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I like targeting Sato but he had a 66.9% contact rate in NPB this year. He's going to strikeout over 30% of the time in MLB and never walked as much as Murakami. Pretty risky profile I think. How the Blue Jays evaluate his OF defence is a wildcard too. His isolated slugging has been over .300 in each of the last two years. The power is real.

Vladimir is going to have an off-season of introspection and improvement. 5 months of consistent and focused workouts. There won't be just March instagram posts of before-and-afters that leave the viewer guessing which is which. He will work with Aaron Judge's swing coach and tinker to produce a much shorter swing and one that is able to have a productive attack angle. He will be thinking damage with every swing and fist-pumps will be reserved for extra-base hits, not sacrifice flies poked the other way. He will finally marry his natural talent with an intelligent approach to the game. I'm expecting mvp votes next season and 50+ WAR over the remainder of the contract. This disastrous year will ultimately be worth it!

He would probably need to develop a changeup or splitter this offseason

Ty France has a 142 wRC+ in 450 PA somehow

91 rest-of-season wRC+ projection from Steamer for Bateman now. Seems a bit optimistic but I'll take it. This play yesterday was maybe the first one he "didn't make" https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/sporty-videos?playId=42ecb3d6-ebf5-3dbe-933b-69356f4e86fe But then you see that it had a 10% catch probability according to Statcast. He got there and just boxed it up a bit. The defence looks completely legit. He's getting great jumps.

That's crazy that Ketel Marte can hit the ball 117mph from both sides of the plate.

Bateman catches that!

Haha. I was waiting to see it on Statcast this morning as I thought that play was much harder than it looked. He might just be an OF Andres Gimenez with a bit more speed and a bit less power. If he's able to be 10-15 runs above average in the outfield with 4-6 more with baserunning there's a pretty good path to being a 2-3 win player each year even if he only has an 80 wRC+. The contact rate is really high but he does seem to be swinging a wet noodle a bit. Maybe he can be a .340 BABIP guy with his speed and starting in the LHH batter's box.

This play had a 10% catch probability according to Statcast and he made it look relatively easy https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/sporty-videos?playId=b2881fd0-32bc-3fd3-9bf0-27c0be1f8c7f The only play he "hasn't made" was this Jarren Duran double which had a 5% catch probability. Maybe if he breaks his neck crashing into the wall he would've had a chance https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/sporty-videos?playId=6b7f0d11-2ffa-36ed-bea4-db176ac14ea6 He's now at 3 outs above average in just 95 innings

Is Sportsnet ever going to figure out their cameras on balls hit into the corner?

Idiot usage is the correct term. He's faced 95 lefty batters and just 68 righties this season. I get that teams pinch-hit but surely they could have been much smarter about his matchups.

Jomboy sounds like he had some dental work done!

For Alan Roden and Kendry Rojas according to my sources

One hopper to the shortstop. Exactly what Varsho wants. Nicely done

Tucker Toman with a .939 OPS in high A. Still just 22.