JotCast | Ben Clemens FanGraphs Chat

Ben Clemens FanGraphs Chat - 1/31/22

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Ben Clemens

2:42

I understand why he's gone away from his sinker but I wish he used it more

2:43

I just think that the sinker/cutter/slider spectrum is great

snell cy

2:43

The possibility of Darvish's rebound?

Ben Clemens

2:43

I can easily believe in it

2:44

Even with a crappy second half last year he was alright on the season as a whole, and I have no problem saying maybe he was affected more than most by the foreign substance crackdown so maybe an offseason to work on how to create spin in the new regime will benefit him

2:45

Plus I just always bet on Darvish, I'm a sucker that way

Appa Yip Yip

2:45

Wow no love for the knuckleball. Gimme knuckleball/changeup.

Ben Clemens

2:45

Everyone loves knuckleballs, I'm not as into them

They are cool as an oddity, not more than that though

MolsonMuscle

2:45

Who do you see Leiter being comparable to?

Ben Clemens

2:45

Jacob deGrom, only worse

I'm not a big comps guy

2:46

I really like Leiter's fastball, though, I hope he bullies people with it like deGrom does with his

Chip

2:46

Talk me out of A.J. Puk as a dark-horse closer.

Ben Clemens

2:47

If you think you're gonna get a pile of saves, that's not really Oakland's way

2:48

They like to spread out their ninth-inning work. Even in the full season where Liam Hendriks closed for them (2019), he only had 25 saves

Because Treinen started out as the closer, basically

2:49

I think they just like their flexibility and will keep doing that in '22, playing matchups and rest and whatnot

Rate stat wise? I'm into it!

If one pitcher in the majors threw a knuckleball, I wish it were AJ Puk

For the Knuckle Puk nickname, obv

Monkeyball

2:49

How much better would an average MLB pitcher be if they could throw using their foot instead of their hand? Love a deceptive leg slot.

Ben Clemens

2:50

I don't think that I understand how this would work

Is it like, arm-level velo and command, just it comes from a strange place?

2:51

If so, I imagine it would be pretty useful because throwing 95 from the ground would MESS with some batters

one of the big disadvantages to sidearmers and underhanders is that you can't really generate elite velo from that slot

14343

2:51

Who in MLB truly has an 80 hit tool?

Ben Clemens

2:51

I thikn I'll just say no one

Maybe Wander? I'm unclear on exactly what an 80 hit tool means, I know Kevin has said it's a true-talent .330 hitter or something like that

2:52

And I don't think there are currently any of those

If you subscribe to the stdev method, it's a 3-stdev above average hit tool

so in a 1,000-hitter MLB, one player would have an 80 hit tool

2:53

which means there isn't always one, and I'll just say it's no one right now

KDS

2:53

Would a great 90s team (e.g., 1998 Yankees), if pulled into the future), be beaten easily in a 7 game series by a good 2020s team (e.g., 2021 Yankees) or has the talent level stabilized over that time frame.

Ben Clemens

2:54

I think they would in a 1,000 game series or whatever arbitrary establish true talent level type deal

I haven't really looked into the speed at which talent has improved, but bat speed and average fastball velo and all that stuff are WAY up

Would they beat this year's Pirates? I also t hink so

It's not like there's NO comparison

Farhandrew Zaidman

2:54

I asked Trevor May (of the Mets) on twitch why more pitchers don't throw knuckleballs, and he basically said it kills your fastball arm speed so it's a zero sum game unless you pitch exclusively in knuckies

Ben Clemens

2:55

That makes a lot of sense to me

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