The 2020 version of Bullpen Report includes six different sections, as well as the closer chart, which can be found at the bottom of the page.
The “RosterResource” link will take you to the corresponding team’s RosterResource depth chart, which will give you a better picture of the full bullpen and results of the previous six days (pitch count, save, hold, win, loss, blown save.)
Read the rest of this entry »
09/17/20
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Angels
• Jared Walsh has simplified his swing.
The Angels focused on those fluid, powerful hands as Walsh remade his swing again this summer. Walsh quiets those hands and allows them to be more efficient and effective in their movements. Walsh used to be hunched over the plate, his hands in constant motion — not just pre-swing but as he loaded his hands behind his body to release the barrel, until the Angels shifted him. He’s more upright now, his hands quicker to the baseball to let them cook. The timing issues he battled in his first taste of the big leagues evaporated. It also eased the transition for Walsh, giving him the ability to focus on pitch selection rather than simply trying to catch up. His swing has clicked, if only for a couple of weeks.
The Angels focused on those fluid, powerful hands as Walsh remade his swing again this summer. Walsh quiets those hands and allows them to be more efficient and effective in their movements. Walsh used to be hunched over the plate, his hands in constant motion — not just pre-swing but as he loaded his hands behind his body to release the barrel, until the Angels shifted him. He’s more upright now, his hands quicker to the baseball to let them cook. The timing issues he battled in his first taste of the big leagues evaporated.
It also eased the transition for Walsh, giving him the ability to focus on pitch selection rather than simply trying to catch up. His swing has clicked, if only for a couple of weeks.
He’s doing something right by hitting .315/.328/.759 with six homers in just 21 games. Read the rest of this entry »
Yesterday, I discussed the teams scheduled to play eight games next week and the players widely available who might be worth a pickup, depending on your alternatives. Today, let’s identify the teams with the fewest games next week and which hitters you might consider benching, or even outright dropping, as a result. The advice here is aimed at shallower (12 teams) mixed leagues with weekly transactions.
Transcript is below!
Paul Sporer: Good afternoon, y’all! Let’s talk some baseball!
Travis: Would love to hear your thoughts about the difference between Corbin Burnes and say a Nick Pivetta. Both had homer issues, one of them solved it and the other didn’t. What were the differences between the two that you identified at the time? Did you expect this outcome? (Another one to consider is Luis Castillo’s 2018)
Paul Sporer: Burnes actually made alterations in an attempt to fix his HR issues whereas Pivetta just kept doing the same stuff. Burnes has completely revamped his arsenal to fuel these improvements this year
Greg: Bo Bichette a top 15 asset in dynasty?
Paul Sporer: Pretty close for sure
Larry: I thought I hit the jackpot with Dustin May this year. What’s your level of confidence that he can miss more bats?
Next week is the last full one of the MLB season! Sheesh has the season gone quickly. We still have make-up games to be played so four teams will be playing eight games apiece. Remember that this isn’t as much of a boost as it would have been in previous seasons, as doubleheaders last just seven innings, so each extra game via doubleheader means just five more innings, rather than nine. In addition, a doubleheader might give a manager an opportunity to rest a player you think is a regular, completely canceling out the supposed advantage of the extra game(s). In fact, that could actually hurt, because the game they actually played was two innings less. Still, when you are teetering between two hitters, the extra game(s) could be the deciding factor on who to start for the week.
Now I know how I would fare if I was a Major League pitcher:
DJ LeMahieu hit a 48.7 mph pitch for a home run. That's the slowest pitch hit out of the park in the entire pitch-tracking era (since 2008). h/t: @_dadler (MLB x @GoogleCloud) pic.twitter.com/WHbmFj2M7v — MLB Stats (@MLBStats) September 16, 2020
DJ LeMahieu hit a 48.7 mph pitch for a home run.
That's the slowest pitch hit out of the park in the entire pitch-tracking era (since 2008). h/t: @_dadler
(MLB x @GoogleCloud) pic.twitter.com/WHbmFj2M7v
— MLB Stats (@MLBStats) September 16, 2020
09/15/20