A Fistful of Rosin

I don’t think I’m telling tales outside of school to say that Rich Hill throws his curveball a lot. In 2016, for example, he threw it literally half the time. With good reason too: amongst major league starters who threw at least 100 innings, it ranked 3 rd in Pitch/FX’s pitch value metric behind the late great Jose Fernandez and the just great Corey Kluber. By shirking tradition and using the curve as his primary pitch, Hill managed elite numbers through his injury-shortened season: 10.5 k/9 and just 2.7 bb/9 supporting a 2.12 ERA (backed up by a 2.39 FIP). He may have gotten a little bit lucky with just a 0.33 HR/9 allowed, but there’s no denying that curveball is tough to square up. This leads to the central reason for writing this post. Rich Hill made his season debut last night with the Dodgers and while watching the game I thought that he was throwing a lot of curveballs, even for him. Here’s a second inning at bat against rookie Hunter Renfroe, in which the black dot represe...

This post was inspired by Jedd Gyorko. Jedd Gyorko is not a player I would have thought would be the basis for one of my first posts, but sometimes the universe takes the decision making process right out of your hands. Regardless, don’t get your hopes up that this will be a Gyorko-centric blog going forward. Apologies in advance, Mr. and Mrs. Gyorko. I was watching some of the Sunday night Cardinals/Cubs game and during that game, Gyorko came up to bat. His 2016 stat line flashed on the screen and something seemed peculiar. Not his 30 home runs, which, while crazy, I knew that he was at least somewhere in that vicinity. The thing that caught my eye was that paired with those 30 home runs were just 59 RBI, which instinctively seemed low. It got me to thinking, what are the lowest RBI totals for hitters that hit 30+ homers? The very next day, in fact just a mere few hours ago, with the Mets opening their season at home against Atlanta, Curtis Granderson came up to bat and his stat l...

It's opening day! Yeah, sure, there were a few games doled out like pieces of bread to the starving masses yesterday but today is the real deal! So, grab a pal and a Bacardi Breezer or whatever YOUR beverage of choice happens to be, and duck out of work (quit if necessary) and bask in the glory!

One post in, and I'm already jacking ideas straight from Fangraphs. Within, you'll find a series of predictions that I think have a small chance of coming true, but are for the most part based in some sort of statistical analysis. I'm not just going to say "Miguel Cabrera will hit 75 home runs" or anything like that. It's also tailored a bit to my home fantasy league. That league, which shares its name with this here blog, is in its fifth season now. The scoring categories skew slightly more sabermetric: batting average and runs are replaced with OBP and SLG%. On the pitching side, we've done away with wins (replaced, due to a better option, with quality starts) and include holds as well as saves. So without further to do, here are my ten bold predictions for the 2017 season: 1. Carlos Martinez finishes as a top-5 SP. I was going to say top-10 but considering he was taken as the 13th starter in the draft, that’s maybe not too bold. To do this he would ...

Baseball: it's a game steeped in tradition, yet at the same time is ever-increasingly a game about data, statistics, and analysis. Being a baseball fan from the Toronto area, I'm predominantly a Blue Jays fan, but will watch just about any game at any time. MLB.tv is a godsend. I also have an unhealthy, relationship-destroying love of fantasy baseball. I'll touch on real and fantasy baseball topics in this blog. I hope you'll join me for the ride and promise to make this thing look a touch spiffier at some point.