JotCast | Ben Clemens FanGraphs Chat

Ben Clemens FanGraphs Chat - 5/10/21

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Ben Clemens

2:57

Eh, I don' think it's that. One of my best friends is a huge Nats fan, as is my mom, I've listened to a lot of Nats games. I don't care for FP, and he may not even be there much longer, I just don't find the TV broadcast to be an engaging listen personally

whereas I love the radio guys

Mike Trout

2:57

Is my K rate mildly concerning for the future. Obviously the slash line is great but trout has no K at this rate in a while

Ben Clemens

2:58

I do think it's mildly concerning

I'm less worried about him swinging more, because that's a normal fluctuation

2:59

More worried about the declining contact rate, which is driving the uptick in swinging strikes and strikeouts

Like you said, the overall line plays, but I'd be worried that a whiff-heavier game will lead to lower production long-term

Appa Yip Yip

2:59

If you're meh on parity, how do you feel about competitive balance picks that also are somehow the only ones that can be traded? I kind of think they're dumb.

Ben Clemens

3:01

Not a big fan of competitive balance picks as currently implemented

3:02

I don't hate the idea, it's reasonable to find ways to level the playing field for teams, but I'd rather have it be more explicitly done with revenue sharing

BringBackDeSpanielHair

3:02

Mike Trout is just striking out so everyone feels like they have a chance. It's clearly by design, duh!

Ben Clemens

3:02

Yes, it's a long con. He's so good that he can't let us know how good he is, or we'd stop being interested

Charley

3:03

Alex verdugo better than what people say? He can be an above avg CF/all star no? Why do I think he has more power than people say...? And he's stealing more bases.. or is it too early for me to get excited. He's out producing some guy named mookie Betts right now....

Ben Clemens

3:04

I'm not sure what people say about Verdugo, but hasn't he always been regarded as an above-average regular? That's what's been going on this year so far, and the strikeout rate improvement sure is nice. I don' think he'll sustain his .362 OBP but yeah, nice player

Still easily take Mookie over him

Fernando Tatis-Buck Jr.

3:04

Hope for a Suarez bounceback?

Ben Clemens

3:04

Uhhhh

It's safe to say I'm worried

3:05

Let's see if I can phrase that a little better

There's so much going wrong

Across so many different areas

That I'm incredibly worried

3:06

Every facet of his plate discipline is worse. He's swinging more at balls, less at strikes, making less contact with each

His power on contact has cratered

3:07

It just feels really bad to me, and given that he's randomly playing shortstop now, it wouldn't shock me if the rigors of doing that are affecting him

3:08

Also the fielding does not look great!

OAA has him 10 runs below average, and the worst player in baseball regardless of position when going to his right

It's hardly surprising that a third baseman would have trouble ranging right

Mike Trout

3:09

Re: in general can player have 150 ish PA with “abnormal” contact rates? Mike Trout has always been fantastic at adjusting to what new idea pitchers try to attack him with.

Ben Clemens

3:09

Oh for sure

Most likely outcome is that he snaps back with no ill effects and keeps mashing

It's just more worrisome, relatively, than if he had some bad batted ball results

Charley

3:10

Hot take or legit: Carson Kelly and Jared Walsh.. both breakouts r real. Possible all stars?

Ben Clemens

3:11

I'll say legit, and not (at least not exclusively) b/c one of my bold takes for the year was that Kelly would be an all star

He looks good in the exact way I want him to look good

45 blows billygoats

3:11

I get so excited when I see a post highlighted in blue because it means one of my questions is getting answered. No blue posts today....what gives????

Ben Clemens

3:11

Extreme personal dislike

Slash, my attention span is such that I basically focus on a question and answer it

3:12

Then look at the queue again and look for hte first one that I want to talk about

meanwhile lots of questions have gone by

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