JotCast | Ben Clemens FanGraphs Chat

Ben Clemens FanGraphs Chat - 5/24/21

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Giant Gonzales

2:16

Banana peppers are good, but jalapeno slices are far superior. Tuna with jalapenos, just saying

Ben Clemens

2:16

I don't agree with this. I do like jalapenos, but banana peppers just deliver on what I want more

Appa Yip Yip

2:17

With Trout hurt for the next two months (BOOOOOOO) who's your pick for AL MVP?

Ben Clemens

2:17

For me, it's currently a two-man race between Vladdy and Ohtani

2:18

Bogaerts is mashing too, so if the Red Sox keep it up maybe I should have his name in the conversation

I do think that the sheer buzz around Ohtani helps

Like, what a tremendous physical freak (in the best possible way)

Isolated Thinker

2:18

The modern player would have to adjust to a much smaller glove in 1921. 1B would be much tougher especially.

Ben Clemens

2:18

Eric Hosmer can scoop with any glove on

The rest of them might struggle

John Barron

2:18

There’s this guy, out of New York, who plays for a prep school who’s gonna be huge, I tell ya.

Peppers

2:19

Mama Lil’s WTW

Ben Clemens

2:19

Okay sure, if you can just pick the best peppers, I'll pick those

Mama Lil's are indeed great

Daniel

2:19

Sleeper pick for MVP. Aaron Judge. Strikeouts have been down, and the contact is loud as always

Aaron Judge

2:19

Yet of all players, Judge's K rate is down pretty noticeably, even considering that one really bad week. Is he swinging more?

Ben Clemens

2:19

Another solid choice! I dunno what to make of Judge's season; like, he's swinging and missing WAY less

2:20

but it's largely down to making more contact on out-of-zone pitches

I think that works out quite well, it just feels weird to have success driven by that

Or well, change in success

Obviously his overall success is driven deep to left center for a home run

Adam

2:20

Which would be a more "exciting" stretch run to you... Dodgers/Padres both chasing 100 wins but the loser definitely in the WC game, or four NL Central teams all clustered around .500, and three of them go home?

Ben Clemens

2:21

Probably the first, really. If the NL teams were clustered higher, or if the NL West teams were lower, I would change my answer

But a 100-win team in the Wild Card would feel like a pretty big punishment, so I think it would feel very important

Sorry, we need some more pepper discussion really quickly

Giant Gonzales

2:21

I can agree to disagree. Some people want more vinegar than heat.

Ben Clemens

2:22

That's totally fair. I tend not to use peppers for that, but some vinegar can be very nice

Pickled lots of things are just great

We make our own pickled red onions a lot these days, and I've been enjoying them

Appa Yip Yip

2:22

The only problem with banana pepper is sometimes you get the bit with all the seeds and stems and texturally it is unpleasant

Ben Clemens

2:23

Yes, I cut my own when I have them at home (they're pretty easy to cut), and I just toss the stems

Completely agree that that's the big downside

billyjojimbob

2:23

Hey Ben....Of these, which is likely to remember he was good at baseball? Tommy Pham, Jorge Soler, Keston Hiura (getting called up today)

Ben Clemens

2:23

Easy Pham for me out of these three

2:24

If you looked at his batted ball and plate discipline numbers, but obscured his statline, you'd think he was doing great

Feels like a hard-luck situation there

2:25

I'd put Soler on this general page, but I do worry about his aggression leading to too many strikeouts

Hiura, well, I'm down on him

I hope he works it out, but I'm skeptical it's an easy fix

Mark

2:26

Which above average batting line is more amusing, Grandal or Baez?

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