JotCast | Ben Clemens FanGraphs Chat

Ben Clemens FanGraphs Chat - 2/17/2020

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Ben Clemens

3:04

My guess is that MLB is now grudgingly investigating all of these so that they don' get blindsided by a media revelation again

Darragh

3:04

For the platoon difference, wouldn't a contributing factor just be that lefty hitters are more accustomed to righty pitchers than the righty hitters are to lefty pitchers? Most pitchers are righties, meaning batters get accustomed to seeing the ball come from that slot.

Ben Clemens

3:04

Another good reason too!

Tatis Jr.

3:05

Can I strap the Padres to my back and carry them to a second place NL West finish?

Ben Clemens

3:05

Yes for sure. Though I think Machado and Pham will be doing some of the carrying too.

Matt

3:05

Bryce Harper is insanely rich, has lived in Washington DC and likes to drape himself with American flag paraphernalia. What other qualifications does one need to become president?

Ben Clemens

3:05

Psh, you think living in DC is a qualification?

But hm, maybe. He's charismatic which seems like a plus.

3:06

Great in press conferences.

"That's a clown question, bro" is an all time line.

Yeah put Harper in the mi.

The Ghost of Wade Boggs

3:06

I'd say Grover Cleveland Alexander should merit consideration for president, assuming he can policy like Grover Cleveland

SpaceMan

3:06

What's up with Brock Holt? Do you think he'll be signed soon? Seems like a good utility guy.

Ben Clemens

3:07

When I did my biggest holes on each contender series, I kept wanting to suggest a team sign Brock Holt to cover their problem

I eventually had to redo some of them because I said like ten teams should sign him and it got stupid

So yes, I don't get it. The Cardinals in particular should be calling him.

3:07

who do you think has a better 2020 ... Manae or Stroman?

Ben Clemens

3:08

I'll take Stroman.

Little skeptical of Manaea unless his velo comes all the way back

3:09

It's weird like, I think that I at least naturally think of Manaea as better than he is b/c he threw a no hitter and then got hurt

And I think, man, if he could just have kept pitching

But it's not as though he was particularly insane even in the no hitter season

Dave

3:09

So, righties make up the vast majority of the population. So intitially, the vast majority of the players bat and throw right handed. However, because of the platoon advantage, leftie players are given preference and as you rise up in levels, lefties become a greater percentage of the total pool of players. So in order to succeed and advance at the lower levels, righties need to be able to handle other righties. No one really gets tested in a meaningful way against lefties until the highest levels

Ben Clemens

3:10

Kind of a combination of the two above explanations.

It's totally reasonable that lefties have a bigger 'natural' platoon advantage for weird selection reasons, though

Is the point

Matt

3:11

If you could (had to?) have one Pirates starting pitcher on your team for 2020, who would you take?

Ben Clemens

3:11

Musgrove

I'll have an article about him out tomorrow actually