Yesterday, I dove into the Baseball-Reference S/Str (swinging strike rate) metric and identified those starting pitchers who have enjoyed the biggest surge compared to last season. So naturally, today I’ll check in on the other side of the coin — those starting pitchers who have suffered through the largest decline in swinging strike rate. Obviously, knowing that a pitcher is inducing fewer swings and misses is worrisome, but we’ll see if there’s any hope for a rebound.

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I’m not sure how Zach Sanders allowed Star Wars day to go by without a word about it, especially seeing how we’re getting a new Star Wars film this year. Unacceptable.

On today’s agenda:
1. Alex Cobb encounters a setback
2. Consider Yunel Escobar
3. Quick thoughts on Chase Whitley
4. Streaming Pitching Options
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• The Yankees bullpen, which has been nearly perfect this season, blew the one-run lead in the eighth inning tonight with Chris Martin and Dellin Betances allowing three runs between them. Betances, who allowed an unearned run and still maintains a sparkling 0.00 ERA, received his first blown save of the season. Martin received the loss after allowing two hits to start the inning. Although Martin’s ERA ballooned to 3.86 after tonight’s outing, he still supports a 1.67 FIP and 2.36 FIP with 13 strikeouts against two walks in 11.2 innings pitched. Not bad for the third best guy in the pen. The ROS projections for Martin aren’t too promising given his unsuccessful recent history but he’s also hasn’t been particularly lucky this season with a 72.7 LOB% and.258 BABIP. Martin hasn’t allowed a home run yet, and he likely won’t go all year without giving one up but his GB% is 54.8%, so it’s not as if fly balls keep on just missing. He’s far away from saves with Andrew Miller and Betances crushing everyone right now but Martin should be a hold machine with an above average strikeout rate, valuable in most, if not all, deep leagues.

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• Desmond Jennings was finally forced to the DL with his hurting knee. He wasn’t even able to DH, so he will now rest for a bit.

“It’s always disappointing to go to the DL, no matter what happens, no matter how close you get [to recovery]. It’s just frustrating,” said Jennings, who hopes that added rest will enable him to return to action in eight days, when he’s eligible.

“Before the game, it was hurting. It’s been hurting, but I thought I could go out and DH and play, but I couldn’t,” said Jennings.

The 28-year-old outfielder has not played since being forced to leave last Saturday’s game vs. the Blue Jays with knee soreness.

I am worried about his stolen bases once he returns.

• Chad Billingsley will come off the DL and start for the Phillies on Tuesday. His current fastball velocity looks to be in line with career average of 91.6 mph.

Billingsley's line today w/ IronPigs: 5.2IP, 5H, 2R, 0ER, BB, 6K. Threw 99 pitches. Fastball sat 90-92, touched 93, according to stadium gun

— Stephen Gross (@Stephen_Gross23) April 30, 2015

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Shortstop has been a difficult position for most fantasy owners this season. As of earlier today, after Hanley Ramirez the top four in Yahoo!’s actual production ranks have been Adeiny Hechavarria, Zack Cozart, Marcus Semien, and Brandon Crawford. While I am very fond of Semien and think Crawford has made notable improvements, this is not exactly the glowing age for fantasy shortstops.
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Always a shallow position for fantasy owners, shortstop is positively a wasteland so far in 2015. It would almost be impossible for shortstop to collectively be this bad going forward, but there are so few bankable assets at the position. If it were March again, I’d tell you just to punt the position. Read the rest of this entry »

The freshmen season is in full swing around Major League Baseball and numerous rookies are making their presences known. At the same time, others are stumbling and already receiving tickets for the first bus out of town back to the minors.

Other Pieces: The Freshmen Report: April 23

Kris Bryant, 3B, Cubs: Everyone except, perhaps, Mike Olt and his family knew his stranglehold on the third base job in Chicago would be futile. Bryant received the much-anticipated call to The Show in late-ish April and his reputation has certainly preceded him. Pitchers are already afraid of him; they’ve been extremely cautious while h’s been extremely patient — not trying to do too much — as witnessed by his 19% walk rate. He has yet to hit a home run in the Majors but he’s shown everyone why I pushed for him to be the first overall pick in the 2012 amateur draft. He’s a threat to hit 20+ home runs this season and 30+ annually despite his slow start to the power game.

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Agenda

1. Stolen Bases, or a Lack Thereof
2. Daily DFS – Detwiler, Wood, Trout, EY Jr.
3. GB / FB Splits
4. Tomorrow’s Targets – Greene, Ray, Stubbs, Aramista
5. Factor Grid

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Episode 21 – Loser Pitcher Bouquet

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

In this episode, Dylan Higgins and Matthew Dewoskin discuss a recap of this weekend’s White Sox / Twins matchups, weighing the value of some high-price DFS options, Dylan trying to get Matt’s attention with Jeff Francoeur, Dallas Keuchel’s ceiling given his lack of strikeouts, Dylan’s love of Jonathan Villar, an update on the contest standings, Chad Billingsley being “back from the dead,” and Matt’s hard-hitting moustache analysis.

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A week ago, I identified the starting pitchers whose xK% marks were most above their actual strikeout rates. The swinging strike component is the most significant in my xK% equation, so let’s take a look at which pitchers have enjoyed the biggest surge in their S/Str (Baseball-Reference metric) this season. The 2015 numbers do not include yesterday’s starts.

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