SB Nation User Blog: laxtonto

Rosenthal - Sources: Vizquel not returning to Rangers

laxtonto — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 04:10:02 -0000

Rosenthal - Sources: Vizquel not returning to Rangers

Free-agent shortstop Omar Vizquel will not be back with the Rangers, major-league sources say.

Vizquel, 42, had 195 plate appearances last season, and is looking for the same type of utility role.

He would prefer a higher-profile team, one source says.

Jordan Lyles: Under-hyped or Overrated?

laxtonto — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 19:06:56 -0000

It seems that with the first run of prospect lists coming out, that there is going to be once again a few lighting rod prospects. One it seems is going to be Jordan Lyles.

Lyles lit up A ball with a 10.39 K per 9 and a 2.42 FIP in 144 ip while walking 2.39 per 9. This led to his being voted the 6th best prospect in the South Atlantic League by BA with these comments:

Lyles showed the stuff of a potential frontline starter this season. His fastball now sits at 89-91 mph and touches 93. Using a high three-quarters, clean and quick arm action and a repeatable delivery, he challenges hitters with his heater and finished second in the SAL with 167 strikeouts in 145 innings.

"He's the first pitcher I saw say, 'Here you go, Melky Mesa,' and throw him four straight fastballs and strike him out," Tyson said. "After he struck him out and turned around, I saw a little grin on his face, which I like. He's a bulldog, a competitor."

Lyles throws two different curveballs, a show-me pitch in the mid-70s and a sharper 77-80 mph bender. He might be better served scrapping the slower curveball, which he leaves up in the zone. He mixes in an average changeup and started throwing a slider halfway through the season.

The other side of this argument comes from the questions in his ability to keep generating the strike out numbers as he faces better competition. Adam Foster of ProjectProspect.com wrote this in his conclusion of his article on Lyles:

The scouts I spoke with each named a handful of pitching prospects in the South Atlantic League alone who impressed them more than Lyles. Going off buzz from members of our community and the information that's circulating around the web on Lyles, I think he's someone who's likely to enter 2010 very overhyped due to his Low-A walk and strikeout rates.

Looking deep into his numbers, watching a large portion of his 2009 starts, and talking to multiple scouts about Lyles, I see more than a few weaknesses in his game. The main one is that he relies on hitters chasing his fastball up in the zone. Once he faces guys who don't do that, he's likely going to slam into a wall.

So which side of the fence do people here side? Is he being overrated due to his excellent performance against the South Atlantic League's inexperienced hitters or is he undervalued due to his reflection of age and performance in comparison to his numbers?

Poll

Which is he?

Crow, Scheppers Team Up In AFL

laxtonto — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 19:04:47 -0000

Crow, Scheppers Team Up In AFL

Discusses Scheppers AFL experience, his assimilation into the Ranger's pitching program and what he is working on.

BA Texas League top 20

laxtonto — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 16:42:19 -0000

BA Texas League top 20

Smoak #2
Kiker #11

Oct 10th College Football Thread

laxtonto — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 18:20:53 -0000

Some decent games on tap today

Fl vs. LSU

Bama vs. Ole Miss

A&M vs. Okie State

OU vs. Baylor

Georgia vs. Tenn

Mich vs. Iowa

Texas vs. Col

Wisc. vs. Ohio State

Any other games of note that we should watch? Anyone know what the Pac 10 game to watch is outside of UCLA vs. Oregon?

All I am going to say is GO UNT, don't lose to bad to UL LA. Is that pathetic or what?

Blake Beavan to AA Frisco

laxtonto — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 15:22:51 -0000

Blake Beavan, the RHP the Rangers drafted out of Irving High in the 2007 first round, has been promoted to Double-A Frisco.

His first start is expected to be Monday in Midland. His first home start in Frisco is expected to be June 20.

Beavan was 5-4 with a 4.30 ERA in 12 starts (73 1/3 innings) for Class A Bakersfield. Beavan had 16 walks and 51 strikeouts and gave up 75 hits. Opponents hit .264 against him. In his last seven starts, Beavan has seven quality starts. He had a complete game, four-hit shutout on May 7 and has allowed 14 runs in his last 49 1/3 innings (2.55 ERA). Clearly, he's been improving.

Link

Looks like he is finally out of the Hell of the California league...

I still can't get over the fact that Bakersfield is 354" to center.

First Day Winners and Losers of the 2009 MLB Draft

laxtonto — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 14:35:21 -0000

Who does everyone consider the biggest winners and losers from Day 1 of the draft?

Right now my 4 "winners" are:

Nationals- Hard to have a bad draft when you draft Strasburg.

Colorado- Matzek and Wheeler in the First Round, Brothers in the Supplemental... NICE, but be ready to break out the checkbook for Matzek. Even is MAtzek doesn't sign, Brothers and Wheeler are a nice first day.

Texas- Purke and Scheppers. Going to be another expensive draft for Texas.

Toronto- Good mix of youth, signability and college players with upside. Best draft out of the teams not going to have to break the bank.

"Losers" are harder to determine.

Phillies first selection seemed to be a major reach...

Pitt is well Pitt... Sanchez? If you are going to waste the #4 pick, atleast shoot for mid round talent not late round talent

Needless to say, If you don't like my "Winners and Losers" then defend your team and tell us why and give your own "Winner and Losers" instead. A little bit of friendly draft chatter is always welcome.

Poll

Who had the best first day of the MLB draft?

Nationals

30 votes

Rockies

83 votes

Rangers

50 votes

Blue Jays

23 votes

Cardinals

17 votes

Other AL

30 votes

Other NL

16 votes

249 votes | Poll has closed

Pitch fx data now avaliable at FanGraphs

laxtonto — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 19:29:27 -0000

Man I love this site. They get better and better..

Just some quick things from this..

Millwood looks to be using his FB way less this year so far

Padilla velocity is down, but it has increased both the vertical and horizontal movement of his pitches

McCarthy's velocity is up on all of his pitches with his change losing the most movement

Harrison's average velocity is down about a 1/2 a mph from last season and he is throwing his FB less than last year.

Fun little toy to use...

Gobble to Texas

laxtonto — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 03:36:37 -0000

Rangers sign Gobble

The Texas Rangers announced late Saturday the signing of free-agent reliever Jimmy Gobble to a minor league contract.

The left-hander, who was released Friday by the Kansas City Royals, will be in big league spring training Sunday. Gobble, 27, is a six-year veteran who was 0-2 with an 8.81 ERA in 31 2/3 innings last year with KC.

The Rangers have two left-handers who are considered locks for the bullpen, former All-Star closer Eddie Guardado and 2008 closer C.J. Wilson. Both of them, however, have suffered from injuries recently.
Wilson had a blister on his middle finger but threw an inning Saturday against Colorado. Guardado has complained of a sore shoulder but has thrown bullpen sessions the past two days.

Link

One mans trash is another mans treasure

The Fallacy of Park Factors and the AL West

laxtonto — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 19:48:08 -0000

As Ranger Fans, we are constantly beaten over our heads with the fact that TBPIA is a decisive advantage for our offense and a hindrance to our pitching staff. Even with Park Factor Data, at first glance Texas has a few major concerns.

Well, contrary to the initial glance, TBPIA is actually fairly consistent with the rest of MLB parks in baseball. There are very few areas that are a concern, such as triples and sacrifices, but as a whole we fall into the "norms" of the rest of baseball.

Now before I get chased out of town as a lunatic spouting gibberish, let me explain how I derived these numbers and more importantly what I learned about the AL West.

Let’s start with getting the Data. I used the 3 year park factor data from 2006-2008. This is available here in Excel 2007 format. I then used some very basic statistical approaches. First derive the mean or average of all the categories. I then derived the standard deviation of each category in the spread sheet as well.

I then subtracted the Park Factor of whatever team I was sampling from the MLB average. Let’s call this that particular team’s distance from the mean At this point it is a simple "IF" function with Excel. If the absolute value of a team’s distance from the mean is greater than or equal to the standard deviation, it fell into the "Fail" category, if not it was "Good".

At one Standard Deviation, this if we assume with our 30 samples that the data is a normal curve, encompasses roughly 68% of all the ballparks In the MLB or 20 ballparks. Texas fell within 1 standard deviation in all but 3 of the 26 categories in the test data. Out of those 3, triples, at bats, and sacrifices, only at bats and triples would have a large effect on the offensive output. Needless to say, runs, RBI's and home runs fell within the "norms" of baseball.

Now it is time for the fun part. Let’s compare that to the rest of the AL West. The Angels home park "Fails" the at bats, hits and walks categories, which is a nice plus to the pitching staff. The Mariners home park "Fails" the games criteria, walks, strike outs, stolen bases, caught stealing, and hit by pitch categories. And then there is Oakland.

McAfee Coliseum is a major advantage, regardless how you break up the numbers. It "Fails" in the at bats, runs, total bases, extra base hits, RBI’s, strike outs, caught stealing, stolen base percentage, batting average, on base percentage, slugging percentage, OPS, ground outs and air outs. In any case of how you slice it, that is a huge factor in offensive performance.

Is the BPIA the major problem with the pitching, No. Is the BPIA the reason for the Ranger's offensive success, No. Is our park comparative to most parks in the league, Yes.

All these snide remarks we Rangers fans get beat down with now have a better answer than "No, our pitching really is that bad" or "No, our offense is really pretty damn good". Next time just say that the BPIA falls within one standard deviation of all the major offensive categories, and is easily within the ranges that would be classified as the "norms" of the MLB. If they look at you funny, tell them to go look it up.

If you want the excel file with the formulas or the charts that would be associated with this, email me at laxtonto@hotmail.com and leave a note in the thread to check my email.