MLB’s Biggest Losers Part I: How Bad are Hamels, Blanton, and Jackson?
Baseball purists have this perception of keeping things simple in baseball: a good starting pitcher can throw lots of innings, can control his ERA, and puts his team in the best position to win the ballgame. These “traditionalists” will explain the only thing that matters in baseball is winning and winning is everything to a […]
At This Velocity: Five MLB Relievers Losing Fire on Their Heat
We crunched the numbers on five starting pitchers who have lost velocity on their fastballs since June of 2012. Bill Petti from fangraphs.com compiled a sizable list of starting and relief pitchers for his monthly Velocity Decline Trends for the month of June. We will now take a look at five relief pitchers who have lost velocity on their fastballs in […]
At This Velocity: Five MLB Pitchers That Lost Zip on Fastball
Bill Petti of fangraphs.com recently released his monthly Velocity Decline Trends for the month of June. He compiled a sizable list of starting and relief pitchers that have lost at least one mph on their fastball since June of 2012. Petti explains: “pitchers who experience at least a one mph drop in their four-seam fastball velocity in a month […]
Gabe Kapler: Traditional Baseball Stats vs. Sabermetrics
Last year, the debate between sabermetricians and traditional baseball analysts took center stage when Miguel Cabrera and Mike Trout both had MVP-worthy campaigns, but made their cases in different stat columns. Today, in 2013, the debate is no less pertinent. I had a chance to chat with former MLB outfielder Gabe Kapler about the rift between […]
Eddie Waitkus Was No Roy Hobbs, Just a Good First Baseman
Ruth Ann Steinhagen, the Cubs fanatic who shot Eddie Waitkus in 1949, died late last year. While that’s not much of a story in itself, some baseball writers have used her death to point out the similarities and differences between Waitkus and Roy Hobbs, the character he inspired in Bernard Malamud’s baseball epic, The Natural. In […]
Mike Trout and Miguel Cabrera and Why it Doesn’t Matter
Forget about “old-time stats” and sabermetrics. Forget about the Triple Crown, for now. Ask: who has been more valuable to their team. Who has been the most valuable player? Protect yourself from the questions: who has the best numbers/equations, or, who is the oldest/wisest and most “deserving?” Which team, without this player, would not be […]