metafour

How dumb do you think MLB batters are? Everyone already knows what is coming from Sanchez; there is nothing to "figure out" about a pitch that you simply can not do much with. Again, please explain to me what MLB hitters are going to "figure out"? Some new magical batting stance that allows them to square up a ~95+ mph pitch that darts all over the place? You're trying to convince me that he's getting by on "smoke and mirrors" (ie: something that can be "figured out") when his approach is actually the complete opposite of that. Cingrani and Colon aren't the only fastball-heavy pitchers in the league. Lance Lynn has posted 79.2% fastball usage over the past three seasons (that is actually higher than Sanchez as a starter this year) and he's only posted WARs of 3.7, 3.4, and 3.1 over that time frame. And his fastball isn't even on Sanchez's level. Why hasn't he been "figured out"?

Cingrani sucks because his walk rate is atrocious and his fastball isn't elite enough to make up for it. Cingrani gives up lots of HRs...Sanchez doesn't (in fact he's the complete opposite). Cingrani gives up hard contact....Sanchez doesn't. Sanchez can induce groundballs even when he puts guys on base, Cingrani can't do that. He puts guys on base and then gives up HRs. Apart from both throwing tons of fastballs, there is no comparison. What exactly are opposing hitters going to do to "figure out" Sanchez? Are you assuming that everyone doesn't already know that he's going to throw fastballs 80+% of the time? Its not like he's fooling hitters because they're stepping into the box and expecting him to throw offspeed pitches repeatedly. It is quite apparent that hitters simply can not hit his fastball well at all. I was saying this repeatedly even back when you all thought he sucked. So what do you do as a batter? Don't swing and hope he walks you? OK, but he's clearly been ironing out his control and is starting to punish batters who just stand there. His fastball is so good, that even when batters make contact it is typically an easy out for the defense. His fastball is so good, all he really needs to do is stay within the zone to have success. The part you're missing is that he's not just throwing a regular fastball repeatedly. He's mowing batters down with an elite pitch. A pitch that everyone knows is coming, yet still cant handle.

That strike two fastball that Headley took was comical. It had so much horizontal movement, it looked like it was pulled on a string...at ~95 mph.

He reminds you of a guy who averages 91.8 mph on his fastball and has a career 36% GB percentage? Sweet comparison.

Jim Callis' first movk draft:

I think you're giving Sano too much credit. He's a very exciting young power hitter, but he's got holes in his swing and a savvy pitcher (like Estrada) can work him. Obviously you risk giving up a home run, but a pitcher pitching at Estrada's level right now should not be afraid of that outcome going against a hitter who came into today's game batting .232 with a 34% strikeout rate. Sano is making contact on just 66.7% of his attempts this season, with a z-contact rate of 75.5%. Mauer? Not only is he considerably harder to strike out, but his ability to make contact is through the roof: 87.3% overall, and 90.6% z-contact. In that situation, I fear Mauer hitting a single much more than I fear Sano hitting a HR. Mauer's entire approach is basically revolved around taking what the pitcher gives him and dumping singles all over the field; I feel that this works much better against Estrada's pitching style than a wild-swinger like Sano who can be abused. Estrada's tricks work against a lot of hitters, a guy like Mauer to me is simply too robotic at the plate to fool.

I think he's right, for once. Mauer makes considerably more contact than Sano, its really not close. With 2 outs and a fast runner on second, any single scores the runner as he's running on contact. A savvy pitcher like Estrada can make Sano swing and miss (which you saw tonight) as well as force him to pop/fly out. A hitter like Mauer on the other hand can slap singles around even on good pitches because his approach is always to stay quiet and balanced at the plate. Mauer looked MUCH more dangerous against Estrada tonight than Sano did.

The reports are simply mixing his slider/curve. They're talking about the same pitch, just calling it two different things which sometimes happens in the minors.

Rios has gotten positive reviews on his stuff from real scouts. Its not "statline scouting"; we've had those guys before (like Nestor Molina) who never got any real press despite their awesome looking stat-line. I don't think he's an elite prospect or anything; but a "92-94 fastball with late life" and a wipeout breaking ball with a solid feel and good delivery is a real prospect.

Its an away game. You have to use your best reliever. Period.

To be fair he's been calling that one a strike all night, even for Estrada. The one to Saunders was ridiculous, but that one to Tulo was fine.

I don't think its that absurd. "Mediocre Mauer" is still an extremely high-contact hitter with the type of swing that generates a lot of slap singles all over the field. You can do a lot more to either strike Sano out or get him to pop-up/fly-out on a wild swing.

No, he's been right before...he just misgauges the round usually. I remember him mocking both Aaron Sanchez and Sean Reid-Foley as first round picks for us; in both cases we did indeed end up with said player, but not in the spot he had them in. In this case we're either cutting an under-slot deal with Bichette, or more realistically he's heard that we like him a lot but hasn't clued in that he's probably a target for one of our other picks.

Keith Law's first mock draft from today; to add more proof that there is no need to worry about becoming a "safe/college" favouring team all of a sudden. This seems awfully early for Bichette however so I wouldn't put much stock on it other than that we may like him in the ~2nd round.

Got into the Frankie Piliere draft chat:

Jon Harris with his best outing to date: 6 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 9 K 72 pitches, 51 strikes

How were they insulted? David Ortiz has been playing out the entire back end of his career on 1-2 year deals. Adrian Beltre literally just signed a 2-year $36 million extension, and unlike Bautista he not only can still play defensively, he's one of the best at his position. Yet you think that we're low-balling Bautista and EE? Get real.

Shapiro is the President you tard. You really think he's orchestrating trades for relievers? Really? He let Antonetti make blockbuster trades on his own in Cleveland (the Ubaldo Jimenez trade) that he later would admit he would not have made had he been the GM. This storyline about him being some secret puppet-master is growing old. He's not running the team from behind the scenes, no matter how badly you want to assume so.

Wasn't the team trying to scrap together their own money just a year prior in an attempt to get Ervin Santana signed? I seriously doubt these guys are devastated by AA leaving. We started last season with an absurd amount of Rookies either starting and/or playing pivotal roles (Pompey, Norris, Sanchez, Castro, Osuna, Travis)...AA didn't "make additions" until the trade deadline.

Rationally? I'd expect you to act like a human being who is in control of his/her emotions and who understands that physical violence is hilarious over-exaggeration to someone "yapping". But you're a lesser being from Baltimore, so I guess that is too much to expect.

No, he wasn't. Jose's antics are all psychological (staring players down, talking s***, etc). He's a smart player; he's not stupid enough to risk an 8+ game suspension by throwing a punch (which he KNOWS is a big no-no) because another player shoved him in the chest. Even when you look at the stills of the punch you can see that his right hand doesn't even come close to forming a "fist" until he's already been hit...and even then you can easily claim that its just the body's natural instinct to tense up after being struck. He was as surprised as everyone else that Odor was actually willing to start swinging over that incident.

I don't understand your logic. "Complaining", "posturing", and having a "me first attitude" doesn't warrant ANYTHING because its not HARMING anyone. You think that constant complaining warrants a punch to the face?

Anyone know if the MiLB app pitch tracking is just really off, or are MiLB umpires really this bad? http://i.imgur.com/jZDDyhb.jpg

BA put out their 3rd mock today:

You're making quite a few assumptions. Last year, the Indians epitomized "upside" at the front end of their draft with Brady Aiken (injured, BPA) followed by popping a HUGE over slot selection in Triston McKenzie ($2+ mill HS pitcher) and then another HS pitcher in Juan Hillman (who our own staff was reportedly after as well).