JotCast | Ben Clemens FanGraphs Chat

Ben Clemens FanGraphs Chat - 3/30/26

Prev Page View Full Chat Next Page

Ben Clemens

2:47

but I think that at least some of that will be because catchers are just gonna challenge tehre

2:48

it's 3-2! Your closer is in! tap your head if the umpire doesn't call a strike and you didn't pick the ball out of the dirt

Your Name

2:48

When do the Pirates trade Oneil Cruz? They clearly cannot get the most out of him, maybe someone else can. Or maybe there isn't more in there, and if so the Pirates should trade him anyway.

Oneil Cruz for Matt Shaw?

Ben Clemens

2:48

oh man, that's a fun challenge trade

bosoxforlife

2:48

I found this stat to be interesting. Jake Burger has a BABIP of 1,000 after 3 games and 13 AB's. 6 hits and 7K's. Do you think he can keep it up? LOL

Ben Clemens

2:48

kind of incredible

of all people!

note that I'm a big Jake Burger fan, to be clear

Rick

2:48

Do you think Colt Keith ends up being the Tigers full time 3B or always going to be a platoon situation?

Ben Clemens

2:50

I think he will end up as full time after mcGonigle is full-time SS. I think that they're going to give him a lot of rope and that he doesn' tneed to be that great against lefties to make

Guest

2:50

Why is everyone obsessing on abs? Did I stumble on an Onlyfangraphs chat?

Ben Clemens

2:51

Kevin Frandsen

2:51

Random question Ben, how do I subscribe to other Fangraphs chats? I got lucky with yours a while and was able to join and get alerts for when you start. I’d like to be able to join in on Brendan’s and Dan’s, but can’t figure out how to get alerts without randomly checking the site while they’re active

Ben Clemens

2:51

honestly truly no idea

I just publish mine to the site the normal way?

ghost of bruce

2:51

From being in the ballpark for last nights game 1) what is Kayfus doing in left field? Absoilutely no range at all, and I think the M's would have had 2 or 3 less runs with a merely average LF out there. 2) The challenges added a little crowd pleasing spice to a game that was cold and essentially over.

Ben Clemens

2:52

the slide and then get hit by the ball thing was SO funny

Oaktown Blues

2:52

Click the bell in the bottom right of the chat window

Ben Clemens

2:52

bam look at that

Oaktown Blues

2:52

Should be able to subscribe to chat notifications that way

Ben Clemens

2:52

chat looing out for each other, you love to see it

Arathorn

2:52

Any guy feel for how many ABS challenges will be necessary for stats to start to normalize? I know it'll take analysis to get an actual answer but what's your feel?

Ben Clemens

2:52

forever. the whole season or something

Sirras

2:53

What advice to you have for Netflix on how to make an enjoyable baseball broadcast?

Ben Clemens

2:53

oh man

their broadcast was not great, huh?

I think I'd say that you should get some good announcers. I thought they did pretty good there. I think I'd say that you should take a look at the game and make sure that you selected your visual settings in such a way to where I can see the players and the action on the field. They did not do such a good job there

and then I think I'd say 'right, remember, we should display all of the baseball that is played'

2:54

like how do you miss the first challenge?

the scorebug is bad. they can fix that. the visuals are bad. I hope they fix that. it can be fixed. but it was not a wonderful start

Kwanbelievable

2:54

Netflix can start by not having the advertisements screw up the entirety of their saturation, the first couple innings in particular were awful trying to follow the pitch into the plate

Ben Clemens

2:54

yeah for real. realllllly not good

George

2:55

A second ABS question re:Helsley that I want someone to do the math on: How many teams would be performing better from a runs perspective if they just challenged every full count call within 3 inches of the edge of the zone?

Ben Clemens

2:55

that someone will, eventually, be me

Ghost of Ben Clemens Past

2:55

How are projected tools valued individually? Obviously a 70 hit/ 55 power and vice versa is impeccable, but it seems like say a 60/60 Hit/Power guy should be miles ahead of a 45/45 guy with an 80 grade speed or arm. Defense matters and I get that, but it seems like so much stock is put into a guy’s run or arm tool as a corner outfield prospect, when it seems like that has a marginal effect compared to his hitting or fielding. Is this because of projections due to obvious athleticism or something else? Sorry if that doesn’t make much sense I’m just trying to understand how seemingly “less important” tools are held in such a high regard.

Ben Clemens

2:56

this is probably a better question for Eric or Brendan, but I completely agree with you that not all tools are equally valuable, and they definitely take that into account in their ratings. I'd say it's probably sometihng like hit=power>defense=speed>arm. But defense and speed are correlated, hit and power are more like 4 skills really (recognition, bat-to-ball, raw strength, hittin gthe ball at dangerous angles)

bosoxforlife

2:56

I was exceptionally impressed by both McGonigle and Wetherholt. Are you ready to make a choice between them?

Ben Clemens

2:57

I am not but I'm ready to say they're both SUPER fun

and I think both teams did the right thing by pushing them to start the season

Connecting…