Sunday Notes: Saber Seminar, Yelich, Shipley, Hooton, Aardsma, more
Christian Yelich is one of the best young hitters in baseball. He’s not one of the best when it comes to talking about his craft. Twice I’ve tried, and twice I’ve failed to draw much out of the Miami...
View ArticleWhat Could The Marlins Possibly Want With Alex Rodriguez?
With 117 games in the books, the Miami Marlins are one measly half-game out of wild card position. Considering they’re just five games over .500 and four teams are within 2 1/2 games of that final wild...
View ArticleZach Britton Could Have a Real Cy Young Case
“Does Zach Britton have a shot at the Cy Young this year?” It’s a question I didn’t take seriously at first. It’s only happened once in the last 20 years, and Eric Gagne’s 2003 season is perhaps the...
View ArticleSaberseminar 6 Was A Smashing Success
Each August, the best and brightest minds in the game come together in Boston for Saberseminar. Like the five conferences that preceded it, Saberseminar 6 was a fantastic weekend of friends and...
View ArticleProjecting Yankees Call-Ups Aaron Judge and Tyler Austin
Just hours after Alex Rodriguez walked off the field following his final game (in pinstripes, at least), the Yankees made the following string of transactions. And just hours after making those...
View ArticleEric Longenhagen Prospects Chat 8/15
2:03 Eric A Longenhagen: Good morning (in Arizona, anyway). Got back late last night from the PG game in San Diego so things will probably be abbreviated today. 2:03 Nolan: I’m thinking of going to a...
View ArticleFanGraphs Audio: Eric Longenhagen in Just One Area Code
Episode 675 Lead prospect analyst Eric Longenhagen is the guest on this edition of the pod, during which he shares some notes from the Area Code Games on the top high-school prospects (including RHP...
View ArticleProjecting Astros Call-Up Teoscar Hernandez
Teoscar Hernandez has always possessed an enticing combination of power and speed. His primary flaw, however, has been his inability to make contact. In 2014, he belted 21 homers and stole 33 bags, but...
View ArticleJoc Pederson’s Taken the Difficult Step
It feels like ages ago, but back when he was a high-level prospect, George Springer was absolutely fascinating. In Springer, the Astros had a phenomenal athlete with almost unparalleled bat speed. But...
View ArticleBaseball Is Wonderful and Horrible: Two Pictures
I just wrote a little bit about Joc Pederson making gains in his ability to make contact. The first commenter underneath got me thinking about Javier Baez. In the Pederson post, I began by reflecting...
View ArticleHere Are Some of the Astros’ Missing Wins
Clutch hitting isn’t that real of a thing. We don’t need to dwell on this, right? We’ve been over this so many times and I think we all share a common understanding. Sure, there’s room for clutch...
View ArticleThe Reds Have a Raisel Iglesias Decision
Just six months ago, Raisel Iglesias was everyone’s favorite starting pitcher breakout candidate for 2016. The 26-year-old Cuban, signed for seven years and $27 million by the Cincinnati Reds in 2014,...
View ArticleAugust Fagerstrom FanGraphs Chat — 8/16/16
12:01 august fagerstrom: West coast chat! 12:01 august fagerstrom: Coming to you live from a coffee shop in Los Angeles, three hours earlier than I’m used to chatting 12:02 august fagerstrom:...
View ArticleCarson Fulmer: A White Sox Rookie on his Enigmatic Identity
Carson Fulmer has an enigmatic identity. As Eric Longenhagen wrote last month, the 22-year-old right-hander “was perhaps the 2015 draft’s most polarizing prospect,” thanks in part to an electric...
View ArticleMookie Betts Needs Some New Comparisons
On Sunday, and for the second time this season, Mookie Betts launched three home runs in a game. He now has 26 home runs on the season; for comparison, Giancarlo Stanton has 25, Chris Davis has 24, and...
View ArticleThe Uncertain Future of Giancarlo Stanton
In 2010, 20-year-old Giancarlo Stanton slugged 22 homers in 396 plate appearances. Only 11 20-year-olds had ever hit more home runs in a season, and only Bob Horner in 1978 hit more homers in fewer...
View ArticleCharlie Blackmon Has Zeroed In
It’s been observed before we don’t write that much about the Rockies. Now, this is one of those things that works both ways — we could probably stand to write about them more, but there also hasn’t...
View ArticleA Cy Young Reliever Should Be Almost Impossible
I love Zach Britton. I loved him even when he was a failure. I love his numbers, and I love his approach. I love trying to find other pitchers who might have some prayer of becoming the next version of...
View ArticleGoodbye To The Greatest Walkless Streak We May Ever Know
In retrospect, it was inevitable. Monday night, Bartolo Colon did what once looked to be impossible and drew the first walk of his major league career. The all-time leader in plate appearances without...
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