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John Dewan's Stat of the Week
The Braves Are In The Swing of Things
The Braves have won 14 consecutive games and the story of their winning streak is rooted in their aggressiveness.The Braves have been a hyperaggressive team at the plate. They rank first in swing percentage in June (swinging at 52% of pitches). They are both the No. 1 team in swinging at pitches in the strike [...]
What's Wrong Is Right (Field)
By MARK SIMONDodgers right fielder Mookie Betts is having a fantastic offensive season. He entered Thursday ranked 3rd in the NL with a .950 OPS and shares the league lead with 16 home runs. He’s looking like a leading candidate to be NL MVP.Similarly, Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton, who have both played a good [...]
Major Improvements for Jazz Chisholm, Marlins D
The Marlins are 17-20 and have lost 12 of their last 17 games after starting the season 12-8. They’re performing below expectations – they’ve outscored opponents by 19 runs and their Pythagorean win-loss mark translates to 21-16.So why are we writing about them?There are two things that were worthy of their being chosen for Stat [...]
Stat of the Week: The Astros Are Playing Some Stellar Defense
By MARK SIMONIt would have been reasonable to expect that with the departure of 2021 Fielding Bible Award-winning Carlos Correa that the Astros’ defense would suffer a slight dip in performance. Houston finished third last season in Defensive Runs Saved, with Correa leading all shortstops.But at least through the first 31 games, the Astros haven’t [...]
April's Defensive Player of the Month
Rays outfielder Brett Phillips is unlikely to play 1,000 innings in the field this season. But if he did, he’d put up some kind of Defensive Runs Saved numbers.In fact, he’s currently playing at a 54 Runs Saved per 1,000 innings pace!Phillips is our choice for April’s Defensive Player of the Month, a selection made [...]
The Angels Are Looking Good
By MARK SIMONIt’s only 20 games, but the Los Angeles Angels look like a completely different team from last season’s squad in a couple of important areas.For one thing, take a look at their chase rate (best known as O-Swing% on FanGraphs). In 2021, the Angels’ chase rate of 33% ranked 25th. To this point [...]
Stat of the Week: The Padres' Spectacular Infield Defense
By MARK SIMONPadres pitchers took a no-hit bid into the seventh inning in their first game of the season and a no-hit bid into the eighth inning of their second game of the season.They allowed five hits or fewer in each of their first four games of the season and eight times in 14 games [...]
Adam Engel's Amazing Home Run Thievery
DHs aren’t carrying their weight as MLB offenses are off to a slow start. Defensive shifting is up considerably, particularly in Toronto where the Blue Jays are using them on almost every batter.But we’re only a week into the season. Sample sizes are so small. Let’s wait at least another week before jumping to any [...]
Who Is The 2nd-Best Defensive Team in MLB?
By MARK SIMONThe Cardinals seem to be the clearcut best defensive team in baseball entering 2022. They return all five of the players who won Gold Gloves on last year’s team, including Fielding Bible Award winners Paul Goldschmidt and Tyler O’Neill.Six of their players finished in the Top 20 in the NL in the SABR [...]
Trevor Story's New Homes
By MARK SIMONTrevor Story is a man on the move in more ways than one.Story signed a six-year deal with the Red Sox where, at least for 2022, he’ll be their everyday second baseman. Xander Bogaerts will be the Red Sox starting shortstop. Story has never played second base in the major leagues and hasn’t [...]