JotCast | Ben Clemens FanGraphs Chat

Ben Clemens FanGraphs Chat - 3/31/25

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Ben Clemens

2:22

Here is what I wrote about him there:Mountcastle projects for more work despite being the natural short side of the platoon, and his track record has dead zone written all over it. There are plenty of guys who can produce a 112 wRC+, Mountcastle’s career mark. That makes him extremely replaceable, but the Orioles haven’t found a better option.

Bailey

2:22

Last lineup spot is between playing a full week of Jordan Beck in an outfield spot, or moving Edman to said outfield spot and playing Gunnar at SS when he won't return until Thursday. What to do? Thanks!

Ben Clemens

2:23

mmmmmm.... tough one. I think I'd go with Gunnar. The Rockies have half their games on the road this week, and they're facing Wheeler and Sanchez in two of them.

They only have six games, too

TomBruno23

2:24

I was thinking with the Cardinals that if Pages, Gorman and Scott II hit a HR each game and they can use one SP and one RP to get through 9 innings I think the season will be kind of fun.

Ben Clemens

2:24

yeah. If Pages is actually who we thought Adley Rutschman was, the Cards outlook goes up meaningfully

odds of that? probably not that high

Bosoxforlife

2:24

It is 2:14 already and I don't see a torpedo bat question??? I like the concept of bringing more mass closer to the label. What do you think?

Ben Clemens

2:24

Oh there are plenty of torpedo bat questions, I'm just mostly ignoring them

It seems good to me

I doubt it's a huge improvement

But I am willing to believe that it's an improvement

2:25

it's a tradeoff, right? changes where the most mass is located. So it's a net good - but it's gonna result in some worse swings at parts of the bat

2:26

I do buy the idea that since hitting the ball harder has exponential returns, you want to add the weight to the hits wehre you smash the ball (sweet spot) rather than to ones where you hit it closer to the end. But I'm guessing this is a small adjustment and not for every hitter

TugMcGrawFan1996

2:26

Colton Cowser just broke his dominant hand on a slide into first. How is it that in a world of analytics, in the year of our lord 2025, do teams not teach players to never ever slide into first no matter what?

Ben Clemens

2:26

I don't think that it's a learned behavior. I think it's instinctual. Plenty of things in sports are just done at a subconscious level and wouldn't happen if you go tto stop and decide what to do

Lightning Round!

2:27

When will society as a whole let Shaboozey slip away like we did with the Macarena, I'm Too Sexy, and The Scatman?

Ben Clemens

2:27

He's running out of time for a second hit, imo

I think it's a GREAT walkup song though

Guest

2:27

Royals up 3-0 over the Brewers in the first. My new thesis based on Aaron Judge and this inning is that the Brewers have the worst run prevention of all time and the Torpedo Bats were holding the Yankees back

Ben Clemens

2:27

loving it

torpedo bats torpedo Yankees, easy

mattygordo

2:27

What did Coby Mayo do to the Orioles front office to make them so mad. Is this just service time manipulation or is he really not seen as one of their 13 best batters?

Lightning Round!

2:27

Is Coby Mayo the new Michael Busch? At this point he'll get traded to a starting job by the time he's 27 at this rate

Ben Clemens

2:27

I don't know what to think about this

2:28

I don't get the sense that they're doing much manipulation these days; the Jackson Holliday demotion looks pretty reasonable a y ear later

and like, they do seem good at evaluating their own hitters

so I'm kind of thinking it's a combination of the O's being very focused on bringing guys up in good situations, with plenty of playing time and a good runway

and that they've got some sunk cost going on with hitters who are worse than him but out of options

Bosoxforlife

2:28

White Sox jump off to a 3-0 lead!

Ben Clemens

2:29

I made several 'bold predictions' this year that invovled the White Sox being merely below average

really hoping that I hit on those and seem like a visionary for a milquetoast bet on regression

mattygordo

2:29

Carlson over Mayo seems like a stretch though, we all know who Carlson is and there's no upside there.

Ben Clemens