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Post by Guardians »

Over the past 365 days, Paul Goldschmidt has been the best hitter in baseball, posting a .331/.458/.610 line that is good for an absurd 184 wRC+. Do you know who the second best hitter has been over the past year? It’s not Bryce Harper: He’s third, at 167. And Mike Trout and Miguel Cabrera are tied for fifth, each putting up a 161 wRC+ during that span. So who’s the mystery man who has put his name among this elite group of hitters?

Dodgers infielder Justin Turner. Yes, the same Justin Turner who began the year as LA’s second-string utility guy, as he wasn’t even the team’s top infield reserve. Despite a very strong 2014 season of part-time work, the Dodgers glut of infield talent put Turner behind not only the starting trio of Howie Kendrick, Jimmy Rollins and Juan Uribe, but also saw him slide in behind Alex Guerrero for playing time at third base. Turner didn’t get his first start of 2015 until April 22, the Dodgers 14th game of the year.

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/jabo-jus ... rting-job/
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Post by Astros »

Kiss my ass
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This is totally my fault this happened but still, kiss my ass
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Post by Guardians »

Cardinals wrote:This is totally my fault this happened but still, kiss my ass
Haha...I mean, Jacob Turner. Who would possibly want Jacob Turner outside of Nils?
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Post by Guardians »

Nice little article on Paul Goldschmidt, who went from a barely noticed 1B from Texas State University to a barely noticed prospect to one of the best hitters in baseball. He was one of my best trades (Thanks Nate!), though he did come at the cost of 2011 All-Stars Howie Kendrick and Jordan Walden, plus the now-healthy pitcher Sammy Solis. Goldy has been worth roughly four more wins over the last 3.5 seasons than Kendrick/Walden.

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/looking- ... ldschmidt/
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Post by Astros »

Why don't you call this Tiger Beat and upload dreamy photos of Goldschmidt and others?
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Post by Guardians »

Cardinals wrote:Why don't you call this Tiger Beat and upload dreamy photos of Goldschmidt and others?
Not a bad idea. Although, I'd need a section for Justin "Don't Call me Jacob" Turner, too...
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Image
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Post by Guardians »

Since Jim spends every waking hour posting news about his prospects, I'll post some news about Kyle Hendricks, whom the IBC Tigers originally created, traded away and traded for. He's had very good success in both the IBC (14-5 3.10 ERA 197.2 IP 127K/40BB) and MLB (7-7 4.09 ERA/3.46 FIP, 3.1 fWAR 174 IP 159K/43BB).
Fangraphs makes the case for him as the Cubs' #3 playoff starter behind Arrieta/Lester:

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/the-cubs ... 3-starter/
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Post by Guardians »

Some fun facts from the 2016 regular season:

The 2016 IBC Tigers' 114 regular season wins is the most in IBC franchise history and AL Central history.

The 114 wins ties the 2014 Yankees for the most wins in IBC American League history.

Giancarlo Stanton's 48 home runs is the most in IBC Tigers franchise history (previous record 41 by Paul Goldschmidt in 2015 and 40 in 2008 and 2009 by Miguel Cabrera).
Last edited by Guardians on Tue Oct 04, 2016 6:06 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by Cardinals »

Tigers wrote: Chris Sale's 297 strikeouts is the most in the IBC since Zack Greinke had 299 for Pittsburgh in 2012.
Scherzer Phi 305

Scherzer got over 300 this year.
12, 14, 15, 17, 22
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Post by Guardians »

Must have checked before end of year stats
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Post by Guardians »

This is pretty awesome. A document dated 1/31/2012 found on an old hard drive. This looks to be the team as I inherited it nearly five years ago:

Montero
I. Davis .255/.338 15HR 51 RBI 1SB (+113) VG/103
Kendrick .275/.320 15HR 70 RBI 15SB (+104) VG/104 1B AV/71 2B AV/91 LF
Aybar .275/.320 8HR 53 RBI 24SB (95) AV/83
Sandoval .299/.347 23HR 87 RBI 3SB (+127) AV/106 1B AV/80 3B
Snider .247/.304 15HR 66 RBI 12SB (89) AV/192 LF PO/136 CF FR/177 RF
McCutchen
Schafer .224/.291 5HR 27 RBI 18SB (67) VG/107 LF AV/54 CF VG/112 RF
Liddi .228/.292 19HR 84 RBI 6 SB (87) AV/124 1B FR/116 3B PO/108 SS
Barney .273/.311 3HR 49 RBI 10SB (76) AV/115 2B VG/111 3B AV/107 SS
Exposito .241/.288 8HR 53 RBI 1SB (71) AV
Chironos .237/.309 7HR 38 RBI 1SB (84) AV AV/103 1B


Johnson
Chacin 14-8 3.70 177.3 IP 159H 82BB 152K (+121 ERA)
Masterson 12-9 3.71 204IP 205H 65BB 153K (+112 ERA)
Collmenter
W. Davis 10-10 4.41 172IP 173H 63BB 113K (92 ERA)
Saunders
Carmona 10-12 4.70 178IP 191H 63BB 106K (89 ERA)
Below 5-8 5.56 102IP 118H 44BB 57K (77 ERA)
Mortenson 7-11 6.11 ERA 134 IP 166 H 54 BB 77k (73 ERA)


Bard 3.03 ERA 5-2 61G 62 IP 51 H 17BB 75K (+152 ERA)
Pestano 3.38 ERA 3-2 58G 53.3IP 46H 22BB 59K (+124 ERA)
Mujica
Thompson 3.74 ERA 2-2 40G 53IP 49H 19BB 51K (+109 ERA)
Martinez 3.61 ERA 3-2 49G 72.3IP 69H 17BB 57K (+109 ERA)
De Los Santos
Medlen
D. Carpenter 4.80 ERA 2-2 44G 45IP 46H 23BB 33K (84 ERA)
Moskos
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Post by Guardians »

Kennys Vargas spent a week over the winter taking hitting lessons in the Dominican Republic from Manny Ramirez.
Vargas was introduced by teammate Miguel Sano who declined Ramirez' invitation. Along with working on the mental aspect of hitting, the 26-year-old slugger was encouraged by Ramirez to elevate the ball more. While it isn't a guarantee of success, taking the advice of future Hall of Famers can't hurt Vargas' chances of success in 2017.

Looks like I'm going to have an MVP sitting on my bench. Who wants in?!
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Post by Athletics »

Tigers wrote:Kennys Vargas spent a week over the winter taking hitting lessons in the Dominican Republic from Manny Ramirez.
Vargas was introduced by teammate Miguel Sano who declined Ramirez' invitation. Along with working on the mental aspect of hitting, the 26-year-old slugger was encouraged by Ramirez to elevate the ball more. While it isn't a guarantee of success, taking the advice of future Hall of Famers can't hurt Vargas' chances of success in 2017.

Looks like I'm going to have an MVP sitting on my bench. Who wants in?!
Did those hitting lessons include PED injections?
"My shit doesn't work in the playoffs. My job is to get us to the playoffs. What happens after that is fucking luck."

LAA 11 - 15 331W - 479L
LAA 16 - 20 477W - 333L 17-20 ALW
OAK 21 - 22 214W - 110L 21-22 ALW
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Post by Phillies »

Tigers wrote:Kennys Vargas spent a week over the winter taking hitting lessons in the Dominican Republic from Manny Ramirez.
Vargas was introduced by teammate Miguel Sano who declined Ramirez' invitation. Along with working on the mental aspect of hitting, the 26-year-old slugger was encouraged by Ramirez to elevate the ball more. While it isn't a guarantee of success, taking the advice of future Hall of Famers can't hurt Vargas' chances of success in 2017.

Looks like I'm going to have an MVP sitting on my bench. Who wants in?!
Dibs.
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Post by Guardians »

Angels wrote:
Tigers wrote:Kennys Vargas spent a week over the winter taking hitting lessons in the Dominican Republic from Manny Ramirez.
Vargas was introduced by teammate Miguel Sano who declined Ramirez' invitation. Along with working on the mental aspect of hitting, the 26-year-old slugger was encouraged by Ramirez to elevate the ball more. While it isn't a guarantee of success, taking the advice of future Hall of Famers can't hurt Vargas' chances of success in 2017.

Looks like I'm going to have an MVP sitting on my bench. Who wants in?!
Did those hitting lessons include PED injections?
Female fertility drugs...for the Mrs.
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Post by Guardians »

Phillies wrote:
Tigers wrote:Kennys Vargas spent a week over the winter taking hitting lessons in the Dominican Republic from Manny Ramirez.
Vargas was introduced by teammate Miguel Sano who declined Ramirez' invitation. Along with working on the mental aspect of hitting, the 26-year-old slugger was encouraged by Ramirez to elevate the ball more. While it isn't a guarantee of success, taking the advice of future Hall of Famers can't hurt Vargas' chances of success in 2017.

Looks like I'm going to have an MVP sitting on my bench. Who wants in?!
Dibs.
You know where to find me, Perry.
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Post by Guardians »

Jose Altuve runaway choice for AL MVP
Jose Altuve was voted first on 27 of 30 ballots to win American League MVP honors, announced by the BBWAA on Thursday.
It seemed like this race was set up to be a lot closer between Altuve and Aaron Judge, but the voters made their preference clear. Judge didn't even get all of the remaining first-place votes; Rustin Dodd of the Kansas City Star put Jose Ramirez first and dropped Judge down to third. Ramirez was also third on 22 ballots to easily finish in the "show" spot in the vote. Mike Trout was fourth, followed by Francisco Lindor, Mookie Betts and Corey Kluber.


Stanton edges out Votto, wins first MVP award
Giancarlo Stanton edged out Joey Votto for the National League MVP award announced by the BBWAA on Thursday.
By a whole two points (302-300). Both players received 10 first-place votes. Stanton got one more second and one more third, which was enough to carry the day. In all, six players got first-place votes on a tough-to-figure ballot. Paul Goldschmidt (four first-place votes) finished third in the balloting ahead of Nolan Arenado (two first-place) and Charlie Blackmon (three first-place). Anthony Rendon was sixth in the balloting, though he wasn't higher than third on any ballot. Kris Bryant got the last first-place vote and finished seventh.
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Post by Guardians »

10 Players I'm Excited to Watch in 2018

https://www.fangraphs.com/fantasy/10-pl ... h-in-2018/

Freddie Freeman

Having fun with some random comparisons, Justin Smoak finished a terrific 2017 with a career-high .371 wOBA (.270/.355/.529). Freddie Freeman also finished the summer with a .371 wOBA (.291/.378/.513)…after spending six weeks on the DL with a broken wrist. Before that DL stint, Freeman was arguably the best hitter in baseball, slashing .341/.461/.748 (.485 wOBA) over the first six weeks of the season. He was essentially unstoppable during that stretch, and at the age of 28, armed with one of the most consistent batted ball profiles in the game and a full season of health (plus 3B eligibility in some leagues), Freeman has all the ingredients for a truly special season in 2018.


Bold predictions are usually published in the midst of spring training, but I’ll let the cat out of the bag early and not only claim Freeman as my 2018 NL MVP, but also go all in on the Atlanta lefty becoming the first 1B since Albert Pujols to reach at least 8.0 WAR (.327/.443/.658 in 2009).

Also, Andrew’s October write up (Freeman vs. Trout) is a must-read.
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Post by Guardians »

Camargo hits big winter-ball homers before heading to Chop Fest

http://www.myajc.com/sports/baseball/ca ... e3cjfF5tJ/
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Post by Guardians »

Bobby Poyner Misses Bats Without Big Velocity

February 06, 2018 By Alex Simon

For a long time, it was easy to overlook lefthander Bobby Poyner.

At an even 6 feet tall with a fastball that typically sat 90-91 mph, and in the absence of a dominant breaking ball, Poyner didn't necessarily present the image of a prototypical big leaguer.

But over time, the 25-year-old Poyner's dominance in the minors has been too consistent to keep the Florida product and 14th-round pick in 2015 off the map.

He recorded a 0.35 ERA with 32 strikeouts and no walks in 26 innings at low Class A Greenville at the start of 2016, for instance, suggesting a pitcher who was simply more advanced than hitters in the lower minors. Though he struggled after a promotion to high Class A Salem that year, Poyner showed in 2017 that such dominance wasn't a fluke by posting a 1.49 ERA with 84 strikeouts in 60.1 innings for Salem and Double-A Portland.

Poyner, who was drafted as a college senior, allowed earned runs in just two of his 27 outings in Portland while striking out 12.2 per nine innings and limiting both walks and solid contact thanks to advanced command of a top-of-the-zone fastball and a diving changeup.

Poyner explained his ability to get swings and misses. He said he throws fastballs at the top of the zone, then changes batters’ eye levels with his changeup.

“I try to get guys caught in the middle,” he said, “and just locate the ball. You can get swings and misses with location. It's not just velocity."

The ability to create deception with both his fastball and changeup--while also mixing in a decent slider--has put Poyner on the map. He'll be a non-roster invitee to big league camp this year, and evaluators elsewhere see a pitcher who is making a case that his ability to retire lefties and righties (who hit just .104 against him in Portland) exceeds assumptions about his stuff.


Read more at https://www.baseballamerica.com/minors/ ... KCF5Gb2.99
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Post by Guardians »

How Mookie Betts Has Been Baseball's Best Hitter

by Jeff Sullivan - April 18, 2018

It’s not entirely clear anything was wrong with Mookie Betts in 2017. Yes, he finished with a wRC+ of just 108, after the previous season’s 137, but those numbers can occasionally mislead. Consider the Statcast-based expected wOBA, available to query at Baseball Savant. Betts, in 2015, had an expected wOBA of .335. In 2016, it was .336. In 2017, it was .341. I wouldn’t necessarily call that conclusive, but it’s evidence that Betts was just hurt by a little bit of bad luck. He remained a perfectly good hitter all the while.

In 2018, Betts has an expected wOBA of .602. He leads all qualified hitters in wRC+. Tuesday night, in a game started by Shohei Ohtani, Betts went deep three times. Betts won’t keep this up, because no one could keep this up, but it’s worth it to look under the hood. Betts’ scorching start has been a consequence of his hitting to his strengths.

There’s something about Betts that’s always been funny to me. From day one, Betts has been renowned for his discipline, and for his bat control. His bat-to-ball skills are among the best in the league, and few hitters seem to be so good in the area of pitch identification. Rarely can a pitcher make Betts look bad. But for as talented as he is, Betts has always been awful to the opposite field. Over his career, to the pull side, Betts has posted a 242 wRC+. Going the other way, that wRC+ sinks to a lowly 25. There’s a difference, therefore, of 217 points, which is the largest such difference in baseball since Betts was promoted. It clearly hasn’t prevented Betts from being successful, but if Betts is going to hit, he’s going to do his hitting in and around left field.

Let’s look at a couple of spray charts, also from Baseball Savant. On the left, last year’s Betts. On the right, this year’s Betts.

You can see a clear preference to hit to left field. It’s especially clear on the right. To make it easier to understand, we can draw a line up the middle of the field. Often, you’ll see the field split into thirds. I’m just using halves – there are pulled balls, and there are non-pulled balls. Here are Betts’ year-to-year rates of pulled batted balls, going back to 2015.

2015: 58%
2016: 54%
2017: 60%
2018: 84%

That rate for this season is the highest in the game. No one has pulled the ball as often as Betts has. Right away, that seems like a good thing, given Betts’ own background, but it would be fair to wonder if Betts is just rolling over on a bunch of balls. I mean, we already know he’s not, since we saw the spray chart, but sometimes guys get pull-heavy and they drill the ball into the ground. Typically, grounders are pulled, and fly balls go the other way. With Betts, this isn’t happening. He’s not just pulling the ball more – he’s also lifting the ball more. That’s not always so easy to do. Here are year-to-year changes in average launch angle, with Betts being the point in yellow.

Betts was already something of an air-ball hitter, but his average launch angle has increased by 10.7 degrees. That’s the game’s third-biggest increase to this point, with Betts behind only Leonys Martin and Francisco Cervelli. To the pull side, Betts’ historical launch angle was right around 10 degrees. Now it’s up at 20. Betts is pulling the ball, and pulling it in the air, which is exactly what he would need to do in order to maximize his skillset.

Two videos can hardly tell you very much, but just so you can see what this might look like, here’s Betts in Angel Stadium in 2017, swinging at a slider over the plate.

And here’s Betts in Angel Stadium on Tuesday, swinging at a slider over the plate.

I don’t know what the mindset was in the 2017 video, and obviously Betts has hit plenty of homers before, but in the second clip, the intention is readily apparent. You see Betts trying to hit the ball hard. He doesn’t cut his own swing off. He looks like a home-run hitter. Maybe he was just feeling it on Tuesday, I don’t know. But Betts is someone who’s slugging .796, while running a contact rate above 90%. In this era, Betts appears to be poised to put his contact skills to great use.

What can you do, as a pitcher? Betts just isn’t going to strike out very much. He never has, and he never will. It’s understood that Betts is pretty weak when he goes to right field, so, here are the pitches that, in 2017, forced Betts to go the other way:

Unsurprisingly, last year’s Betts wasn’t often able to pull outside pitches. Trying to pull outside pitches is exactly how hitters get themselves in ground-ball trouble. So, in theory, as a pitcher, you just try to work Betts away, but this is where his eye comes in handy. In terms of swinging at pitches over the outer third or beyond, Betts is running one of the very lowest swing rates in the league. He knows his zone and he knows his strengths almost perfectly. Every hitter is capable of occasionally being fooled, but, generally speaking, Betts won’t swing at an outside pitch unless he has to. Until there are two strikes, or unless the situation demands a particular approach, Betts seems happy to look for something to drive to left or left-center. I didn’t plan to pad this post with a comparison between Mookie Betts and Jose Bautista, but this approach is reminiscent of that one. J.D. Martinez is proof of the power of being able to hit the ball hard to all fields, but Betts is proof you don’t have to be able to do it. Not if you know every nook and cranny of the zone.

Betts, of course, won’t finish the season with a batting line that makes him out to be the new Barry Bonds. Yet, there are few things more valuable than a pulled batted ball in the air. Mookie Betts is hitting like he knows it. As the opposition is concerned, these are not going to be easy adjustments to make. Betts never makes anything simple.

https://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/how-moo ... st-hitter/
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Re: Tiger News

Post by Guardians »

Fun read that mentions three IBC Tigers in the MVP races: https://sports.yahoo.com/10-degrees-bet ... 53101.html
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Re: Tiger News

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Tribe to call up prospect Bieber for Thurs. start

CLEVELAND -- When Shane Bieber opened the season with Class A Lake County last year, he was only a 20-minute drive from Progressive Field. The Major Leagues probably felt a lot further away than that for the right-handed pitching prospect.

Now, Bieber's big league dreams are only a few days away.

After Monday's 9-6 win over the White Sox, Indians manager Terry Francona confirmed that Bieber will be coming up from Triple-A Columbus on Thursday to start against the Twins at Target Field. In the wake of Trevor Bauer logging 127 pitches on Sunday, Cleveland wanted to provide an extra day of rest for its rotation, opening the door for Bieber to make his Major League debut.

"It seems like the right time," Francona said. "It'll be good for him. I think it'll be good for us. We'll kind of just get a chance to watch him pitch a Major League game. Hopefully, he helps us win, but it'll be just great experience for him."

This comes after Bieber -- selected in the fourth round of the 2016 MLB Draft by Cleveland -- was added to MLB Pipeline's Top 100 list on Sunday. Dodgers pitcher Walker Buehler graduated from the rankings, allowing Bieber to check in as No. 100. The right-hander is ranked third on the Indians' Top 30 prospects by MLB Pipeline.

Bieber's pending promotion also follows a rain-shortened, seven-inning no-hitter against Triple-A Gwinnett on Friday. In that outing, the right-hander struck out seven and walked none in the win for the Clippers.

"Man, he's awesome," said Indians starter Adam Plutko, who spent time with Bieber this season at Triple-A. "He's really good. That'll be a lot of fun to watch. Great for him. I'm really, really happy for him. He's done it every step of the way, so that's great to see."

Through 10 starts this season, the 22-year-old Bieber has gone 5-1 with a pristine 1.10 ERA between Double-A Akron and Triple-A Columbus. In 65 1/3 innings, the precision-based righty has piled up 61 strikeouts against three walks. Bieber did not issue a walk in his first four outings of the season with Akron. Over three professional seasons, he has gone 15-6 with a 2.19 ERA, 244 strikeouts and 15 walks in 262 2/3 innings.

Francona did not have a chance to see Bieber pitch in person during Spring Training, but the manager has heard Chris Antonetti, the Indians president of baseball operations, and members of the player development staff rave about the right-hander.

"I think Chris was afraid to bring him over in Spring Training, because he knew we were going to want to latch on to him," Francona quipped. "By all accounts he is in the mold of [Corey] Kluber -- by routines and work ethic and poise. There's just so many things to like. He's not the finished product. He throws a ton of strikes -- there's so many good things -- but he's still developing, which is OK."

The front four of the Tribe rotation is locked into place with Kluber, Bauer, Carlos Carrasco and Mike Clevinger. Plutko recently took over the fifth spot for the struggling Josh Tomlin, who has shifted to a relief role. Plutko allowed five runs in five innings against the White Sox in his latest outing on Monday, but does not appear at risk of losing his place on the staff right now.

Francona emphasized that the outing-- one that will fall on Bieber's 23rd birthday -- will be a spot start for the pitcher.

"He's going to go back [to Triple-A] and we'll tell him that, if they haven't already," Francona said. "We're excited. It'll be fun to get to know him a little bit. Their first is always fun."
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