Orgfiller

Ernie for me

He still has the same concerning red flags as before though, so I don't know if it's too early to be celebrating this as a miss by MLB FOs. His Contact% is the fourth worst mark in the league among qualified hitters, broken down further as 3rd worst on pitches outside the zone and second worst on pitches in the strike zone. His whiff rate is in the first percentile. This can work, Aaron Judge has been in the 2nd percentile multiple times, although his whiff rate has never been worse than ~35%, Murakami is sitting at 41% right now. Can he keep being this patient and connecting this well every time he does make contact? Or can the contact rate get even worse than this and his plate discipline and contact ability suffers as a result? Here's a quick and dirty slugger comparison. Judge and Schwarber have career, Murakami obviously only has 2026 SSS data. The contact rate difference is pretty striking # Name Team BB% K% wOBA wRC+ xwOBA O-Swing% O-Contact% Z-Contact% Contact% SwStr% 1 Kyle Schwarber 4 Tms 14.3% 28.5% .360 127 .375 25.3% 55.8% 80.8% 71.7% 11.6% 2 Aaron Judge NYY 16.2% 27.4% .425 177 .440 25.1% 47.3% 80.9% 68.8% 13.1% 3 Munetaka Murakami CHW 21.5% 33.3% .395 153 .416 21.7% 36.7% 72.5% 60.9% 15.0%

Sorry he got infield singled to death the other day, he sucks.

Ernie Clement quietly has a 102 wRC+ on the back of a Luis Arraez like performance: .302 batting average, .105 ISO, 1.1 % BB rate, 6.9% K rate. Yes, the xwOBA says he's getting a bit lucky, but he's been outperforming it for a few years now so this isn't fully out of the norm for him. He has zero barrels on the season, but his squared up rate is in the 97th percentile. The defensive metrics have been mediocre thus far, but I'm willing to fully dismiss that as early season noise in the metrics. Some actual metrics of note though: his sprint speed is down about 1.5 ft/s, and his arm strength is down about 7 mph. I'm pretty sure this is just a factor of him mostly playing 2B and not requiring as many full strength throws as he would from 3B, but he hasn't had enough tosses from the latter this season to compare the difference.

Another thing that's impressive about him, is despite the relatively small frame, he's been improving his EV and max EV each year. 108.8 in 24, 111.2 in 25, and already topped out at 112.8 this season! Marlins got a gem.

Yeah it's probably not a coincidence that Patrick and Sproat both have been incredibly efficient these last couple of games. They're swinging early for no good reason, just to roll it over or pop it up without doing any damage. Be like Davis Schneider. Take a pitch. Be a man.

Contreras and Sanchez were already all over Corbin even when he was pitching fine, both crush lefties, and you think them facing a tired Corbin - who didn't have a Spring Training and is on his second start of the season - for a third time is genuinely a good idea?

Come on Nance, get your head out of your ass buddy.

You guys are idiots if you think letting Corbin face William Contreras and Gary Sanchez for a third time is a good idea. Objectively the right call.

Fantastic job by Corbin.

It was a hittable pitch, but he's been guessing fastball all day and getting sweepers instead which he's swung at all of them. Hasn't adjusted at all to what they're giving him.

5 pretty good innings complete with whiffs and 5 strikeouts for Patrick Corbin in the year 2026, wow.

Well executed bunt and play. Runs have been hard to come by so can't be too mad about guaranteeing a run from the 9 hole while also moving up the runner into scoring position.

Okamoto's 380 foot flyout was a homer in 15/30 parks. Still showing good opposite field power at least, when he connects well.

His last 60 innings are ROUGH lol. About to turn 33, fastball velo declining, history of shoulder troubles, and the slider which was his calling card is straight up a below average pitch now. The Location+ on his fastball is 48. Yikes. He's so cooked, it's kind of sad.

Let's go with Okamoto. Surely he has to pull one out one time.

Sproat has been awful but he throws gas and has an elite slider. I'm not too optimistic for this matchup considering our own SP.

Nice play there by Sosa.

Let's go with Gimenez.

Lukes who is struggling mightily leading off, Sosa included to lengthen the lineup - I can buy this, except - at the expense of Davis Schneider starting. Puzzling lineup with the table setters being Lukes who currently sucks and is not a high OBP guy even when he wasn't, and Varsho who at his best is still not cracking a .300 OBP.

Despite him looking comically large next to everyone else in this clip, there's no reason to move him off SS for the time being. Even if he's a butcher to begin with, he's young and it's good to develop players at the tougher position for as long as you can. Addison Barger had minor league SS starts in 2024 and 2025 and if you look at the man he should be nowhere near the position. Of the rookie phenoms this year, McGonigle is splitting his time 50/50 between SS and 3B, Wetherholt has been a full-time 2B - mostly due to the preexistence of the elite Masyn Winn. Hell the Blue Jays stuck with a fat Bo Bichette for years after he was past his athletic prime and was bleeding runs on defense even before that. Move him off SS when he forces you to or there's a better defender occupying the position that necessitates the move.

You're wrong as usual Jonn: https://www.mlb.com/video/louis-varland-in-play-out-s-to-luis-rengifo?partnerId=web_video-playback-page_video-share 1. Varland gets the comebacker, quickly looks to second to see where the runner is. Runner is sprinting to third on contact 2. Okamoto is obviously shifted, but as soon as he's in frame you see him sprinting to third 3. Varland considers throwing to 3B, but Gimenez is yelling at him to go to first for the easy out with a 3 run lead 4. Varland reconsiders going from the risky play for a runner that means nothing to getting the easy out at first Not sure what more you want Okamoto to do in this situation. He's playing where he's told due to the shift, and he can't magically teleport himself to the third base bag to be ready for a play. He reacted well and covered his position well in this scenario, there was just no need to risk it from Varland's perspective

Jays @ brewers and Misiorowski (miracle if I spelled that right) Clement (3) - Orgfiller Varsho (1) - Landry Vlad (1) - Laika Jesus (2) - John_Havok Eloy (2) - Mphenhef Lukes (4) Kaz (2) - Gimenez (3) Valenzuela (3) Bench (10)

Pasquantino and Salvador Perez have a combined wRC+ of 62...the ultimate rally killers. It gets even worse when you consider that Maikel Garcia in the leadoff spot currently has a .380 OBP.

Yeah I think the Sosa acquisition is more bad news for Nathan Lukes than anyone else. He's been brutal at the plate. It probably also tells us Okamoto's stock is down in the manager/FO's office. Could see a few more Ernie starts at 3B while giving Okamoto less aggressive playing time so he can take his time in figuring it out. Sosa becomes the de facto backup infielder, and Fitzgerald is likely sent down? We haven't seen him on the field at all despite strong numbers against lefties and experience playing literally every position except catcher. Maybe someone else is injured that we don't know about.