baseballthing

amusing myself, one pitch at a time

[theathletics]

#NERDPOWER

[baseballthing]

Eric Sogard homered. Our national nightmare is finally over.

[baseballthing]

A tweak to his repertoire and a tweak to his rehab, and things are starting to look up for the Oakland left-hander.

As always, Eno Sarris delivers:

Since Doolittle’s elbow is at more like a 140 degree angle when he releases the ball, he’s activating different muscles than if he was releasing the ball with his elbow at a 90 degree angle. Guess which muscles. Yup, the subscap, the oblique, all those muscles in the ribs.

So Doolittle started doing many of the 90/90 exercises with his elbow in his natural release position on his second rehab. Now his obliques are stronger and he’s ready to let loose. “It’s still the third week of March” he laughed, “so I’m not sneaking up on anyone.” But at least he’s letting it fly and “throwing through the ball now.”

And while he was out, he decided to start throwing a split-finger to give himself a legitimate change for the first time. When you total up the ten splitters he’s thrown this year, the pitch drops two inches more than any changeup he’s thrown so far.

[baseballthing]

"Knuckleball!" Has Its Moments, Albeit Too Few and Far Between

Watched Knuckleball! last night. It has its moments but would have benefited from more history and physics, less forced drama and music.

The documentary focuses primarily on Tim Wakefield and R.A. Dickey, the two most recent knuckleballers to achieve sustained big-league success. Witnessing their struggles and persistence in the face of long odds and biases against the pitch is interesting. Subplots about the Yankees vs. Red Sox and Wakefield's pursuit of 200 wins are not.

Knuckleball! shines brightest when old-timers Charlie Hough, Phil Niekro, and Wilbur Wood discuss their craft. One scene with Hough and Dickey is particularly memorable. More of that would have been welcome, as would hearing from managers, pitching coaches, and opposing hitters (Carlos Beltran and Gary Sheffield speak briefly, offering limited insights).

History and physics are mentioned, but only in passing. Hoyt Wilhelm deserved a larger role, as did discussion of how the pitch evolved and how it works.

As the story of two men trying to survive in a sport that marginalizes or even dismisses their skill set, Knuckleball! works. If you're interested in learning about Wakefield and Dickey, you'll like this film. If you're interested in learning about the pitch itself, you're likely to be disappointed.

Of the 93 minutes, maybe a third of it is meat that will stand the test of time. The rest won't age as well, with current viewers having to tell future generations, "You had to be there."

Not bad. Could have been better, or at least been given a less misleading title.

[mightyflynn]

“It took some time. It’s not something that’s talked about. There’s a public perception of a player and an actual team perception of the player. A lot of guys have tried to take him under their wing — is that the right expression? Mentor him? … I don’t think he was really ready for that. It didn’t really register. …

“There can be tiffs that go untalked about for years. It takes a lot of effort to be one of the 25. When you’re young or new … these are things I don’t think he ever had to learn. He flew through every level, never had time any place to be ‘part of the team.’ Now he is. He’s one of us. He’s a great player. And he’s one of the guys, too.”

- Jayson Werth on Bryce Harper

via Thomas Boswell (Washington Post)

Photo of Bryce Harper by Rob Carr, September 6, 2015

[baseballthing]

Great photo, great quote, great player.

[chicagocubs]

Bro.

[baseballthing]

USD alum Kris Bryant launches a 495-foot homer. Go Toreros!

[baseballthing]

Josh Reddick succeeds with low K's, high OBP

OAKLAND -- Josh Reddick's strikeout numbers are way down, he's putting the ball in play more and, in turn, he's finding his way on base at a career-high rate. This is all part of a plan, he says, to become a more complete hitter. Even Reddick maintains that he won't enjoy another 30-homer season in his career after posting 32 in 2012, his first season with the A's, despite finally being fully healthy now. Wrist and knee injuries could've excused his lackluster power numbers in his previous two years -- he exited both with 12 home runs -- but he was done waiting around for them to skyrocket again.

Give Reddick credit for self-awareness and making adjustments:

As much as I would like more power numbers, I'm not going to go home and beat myself up for it, because I can still be a natural 15-20 [home runs per season] guy whether I'm trying to or not. With that thought process, the average is a lot higher, the strikeouts are down and I've become a better hitter.

I’ve noticed a shorter stroke this season. I’ve also noticed a lot more grounders. Here are some numbers since Reddick’s big 2012 season:

2012: .221 ISO, 22.4 K%, 0.42 GB/FB

2013: .153 ISO, 19.5 K%, 0.56 GB/FB

2014: .182 ISO, 15.9 K%, 0.48 GB/FB

2015: .174 ISO, 10.2 K%, 0.67 GB/FB

This is a most unusual progression. He is a very different hitter than he was only a few years ago. Better? Yeah, but mainly different.

[this-day-in-baseball]

September 3, 1928

A’s player-manager Ty Cobb collects the last hit of his career when he doubles off right-hander Bump Hadley in the team’s 6-1 loss to Washington at Griffith Stadium. Cobb will end his playing days, establishing the major league record for hits with 4,191, a mark that will not be broken until 1985 when it is surpassed by Pete Rose.

[baseballthing]

Ty Cobb was kind of great at hitting.

[baseballthing]

Thirty-Two Homers at Age 25

Ten men in MLB history have hit exactly 32 homers during their age 25 season. Giancarlo Stanton and Anthony Rizzo could join that club this season, but let us speak no more of them and focus on the guys who have actually done it.

The last two did it in 2012; both now play for the A's: Josh Reddick and Ike Davis.

Wait, Ike Davis hit 32 homers in a season? But he's only 28 now and hasn't hit that many since.

Which leads to an interesting question: How many home runs did each of these men hit during their age 26-28 campaigns?

Here is a list, presented with minimal commentary, for your edification and mine:

Eddie Mathews, 116; All-Star all three years, second to Ernie Banks in 1959 NL MVP voting

Ryan Braun, 99; All-Star all three years, 2011 NL MVP, scumbag

Reggie Jackson, 86; All-Star all three years, 1973 AL MVP

Paul Konerko, 86; All-Star once, had that one horrible year at age 27

Ron Gant, 85; All-Star once, top six in NL MVP voting other two years

Tony Clark, 78

Tony Oliva, 58; All-Star all three years, second to Zoilo Versalles in 1965 AL MVP voting

Brad Fullmer, 46

Josh Reddick, 39 (and counting)

Ike Davis, 23

Before this year, Fullmer had been the power outage poster boy for our fabricated and admittedly cherry picked collection of once-homeriffic hitters. Now, thanks to Reddick and Davis, he can look down and see others below him. He should probably thank them for that.

[theathletics]

Flip it!

[baseballthing]

Marcus Semien has been playing much better shortstop of late. He made several nice plays on Tuesday night against the Angels, including this gem. Good to see.

[juniusworth]

Dizzy Dean Rest area

Wiggins, Mississippi

U.S. Highway 49

Photo: Will Johnson

[baseballthing]

Wonderful.

[baseballthing]

Josh Reddick Throws Ball Home, Teammate Under Bus

A lot went wrong on Friday night in Phoenix, as the A's lost to Arizona, 6-4. In the sixth inning, with Sonny Gray and the A's holding a 2-0 lead, two Stephen Vogt passed balls led to two unearned runs that allowed the Diamondbacks to tie the game. An inning later, Pat Venditte hung a 3-2 curveball to Paul Goldschmidt, who swatted it into the stratosphere.

The game was lost in the seventh, but something larger might have been lost the previous inning. With the A's holding a 2-1 advantage, Josh Reddick made a fine catch near the right field stands and fired the ball toward home plate. Mark Canha cut the ball off, leading to animated gestures from Reddick on the field and pointed words in the clubhouse after the game:

I felt like the throw was on line. I looked at it, and from the release it looked pretty good. It may or may not have got him. Everybody saw I wasn't happy with the cutoff. Everybody's in agreement that there's no need to cut that ball off whether he beats it by 10 feet or two feet. You never know when you're going to have a play, and cutting that ball off does nothing.

It's worth noting that Canha, whose RBI double in the second gave the A's a 2-0 lead, said nothing about Reddick's 0-for-3 performance at the plate. It's also worth noting that you can replace "cutting that ball off" in Reddick's quote above with "ripping your teammate in public" and still be right.

Maybe Reddick's anger is justified, maybe not. Either way, his actions are not.

[baseballthing]

Can Evan Scribner Join an Exclusive Club?

Evan Scribner is doing something unusual right now. Through August 23, he has allowed 12 homers and just four walks.

Since 1901, only five men have allowed ten or more homers and five or fewer walks in a season. Here are those men, with Scribner added for comparison:

Josh Towers, 2002, Bal: 5 G, 27.1 IP, 11 HR, 5 BB, 55 ERA+, .362/.382/.690

Carlos Reyes, 2003, TB: 10 G, 39.2 IP, 10 HR, 5 BB, 85 ERA+, .265/.294/.510

Kevin Slowey, 2011, Min: 14 G, 59.1 IP, 10 HR, 5 BB, 61 ERA+, .321/.337/.531

Zach Stewart, 2012, ChA/Bos: 20 G, 35.2 IP, 14 HR, 4 BB, 50 ERA+, .360/.377/.677

Brett Myers, 2013, Cle: 4 G, 21.1 IP, 10 HR, 5 BB, 48 ERA+, .319/.354/.703

Evan Scribner, 2015, Oak: 51 G, 57 IP, 12 HR, 4 BB, 104 ERA+, .243/.259/.463

Will Scribner become the next to accomplish this rare feat? If so, he will be the first who wasn't completely terrible while doing it. Stay tuned...

[baseballthing]

Billy Butler Isn't Feasting on Hitters Counts

The A's signed Billy Butler to hit. He hasn't done that.

It's not just this year, either. His recent downward trends in your favorite offensive metric are troublesome:

2012: 138 OPS+, 139 wRC+, .302 TAv

2013: 116, 117, .283

2014: 96, 97, .256

2015: 85, 86, .243

We'll leave the reasons for this to smarter people. What interests me right now is Butler's increased inability to a) get into hitters counts and b) do damage once he gets there.

Here are his numbers from 2012 to 2015 in pitchers, even, and hitters counts. I've included slash lines and OPS for qualitative measures, as well as percentage of total plate appearances to indicate how often he finds himself in each situation.

Pitcher ahead

2012: .268/.276/.376, 652, 30.9

2013: .232/.235/.330, 565, 30.5

2014: .244/.259/.333, 592, 38.5

2015: .257/.260/.329, 589, 34.8

Fairly static over the last three years, no surprise. When pitchers get ahead in the count, they usually have the advantage. This is as true when Butler bats as when most other players bat. He has been behind in the count more often in 2014 and 2015 than he was in 2012 and 2013.

Even count

2012: .309/.320/.498, 818, 33.6

2013: .319/.322/.417, 739, 31.1

2014: .287/.280/.379, 659, 33.2

2015: .220/.240/.390, 630, 33.0

Decent drop from 2012 to 2013, all in the power department (ISO from .189 to .098). More drop from 2013 to 2014, largely driven by batting average. Overall output has mostly held steady this year, but the shape is different. Huge drop in batting average, huge gain in ISO (.092 to .173). Amount of time spent in even counts has remained static.

Batter ahead

2012: .366/.506/.672, 1178, 35.5

2013: .320/.527/.503, 1030, 38.3

2014: .295/.462/.457, 919, 28.4

2015: .238/.423/.362, 784, 32.1

And here is the problem. Butler used to punish pitchers when he got into a favorable count. He doesn't do that anymore. His ISO has dropped from .306, to .183, to .162, to .124. The sharp decline in batting average exacerbates matters, as does the fact that he gets into good counts less often now.

Butler isn't completely ineffective in hitters counts, he just doesn't get the huge boost that he once did. If you subtract his OPS when the pitcher is ahead from when the batter is ahead, it looks like this:

2012: +526

2013: +465

2014: +327

2015: +195

The advantage is severely diminished. What might be causing the problem and whether it is fixable are good questions that someone on the A's staff should be trying to answer. For our purposes it's enough to know that this is happening and is one aspect of Butler's current struggles.

[mariners]

History in the Emerald City. #KumaNoNo 

[baseballthing]

Twenty Runs in a Game: Doc Parker and Allan Travers

While looking for something else I found two pitchers who allowed 20 or more runs in a single game since 1901:

Doc Parker, Cin, 1901: 8 IP, 26 H, 21 R, 14 ER, 1 HR, 2 BB, 0 K, -42 GSc

Allan Travers, Det, 1912: 8 IP, 26 H, 24 R, 14 ER, 0 HR, 7 BB, 1 K, -52 GSc

First off, wow. Second...

Doc Parker

In Willie Keeler: From the Playgrounds of Brooklyn to the Hall of Fame, Lyle Spatz recounts Parker's outing against the Brooklyn Superbas:

For Parker, who had last pitched in the major leagues with Chicago in 1896, this was his first appearance of the season--and his last. The Reds released him the next day, ending his big league career. The twenty-one runs and twenty-six hits allowed by Parker remain National League records.

Keeler, for his part, went 5-for-5 with a double, a homer, and five runs scored before being lifted after the seventh inning.

Baseball-Reference game logs only go back to 1914, but since then, the Reds as a team have never allowed 26 hits in a game (a little surprising, given that it's happened 69 times in MLB during that stretch). They have allowed 21 or more runs in a game on three different occasions:

9/14/20: @Phi, L 10-21

8/13/37: @ChN, L 6-22

7/6/09: @Phi, L 1-22

Allan Travers

This is the only MLB game Travers would ever pitch. No, he didn't get sent back to the minors. In fact, he never pitched in the minors.

Courtesy of the SABR Bio Project, Gary Livacari notes the curious circumstances surrounding Travers' lone professional pitching appearance:

The date was May 18, 1912--surely one of the most bizarre days in major league history--and the site was Shibe Park, Philadelphia. The pitcher was Allan Travers, a student at nearby St. Joseph's College. A few years later, he would become Father Aloysius S. Travers, S. J., and to this day he is the only Catholic priest ever to play in a major league game.

On the previous Wednesday, May 15, the sixth-place Detroit Tigers were in New York's Hilltop Park for a regularly scheduled game against the New York Highlanders. As the game started, no one could possibly imagine that it would become the infamous game in which an enraged Ty Cobb savagely beat an abusive, handicapped fan named Claude Lueker. On this fateful day he had been taunting Cobb with a steady barrage of profanity-laced abuse peppered with racial slurs.

...

Unfortunately for Cobb, American League president Ban Johnson was in the park that day. He had witnessed the horrific incident and was aghast, later informing Detroit manager Hughie Jennings that Cobb was hereby suspended indefinitely. After the next game on Friday in Philadelphia, sixteen Tiger players voted to strike in protest of Cobb's suspension. They would not take the field again, they declared, until Cobb was reinstated.

...

During the spring exhibition season, the Philadelphia Athletics had fielded a team of second stringers called the "Yannigans" against the nearby St. Joseph College varsity baseball team. Nolan was acquainted with the team's assistant manager, Allan Travers, a twenty-year-old junior from Philadelphia. Before the Saturday afternoon game, Nolan contacted Travers asking him to find ten to or twelve amateurs in case the Tigers went through with their threatened strike. Nolan informed Travers that the recruited group would not be expected to play in the game, but were only required to take the field.

...

Seeing the large crowd and fretting over the potential loss of substantial revenue, Connie Mack had a sudden change of heart. He now insisted that the game be played. Why cancel the game, Mack reasoned, when his team had an opportunity to fatten their individual statistics?

...

The next problem was to find a pitcher. Enticed by the $50 fee offered by Jennings, Travers volunteered, even though he later confessed that he had never pitched a game in his life. The revamped Tigers, with Al Travers ready to take the mount, awaited the start of the game against the World Champion Athletics.

...

What may have started as a thrill for the replacement players quickly turned into an embarrassing farce. As expected, the A's won handily, 24-2, with Travers allowing all 24 runs on 26 hits, walking seven, and striking out one. The score was a respectable 6-2 through four innings until the A's erupted for 16 runs over the next three innings... The crowd viewed the game as a joke, and after the third inning many left in disgust, seeking a refund of their money. Fortunately, there were no serious disruptions during the game, and the players were escorted off the field by local police. By the end, the weary players knew they had been used and had participated in a travesty.

I have quoted perhaps too liberally here, so do yourself a favor and read Livacari's entire biography of Travers. It's well worth your time.

[baseballthing]

Maybe He's Not So Abad

Remember how terrible Fernando Abad was earlier this season? Well, a funny thing happened:

Through 5/19: 20 G, 11 IP, 7.36 ERA, .318/.373/.750

Since 5/19: 23 G, 21.2 IP, 0.83 ERA, .149/.192/.230

Slightly different pitcher, eh?

Bonus amusing anecdote: Since May 16, Abad has allowed four earned runs, all on solo homers.

[baseballthing]

Have We Been Underestimating Chris Bassitt?

I keep thinking of Chris Bassitt as a swingman and he keeps pitching better than that. He did it again Tuesday night, blanking the Orioles for seven innings.

Part of it is his delivery. As Baseball Prospectus 2015 described it:

He has some funky arm action and a deep stab as he draws his arm down below his trunk before swinging it through with a low three-quarters action. The resulting command isn't great, casting doubt on his ability to start at the big-league level.

Maybe these words are in my head as I watch him pitch. Or maybe it's that he was drafted in the 16th round and didn't sniff Double-A until age 24.

Whatever the case, his results this year suggest it's time to rethink my position. Yeah, he's only made six starts, but they've been consistently good ones:

Jun 30 vs Col: 5 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 HR, 0 BB, 3 K, 84 Pit, 56 GS

Jul 5 vs Sea: 5.2, 5, 2, 2, 0, 1, 3, 98, 53

Jul 11 @ Cle: 6.1, 7, 2, 2, 0, 1, 3, 98, 53

Jul 25 @ SF: 6.0, 5, 2, 2, 1, 0, 4, 97, 58

Jul 30 vs Cle: 7.0, 6, 3, 3, 1, 1, 6, 101, 58

Aug 4 vs Bal: 7.0, 5, 0, 0, 0, 2, 7, 104, 72

All of his starts have been quality starts, with Game Scores higher than 50. He also keeps going a little deeper into games each time, which is nice.

Still, those doubts linger. And I'm not alone in my skepticism. As Jason Wojciechowski says, "it's still not entirely clear what he is and whether the A's should count on him for the next four years."

On the other hand, Nathaniel Stoltz was touting Bassitt as a sleeper prospect at FanGraphs toward the end of 2013. Stoltz noted Bassitt's deception and velocity as strengths. Deception and velocity seem like good things for a pitcher to possess. Movement? Yup. He had that, too.

So far, so good. What about potential trouble spots? Here's Stoltz again:

Sinker-slider pitchers tend to struggle with opposite-handed batters, though, and Bassitt’s biggest challenge in moving from the bullpen to the rotation has been coming up with ways to retire southpaws.

After noting Bassitt's nonexistent changeup and hittable curveball, he reaches the following conclusion:

Many point to Bassitt as a potential #4 starter, citing his solid overall performance and broad arsenal of pitches. While he does have arm strength, stamina, four offerings with some utility, reasonable control, and decent groundball ability, his weakness against lefthanders may negate these broad strengths and make him more likely to return to the bullpen down the line.

Such skepticism is hard to shake. A year after Stoltz's article, FanGraphs' Jeff Zimmerman called Bassitt a fifth starter/long relief type. A few months after that, Kiley McDaniel shared similar sentiments.

And yet, here he is pitching well for Oakland as a starter, with lefties hitting .198/.308/.297 against him. And it's not like teams haven't read the reports: southpaws constitute 61 percent of batters he has faced.

Can Bassitt keep proving everyone wrong? I don't know, but he's forcing the A's to give him serious consideration as a part of the 2016 rotation.

It's hard not to root for a guy that keeps playing above his perceived level of ability. The A's always seem to end up with a lot of those. Maybe Bassitt is the latest.