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Ben Clemens FanGraphs Chat - 6/3/26

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Ben Clemens

1:17

whoops, two years

but be open to the chance that he's just declined post injury. it happens sometimes, unfortunately

treenas27

1:17

What is contributing to the decline in right-handed hitting? There are 21 qualified RHH OFs in MLB, and they're hitting almost 10 points worse by wRC+ than their LHH counterparts. Obviously lefties have the platoon advantage more but the difference can't be that stark, can it?

Ben Clemens

1:17

no idea but that's wild

probably sss

JustinPBG

1:17

Why mets so bad

Ben Clemens

1:17

putting a difficult question in simple words

Seuss2004

1:17

Brandon Marsh, BABIP God. HowDoesHeKeepGettingAwayWithIt.gif?

Person

1:18

remember when Crews was the presumptive first pick over Skenes?

Ben Clemens

1:18

I do! That's nuts

I didn't know enough to have an opinion either way

which might have saved me from a bad take

ajake57

1:18

Two of the most fascinating player developments this year are, in my opinion, PCA and Junior Caminero each having a signficantly increased BB% (PCA 4.5 to 8.7%, JC 6.3-14.1%). PCA hasn't really gotten better results out of it (106 wRC+ vs 109 last year), but Caminero has (146 vs 129). But to me it looks like both have generated this out of just swinging less. How do you feel about that as a strategy for these two players? Do you think either of them are likely to find a happy medium on selectivity and take their game to another level?

Ben Clemens

1:18

I like it

for PCA, he is low-contact high-power; swinging less works well with that profile imo

1:19

within reason, but like, even if it gives up on some crushable pitches, pitchers try to hard not to give him those

it's fine to let a few go, if it cuts out some awful chases

for Caminero, I dunno, the guy's a superstar

he didn't even strike out much last year, he just didn't walk much because he was swing happy

1:20

but yeah, now he's just swinging less, barely whiffing, what a monster

I'd basically analyze them separately. PCA is maxing out a limited but valuable offensive skillset to pair with his elite defense

Caminero might be the best hitter in baseball one day

HappyFunBall

1:20

counterpoint: the Nats pitching is SO BAD that even upgrading to mere competence on the back of the sttaff or in the bullpen would be a huge improvement

Ben Clemens

1:20

haha true!

1:21

maybe the cheap dudes would still be a big enough upgrade to do it

DEF

1:21

MLB already has a "best hitter" award, the Hank Aaron Award. Everything should count for MVP. If you can both hit and pitch at a high level in MLB, that should count.

ajake57

1:21

The Nats should trade for a couple controllable relievers. See if the offense can keep them close and then close em out. Would be fun to see the team that gave up the most runs make the playoffs. Let that starting rotation burn!

Azizal

1:21

re: Curtis Mead - he's a great example of the change of scenery concept which I think there's merit to. And yeah how could you track that?

but I would argue the Rays' particular proficiency is pitching development. I don't think they excel at developing hitters. I wouldn't lump the two (hitting development and pitching development) together. But I see what you're saying re: how hard this might be to quantify. Still, it seems like ranking systems over a 5 to 10 year period would have merit instead of only going year to year as we do now. I really do appreciate you engaging with this topic.

metsox1

1:21

Given potential labor disruption, do you think teams will be more hesitant to put players on the 40 man this year, esp if they aren't a prime contender? Say an Arias or a Salas ir

Ben Clemens

1:21

I didn't have time to answer all of these but thought they were really fun/interesting so wanted to get them all out here before I head out

and on that note, I gotta run. Wonderful talking with you all as always, and I will be back at my regularly scheduled Monday slot next week

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