JotCast | Ben Clemens FanGraphs Chat - 4/14/25

Ben Clemens FanGraphs Chat - 4/14/25

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Ben Clemens

2:00

Hey everybody, welcome to the chat

Let's talk

Guards! Guards!

2:00

With swing velocity being a measured component now, do you think that swing acceleration might have some meaning to it? I'm thinking of players who are described as "ferocious rotators" and if it's possible to correlate swing accel/decel to injury risk, for example.

Ben Clemens

2:00

I definitely think so

2:01

I haven't done much looking at it aside from hearing the same things about Ohtani that I think a lot of people have - tremendous acceleration lets him hit the ball with high bat speed even deep behind the plate, etc.

I think it's certainly interesting to look at, I haven't done a ton of work with the swing length and depth of contact data but presumably something could be worked out from that

Pig Newton

2:01

How farfetch'd would it be for the Royals to call up Jac Caglianone straight from AA to provide the team with an offensive spark?

Paddy

2:01

These EV readings for Caglione are bananas. Is he a monster or more like Gallo 2.0 with the swing and miss?

Ben Clemens

2:02

I'm kind of shocked he only has three home runs

For how hard he's hitting the ball, that seems strange? But I guess he has only 45 PA still

2:03

Is there going to be some swing and miss? I mean, yeah. The guy is a low contact rate type, that's who he was in college and I don't expect that to change suddenly

2:04

But if he can play outfield, I want him up yesterday. And if he can't, maybe Jonathan India can play outfield?

cool

1

Opifijikl

2:04

Everybody was lukewarm on the Red Sox till the end of the offseason, when they started hyping them up like crazy. So far they've been lukewarm. Any thoughts on what is going on, or what should change?

Ben Clemens

2:04

I think it would be great for them not to have an entire rotation on the IL

Like, Sean Newcomb isn't their fifth starter right now, b/c he's their fourth starter

2:05

I think their offense is excellent, like 'it'll be fine even with rafaela and catchers who were'nt good enough to supplant connor wong' excellent

So I think it's just a matter of respectable starting pitching

2:06

They've kind of gotten it so far, honestly. But some of that comes from Fitts, who's already on the IL, and there's a lot of 'well maybe Walker Buehler will figure it out again' in here, if that doesn't happen, they might need a bit more

2:07

Crochet is as good as advertised, though

David Stearns

2:07

Baty has a wRC+ of 68 in his career and has been significantly worse than that this year with a 41% K rate. Is he a bust or does he need a change of scenery?

Ben Clemens

2:07

I'm definitely not smart enough to know how to tell the difference between those two

but get him out of Queens

Yeah Well Hiura Towel

2:07

I get that some folks like catcher framing. But if it were eliminated via full ABS, wouldn't the tradeoffs we would assumedly get - better hitting & throwing from catchers - be worth it?

Ben Clemens

2:08

It's a good question and I'm not sure

Like, to some extent definitely

but to some extent the big plodding guys behind the plate, the Ryan Doumits of the world, are just aesthetically unpleasing to watch

and it's not like catchers are suddenly going to be a font of great offense

better throwing, I guess I'm excited about that

Matt Damon

2:08

MATT. DAMON.

D back fan

2:09

Geraldo Perdomo finishes _ in NL MVP voting

Ben Clemens

2:09

unlisted?

laughing

1

I mean, I get that he's off to a good start

but even Geraldo Perdomo doesn't agree with you on this one. He's dropping down sacrifice bunts

Phil

2:09

Austin Riley has been merely pretty good instead of excellent for a season and a half now. Do you see him bouncing back to his 2022-type production, or is this who he is now?

Ben Clemens

2:10

2022? Maybe that's a bit high. 2023? That's around where I have him. He was hurt last year and underperformed his raw data, but beneath the hood, it looked a lot like '23

2:11

Now, that's more All Star than borderline MVP vote getter, but is that bad? Not at all

Sir Nerdlington

2:11

With Steele down, do the Cubs' willingness to extend Kyle Tucker go up so they can trade Cassie and/or Alcantara for a TOR arm?

Ben Clemens

2:11

I definitely do not think they perceive it that way

2:12

Signing Tucker is a long-term decision, and I think it would be poor strategy for them to change their behavior around the most consequential contract extension talks they've had since the 2016 era based on a short-term pitching availability problem

Like, I'd try to extend Tucker either way. But I wouldn't add $100 million to my offer to bowl him over just because Justin Steele is hurt

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