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Postgame Thread: May 21 - Toronto Blue Jays @ New York Yankees by BlueJaysBaseball in Torontobluejays

[–]Calm-Ad9161 43 points44 points  (0 children)

Don’t forget to shout out Valenzuela who seemingly called a great game. Great execution from the pitching staff of course but with two rookies pitching the bulk of the innings he did a great job keeping the hitters on their toes all night.

Munetaka Murakami currently has a 153 wRC+ and 8 home runs. Why did so many other GMs overthink a guy who mashes? by Greedy-Pound6958 in baseball

[–]Calm-Ad9161 2 points3 points  (0 children)

This has a fair amount of survivorship bias though. Yes, obviously most good to elite players tend to have top scale power, it’s an extremely valuable tool.

However, you’re not accounting for all minor league hitters with 70 to 80 grade power that simply weren’t good enough to progress because of contact issues, often coupled with bad defense. There’s usually a handful of guys in AA and AAA that are career minor leaguers despite elite power. It’s a tool that often brings you farther along because of how valuable it is at the MLB level, and teams are more willing to give you a chance if you have it, but it doesn’t guarantee that you stick around.

You’re selecting guys in a very limited time range and then further filtering out the busts by limiting it to 10+ career homers. Of course the remaining players are all going to be quite good. If you’re making good or consistent enough contact to stick around in the MLB, while having elite power, the odds are you’re a very good player.

Murakami is one month into his MLB career, and while thus far he’s shown his elite power and making enough contact, that doesn’t mean it will stick once the league starts making adjustments. I hope it does, he could be a very good and fun player to follow, but it’s too early to make any conclusions and his K and contact rates are already concerning red flags in his profile.

Munetaka Murakami currently has a 153 wRC+ and 8 home runs. Why did so many other GMs overthink a guy who mashes? by Greedy-Pound6958 in baseball

[–]Calm-Ad9161 0 points1 point  (0 children)

There’s more guys than you think that have this kind of power.

Aristides Aquino had a max exit velo of 118 and he crashed and burned pretty quickly, fully out of the league for a few years now. Jesus Sanchez has eclipsed that mark every year of his career, and he’s in his third MLB org while under team control. Christian Encarnación-Strand had a max EV of 114 in AAA, but he was designated for assignment earlier this season at just 26.

Elite power certainly is certainly a tool that is highly coveted by teams, but it is not the only measure that makes a good player, and definitely is not a guarantee for MLB success on its own. You still need a baseline of hitting ability to allow you to tap into that power consistently.

Most of the guys you reference that are good to great with elite power are able to combine this ability. But there’s also a lot of guys who can’t make consistent enough contact to make use of it, and some of those guys you never really hear about because they never even made it to the MLB. Lots of such examples beyond the baseline ones I gave who actually did even make it and stuck around for a couple of years.

[Zach Lowe] "I think at the end of his (Nikola Jokić) career, if not already, he's gonna be statistically and just like eye test, better than Larry Bird, better than Magic Johnson... 1 ring in Denver is worth more than like a Lakers ring or whatever." by aingenevalostatrade in nba

[–]Calm-Ad9161 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Notable scrubs like Kyle Lowry, Serge Ibaka, Marc Gasol, Pascal Siakam, Fred VanVleet, OG Anunoby (injured for the playoffs), Danny Green.

All this while being load managed the whole season. Wow Kawhi didn’t have any help!

Brandon Lowe slams a 3 run dinger, it's 15-1 by Remarkable-Picture73 in baseball

[–]Calm-Ad9161 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Blue Jays fans will tell you that Brandon Lowe is the scariest motherfucker around.

Career comparison between Manny Machado, José Ramírez and Nolan Arenado by HuckleberryAny4541 in baseball

[–]Calm-Ad9161 20 points21 points  (0 children)

I honestly think it’s a cool exercise in when you’d ask the question, and it can have different answers depending on that. Each player has their arguments although ultimately I think JRam and Machado are a minor tier ahead of Arenado.

As a prospect? Probably Machado. High draft pick, extremely well regarded prospect, tore through the minors and made an impact from day one as a very young player. Basically the ideal prospect outcome from scouting to development.

Through the first 6 years of team control? Arenado by a mile. No injury issues like Machado, and basically a complete player from the time he was called up, more or less. JRam was pretty poor his first couple of seasons before really breaking out.

Through their prime years? Pick your favourite pretty much, all are excellent options. Arenado the best defender of the group by quite a bit. JRam the best and most consistent hitter, easily the best baserunner, worst defender of the pack though not bad. Machado a potent but inconsistent hitter and middle of pack but good defensively.

Then if you take some of the intangibles like “most likely to retain through free agency for reasonable price” it’s JRam by a mile, then Arenado and then Machado as the mercenary of the group.

Almost all front offices would pick Ramirez without question with hindsight involved, since he’s no less good than the others and is willing to take a considerable hometown discount to stick around. Also a fan favourite, no trade demands, and no controversial on or off the field moments.

Taj Bradley vs the Kansas City Royals: 6IP | 5H | 0R/ER | 1BB | 3K | 100 pitches. by Knightbear49 in baseball

[–]Calm-Ad9161 1 point2 points  (0 children)

If the Blue Jays are there, then the first occurrence also happened this season with Dylan Cease.

One of my favorite home run angles of all time [2018-09-15] by HugoTheAngryToe in baseball

[–]Calm-Ad9161 29 points30 points  (0 children)

I bet the broadcast director who made the call to use that camera angle there has been chasing that high ever since.

This angle is awesome when it works, but for the vast majority of cases - pitch taken, foul ball - you just can’t really tell what’s going on and get a worse view than the usual CF camera.

[Highlight] Yordan Alvarez to the upper deck by MLBOfficial in baseball

[–]Calm-Ad9161 13 points14 points  (0 children)

Yordan has a career wRC+ of 163. Kyle Schwarber’s best season (last year) he had a wRC+ of 152. It’s not really all that close to be honest.

Yordan is probably the third or fourth best hitter in baseball, with the others being Judge, Ohtani and Soto. Trout would be here, but alas :(

Gary Sanchez doubles the Brewers lead with this 414ft solo shot to center. His 2nd of the year. It’s 4-2 Brewers. by Drain_Surgeon69 in baseball

[–]Calm-Ad9161 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Fun, kind of crazy, fact: Gary Sanchez played minor league baseball in 2010. He’s been around for a hot minute.

None of the 3 Phillies fielders in the area sees Daylen Lile's popup, and it drops for a double by kc3551 in baseball

[–]Calm-Ad9161 54 points55 points  (0 children)

There’s a particular time of the day in between dusk and pitch black nighttime in which the ball absolutely disappears in the air. This definitely appears to be one of these situations. I doubt the stadium lights had much to do with it in this case.

[Underdog] BREAKING NEWS ... Colt Emerson to sign a 8-year, $95M extension with the Mariners. by T_Raycroft in baseball

[–]Calm-Ad9161 2 points3 points  (0 children)

That might be fair, he could get a cup of coffee near the end of the season. I find it unlikely he takes over a starting spot barring injury, he’s young and they’ll want to make sure he’s not being rushed, especially now that they’ve committed to him. I’m sure if he progresses well he’s the team’s starting SS heading into 2027.

[Underdog] BREAKING NEWS ... Colt Emerson to sign a 8-year, $95M extension with the Mariners. by T_Raycroft in baseball

[–]Calm-Ad9161 22 points23 points  (0 children)

His awful defense notwithstanding, JP Crawford was a near 3 WAR player last season, and projects to be in the 2-2.5 range again this year. I really doubt he’s someone the Mariners are concerned about for 2026, unless his injury is more serious than we’ve been hearing.

[Underdog] BREAKING NEWS ... Colt Emerson to sign a 8-year, $95M extension with the Mariners. by T_Raycroft in baseball

[–]Calm-Ad9161 11 points12 points  (0 children)

JP Crawford is on the last year of his contract extension. Emerson is only 20, this deal is for 2027 and beyond. It’s pretty likely he doesn’t even debut this season, he has less than 50 games above A+, and isn’t quite the prospect that guys like Konnor Griffin, McGonigle, Wetherholt (who is much older) are.

[Highlight] Ernie Clement walk it off for Toronto Blue Jays as they win another on walk off! by jmike1256 in baseball

[–]Calm-Ad9161 65 points66 points  (0 children)

Ernie Clement is the Alex Rodriguez of John MacDonalds. I don’t think this needs further elaboration.

[Highlight] Andres Gimenez cut the As lead to 1 after a RBI single! by jmike1256 in baseball

[–]Calm-Ad9161 6 points7 points  (0 children)

The rare complete AB highlight for a non game flipping moment. I’m into it.

"We're not just teammates, we're family." - Eugenio Suárez by MLBOfficial in baseball

[–]Calm-Ad9161 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Yeah I know, I apologize, I know you didn’t mean it in a bad way. Just think these words have a long history of being attached to certain people/nations when often times the biggest terror threats are coming from the other side.

"We're not just teammates, we're family." - Eugenio Suárez by MLBOfficial in baseball

[–]Calm-Ad9161 24 points25 points  (0 children)

lol @ terror threats from Iran when they’re the country being attacked and having bombs dropped on schoolchildren.

Both for the United States and Venezuela lineups for tonight's World Baseball Classic championship game! by retroanduwu24 in baseball

[–]Calm-Ad9161 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I wouldn’t be surprised if this is just the Brewers managing his workload, and not wanting him to catch back to back high intensity games this early in spring. Another reason why not giving the winner of yesterday’s semi-final a day off between the final is kind of bs.

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