4/17/17

The latest episode of “The Sleeper and the Bust” is brought to you by Out of the Park Baseball 18, the best baseball strategy game ever made – available NOW on PC, Mac, and Linux platforms! Go to ootpdevelopments.com to order now and save 10% with the code SLEEPER18!

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• @sporer
• @enosarris
• @jasoncollette
• @glenncolton1

Leading Off: Question of the Day

• How are your industry league teams doing?

Notable Transactions/Rumors/Articles/Game Play

• Michael Pineda thoughts (saw your tweet ribbing Howard)
• Jose Abreu concerns

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Today, we wrap up our look at the Top 10 prospects for 2017 in each of the six leagues. The lists were created by blending potential playing time, MLB-readiness and overall skill to take a stab at predicting the most valuable rookies for the coming season.

NL East
NL West
NL Central
AL West
AL East

Top 10 Prospects for 2017: AL Central

1. Lucas Giolito, RHP, Chicago: Giolito’s value is down right now – along with his velocity — but he’s still one of the most promising near-MLB-ready arms in the minors. I will admit, though, that I doubt the White Sox’s ability to develop prospects and I’d feel a lot better if the right-hander was still in the Nationals system. When he’s going well, Giolito has both a plus fastball and a plus curveball. His changeup, when it’s on, can also be an above-average offering, meaning he has more than enough weapons to dominate big league hitters. With a pretty thin starting rotation at the big league level, the wheels will really have to fall off of Giolito’s bandwagon for him to not see a big league mound by the summer.

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Welcome back from a Grind-less weekend. Let’s get back to work, shall we?

UPDATE: The link for today’s Invitational is now correct.

AGENDA

1. AL Rookie Race
2. Weather Reports
3. Pitchers to Use and Abuse
4. Fade Fade Fade
5. SaberSim Says…
6. TDG Invitational Returns!

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Episode 255 – Rough Sleddin’

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

In this episode, Dylan Higgins and Matthew Dewoskin discuss Matt teaching Dylan about Passover, Tyler Chatwood’s shutout, if Mat Latos is fat or not, predicting the worst offenses in baseball, Dylan copying Matt’s Matt Joyce pick, Matt getting revenge on Jason Hammel by picking opposite him, continuing to chase the first stolen base, Jason Vargas’ good start to the year, the return of Joe Ross, picking on bad Reds pitchers while they’re still in the league, Patrick Corbin’s siqqqq stat line, reading a listener review, and Matt’s upcoming softball game.

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We know that pitch velocity stabilizes rather quickly and while a pitcher’s pitch mix each game could vary, sometimes wildly, it’s generally consistent from year to year. But often times, pitchers introduce a new pitch or switch up their current pitch mix in an effort to be more effective. Those changes could lead to a breakout if the pitcher lands on the optimal mix. Although we’re still only a couple of games started into the season, let’s take a gander at those starters who have thrown any of their pitches 15% more or less frequently than last season.

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Today’s Roto Riteup comes to you with 80 grade situational awareness.

Hey. Hey dude … THROW TO FIRST! https://t.co/lD9eI8TUYl pic.twitter.com/oG4DAnx9H7

— MLB GIFS (@MLBGIFs) April 17, 2017

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Per Baltimore Orioles: Zach Britton on 10-day DL w left forearm strain. RHP Stefan Crichton recalled from Triple-A Norfolk. (cc: #BlueJays)

— Laura Armstrong (@lauraarmy) April 16, 2017

Hot off the press, the world’s best relief pitcher has been sent to the Disabled List with a dreaded forearm strain. A strain, for those of you not familiar, is the tearing of a muscle or a tendon. This is a big deal in the forearm, particularly for a pitcher, because these muscles are the ones that protect the UCL during the pitching motion.

We are all familiar with the performance Zach Britton put out in the 2016 season – arguably, one of the most dominant relief pitching performances of all time. What was happening under the hood to lead to this injury?

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Jose Ramirez continues to dazzle with a strong performance against the Tigers Saturday when he finished 4-for-4 with two bombs in the 13-6 win.

He’s on fire right now, in his last 22 plate appearances he’s slashing a .316/.368/.732 line. His walk and strikeout rate are parallel at 9.5% this season with an increase in flyball rate and hard contact percentage. Read the rest of this entry »

4/15/17

The latest episode of “The Sleeper and the Bust” is brought to you by Out of the Park Baseball 18, the best baseball strategy game ever made – available NOW on PC, Mac, and Linux platforms! Go to ootpdevelopments.com to order now and save 10% with the code SLEEPER18!

Follow us on Twitter

• @sporer
• @enosarris
• @jasoncollette
• @almelchiorBB

Leading Off:

• Jackie Robinson Day

Notable Transactions/Rumors/Articles/Game Play (12:00)

• Jon Gray to DL w/toe
• Jake Odorizzi to DL w/hammy
• Marcus Semien sore right wrist (30:30)

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Santiago Casilla, who we have listed as the A’s closer, relieved Liam Hendriks in the 7th inning with runners on the corners and one out with a two-run lead.

Casilla got Jose Altuve to ground into a force out, on which a run scored, then struck out Carlos Correa after falling behind in the count, 3-0, and allowing two steals to Altuve.

Casilla came back out for the top of the 8th, at which time the A’s still had a 5-4 lead, and he issued a lead-off walk, a stolen base, another walk, and a sacrifice bunt. He was then replaced by Sean Doolittle, with runners on second and third and one out for Nori Aoki.

Doolittle’s first pitch was a fastball in the dirt that got away from the catcher. The tying run scored and the go-ahead run moved up to third with one out. Aoki then gave the Astros the lead with a sacrifice fly to center field, and both runs were charged to Casilla. Doolittle then allowed a single and a home run by George Springer.

Before Casilla and Doolittle entered the game, the score was 5-3, Oakland. When they left, it was 8-5, Houston.

Long story short: stay away from the volatile A’s bullpen until things settle down.

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