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Craig Edwards FanGraphs Chat--4/25/2019
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Craig Edwards
2:46
I prefer progressive batting, where you swing once on the first pitch, and if you whiff, you swing twice on the second pitch, four times on the third, etc. It's foolproof.
AF
2:48
When does launch angle stabilize? Devers isn't going to be a productive hitter with a 2° launch angle...
Craig Edwards
2:51
He's always been a ground ball hitter, and that has held him back though I don't think he's going to keep hitting 60% of balls on the ground. As for stabilizing, we are at the range where this isn't a fluke though Devers is still in range of where he's been in the past. He's still hitting the ball hard and walking a lot, so there's some optimism to be had there.
i suppose
2:51
have you heard anything about travis sawchik's new book?
Craig Edwards
2:52
I have not heard much though Travis is great and so it Ben so I imagine it will be really good.
Year of NL Competition
2:52
If last year was the year of the tank, is this the year of parity?  Seems like teams realized that tanking only really benefits if you're one of a few teams tanking.  If half the league tanks, there's less benefit than competing (financial benefit, "competitive" benefit, etc...).  Was last year an anomaly?
Craig Edwards
2:53
The AL begs to differ. There are cycles and right now the NL is incredibly competitive. There are a lot of teams that look like they should be competitive for a number of years so we might look back on the next few years as a great era for parity in the NL. The AL looks a lot different with a handful of teams not only bad, but pretty far away from being relevant.
Yankees
2:54
After all the injuries, then, which position player ends up leading the Yankees in WAR?
Craig Edwards
2:54
No idea. Gary Sanchez maybe?
kevinthecomic
2:55
Happy Vlad Day = DFA Bradon Drury Day
Craig Edwards
2:55
He should be kind of used to it after Gleyber and Andujar took his job last year.
Jonesy Whales
2:56
Any mechanical changes that make what Heyward is doing real? I know the underlying advanced numbers back it up, but it feels like we've seen short similar stretches before.
Craig Edwards
2:57
I haven't noticed anything much. He's been a tinkerer his whole career and the changes he made to get to inside pitches early on in his Cubs' career actually took away what he could do with the rest of the plate. He's got a very whiplike swing and maybe he is just very dependent on strong wrists which was a problem for a while. He hasn't really had any stretches this good in a really long time, so hopefully he stays healthy and keeps things going.
Johnny
2:58
Do you think Juan Soto is more likely a three true outcomes hitter or a more well rounded hitter? Very valuable either way, of course.
Craig Edwards
2:59
He doesn't hit quite enough fly balls or strike out enough to go that far. He makes too much hard contact not to get a decent amount of non-homer hits.
Yankees
2:59
The Yankees are playing .583 ball with AAA hitters. I think they should be happy, for now. How well would they be playing if they were healthy?
Craig Edwards
3:02
16-8 maybe. It's early. They've maybe gotten lucky with what they have so far but they had Judge for the first few weeks of the season and the team overall has still played pretty well and taken advantage of a pretty weak schedule. It's going to get tougher.
santiagofish
3:02
Who puts up more wins this year: Yelich vs the Cards or Rizzo vs everyone
Craig Edwards
3:04
Yelich doesn't play the Cardinals for a while so Rizzo should have plenty of time to catch up. Yelich is probably at 1.5 or so right now versus St. Louis. If Rizzo doesn't have that by August we can re-examine.
J
3:04
What happened to AJ Pollock? He looks done.
Craig Edwards
3:05
I think just a bit unlucky so far. He's still hitting the ball pretty hard. It's possible the park change isn't helping him, but this is likely just small sample stuff getting in the way.
Brood550
3:05
NL MVP race right now Bellinger followed by Yelich?
Craig Edwards
3:06
there hasn't even been a single player of the month. Let's wait a bit.
Brandron Drury
3:06
Who is this Wally Pipp person and why do people keep bringing him up?
Andy
3:06
What is wrong with Andrew Miller and why does STL have terrible luck with FA relievers?
Craig Edwards
3:06
Everyone has terrible luck with free agent relievers. The Cardinals just keep signing them.
Ralph Rowdie
3:07
Meg went with Bregman due to the “heel” factor; Who do you think will be more fun to watch over the next 5+ years, Alex Bregman or Matt Chapman?
Craig Edwards
3:08
I think we are more likely to see a lot of Bregman in the playoffs so even if Chapman is a more fun player, and his defense makes him so, I think, it will be more fun to watch Bregman because he's more likely to have bigger moments.
Planet Dust
3:08
What are the things that we are currently mis-evaluating, where we'll look foolish in 20 years--what metrics are going to end up looking like pitcher wins or something similar?
Craig Edwards
3:11
I think that in 20 years, there will hopefully be a ton of expansion to thin out the talent level and a lot of the things we think we know now about the shift and launch angle will be completely different because the talent pool will have changed.
3:12
That's going to do it for me this week. Thanks for all the questions.
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