JotCast | Ben Clemens FanGraphs Chat

Ben Clemens FanGraphs Chat - 4/25/22

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Ben Clemens

3:02

Now, is it all into the ground? Indubitably!

3:03

But yeah, that's a real thing. He's kind of going back to pre-Milwaukee Yelich, tons of loud contact but all on the ground

FTLT

3:03

How much longer do the Padres leave Abrams in the bigs? He doesn't look ready and he's taking playing time away from Kim, who doesn't look great but still looks better than Abrams. It can't be good for his development to fail in the bigs over mashing in the minors, right?

Ben Clemens

3:05

Yeah, I don't like it. I was perplexed by his callup just b/c of his weird 2021 (he barely played due to injury), but I thought hey, maybe the Padres know what they're doing here. I guess they just wanted to give him a shot? But I think they should let him acclimate to high-minors pitching in Triple-A before trying him out in the majors full time

Matt (Oceanside)

3:05

Dang Ben! How could you mention the Jays as the coolest team because they have fun and not mention Hanser Alberto and his dancing in the dugout. The dude not only is funny, he looks like he genuinely looks like he enjoys every part about putting on an MLB uniform

Ben Clemens

3:05

You'd have to be a monster to not enjoy Hanser Alberto

3:06

And here's a Dodgers shout out; I was in LA last weekend (not yesterday, 8 days ago) and went to Golden Road after a Dodgers day game

It was really fun, the vibe was excellent and the beers were really good. They had a lot of cool Dodgers gear and it generally made LA feel like a good baseball town

Joey Fart

3:06

Does Paul Blackburn look legit or just a “hot streak”?

Ben Clemens

3:07

a)wonderful username, keep it coming

3:09

b)I think it's a hot streak? I like the way he's now separating out his cutter into a cutter and slider, I'm willing to believe that will up his whiff rates, but he's just not missing enough bats to be THIS long-term. A decent bulk starter sure, but he's really on one right now

Farhandrew Zaidman

3:09

Big oof there Ben, the vibe at Golden Road is decent but the beer is not. Firestone Walker in Venice/Marina Del Rey is the choice.

Ben Clemens

3:09

Oh, hard disagree. I like Firestone Walker just fine but Golden Road is exactly the beer I'm looking for when it's 70

3:10

And sunny with low humidity, the LA ideal

I tend to like sours, which m akes me like Golden Road more

Guest

3:10

dodgers broadcast out of this world. Casually talking about how player development works. Very in tune with how baseball works in 2022. Nats broadcast might as well be an old man talking to his son about nothing in particular. The disparity is shockingly large. Baseball won’t progress for fans if the people narrating it can’t explain how it’s changing

Ben Clemens

3:12

The Dodgers broadcast is good, and the Nats' is bad. That's just true. I don't think it has to mean more than that; there are always bad broadcasts. In my opinion, the Cardinals are a bottom-5 broadcast, and it doesn't seem to stop Cardinals fans from liking the team, etc

I wish that broadcasts were more open-minded but I think that's just a long slow process

Grant

3:12

I've been on a mission to find out why Kyle Tucker hits sixth in the lineup, even with a righty on the mound, despite being their second best hitter (early struggles aside). Any thoughts?

Ben Clemens

3:12

So, you see, lineups are supposed to go R/L/R/L/R/L

3:13

This is known

The Astros happen to have a lefty who is an obvious fit for 4 and a lefty who is an obvious fit for 2

What's a manager who insists on staggering his lineup to do?

3:14

I mean, I'd just hit Tucker two and probably Brantley 5, but I'm not Dusty Baker

Farhandrew Zaidman

3:15

It is entirely possible that the stadium prices of Golden Road have colored by opinion of them overall.

Ben Clemens

3:15

Yeah that's fair. I like beers more when I don't know what they cost at a baseball stadium

Moonlight Graham

3:15

And the charm of GKR isn't their baseball discussions but the chemistry and non baseball stories

Ben Clemens

3:17

I'm gonna marginally disagree here. I think that is true to some extent, but that the broadcast wouldn't work if Gary didn't work hard to know 'modern' baseball stuff. He's really good at challenging the hidebound nonsense that Keith and Ron are prone to at times (they're older baseball players, it's natural)

3:18

If he let them skate more often when they make dubious claims about the way baseball works, I think that would take away from the broadcast

Ryan

3:18

Hitting Tucker 6th is obviously not optimal, but it's not like there's a single guy above him who is a bad hitter. Besides, isn't lineup efficiency only responsible for like half a win a season over old-timey conventions?

Ben Clemens

3:18

Yeah it's a small effect. I'd do it because it's better, but given the Astros' lineup is all good hitters, it's not a huge deal. it's not like they're running out Leury Garcia second and Tucker 6th or anything

Ryan

3:18

Is Zack Collins real, or is this a hot streak?

Ben Clemens

3:19

Yes to both, please

3:20

He's not gonna keep these numbers up with a 3% walk rate and 33% strikeout rate, but you can just look at his minor league numbers and see that he's a good hitter

I think he got screwed up a little bit by the continuing ups and downs last year, and that he's definitely a bit stretched as a catcher. He's probably a lefty DH/1B long-term, maybe with some extra flexibility. But yeah, i think he's a guy, a major-league-playable bat

If you don't know, now Ynoa

3:21

Is this the modern way to construct a lineup: high OBP guy first, then your best hitters to maximize at bats and forget handedness?

Ben Clemens

3:21

I think handedness matters in some situations. The best example I have of this came from talking about it with Jeff Zimmerman

3:22

The Phillies have basically two good lefties, Harper and Schwarber. Stacking those two guys next to each other in the lineup would not be particularly wise

It just makes it too easy for your opponent to deploy their best lefty specialists when they know their leverage will be maximized

3:23

But short of that, I wouldn't care too much about handedness. Like, if the Astros went r/l/r/l/l/r

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