SB Nation User Blog: beastball

J Sanchez for the Giants...

beastball — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 15:31:38 -0000

What do people think of J Sanchez?

I really liked him coming out of the SAL league, great stats, reported mid-90s heat, some secondary stuff, all looking good. Then I hated what the Giants have done with him since, bouncing him from RP to SP and back. It seemed to get him off track, and he's struggled.

This spring it sounds like a little tweak with mechanics and he's back to dominating. I've heard some people have high hopes for him.

My questions are:

Since 2005 it seems his reported velocity dropped from mid-90s to low-90s, do you know how hard he's throwing now?

What do you feel his ceiling comp might be?

Thanks!

Charlie Morton, Braves, SP...

beastball — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 14:41:48 -0000

So, I keep hearing about this guy. He's got a big pitcher's body, he's 24, has a great curve, throws mid-90s, and an above average change. He's going to be in AAA.

The deal is that his control has been horrible since he was drafted. However, the story is that something clicked for him late last summer, and he's been fairly dominant since then (through August, into the fall league, and now into spring).

Cox seems to love the guy. However, I can't find any major publication that has written anything about the guy so I can't confirm his stuff or this idea that he's turned it around.

Ok, what else do people know about this guy? Has anyone seen him pitch? Is he for real or just another over-hyped spring prospect?

Shoulder Problem for Price?

beastball — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 14:54:12 -0000

David Price was scratched from his scheduled appearance Tuesday because of shoulder soreness.

Along with Scott Kazmir's elbow problems it was a bad day for the Rays' southpaw phenoms, but Price indicated afterward that the injury isn't serious. "I'll be all right," Price said. "It was just stiffness really, not sharp pain or anything. I couldn't really get it loose when I was in the pen, so I just said, 'Don't worry about it.'"

Anyone have any more information on this?

Curious about posting rules...

beastball — Sun, 16 Dec 2007 16:01:24 -0000

Hey guys, I've noticed some diaries being deleted, and just thought I'd ask John or one of the Mods to run down the posting rules.

A diary was deleted which had to do with someone asking for advice regarding a fantasy league trade. I was pretty interested to see how the debate was going to unfold.

I'd ask that we not delete those, if possible. I especially enjoy the debates that grow out of trades that compare prospects in ways you wouldn't normally compare them.

And I was going to post a trade to get community feedback, but decided to hold off until I asked and better understood the posting rules.

thanks

Putting the Community list on hold....

beastball — Sun, 25 Nov 2007 17:02:18 -0000

Given the amount of trouble we've had recently regarding the community list, I'd suggest that we put it all on hold for a bit.

I think the site has grown in popularity so that the incidents of trolling and ballot stuffing have increased accordingly. We're only on #16 and have already had 2-3 suspect votes and a few obvious trolls, both of which are ruining the exercise.

First, I think we should put the whole process on hold until we have some moderators appoints.

Then, once the moderators are appointed, only they can initiate new community list polls. Or they can publicly appoint someone who will post the polls, and have all other polls deleted.

That person or the moderators will be the final judge of ballot stuffing, which would be the final problem once the trolling polls are removed.

To this point, in my opinion, the list is a bit of a mess, and the process is so muddled by trolls, that I'm hesitant to involve myself in the process until it gets some organization behind it.

Thoughts?

Last Year's Top 100...

beastball — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 17:06:08 -0000

I've been going back to this list whether because I'm in a discussion about the quality of this year's list vs last years, or if I'm looking back to see where we slotted certain players who have similar profiles to players we're slotting now (Bruce and Snider come to mind).

So I thought I'd go ahead and repost last year's top 100 for people who want to check it out.

01. Alex Gordon, 3B (KC)
02. Delmon Young, OF (TB)
( Daisuke Matsuzaka, RHP (BOS) )
03. Philip Hughes, RHP (NYY)
04. Brandon Wood, SS (ANA)
05. Homer Bailey, RHP (CIN)
06. Billy Butler, OF (KC)
07. Cameron Maybin, OF (DET)
08. Chris Young, OF (ARI)
09. Justin Upton, OF (ARI)
10. Matt Garza, RHP (MIN)
11. Andy LaRoche, 3B (LAD)
12. Troy Tulowitzki, SS (COL)
13. Jay Bruce, OF (CIN)
14. Reid Brignac, SS (TB)
15. Elijah Dukes, OF (TB)
16. Andrew McCutchen, OF (PIT)
17. Carlos Gonzalez, OF (ARI)
18. Adam Miller, RHP (CLE)
19. Evan Longoria, 3B (TB)
20. Tim Lincecum, RHP (SF)
21. Mike Pelfrey, RHP (NYM)
22. Yovani Gallardo, RHP (MIL)
23. Andrew Miller, LHP (DET)
24. Jose Tabata, OF (NYY)
25. Ryan Braun, 3B (MIL)
26. Scott Elbert, LHP (LAD)
27. Fernando Martinez, OF (NYM)
28. Luke Hochevar, RHP (KC)
29. Clayton Kershaw, LHP (LAD)
30. Adam Jones, OF (SEA)
31. Jason Hirsh, RHP (COL)
32. James Loney, 1B (LAD)
33. Hunter Pence, OF (HOU)
34. Nick Adenhart, RHP (ANA)
35. Joey Votto, 1B (CIN)
36. Colby Rasmus, OF (STL)
37. Jeff Niemann, RHP (TB)
38. Daric Barton, 1B (OAK)
39. Brandon Erbe, RHP (BAL)
40. Adam Lind, OF/DH (TOR)
41. Jacoby Ellsbury, OF (BOS)
42. Felix Pie, OF (CHC)
43. Chris Iannetta, C (COL)
44. Phil Humper, RHP (NYM)
45. Josh Fields, 3B (CHW)
46. Ian Stewart, 3B (COL)
47. Jarrod Saltalamacchia, C (ATL)
48. John Danks, SP (CHW)
49. Billy Rowell, 3B (BAL)
50. Travis Snider, OF (TOR)
51. Franklin Morales, LHP (COL)
52. Kevin Kouzmanoff, 3B (SD)
53. Eric Hurley, RHP (TEX)
54. Chuck Lofgren, LHP (CLE)
55. Ryan Sweeney, OF (CHW)
56. Humberto Sanchez, RHP (NYY)
57. Kevin Slowey, RHP (MIN)
58. Jacob McGee, LHP (TB)
59. Jeff Clement, C (SEA)
60. Troy Patton, LHP (HOU)
61. Clay Buchholz, RHP (BOS)
62. Carlos Gomez, OF (NYM)
63. Elvis Andrus, SS (ATL)
64. Donald Veal, LHP (CHC)
65. Joel Guzman, 3B (TB)
66. Wade Davis, RHP (TB)
67. Travis Buck, OF (OAK)
68. Dexter Fowler, OF (COL)
69. Will Inman, RHP (MIL)
70. Chris Parmelee, 1B/OF (MIN)
71. Carlos Carrasco, RHP (PHI)
72. Dustin Pedroia, 2B (BOS)
73. Chris Lubanski, OF, (KC)
74. Erick Aybar, SS (LAA)
75. Miguel Montero, C (ARI)
76. Eric Campbell, 3B (ATL)
77. Michael Bowden, RHP (BOS)
78. Giovany Gonzalez, LHP (CHW)
79. Trevor Crowe, OF (CLE)
80. Joba Chamberlain, RHP (NYY)
81. Jonathan Sanchez, LHP (SF)
82. Brad Lincoln, RHP (PIT)
83. Dellin Betances, RHP (NYY)
84. Eric Patterson, 2B (CHC)
85. Brandon Morrow, RHP (SEA)
86. Ubaldo Jimenez, RHP (COL)
87. Chris Volstad, RHP (FLA)
88. Deolis Guerra, RHP (NYM)
89. Glen Perkins, LHP (MIN)
90. Nolan Reimold, OF (BAL)
91. Anthony Swarzak, RHP (MIN)
92. Hank Conger, C (LAA)
93. Sean West, LHP (FLA)
94. Jeremy Hellickson, RHP (TB)
95. Blake DeWitt, 2B (LAD)
96. Jaime Garcia, LHP (STL)
97. Cesar Carrillo, RHP (SD)
98. Kurt Suzuki, C (OAK)
99. Matt Sulentic, OF (OAK)
100. Brent Lillibridge, SS (ATL)

Is there any predictive value to % Line Drives?

beastball — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 16:24:20 -0000

I remember exploring this issue some last year and finding that %LD didn't really have much correlation to performance. Considering I didn't have access to that information before last year, I couldn't test if it had any predictive value, but I felt that it didn't.

Lately, I've been seeing people use that data point to argue for or against a certain prospect, and I'm curious to know why.

My question is, has anyone done further analysis on %LD or %GB to see if it really has any predictive value? I haven't see any myself, but I haven't been able to follow baseball as closely this year as I have in the past.

Pedro's first start...

beastball — Mon, 03 Sep 2007 21:00:48 -0000

Did anyone catch the game? How'd he look?

His final line was:

5 ip 5 hits (1 XBH) 3 walks 4 ks. 47 strikes vs 29 balls.

Opinions on Fautino De Los Santos...

beastball — Sat, 07 Jul 2007 21:22:35 -0000

I haven't been as active a prospector as I have been in the past, but I was just browsing A ball stats the other day, and came across this guy. Anyone have much information about him? Sorry if I'm late to the party on this one.

Anyway, I did some initial research, and his numbers are really strong, the little I've gotten from him in terms of scouting sound really good too. BP made note of him when reviewing the White Sox's farm team as part of their Al Central review. BA just did a write up on him as part of their series about the futures game.

He's got 10.9 Ks/9, under 1 WHIP, 1.3 dominance. Strong mid-90s velocity, plus 2nd pitch, which is inconsistent, then a weak 3rd pitch. Size is a little smallish. His walk rate is a tad high at 3.5/9. He's 21, so on the verge of getting out of that injury nexus.

So, just seeing if anyone knows more about him.

What do people think of DiceK now?

beastball — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 21:16:19 -0000

He kinda had a rough beginning, but just saw a post that summarized his June, and wondered what people thought of him after June. Which month represents the long term DiceK?

Daisuke Matsuzaka, SP BOS
News: RHP Daisuke Matsuzaka will finish June with just two wins, but the month was easily his most impressive. Matsuzaka forged a 2-2 record that belied his 1.59 ERA and 42 strikeouts in 34 innings. Opponents hit just .179 against the 26-year-old rookie in June.
Analysis: Matsuzaka probably should have five wins in June because he has been pitching so well, but he wasn't getting great run support. Despite a lack of victories recently, Dice-K remains a must-start Fantasy pitcher in all leagues at this time. His next scheduled start is for Tuesday against the Devil Rays. He is also on track to be a two-start pitcher during Fantasy Week 14 (July 2-8).

Poll

Which month best represents what to expect from Dicek?

April: 4.36 ERA, 38ks in 33 innings, 1.21 WHIP

56 votes

May: 5.22 ERA, 30ks in 39.2 innings, 1.38 WHIP

4 votes

June: 1.59 ERA, 42ks in 34 innings, 1.09 WHIP

42 votes

102 votes | Poll has closed