Category: Baseball
Jose Altuve Achieves Impressive Milestone in Baseball
(Photo by Hector Vivas/Getty Images) Houston Astros infielder Jose Altuve is one of the best players of his generation. He has been an ever-present figure in the Astros’ run of dominance in the American League, from 2017 to 2022. To be fair, he was already a star even before then. He has won batting titles,…
Effectively Wild Episode 2160: Answering Your Baseball Questions
Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley discuss a recent increase in base stealing and the criticism of Mike Trout’s loyalty to the Angels. Later, they are joined by Patreon supporter Alex Levy to talk about Alex’s background as a podcast listener, baseball fan, and mail carrier. They also answer emails about various baseball topics. Audio intro:…
Statistics Reveal the Dodgers’ Hidden Hero
(Photo by Meg Oliphant/Getty Images) When talking about the 2024 Los Angeles Dodgers, many people focus on Mookie Betts and Shohei Ohtani. It makes perfect sense: they are the ones doing the heavy lifting offensively. However, they haven’t been alone: other hitters and position players are helping them. One of those unsung heroes has been…
Baseball Analysts Analyze Possible National League Championship Series Matchup
(Photo by Katharine Lotze/Getty Images) Even before a pitch was thrown in 2024, the world realized that the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Atlanta Braves were the two best teams in MLB. It’s easy to see why: the Dodgers added Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Tyler Glasnow and several other stars to an already elite…
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…