JotCast | Ben Clemens FanGraphs Chat

Ben Clemens FanGraphs Chat - 4/13/26

Ben Clemens

2:00

Hey everybody, welcome to the chat

Let's get going right away; I don't really have any agenda today, so it'll be a regular hodgepodge of baseball and miscellaneous questions

2:00

Are you leaving FG to start for the Astros?

Ben Clemens

2:01

If they make me an offer, I'd have to consider it. How do you think a lefty fastball that sits in the mid-50s would play on their staff?

I Care About Rox Pitching

2:01

Tomoyuki Sugano's sweeper doesn't sweep anymore, but is still labeled a sweeper on Savant. What's up with that? Is it a new pitch? How does pitch classification work?

Ben Clemens

2:02

My understanding is that it's largely down to what the pitchers say they're throwing, and that MLB checks, but you'd have to ask Petriello or Tango or something for more than that. I generically know that what a pitcher calls their breaking ball and their primary fastball matters, just not exactly how they do it

Big Buckston

2:02

The ENTIRE American league has 6 to 9 wins right now! I'm loving the early chaos!

Ben Clemens

2:02

totally, it's very delightful

obviously it won't stay that way forever

but the longer it does, the more fun

Mike Trout Mask Replica

2:03

Greetings Ben, thanks for the chat! I think this Kevin McGonigle kid may be alright. Absolutely looks like he belongs so far!

The Actor for Al Pacino

2:03

Rookie debut you've been most impressed with to start the season? A lot of good ones to choose from!

Ben Clemens

2:03

McGonigle for me, but there are indeed a lot of names to choose from. Debut rules out McLean andEarly, two guys I've been very impressed with

Your Name

2:04

Can MLB do anything to encourage more knuckleballers?

Ben Clemens

2:04

I don't really think so. I think that the more people optimize and try to squeeze every little last edge out of pitch design, the less appealing a knuckleball is, at least until there's a step change in people's ability to improve their knuckleballs

2:05

b/c right now it feels like you can train pretty much everything else

BobNuttingSucks

2:05

Brutal game for the Pirates at Wrigley yesterday. 88% odds to win in the bottom of the 8th and Jose Urquidy who 29 other teams wouldn't have on the 26 man blows it. Are the Pirates an elite bullpen arm and a 3B away from being a reasonable contender?

Ben Clemens

2:05

counterpoint: brutal game for the Cubs at Wrigley on Saturday

and the Pirates bullpen skated through that adequately for a 4-3 win that included an extra inning where neither team scored, and also one where the Cubs had second and third with no out and didn't score

2:06

The Pirates bullpen is second in teh majors in WPA!

whoops, that's overall pitching staff

their bullpen is fourth in WPA

I guess I'm saying they're already a 'reasonable contender' and that if I were them, I'd definitely still be looking to upgrade

John B

2:07

how good is Masynn Winn compared to other SS in MLB? Was expecting him to be the next big thing, but he seems to be morphing into bottom of the pack defensive-only SS.

Ben Clemens

2:07

I.... what?

I guess I don't quite understand the question, but Winn is one of the best defensive shortstops in baseball

and he's kind of like an average bat?

I don't quite understand what bottom-of-the-pack means here but I don't know how exactly it'd apply

TOOTBLAN

2:08

No question here, just pain.

2:08

Is Arenado just flat out cooked in AZ? His underlying metrics look brutal

Ben Clemens

2:08

it's looking BAD early

it's weird, I've watched some DBacks games and he still looks the part to me defensively

but he just cannot hit

2:09

like, he's swinging and missing a lot. and that is just not Arenado

Jays

2:09

Lenyn Sosa to the Jays. I'm not seeing the fit, are you? Doesn't have options. Not good defensively and isn't the type of contact oriented bat they typically prioritize. Maybe they see untapped potential, but how is he going to get ABs?

Ben Clemens

2:09

we're going to have a writeup of this tomorrow, I believe. Um, I haven't had a lot of time to think about it but I assume it comes down to 'Lenyn Sosa is currently healthy'

2:10

the Jays have four hitters on the IL and are often starting Jesus Sanchez, Nathan Lukes, Eloy Jimenez, and Branden Valenzuela on the same day

I think they are just worried that they might not otherwise have sufficient major league caliber players to play baseball

Sperts Valuez

2:12

Is Randy V (Padres) a great example of how you can’t just wish SP strength and conditioning into being esp post pandemic?

Ben Clemens

2:12

we just wrote about him today!

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