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The New York Yankees are considering the usage of outfielder Clint Frazier in center field, splitting time with Brett Gardner after the injury to Aaron Hicks
May 26, 2021
Remember when the Rockies attempted to assemble a super-mega bullpen? During the 2017-18 offseason, the team committed a combined $106 million to Wade Davis, Jake McGee, and the protagonist of this article, Bryan Shaw. What followed was a disaster. The trio put up just 0.4 WAR while part of the Rockies bullpen, a miserable return on investment.
Each pitcher had his own flaws, but none was worse than Shaw, who dragged down an already disappointing total with -0.5 WAR over a two-year span. If you’re not too familiar with him, Shaw is synonymous with his cutter, which he’s thrown upwards to 80% of the time in his career. It’s a fantastic pitch, featuring some of the league’s best horizontal movement in tandem with ample rise. The problem: In Colorado, the high altitude suppresses magnus force, the source of backspin and thus vertical break. Many of Shaw’s cutters became extremely hittable in this new environment – his Hard Hit rate jumped from 28.6% in 2017 t
Revisiting Diamondbacks Expected Offensive Statistics
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You’ve heard of wOBA and xwOBA before. For some they are familiar terms, for others they’re just more alphabet soup acronyms. I’ll try to make this as simple and painless as possible.
wOBA = Weighted On Base Average. This stat simply takes each way of getting on base and attaches a value to that on base event based on how much those events contribute to run scoring. Obviously in a context neutral situation, a double is worth more than a single, a single is worth more than a walk, a homer is worth more than anything, etc. A more detailed explanation including formula can be found HERE. But the summary simply says:
May 24, 2021
In past iterations of this column, a combination of pressing narratives and fatigue with certain pitchers and their respective teams, or a straight up lack of interesting matchups have forced us to get creative. Not so this week, where the first three days of the week each feature games with giant WATCH ME signs stapled to their probable pitchers. Beginning with the Padres-Brewers series, the final week of May has gifted us some undeniably fun fixtures.
In his first year in San Diego, Blake Snell seems to be learning his new city using a method that many non-pitchers find helpful: a lot of walks. Snell has already issued 25 walks in 40.1 innings (13.7 BB%) and allowed hitters to reach base at a clip comfortably above the league average. The former Ray has a .330 on-base percentage against him, while the rest of the league is at .313.