SB Nation User Blog: JonBBT

"Some Edgar Martinez Love, Anecdotes, and Trivia"

JonBBT — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 05:51:53 -0000

"Some Edgar Martinez Love, Anecdotes, and Trivia"

A fun read featuring all kinds of interesting stuff about our favorite DH that you're not likely to find in a typical "Edgar for HOF" blog post.

Lanky vs. Stocky

JonBBT — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 08:13:32 -0000

Some are saying that short pitchers are the new "Moneyball" market inefficiency. But obviously short pitchers have different builds. A short pitcher can be lanky or stocky, which is going to have an effect on throwing motion and fluidity.

The Seattle Mariners acquired LHP Mauricio Robles from the Detroit Tigers in the Jarrod Washburn deal. The stuff is that of a top starting pitching prospect, but he's 5'10 and stocky. As a lefty his fastball sits in the low 90s and can reach the mid/upper 90s when he reaches back.

There are examples of short starting pitchers maintaining velocity over the course of time, but guys like Pedro Martinez and Timmy Lincecum aren't exactly the same shape as Robles. They're short, but they have some length. I'm having a hard time finding any short, stocky guys who throw hard as starters.

Wandy Rodriguez was the closest thing I could think of, but he doesn't throw especially hard. But most of the other examples of short pitchers, especially lefties, are the soft tossers like Randy Wolf or Jamie Moyer or whoever else.

Getting to the point, I'm wondering if there is any evidence out there that suggests that "lanky" pitchers are able to maintain velocity over multiple innings, outings, seasons better than a "stocky" pitcher. Obvious, a pitcher's specific mechanics should be studied, but let's try to generalize.

John Jaha was a Moneyball player, but he still had a good career before Billy Beane recognized his real value. Can short, stocky pitchers be a market inefficiency if there were hardly any guys making it before the attention was shifted over to them? Does that make sense?

Basically what I'm asking is this: Is there any reason to believe that a guy like Robles can maintain his fastball velocity over the course 5-10 seasons as a starter despite his build?

Combined career WAR for Rookie of the Year tandems. Over at my site I was wondering if Albert...

JonBBT — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 00:45:19 -0000

Combined career WAR for Rookie of the Year tandems.

Over at my site I was wondering if Albert Pujols and Ichiro made up the best Rookie of the Year duo ever, and casually came to the conclusion that they've got a decent shot if you're using WAR as the measuring stick. Tom Seaver and Rod Carew though.. sheesh.

I'm not a big saber-dude so I thought I'd kick it over here for some more thorough examination. Also, I just quickly scanned the ROY lists and picked out the names that stood out to me, so I could have missed some good tandems.

Seattle Mariners Farm Report, Fall 2009

JonBBT — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 02:50:17 -0000

Seattle Mariners Farm Report, Fall 2009

Seattle Mariners top 25 prospects

I did a writeup talking about Seattle Mariners prospect James Jones' swing. I'm not expert when it...

JonBBT — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 07:29:28 -0000

I did a writeup talking about Seattle Mariners prospect James Jones' swing. I'm not expert when it comes to this stuff, but was happy with what I spotted. I'd appreciate any of your input on my conclusions. Here's the link to the post.

Image FanShot

JonBBT — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 02:56:18 -0000

Holy cow! This does not look natural. Tyler Clippard.

JonBBT — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 06:05:18 -0000

Holy cow! This does not look natural. Tyler Clippard.

Ricky Vaughn.

JonBBT — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 07:26:22 -0000

Ricky Vaughn.

Oh deary me. Jason Knapp

JonBBT — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 18:24:30 -0000

Oh deary me. Jason Knapp

Jarrod Washburn has started mixing in a slower curve this season that he refers to as "the...

JonBBT — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 16:18:45 -0000

Jarrod Washburn has started mixing in a slower curve this season that he refers to as "the dolphin." link