JotCast | Ben Clemens FanGraphs Chat - 8/11/25

Ben Clemens FanGraphs Chat - 8/11/25

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Tim Tiny

2:26

Quick, name the best defensive shortstop in baseball this year according to FG leaderboards.

How many names did you say before Masyn Winn?

Ben Clemens

2:26

Well okay, I said zero names before Winn, but that's because I pay attention to this stuff

yeah, he's good!

2:27

I don' tthink he's the best defensive shortstop in baseball, but I mean, DRS thought he was the best in baseball last year, OAA does this year, there's soemthing to it

2:28

he could feasibly have the quietest 5 win season in recent memory

nice little player

CleGuy

2:28

As a Cleveland fan I feel resigned to just having my team never appreciated, Jose was completely screwed out of an MVP at least once and probably twice. I don't think we'll ever win one. We haven't won one since '53

tortycraig

2:28

We talked a lot post COVID and minor league consolidation about the talent gap b/w minors and majors. Worse/same/not as bad a problem as two years ago? Meaningful observations in how leagues are treating AA vs. AAA in light of this?

Ben Clemens

2:28

whoops, double clicked here

I don't have a solid answer to the second one, I haven't done enough reserach on it

Bosoxforlife

2:29

Now that Jose Ramirez, one of my favorite players, has shed his cloak of invisibility who do you think is next to join the list of grossly underrated and overlooked excellent players in the Placido Polanco mode? My vote goes to Ketel Marte.

Ben Clemens

2:29

oh it's definitely Ketel Marte

unless he's too visible already

2:31

Cris Sanchez!

although like you said before, he's probably too good for that now too

2:32

here's a weird one, I think taht Corbin Carroll is going to end up in this range too

like I know that here at FanGraphs we think of him as a star but I don't think he gets that billing everywhere

J

2:32

A big thing for Bailey is that the Giants locked down Webb, who gives Bailey tons of opportunities to frame the pitches he's best at framing. Webb's ranks in framing runs by year: 1st (2025), 2nd (2024), 1st (2023). It's really hard to separate out pitcher from catcher there, but I'd wager if Webb left the Giants next season he'd lose a half win or so of value.

This of course leads me to believe that catch framing metrics don't necessarily adequately capture value that comes from the pitcher, but boy is that hard to suss out.

Ben Clemens

2:32

yes, very serious complication that I just have no way to tease out, honestly

Guest

2:33

Kristian Campbell or Luke Keaschall long term?

Ben Clemens

2:33

boy, I really have no idea

2:34

I guess I'd take Keaschall? But huge error bars

Campbell looked so overwhelmed defensively that there's no chance it wasn't leaking into his hitting

Keaschall is obviously off to a much better start. but Campbell is hitting again in the minors and I really do like the tools

Victoria

2:35

error bars? is that where Willson serves drinks?

Ben Clemens

2:35

oh man

well done

Arn Anderson

2:35

re: Gore's last four starts - he was tipping pitches, right? Like it seems obvious that he was tipping pitches. Stuff the same, locations the same.

Ben Clemens

2:35

maybe

hard to say, though, right?

like, I see your comment

2:36

PitchingBot thikns that his cutter, fastball, slider, and curveball are all worse, and that his location on every single pitch has been worse

2:37

it thinks that his stuff in the last 5 starts is a 53 (down from 58) and 41 command (down from 49)

stuff+ says his stuff is wn less but his location is down more

so like.... I hear what you're saying

I will say that analytically, our models that attempt to measure stuff and location think he's been meaningfully worse, even counting the good recent start

Phil

2:37

I've beeb thinking about your take on Ohtani's value, and I agree but I also find it depressing. I mean, are you saying that if de la Cruz suddenly started hitting like Judge but with elite defense and baserunning, he'd still be less valuable than Ohtani, just because he's from a tiny, poor island instead of a big, wealthy one?

Ben Clemens

2:37

I mean, yeah

I thought some about whether I could put the toothpaste back in the tube if I ranked Ohtani first

2:38

or whether I should just completely exclude off-field stuff

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