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Ben Clemens FanGraphs Chat - 6/13/22

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Ben Clemens

2:01

Hey everybody, welcome to the chat

I'm going to give the queue a few minutes to fill up before we get started.

2:05

Alright, let's get started. Might be a quiet-ish chat session, I think the link to this isn't showing up on the homepage, so you are very likely to get your quetion answered if you've found your way here

Benny Baseball

2:05

Where did my power go?

Ben Clemens

2:06

I think it was extremely contextual power - Fenway mattered some, as did the juiced ball, but an un-juiced ball in Kauffman is just a tough sell from a power standpoint

RTJ

2:06

No question here but just want to say that I love watching Frank Schwindel throw a 35 mph pitch that gets hit for a home run in a blow out game. If the game is already over, we might as well have something entertaining to look at!

Ben Clemens

2:07

I did find that pretty funny. I don't exactly get why Schwindel throws 35 -- he can obviously throw harder than that -- but as long as he's not doing it frequently, it's kinda funny

Derek

2:07

RSS feeds are still useful, apparently!

Ben Clemens

2:07

You worthy few

2:07

What does the rest of the season look like for Christian Bethancourt?

Ben Clemens

2:08

He's been surprisingly good!

2:09

I think that the rest of the season looks like a 90-100 wRC+, more starts at first base because the A's have to play SOMEONE there, and maybe being the starting catcher if they trade Murphy?

heck of a comeback for a guy who felt out of baseball before this year

Someone should have drafted him in the minor league free agent draft on Effectively Wild

Ozzie Smallbies

2:10

Have you caught Jackson Chourio fever?

Ben Clemens

2:10

I mean, he seems good! I'm not really the all in on a low-minors prospect type, though

I bet you he will get plenty of hype next year, and that it'll be warranted. Let's see him play some more baseball before we go crowning him the next hall of famer

Derek

2:11

Have you seen Corbin Caroll's AA line this year?? He essentially hasn't played competitive baseball since 2019 and he is absolutely shredding the league

Ben Clemens

2:11

This just in: Corbin Carroll is great

2:12

I don't really know what he has left to prove at AA, or probably at AAA, but I sympathize with the DBacks wanting to give him at least a few more reps; like you said, he hasn't played much since 2019

If he's not in the majors this year, though, i'm gonna be sad

RTJ

2:12

Does Buehler's injury reveal temper some of the disappointment in his season so far? Maybe there was this underlying problem all along?

Ben Clemens

2:13

I think so, but on the other hand, pitcher injuries are not what you're rooting for

2:14

If I had a choice between spraining and not spraining my flexor tendon, I'd vote not

I'll be curious to see what Buehler looks like upon his return, but yeah, cautiously optimistic that htis was leading to some of the bad results

his fastball simply didn't look like its old self

RTJ

2:14

I am so confused what to take away from Torkelson so far - it really feels like he needs an AAA reset, regardless of how Detroit is doing in the standings.

Ben Clemens

2:15

I think I'd let him work it out in the majors, myself. He's not striking out some unsustainable amount, or looking overwhelmed at all. And they don't exactly have someone languishing on the bench to give him playing time

2:16

Basically, if he was looking completely lost, or chasing some ridiculous amount trying to get hot, or something like that, I'd say having him go cool down and reset would be a good idea. But he isn't, so why not let him figure it out int he big leagues? That's the kind of pitching he needs to conquer eventually anyway

John Hammond

2:17

Where do you think Bryan Reynolds finishes the season? What about Josh Bell?

Ben Clemens

2:17

Pittsburgh, and Boston

2:18

I think the Sox are in addition mode at this point, and first base/sometimeOF/backup DH is a place they could add

Bell is likely to be fairly inexpensive prospect-wise, too

2:19

I'd say Houston, but they seem committed to Yuli, regardless of line

James

2:19

Is Yordan's diminished strikeout rate here to stay? Its a pretty significant drop for one year.

Ben Clemens

2:19

In my opinion, yes. He's been improving under the hood in terms of discipline, contact rate, etc. since hitting the majors

2:20

It's easy to forget that he didn't exactly have a long minor league career to learn how to be disciplined. Now that he's seeing more and more pitches from big league competition, and still young, I find him improving in terms of pitch selection to be very believable

2:21

I dunno if it's gonna stay at 16%, but I thought him striking out more than league average was probably not gonna last, just based on his decent eye, decent contact, and prodigious power that makes pitchers give up when they get behind

sub-20% strikeout rate is here to stay, imo

Jon G

2:21

How robust is the market for Willson Contreras, a rental catcher, actually going to be at the deadline? Seems tough to get his full value behind the plate since he'd be abruptly switching to a new pitching staff (and his work as an actual framer is...eh). Does this lend itself to a situation where he's valued more like a big bat with limited defensive utility than we'd assume?

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