Category: Baseball
Oakland Athletics Reliever Recognized for Outstanding Achievement
(Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images) The Oakland Athletics might not be true contenders, but they have been awfully entertaining this year. They are 15-17, very close to playing .500 ball. Yes, their future is not in Oakland and perhaps fans are more focused on that than on the actual performance of the 2024 team,…
Bryce Harper Settling into First Base Role
First base defense is complicated. It isn’t one of the most difficult positions, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t have its own challenges. Players in the latter half of their careers who have lost athleticism sometimes adopt the position as their new home, which is interesting because it is much more difficult to learn a…
The Orioles’ Lineup Options Are Dwindling
It’s a great time to be a fan of the Baltimore Orioles. This is now the third season since their emergence from the dark basement of the AL East, and they no longer retain their tatterdemalion appearance. The O’s, at 20-11, have been winning by the very straightforward method of beating their opponents into submission,…
Top Five Highlights (And Lowlights) in Baseball This Week – May 3
Welcome to another edition of Five Things I Liked (Or Didn’t Like) This Week. As always, thanks to Zach Lowe for coming up with the idea for the column, because it’s a great excuse to watch a ton of baseball and write about plays that make me smile. This week had a little bit of…
The Impact of Launch Angles on Baseball Performance
Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports Release angles are the vertical and horizontal angles at which a pitcher releases a pitch. They capture the initial angle of a pitch’s trajectory rather than its final angle upon crossing home plate. Release angles can reveal where a pitch is intended to go. However, we already have plenty of data…
Presenting the Kirby Index: Revolutionizing the Measurement of Pitching Control
Steven Bisig-USA TODAY Sports In my research on JP Sears’ fastball command for my blog Pitch Plots, I discovered a crucial question: Why does a pitch end up where it does? I found that release trajectory is the key variable in determining the location of a pitch. By analyzing release angles along with release height…
Twins at the Top: A Surge in Performance
Kamil Krzaczynski-USA TODAY Sports Welcome back to Top of the Order, where every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, I’ll be starting your baseball day with some news, notes, and thoughts about the game we love. It would be an overreaction to declare a good-on-paper team dead in the water after 20 games, but the Twins certainly…
Analysis of how bees impact bird populations in modern ecosystems
Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley discuss Meg’s unexpected experience at the bee-delayed Diamondbacks game, Shota Imanaga’s impressive start, Reed Garrett and the trend of pop-up relievers, appreciation for Steven Kwan, reflections on how Mike Trout’s and Bryce Harper’s careers will be remembered, José Abreu’s demotion to the minors, and a declined penalty in baseball. They…
Mookie Betts continues to dominate MLB with strong performance
(Photo by Norm Hall/Getty Images) Power rankings, in MLB, allow us to evaluate talent and recent performance. Those who are at the top have been, historically, great performers; but are also doing it right now, as we speak. When it comes to MLB’s Hitter Power Rankings, two members of the Los Angeles Dodgers are on…
Dodgers’ Ace Appears to Have Found Their Groove After Shaky Beginning
(Photo by Eric Espada/Getty Images) The Los Angeles Dodgers paid a lot of money to secure the services of Japanese pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto. They locked him down on a 12-year, $325 million pact to be their co-ace of the future alongside Shohei Ohtani. He didn’t get off to a great start, though, surrendering five runs…