JotCast | Ben Clemens FanGraphs Chat

Ben Clemens FanGraphs Chat - 8/24/20

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Ben Clemens

3:15

Be right back, gonna make a sparkling water

Big W

3:17

Make a sparkling water? Soda stream? How environmentally friendly of you, but does it work and does it taste ok?

Ben Clemens

3:17

Oh yeah it's fine

I make mine unflavored, I haven't experimented with flavoring it

Although my wife sometimes puts a drop of vinegar in it, I think? And says it's great

3:18

I'm more of a texture drinker than taste, and the carbonation isn't really distinguishable from fancier sparkling water

Dave

3:18

Regarding defense, a catcher gets credit for framing even on pitches that don't result in an outcome for that AB. So, should pitchers get credit for strikes/foul balls that don't result in an outcome for that AB. Why or why not?

Ben Clemens

3:18

I'd say yes, though with a pitcher it's tricker

Because if you throw two great pitches to get to 0-2, and then allow a single

3:19

You start with a league average outcome, get it to a very favorable scenario with the two strikes

Then you go from that super favorable scenario to a bad one (a single)

and your total distance moved (from league average to a single)

Is the same whether you first give credit for the strikes or don't

Big W

3:19

Vinegar? Is your wife a monster or something? Also, don’t answer that?

Ben Clemens

3:20

So it doesn't taste like vinegar apparently, it gives it a hint of ginger or something?

I haven't tried it!

I agree with you that it sounds ridiculous

jake

3:20

re: horizontal/vertical movement and whiffs: my theory on why pitchers w/ horizontal movement get less whiffs then vertical is because the bat is longer in the horizontal direction then vertical direction... lol

Ben Clemens

3:20

That is my guess as well

Until people start swinging cricket bats or tennis racquets or something

jake

3:20

why does nobody talk about Jared Hughes? The guy has had an ERA below 3.05 6 of the last 7 years, including 1.80 this year

Ben Clemens

3:21

I think a lot of it is b/c he has outperformed his peripherals by a lot and only pitched 500 innings

But even if he's just a 4-ish ERA reliever that's not a bad thing

3:22

And you have to think *some* of the FIP-beating is real

Important vinegar update

You're supposed to use *flavored* vinegar

3:23

Because the vinegar taste almost completely disappears

But the flavoring in it apparently does a good job making the whole water taste like that

So she uses coconut-infused vinegar

to make coconut sparkling water

This makes soooooo much more sense

(I was bothering her about it in the background)

Chamaco

3:23

While this is a SSS season, are there any players whose performance so far makes you think they have considerably improved? For example, is Dom Smith having a good couple of weeks, or is this for real?

big mac

3:23

Has glasnow turned a corner? I want to believe so badly...

Ben Clemens

3:24

When questions like this come up -- performance in small samples -- I like to look for things that have changed and whether it seems like they're under that person's control for hte most part

3:26

With Glasnow, I'm optimistic, because it looks like he's getting his fastball to move more like he wants it

With a tiny bit of cut but mostly straight vertical ride

3:27

So I am hopeful he can keep that up

When it moves more side-to-side it's worse

But I mean, I'm reaching, I'm a big Glasnow fan

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