then pulled the string on Hoskins.

GB rate is nice and could conceivably be a way for someone to be decent without missing bats. See guys like Brett Anderson or Brad Keller. Zeuch's stuff seems to be below average across the board but some of it is kind of tantalizingly close to being average or better. He'd need to gain one or two mph on his average and top end fastball to have Brad Keller's, for example. Ivan Nova was a durable and worth owning shitballer for many years but he was sitting 92.5 or 93 and touching 96, which is better than Zoinks. When you see a thinner 6'7" guy, it's easy to imagine them adding velocity (but if Zeuch could he probably already would have...) Zeuch has consistently limited runs in the minors and has avoided being destroyed in the limited MLB sample, so that's a tiny feather in his ball cap. He's a boring up and down depth SP right now, like Waguespack, but he has the chance to tweak a couple of things and elevate his profile. He probably won't do that though; remember that we are talking about best case scenarios when referencing guys like Nova and Keller and there is a 90% or 95% chance he doesn't work out like them. By tweaking things I mean adding a full letter grade to his FB, turning his boring changeup into a plus pitch, refining his used cutter into a weapon - stuff like that. In the current depth chart I don't see how they can justify rolling him out there as an MLB SP. There are tons of guys ahead of him who don't need such drastic developments.

Tellez had two groundouts yesterday that were 110.5 and 113 mph. Both of those EVs would have been in his top 10 BBE in both 2020 and 2019.

No man, everything is there. He can throw a fringe average fastball for strikes and he has at least one functioning testicle. Just give it time

I have the schedule set now for 21 weeks. 8 teams in the playoffs. Playoffs will run for weeks 22-24. Our league will end before the last week of the MLB season (so week 25 in Fantrax will not be used). Division winners all make playoffs (4) and then the next 4 best records make it is wildcards. The 8 playoff teams will be ranked 1-8 and 1 plays 8, 2 plays 7, etc. Division winners do not automatically get the top 4 spots so you can win the division and have to face the #1 team. Playoff matchups will be entered manually by me or another commissioner. I think we do this to avoid screwy Fantrax tiebreaker rules? I just randomized the schedule, BTW. I'm not going to fudge matchups. You all get two random double ups against someone.

Are you setting Fx to do the playoffs, or doing manual playoffs? IIRC we do manual playoffs for some reason.

nvm

Is it 1995? 92?

His 2nd home run today was a next level oppo bomb that almost nobody else can do. Only the most powerful sluggers can do that. just a glorious moon shot

Just saw an Ohtani HR highlight from today.... the guy should not be pitching. If all he had to worry about was hitting and defense, he's probably something like Cody Bellinger right? Maybe less D but still. He's a potential 50 HR bat who could probably be a decent RF with the best OF arm in baseball. And he can run.

I like your side because you got more poops.

That's a hefty deal that somebody is going to regret a lot. Not sure who!

This is the worst TV lineup imaginable. You basically just tune in to watch Ryu, Tellez, and Teoscar for four innings or whatever.

lol sick lineup for a rare TV game

No, Groshans. Just a stray thought I didn't post while Groshans was up

Groshans has looked pretty immature at the plate all spring. Guess hitter so far.

Hard to judge much from that outing but that's definitely a fastball with run and sink. Ten years ago that would be a good thing but not sure these days. 93-94.8 is good. Could see him sitting like 95 later this year maybe.

Age alone doesn't portend to Velo increase though. He looks pretty built already

Okay, so maybe he could be an SP3. Looks to be a strike throwing machine with a full bag of pitches. Plus command elevates the bag of mostly average stuff. But the change and curve both have some nice characteristics visually at least. If he can add some Velo somehow, look out.

Gameday is mislabeling SWR pitches by the way. Some of these curve labels are actually changeups. There was a cutter labelled as a slider. The change looks good The slider is getting called a curve too. So it's all over the place

SWR is going to have to get by on plus pitchability or some kind of weaponized off speed stuff because his fastball is very average. I don't see him as a high upside arm, perhaps more of a potential 4th or 5th SP like Kay and Hatch.

Amazing showing for Manoah. Plus fastball that he can pour into the zone or throw up for whiffs. Might play up above velocity due to extension or deception? Possibly double-plus slider. A dominant pitch. He threw changeups (4), curveballs (3), and two seamers (9) today too. None of them impressed much. He had trouble commanding all three. The changeup did get a strikeout whiff and flashed potential there. I think he got two groundouts on the two seamer which I guess showed some utility. Tendency to hang the change, hang the curve, and spike the two seamer in the dirt. The thing is the FB and SL combo is so good that he doesn't need a third plus pitch; he just needs enough diversity to help the FB+SL play up. He might throw 50% FB, 35% SL, and sprinkle in the rest.

He has shown the curve, change, and two seamer. Got a K on the change