Recently, I made an initial push to get a deeper look at hitters. I felt people have enough information on pitchers, especially with the Pitchf/x data available. I finally had some time to dig into the information a little more and have come up with a couple updates.

Nine batted ball categories is too many

Inside Edge makes avaialble nine non-bunt categories for batted balls. Here are the original nine with the xBABIP and wOBAcon:

Batted Ball Type: xBABIP, wOBAcon, % of batted balls
Groundball – Weak: .151, .112, 31.4%
Groundball – Medium: .461, .416, 9.5%
Groundball – Well-Hit: .647, .610, 3.8%
Line Drive – Weak: .622, .579, 2.3%
Line Drive – Medium: .650, .638, 7.3%
Line Drive – Well-Hit: .719, .815, 11.1%
Flyball – Weak: .078, .074, 18.5%
Flyball – Medium: .069, .081, 8.2%
Flyball – Well-Hit: .641, 1.168, 7.8%

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Every year, pitchers add wrinkles in the spring. Most years, they forget them once they have to get batters out and the results count. In the case of today’s pitchers, though, we have three guys that found a new thing and stuck with it when the calendar switched to April. The results weren’t uniformly amazing for each of them, but a third pitch might mean wonders for misters Jimmy Nelson, Nathan Eovaldi, and Brad Boxberger.

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The two things we know about Andrelton Simmons offensively is that he will not be good at stealing bases and he will not take many walks. The rest of whatever Simmons is offensively is up for interpretation.
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Episode 7 – September Schedule

The latest episode of “Field of Streams” is live!

In this episode, Dylan Higgins and Brad Johnson talk about numerous stack options for Tuesday, a handful of ace options, the questionable Rangers lineup, Dee Gordon seeming too expensive, cheering for Alex Rodriguez, and being okay with leaving some money on the table when putting your team together.

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Agenda

1. New Feature: Ground Ball and Fly Ball Splits
2. Daily DFS – Zim’s Picks
3. Tomorrow’s Targets – Williams, Norris, Morales, Pagan
4. Factor Grid

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Yesterday I analyzed the ultra small sample size of one outing when discussing four starting pitchers. But that’s kinda okay because fastball velocity stabilizes quickly and instantly provides useful information. Since I don’t know what else one writes about a week and a half into the season, let’s talk about a couple of more names with regards to fastball velocity.

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With tax season rapidly closing, my only advice on the matter is to watch Sunday’s Last Week Tonight about the IRS. In fact, watch all of the LWT’s, as they are all available on YouTube.

On today’s agenda:
1. Keep an eye on Devin Mesoraco
2. A jolt of speed from Desmond Jennings
3. Take note of Kendrys Morales and Mark Teixeira
4. Streaming Pitcher Options
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Darren rounded up last night’s closer news this morning, I’ll just hit up on what we have seen so far today.

• LaTroy Hawkins‘ recent implosions has led to his removal from the ninth inning in Colorado. According to Walt Weiss, Hawkins is getting a “break” but the feeling here is that it will be an extended one. It’s rare that struggling 42 year old relievers on bad teams lose their job to more talented relievers and get it back. If you’re in a deep, deep league I guess you can hold onto Hawkins, but I think it’s safe to give him the axe.

Adam Ottavino was long expected to fill in for Hawkins at some point this year but it looks as though Rafael Betancourt could have the closing duties for now. Betancourt received the save opportunity today and nailed it, throwing a perfect inning with two strikeouts in 16 pitches. Adam Ottavino was unavailable to pitch, and is the best reliever in the pen, but after Betancourt’s outing, he should get another chance. This one might be a coin toss with a slight lean towards Betancourt getting the next few opportunities, but both are must owns in all leagues.

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• The Yan Gomes injury is devastating for him, the Indians and his owners. The time he is supposed to miss is around 6-8 weeks.

Cleveland placed Gomes on the 15-day disabled list on Sunday with a right knee injury and is expecting him to be sidelined for six to eight weeks.

Reading a little too much into that comment, I could see him not even be moving in six weeks, yet alone ready to catch in the majors. I would not be surprised if he returned at the All-Star break.

• It doesn’t look good for Henderson Alvarez who will have an MRI on his shoulder and elbow today. His velocity is down almost 3 mph compared to last season which isn’t good for a pitcher who has a career K/9 under five.

• Mike Minor’s shoulder isn’t feeling any better and the next step may be surgery.

Minor also had shoulder soreness last spring that delayed the start of his season. He finished 6-12 with a 4.77 ERA, a significant decline from his 2013 performance, when he was 13-9 with a 3.21 ERA.

Tests have shown no structural damage. Hart said exploratory surgery could be an option if the dis-comfort remains, but ”we are not there yet.”

I think he may be droppable if a person doesn’t have a bunch of DL slots.

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A player I ended up with but did not love entering the draft this season was Salvador Perez. On a split team that I was forced to miss the actual draft of, my co-manager drafted Perez as he fell pretty late given the league is on on base percentage league. Coming off of a 92 wRC+ season with a .289 OBP, I was a bit worried about owning solely Perez so we decided to pick up Derek Norris as a backup.
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