JotCast | Ben Clemens FanGraphs Chat

Ben Clemens FanGraphs Chat - 8/17/20

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Ben Clemens

2:21

I basically disagree with the bright-line classification of breaking balls

Cutters and sliders are really hard to differentiate depending on how hard they're thrown

2:22

Hard pitches that break glove-side and have either a little bit of ride or a little bit of drop can be cutters or sliders depending on what the pitcher calls it

I think of cutter/slider/curveball as basically just a spectrum of glove-breaking pitches at various velocities

GSon

2:22

Coefficient of restitution.. surface area of the contact.. (btw.. I am a physicist)..

Ben Clemens

2:23

Bam, real physicist appears

So yeah, the bat itself is very important

Kiermaier's Piercing Green Eyes

2:23

Delving into the AL WAR leader Brandon Lowe's stats this year, I was surprised at how not-outlier-y the usual overperformance metrics like BABIP and HR/FB are, even with some clear overperformance. K%, which stabilizes quickly, is down from 34.6% to 24.7%. Are you a believer? Is this TB's best position player over Meadows?

Ben Clemens

2:23

I think I'm a believer?

2:24

I mean, not that he's a 200 wRC+ hitter

But like you said, it's not THAT fluky

2:25

I like that he's just started swinging less, which always looked like a good adjustment for a guy like him with some whiff issues but with good natural power

He's like a next-level Paul DeJong in that if you can just swing less often

Even at strikes

Good things will happen

I would say he's Tampa's best hitter unless you're really high on Adames

John S.

2:26

What do the marlins do at the deadline? Buy, Sell, Hold?

Ben Clemens

2:26

I think they're likely to hold

What are they really trading?

2:27

There's not a ton on that team that they want to trade and that other teams want to buy

Ryne Stanek or something?

Glenn Spankman

2:27

Is Robbie Grossman's newly found pop forreal?

Ben Clemens

2:27

Let's be cautious and say probably not

But I haven't looked into it enough

Joshua

2:27

Would Adam Eaton be a decent trade candidate for Cleveland or San Diego, assuming the Nats are not in the playoff hunt by the deadline? And if so, what type of return could he possible garner? Thanks.

As a fun exercise, could you come up with a trade involving the Nats that makes sense for both the Nats and the other team involved? Thanks.

Ben Clemens

2:27

Nats trades are hard! They have 75 second basemen

But they're playing their prospect second baseman instead

2:28

And I'm fairly certain that no one values old second basemen as highly as the Nats, or they wouldn't have ended up with all of them

So those are the guys they should try to get rid of, it's where they have surpluse

Surplus*

GSon

2:29

jason kipnis says hello from the northside..

Ben Clemens

2:29

Lol

Okay so, what about Asdrubal Cabrera to a team that needs second base help?

2:30

Kendrick probably can't handle that fulltime and Castro is hurt

I'll come back to this, thinking about it in the background

Lorenzo

2:30

Too soon to argue that Juan Soto is THE best hitter on the planet? It seems inevitable.

Ben Clemens

2:30

Probably too soon. But it'll happen at some point. He keeps getting better and Trout will eventually decline

Guest

2:30

Being a Red Sox fan, I'm starting to look forward to next year's draft. But I'm reading rumors about the draft seeding for next next year not following this year's win %. What scheme do you think makes sense for draft seeding after 1/3 of a season? Combine 2019 & 2020? Lottery? Other?

Ben Clemens

2:30

I think they should just use 2020

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