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Ben Clemens FanGraphs Chat - 5/16/22

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Morbo

3:07

So Nolan Gorman is promoted the week for June 13th since that should be guaranteed to be right after the super 2 cutoff date, right?

Ben Clemens

3:07

I don't know! I'm really confused by the way they're handling things. Most of the time I'd just say yes. Eh, I still think yes. But if that were set in stone, wouldn't Tommy Edman be getting more reps at short already?

3:08

Hard for me to figure out exactly what's going on there

Steve O

3:08

Gleyber Torres's expected stats are hard to process. He's got a top 5% average exit velocity?? So he went from severely overperforming his expected stats to now severely underperforming. I know it's still early, but as you know these numbers stabilize very quickly. Also a reminder that we shouldn't write off super talented players after a down season.

Ben Clemens

3:08

Definitely a reason not to write off players after a down season -- but also, a reminder: average exit velocity kinda sucks as a stat

3:09

Hard-hit rate is a good one, and Gleyber does well there. Barrel rate is a good one, and he does alright there. Average exit velocity is overrated. Hitting a ball 70mph isn't worse than hitting one 80 mph

they're both terrible

3:10

Gleyber's good. He's very good at getting the barrel on the ball. He doesn't have prodigious top end power, and I don't think he's a true-talent 20+ HR hitter with this ball unless he can keep up his new all-air-all-the-time approach, but yeah, the guy can hit

3:11

Plus bat-to-ball skills and he's swinging a lot more this year to take advantage of that

Ben

3:11

Do you know which active MLB hitter with over 1,000 plate appearances is 2nd to Mike Trout in wRC+? Hint: it is not Juan Soto. On a related note, I know he is a poor fielder and baserunner and can't pitch like certain other DH, but it seems like Yordan Alvarez is quite under-rated.

Ben Clemens

3:11

I write the 'Yordan Alvarez is better than you think' article every year

I'm planning another one for this year

3:12

Yordan is great and no one seems to notice

Mini rant time: Kevin Goldstein and I put him aggressively high on our trade value list last year. 11th, I believe

We got a lot of 'don't you understand how WAR works?' comments and 'you should consult ZiPS you dummies' and that kinda stuff

Well, ZiPS loves Yordan too. When you hit like that, you're really valuable, defense be damned

3:13

I might misinterpret WAR, or have bad conclusoins, or bad takes -- I wish Bryan Reynolds had been on our list

But uh, yeah, we're aware that DH's are less valuable defensively

and Yordan is still one of the best players in baseball despite that

Golan Norman

3:13

I think Nolan Gorman actually would do well with some more seasoning in AAA. He is striking out a lot and I'd rather see him be full-time in AAA than platooned in the majors

Ben Clemens

3:13

This is where I am as a Cardinals fan, for what it's worth

I'm not gonna be mad if he's called up

3:14

but I don't know how much they'd commit to playing him every day in a playoff chase, he really has been striking out a lot

Pitchingstan

3:14

Is this make or break year for Luis Patino?

Ben Clemens

3:14

He's 22!

James

3:15

For the record, Yordan has been 50/50 DH/LF this year and isn't a total disaster out there

Ben Clemens

3:15

And it wouldn't matter even if he weren't

I do think the Astros would prefer to keep him at DH when possible

His knees aren't great, you know? But yeah, he's not a complete disaster by any means

bosoxforlife

3:16

Do you prefer the DH to be a dedicated individual such as J.D. Martinez or Yordan Alvarez or a spot to rest a regular?

Ben Clemens

3:16

I think it pays to be flexible. If you have a player like JD, Castellanos, Yordan, Ohtani, etc.... some guy where you think you can maximize their contribution to the team by just plugging them in there a ton... do it

But there aren't 30 of those hitters

And also, again, 3 of them are in Philly

3:17

I think that if you asked every team 'would you prefer to platoon your DH or plug in Yordan Alvarez?' they'd take Yordan

They're not dummies!

But they don't have him, so they do what they can

Stanton

3:17

Speaking of people who seem to actually be okay in the field.

Ben Clemens

3:18

Another good example.... although I don't think anyone really doubted that Stanton was good in the field. He's fast enough, decent instincts, etc. Was good in Miami. It's just a health thing for him, I think

bosoxforlife

3:19

I cringed when I saw Luis Torrens at DH the other day.

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