JotCast | 2025 FanGraphs Opening Day Chat

2025 FanGraphs Opening Day Chat

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Ben Clemens

9:02

although it looks like I misspoke earlier

he used his changeup more last year than I'd thought he did

9:04

Over the past two years he's really minimized the slider

Michael Rosen

9:04

tork tank

Ben Clemens

9:04

Tork heard me scoffing at hitting him cleanup and took it personally

Michael Rosen

9:05

the snell slider shape is pretty weird. today it played more like a cutter (89 mph, 10" iVB, 0 inches HB)

Ben Clemens

9:05

he went through a period of using it a lot on the Padres, but not shaped like that

Bosoxforlife

9:06

Fair or foul. The Dodgers will win more games than the combined wins of the two lowest win totals of the Marlins, Rockies and (1st Place) White Sox.

Ben Clemens

9:06

I'll take the bad teams in that one. The Dodgers are great but we're talking 110 wins or something.

Greg

9:07

Eguy Rosario will land on his feet, right? As much as I expected them to do it I still can't believe that the Padres did that.

Ben Clemens

9:07

I mean, if I were a GM of a bad team and had a spot for him, I'd give him a shot

9:08

The guy can hit - it's just a question of whether he has enough big league power and versatility

The Padres roster is WILD by the way. Martin Maldonado, Yuli Gurriel, Jose Iglesias

Farhandrew Zaidman

9:09

Stars and scrubs, but on a budget!

Greg

9:09

"he went through a period of using it a lot on the Padres, but not shaped like that".

That's a very interesting "That's what she said!". Even more so if "Padres" isn't capitalized LOL

Afterthought

9:09

What should we make of RHH having smaller platoon splits than LHH (10 points of wRC+ vs 17 in 2024)? It makes me think that a team built around lefty hitters can be neutralized without much fanfare if it runs into a lefty heavy pitching staff. Or a righty pitching staff built around changeups.

Ben Clemens

9:11

I think that we already kind of perceive this effect, even if we don't specifically call it that. You hear a lot more about LOOGY's than ROOGY's. Lefties have probably practiced much less without the platoon advantage than righties, so it makes intuitive sense to me too. I think that teams very specifically think about having lefty relievers to neutralize lefty hitters, even though the effect is not enormous (a 140 wrC+ lefty hitter is still good against a lefty reliever, a 95 wRC+ righty hitter isn't great even with the platoon advantage).

Ben Clemens

9:12

It's definitely true that having an overly lefty dominant lineup can leave you vulnerable

but.... it's a matter of how good the hitters are, to me. if it's a bunch of league average types facing bad matchups, that's not gonna work. if we're talking about using a lefty to neutralize Ohtani/Freeman or Harper/Schwarber, well, those guys hit homers off of lefties too

Michael Rosen

9:15

super impressive homer by schwarber off a lefty earlier today — 96 mph sinker running in on his hands

Farhandrew Zaidman

9:14

I believe Tom Tango's theory is the gap in platoon splits is due to there just being more RHP than LHP. In a hypothetical world where batters grow up seeing 50/50 from each side, the platoons would be equal.

Paul Sporer

9:14

Hello everyone!

Ben Clemens

9:14

Yeah 100%. I concur, too. I think it goes across sports. I'm less comfortable against a lefty, any lefty, despite being lefty myself

Michael Rosen

9:14

hello paul!

Ben Clemens

9:14

so maybe there's a "handedness" split, and also a "familiarity" split. And the familiarity split makes it easier to hit righties, for both groups

Hey Paul!

9:16

Paul I talked a little trash about the Tigers opening day lineup and Tork is making me look silly for it

Michael Rosen

9:16

ohtani makes it look so easy

Ben Clemens

9:16

I'm still not in for signing Margot and tossing him in fifth right away though

Brian

9:17

If there is a familiarity split for handedness, what about for arm angle... wouldnt that same logic have to apply?

Michael Rosen

9:17

isn't there?

Some kinda Mook

9:17

That looks like one of those deep contact home runs we’ve heard about from Ohtani

Ben Clemens

9:18

oh totally. It's not like Tyler Rogers succeeds because the stuff is just completely unhittable

he succeeds b/c people go 'wait what the hell was that?' after every pitch

Bosoxforlife

9:18

With every HR that this man hits I wonder if the Dodgers are having second thoughts about ever using him as a pitcher which could affect his hitting in any way.

Ben Clemens

9:18

There was this awesome Sam Miller article about how rare it was going to be for him to be good enough at pitching and hitting, but not overwhelmingly good at either, to keep playign two ways.

Michael Rosen

9:18

nooooo

let shohei pitch

Ben Clemens

9:19

this was before he debuted

Brian

9:19

I honestly dont know Michael in anecdotal evidence i would say yes... but dont know if that holds

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