By Axel Post There are a lot of baseball players. It's hard to keep track of who has been surprisngly good this season. I'm not going to sit here in this blog and tell you that Shohei Ohtani has had a good season, you probably already know he is good. I'm also going to leave... Continue Reading →
Worst to First: A Pittsburgh Pirates Case Study
The 2022 Pittsburgh Pirates finished an abysmal 62-100. They were 31 games back of the NL Central division winner St. Louis Cardinals, a team that finished 93-69 and was widely considered the weakest division winner in the National League. Given the Pirates atrocious run differential of -226, they were expected to lose 4 more games... Continue Reading →
Meet College Baseball’s Shohei Ohtani: Jac Caglianone
University of Florida sophomore Jac Caglianone has taken the college baseball world by storm. After a freshman season that saw Caglianone slash .288/.339/.548 and achieve selections to the SEC All-Tournament Team and the NCAA Gainesville Regional All-Tournament Team, he was poised for another strong campaign. To say he has delivered would be an understatement. So... Continue Reading →
Is This Finally the Angels Year?
Despite having a roster that has included some of the best and most recognizable players in baseball, the Los Angeles Angels of recent years have been stuck in mediocrity. The franchises "stars and scrubs" approach of roster construction has been unsuccessful as the team hasn't qualified for the postseason since 2014 and hasn't finished above... Continue Reading →
To Swing or Not to Swing
The offensive side of baseball is an ever-evolving subject that remains an unperfected craft. There are countless ways for teams and players to be successful at the plate. Different people have different perspectives on how to approach the game in the batter's box. As pitching continues to develop it is very important for offenses to remain... Continue Reading →
Seattle Mariners Offseason Review
The Seattle Mariners surprised many during the 2021 season, finishing with a 90-72 record and only 2 games out of the American League Wild Card. While the -51 run differential might cause some to question the legitimacy of last season's success, the organization made it clear they meant business moving forward by their activity this... Continue Reading →
Revitalizing Batting Average with BA+
Ted Williams once said, "baseball is the only field of endeavor where a man can succeed three times out of ten and be considered a good performer". Batting Average has long been used as a way to compare production of hitters. Over the years people have come up with stats like OPS+ and wRC+ which... Continue Reading →
Platoon to the Moon!!!
The great Ty Cobb once said, “If a man pretends to be a major leaguer, he should stay in the lineup no matter who is pitching.” This is coming from someone who was 1 of 2 guys to ever have over 4,000 MLB hits. For the rest of the 99.99% who don’t have the highest... Continue Reading →
Shohei Ohtani’s Remarkable 2021 Season
While many were aware of Shohei Ohtani's two-way potential when he was posted by the Nippon-Ham Fighters back in the winter of 2017, few could have imagined it was possible for him to accomplish what he did during the 2021 season. It is certainly not unheard of for someone to enter pro-ball with two-way potential.... Continue Reading →
Snuffy Stirnweiss
Throughout the history of baseball, there have only been 2 players to lead their league in OPS and defensive WAR in the same season. One of them is Willie Mays (in 1954) which should come as no shock to anyone. The other...was Snuffy Stirnweiss (in 1945). When we think of the year 1945, the ending... Continue Reading →
How Different Counts Affect Fastball Velocity
Have you ever noticed that good pitchers seem to reach back for a little extra velo when they need it? This blog post will look at the top 20 starting pitchers by average fastball velocity. I chose starting pitchers because they have to pace themselves throughout a game more than relievers so I expected to... Continue Reading →
An Introduction to Point of Contact
One of the best tools available to programs around the country is HitTrax. With HitTrax, batters hit off a pitching machine or live pitcher and get feedback from the system that includes batted ball outcome (hit, ground out, fly out, etc.) and metrics like exit speed, launch angle, and even point of contact from home... Continue Reading →
Individually Optimizing Launch Angle
For the link to my code, my GitHub page is here. Introduction The launch angle revolution has changed the way baseball teams develop hitters. There have been many hitters that have raised their launch angles and had success such as J.D. Martinez, Max Muncy, and, just recently, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. However, throughout the launch angle... Continue Reading →
Plate Discipline and Hit Tools
As the Tigers focused on pitching during the early stages of the rebuild, it has started to make its presence felt at the Major League Level. The organization has now started shifting its focus to positional talent. While this has resulted in a lack of starting pitching talent in the farm system, there are now... Continue Reading →
Physics in Real Life: Bombs Hidden within the Bender
Hitters are often told by their coaches to “hunt the fastball,” to look to drive a fastball rather than seek out a breaking ball that exchanges velocity for movement. However, amid the Moneyball Era, a group of baseball misfits were already looking to the future and what would become the Statcast Era. In 2003, professors... Continue Reading →