Category: Baseball
Analyzing Aaron Judge’s Slow Start to the Season
John Jones-USA TODAY Sports Monday afternoon’s game between the A’s and Yankees ended in impressive fashion for Oakland, with closer Mason Miller buzz-sawing through the top of New York’s lineup to close out a 2-0 victory. The 25-year-old righty struck out Anthony Volpe, Juan Soto, and Aaron Judge consecutively on 14 pitches, mixing eight four-seam…
An Insightful Conversation with Kyle Hendricks on the Art of Pitching in Baseball
Kyle Hendricks has long been lauded as a cerebral pitcher, and for good reason. Nicknamed “The Professor,” the 34-year-old Chicago Cubs right-hander not only has an economics degree from Dartmouth College, he relies far more on guile than gas. The antithesis of your prototypical power arm, Hendricks subsists with a heater that sits in the…
Jake Cronenworth Shows Signs of Rebound and Should Continue to Improve
Orlando Ramirez-USA TODAY Sports On Monday, Ben Clemens published an article containing a list of the hitters who are getting the most power from the fewest swings and misses. It’s a ratio of barrels to whiffs, which Ben calls “whomps per whiff.” One name that stood out to me was Jake Cronenworth, who came in…
CJ Abrams Dominating At Bat
Darren Yamashita-USA TODAY Sports CJ Abrams has that look this year. After showing a glimpse of his offensive potential in 2023, his skills are on full display to start the season. Abrams’ projectable frame always seemed like it could facilitate him adding power. Whether he ever got to that power was dependent on his swing…
Capturing the Rays: Techniques for Illustrating the Sun in Baseball
This all started because I was staring at Jose Siri. I don’t think I’ve ever set out with the intention of staring at Jose Siri, but it ends up happening kind of a lot. He’s very watchable. He runs like the wind, if the wind had big muscles. He swings with a righteous fury, and…
Tigers’ Dominant Pitching Leading Team to Relevancy
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’s not easy to be in playoff position — no matter how early we are in the season — with an offense ranked 23rd in…
Effectively Wild Episode 2155: Breaking Down the Importance of Slow Starts
Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley discuss a variety of baseball topics including the Rockies’ recent trouble with the FAA, Jackson Holliday’s slow start, the impact of umpire incidents, offensive numbers compared to last season, the idea of a “combined Maddux,” Shohei Ohtani’s WAR as a DH, the Blue Jays’ renovations, Tommy John surgery research in…
Another Elite Prospect to Be Called Up by Orioles
(Photo by Winslow Townson/Getty Images) The Baltimore Orioles boast an impressive collection of talent when it comes to young position players. Adley Rutschman, Ryan Mountcastle, Jackson Holliday, Jordan Westburg, Colton Cowser… the list goes on and on if we include some Triple-A prospects like Coby Mayo, Connor Norby, and Kyle Stowers. One of the…
Two Los Angeles Dodgers Players remain at the top of MLB in performance
(Photo by Eric Espada/Getty Images) The Los Angeles Dodgers are currently not playing their best ball. While they are, technically, in first place of the NL West division, their win-loss record stands at 13-11. The whole world knows they will be better than this with time, but as of right now, they haven’t shown their…
One Elite Unit Carrying the Tigers to Success
(Photo by Quinn Harris/Getty Images) The Detroit Tigers have been surprisingly good this season, with a 13-10 record that is good enough for third in the AL Central. One of the most shocking developments has been their excellent pitching. Tigers hurlers have a collective 2.85 ERA, which is among the best in baseball and surprising,…