metafour

Nick Frasso start #3 in AAA: 2.2 IP, 7 H, 4 ER, 0 BB, 2 K Threw 73 pitches and didn't get out of the 3rd inning. Just 5 whiffs and a 26% CSW%. Average FB velocity: 93.8 mph again. He really hasn't been good since promotion. His velocity is nothing like it was with the Jays and he's not missing any bats. Another ugly data point: he gave up 4 of the 5 highest EV's of the entire game (including the 3 hardest hit balls). The hardest hit ball off him was 108.4 mph. In his previous start, he gave up a 114 mph EV.

So what? Maybe it gives your pitcher a few extra seconds to rest after that close play before the next at-bat. This whole challenge nonsense is bitching to bitch. You lose NOTHING by challenging there. NOTHING. Again, anything past that point is getting auto-reviewed.

Pham is hitting .250/.295/.476 with a 101 wRC+ since being traded. And that's after his 2 HR game yesterday. He went 0 for 4 with 4 K's today.

I think we need to call Big Baby's abuela up to come beat his ass pretty soon.

LMFAO @ that Guerrero at-bat. Dear god.

From today's Keith Law chat:

But you're reading that wrong. His CSW% is absurdly high because he has a 20% CStr% which is incredibly high. The reason why it's so high is because he is deliberately being ultra-selective at the plate. He seems to have zero appetite for swinging at pitches that he doesn't think he will hit well. So far, this type of strategy works for him because it's paired with an elite chase-rate, which means that even if he watches a few called strikes go by him as he's "waiting" for a fastball, he can work his way back into the count by taking balls once the pitcher tries to get him to chase off the plate. His overall Swing% is very low at 38.6%. It's pretty much the opposite of Vlad's approach wherein he tries to cover every pitch at every part of the zone. Dan Uggla is a great comparison. Uggla had very similar plate-discipline tendencies although to a less exaggerated sense. Everything about Schneider's data is exaggerated right now.

Nolan Schanuel through 15 games: A whopping 1 extra base hit (a 2B). Max EV of 101.2 mph which is bottom 6%. The contact and plate discipline are elite, but what a strange profile lol. The guy is 6'4 220 and somehow swings a pool noodle in the box.

Damiano Palmegiani had 4 walks and a 2B yesterday. Now hitting a cool .538/.632/1.077 with a 291 wRC+ in 4 AAA games.

Sure, but this applies to most hitters. I'd venture to guess that only a small handful of hitters are going to consistently hit 95+ up in the zone. There are also only a limited number of pitchers who can consistently locate 95+ up in the zone without missing. He seems to have advanced swing decisions and good strike zone judgement so its easier said than done to say "just locate three 95+ mph strikes up at the top of the zone to get him out". Maybe it all falls apart for him and he's just on some absurd heater, but I don't get what anyone could have seen so far to suggest that this is just some absurd fluke. He seems very selective at the plate and is absurdly primed to hit fastballs. The HR he hit today came on an 0-2 fastball; how was he not late trying to protect for an offspeed pitch in a clear non-fastball count? Did he just guess correctly?

Exactly. Teoscar makes $14 mill this season. Swanson makes $1.3 mill. They paid Kiermaier $9 mill for a 2.1 fWAR season. And they got a high-upside arm in Macko. It's a no-brainer smart trade for this FO. Swanson and Kiermaier have 3.1 fWAR this season at less money than Teoscar's 1.9 fWAR.

Dude can you please stop boot-licking this FO. We suck and can't do anything right. We're incredibly lucky that players we drafted and developed are up and hitting well right now.

The BABIP magic is gone for him.

Adam Macko cooked again tonight: 5 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 8 K Really encouraging emergence late in the season.

I don't think so man. Shatkins was brought in to reduce the payroll, remember? They're probably going to just non-tender him to save the $$.

What the hell is Clement doing smh. Medina walks two straight batters and he comes up swinging at two pitches nowhere near the plate. Then he singles off a pitch way high. Good "result", but he swung at 3 balls nowhere near the zone.

Awww man what the hell, why pull him!? Now the bullpen is going to be tired! Why not let your ACE battle through??

Off Top 100 prospect Jared Jones:

Frasso's AAA debut: Sat pretty much 92-94mph. Threw 10 pitches over 95mph and topped out at 97. Looking at the pitch by pitch tracker, his velocity dropped after about ~35 pitches. His fastball was mainly averaging 92-93 from pitch ~#35-80. Another thing: he had just 5 whiffs on a total of 80 pitches. His fastball in particular only had 1 whiff on 51 pitches. His overall line in the start looks good, but the stuff is down and really wasn't impressive by MLB standards. And therein lies the concern over his future profile: is his stuff ever going to hold up over a normal starter workload? He's at ~80 IP on the season which is a career high, but if he's already getting "tired" in an 80-pitch outing then he isn't doing much to squash the reliever vibes. Like someone mentioned above, he was 97-100 mph in outings prior to us trading him, so an outing wherein he's mainly throwing 92 mph is way down. Mitch White in his most recent AAA start: 95 mph average on his fastball with 5 whiffs on 36 pitches. Not making any sort of statement, but Frasso's actual stuff is worth monitoring.

Adam Macko might be back. So far tonight: 4 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 6 K

Michael Dominguez tonight: 5 IP, 2 H, 2 ER, 3 BB, 10 K Gave up 2 HR's which is now 6 in 22 IP, but he has otherwise been good since being promoted.

BA apparently wrote this about Roden yesterday:

They got literally zero "prospect points" off him lol. Imagine the "25th best" farm system's virtual non-prospect being this guy.

Yes, I love painting players with abnormal talents with the same brush that would otherwise hinder an 'average' player. The fact that he runs a 5% walk rate means much less for him than it does for 99% of the hitters in the league. He swings a lot, but he also doesn't whiff (75th percentile this season) or strike out a lot (71st percentile). A player like him could very likely become more selective and walk more if/when his bat-to-ball skills ever deteriorated. He is getting slower, but his hitting prowess really isn't predicated on his speed. His Statcast page is all red everywhere and it has been for 4 straight years now. Outliers always exist.

Hicks is considerably less hittable than Pearson. C'mon dawg.