The taxonomy of pitchers hitting, with animated GIF evidence.

This is another one of Berg's more personal writings that reaffirm the feeling that baseball is bigger than the game. Wholly unpretentious, well written and sweet, but not cheesy.

On Beato, Garik16 writes:

Really the only pitch that's nothing special is the change-up, which still has the same sink as the two-seamer without the great velocity.

So it would seem that Beato seems like he has the potential to be the next breakout pitcher from the Rule 5 draft, more so than the other three pitchers above.

Plus the $5.3 million posting fee.

What do you think? Would you have liked him on the Mets for that price (assuming it would have even been within budget)?

Beyond the Boxscore shows the top 10 in several categories in the AFL. There are only two pitchers who rank in both the top 10 in whiff% and groundball%: Jenrry Mejia and Steven Strasburg.

The site Fonzie Forever uses Fangraphs data to point out some interesting things about the cut fastball. 17 starters use the cut fastball and they happen to be an elite group. For half of them, the cutter is the most effective pitch, and for none is it the least.

Do these statistics make a convincing enough case for the pitch to become more widespread?

By Eric Seidman via Baseball Prospectus (subscription required). Discusses the difference between actual velocity and "perceived velocity," which is calculated photogrammetrically by release point using PITCHf/x data.

Helps to explain why Chris Young is so good despite mediocre velocity. Heath Bell and Francisco Rodriguez's appear faster than they are while Johan Santana's appears a smidge slower.

"Even though Wright's contract runs for three more years and the club holds an option for 2013, he said he would be willing to work on a new deal at any point in the future that would make him a Met for life."

Says John Franco on WFAN (via MetsBlog.com)

Edit: Jose Reyes and Ryan Church were put on the DL. Also, 31 year-old middle infielder Wilson Valdez was acquired from the Indians organization and added to the 25 man roster. Valdez is known more his glove (to say the least), although he posted a .382 wOBA in AAA 2 years ago.