BY MARK SIMON Most of the names atop the Defensive Runs Saved leaderboard are recognizable at this point of the season. One of the exceptions may be St. Louis Cardinals outfielder Harrison Bader. Bader has channeled his best Jim Edmonds in the form of multiple diving catches this season. He’s…
Statcast is a really exciting product to have at our fingertips when analyzing players. It has given the public a whole new vocabulary with which we can talk about baseball. How many times did you hear the terms “spin rate,” “exit velocity,” or “launch angle” before a couple years ago?…
BY SPENCER HARRISON Sean Manaea is the owner of MLB’s only no-hitter this season. He is also the owner of the league’s second-lowest ERA (1.03), trailing only Johnny Cueto (0.84). Manaea is far from a slouch, but his current statline places him in company that most would consider aces. Sports…
BY ALEX VIGDERMAN While on a rehab assignment for another injury this past weekend, Byron Buxton fouled a ball off his toe and suffered a hairline fracture, sidelining him again in what is quickly shaping up to be a lost season. We all love keeping track of the trials and…
By MARK SIMON Just like with offensive statistics, defensive statistics take time for samples to build up. But there was one number from the early-season metrics that I wanted to at least look at a little more closely – Bryce Harper’s -5 Defensive Runs Saved. Harper had saved 28 runs…
Continuing our look at the most mistake-free players in baseball, we focus on the likes of Alex Gordon and A.J. Pollock.
By ALEX VIGDERMAN At least through the first third of the year, 2018 is shaping up to be the Year of Philadelphia. The Eagles finally won the Super Bowl, the Villanova Wildcats (admittedly merely a Philly suburb) won their second National Championship in three years, and the 76ers seem to…
By MARK SIMON A couple of weeks ago, we ran an article in The Athletic explaining our detailed scoring system for tracking Defensive Misplays and Errors. The piece focused mostly on those who were frequent mistake-makers, so we thought that we would share a look at the game’s best at…
If you haven’t noticed, Mike Zunino has been smashing baseballs lately. Since his call-up from Triple-A (May 22) where he underwent mechanical changes, he’s hit .311/.364/.667 with nine home runs and five doubles. He’s driving the ball to center field and making an honest effort to use all parts of…
Introduction One of the most discussed issues in Major League Baseball is the consistency of the strike zone. The Rule Book strike zone states “The STRIKE ZONE is that area over home plate the upper limit of which is a horizontal line at the midpoint between the top of the…
