(Photo by Julio Aguilar/Getty Images) The minor leagues have been working with the automated strike zone, also known as “ABS” or simply “robo” umpires, for a while now. They have used different versions of it depending on the park and league, but the concept is the same: helping eliminate the human factor (umpire mistakes) with…
Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports Statcast’s new public repository of bat tracking data has been out for a few weeks now. Like every number manipulator with a sense of curiosity and middling technical skills, I’ve been messing around with the data in my spare time, and also in my working time, because messing around with data…
(Photo by Alysa Rubin/Clarkson Creative/Getty Images) Bryce Harper’s Philadelphia Phillies are off to a sensational start to the season and have the best record in baseball at 37-15, though his ability to help them on Friday night was short-lived as the Phillies fell, 3-2, to the Colorado Rockies after Harper’s first-inning ejection. Harper was bummed…
Orlando Ramirez-USA TODAY Sports As I write this before the start of play on May 23, we’re just about a third of the way through the season, and I don’t think we can avoid it anymore. Jurickson Profar is batting .339 with a 178 wRC+. Jurickson Profar ranks 10th in baseball with 2.2 WAR. Jurickson…
(Photo by Justin Berl/Getty Images) In July 2021, Atlanta Braves outfielder Ronald Acuna Jr. suffered a torn ACL in his right knee. He missed his team’s World Series run and was limited in the 2022 campaign. He then recovered and won the NL MVP award in 2023. Unfortunately, his 2024 season will now be marked…
This is the year of the splitter. In 2024, 3.1% of all big league pitches thrown have been splitters compared to 2.2% in 2023, a year-over-year increase of 41%. Aficionados of the split-fingered fastball include former NPB stars like Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Shota Imanaga, longtime MLB users like Joe Ryan and Fernando Cruz, and an…
(Photo by Tim Nwachukwu/Getty Images) The Philadelphia Phillies have been one of MLB’s best teams for a few weeks now. Even though they lost their most recent game, they remain elite and have won seven of their last 10. They still have the best record in MLB at 38-16 so yes, in case you were…
Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports Xander Bogaerts‘ first season as a second baseman hasn’t gone as planned. He’s struggled mightily at the plate thus far, and while he’s fared better defensively, on Monday he suffered a fracture in his left shoulder while diving for a ball. He could miss a couple of months, leaving the Padres…
(Photo by Orlando Ramirez/Getty Images) Juan Soto’s New York Yankees tenure has gotten off to a tremendous start after he was acquired in an offseason trade with the San Diego Padres, and he is putting together an early case for AL MVP in a contract year. As hot as Soto has been at the plate,…
Before the start of the season, the Atlanta Braves were the consensus pick to win the NL East. While it wasn’t unanimous – try getting a few dozen writers to fully agree on something – 22 of 25 FanGraphs writers predicted the Braves to win the division for the seventh straight season. Sportsbooks offered odds…
