JotCast | Jeff Sullivan FanGraphs Chat -- 5/18/18

Jeff Sullivan FanGraphs Chat -- 5/18/18

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Jeff Sullivan

9:29

He doesn't deserve to be in the majors

Panik Button

9:29

Are the Brewers a better offensive team with Choi being called up? I am very ready to hop on the Choi bandwagon

Jeff Sullivan

9:30

I think there are teams in the major leagues with worse starting first basemen than Ji-Man Choi

And Choi is like the Brewers' third-stringer

All he's ever done is abuse Triple-A, with a whole lot of walks. He's legit, but I don't know how much he'll get to actually play with Milwaukee

9:31

My kingdom for a world where Ji-Man Choi and Jabari Blash get 500 at-bats with a major-league team

Vegan Man!

9:31

3 HR in 4 days for Olson. Signs of him turning it around, or just a hot streak? Thanks!

Jeff Sullivan

9:32

I think this is exactly what a player like Olson is. He'll alternate cold spells with home-run streaks, and then you look up five months into the season and he has a bunch of strikeouts and a 125 wRC+

That's how it goes for guys whose value comes almost exclusively from homers. Even the best home-run hitters might average about two a week. They're infrequent, and they have a tendency to cluster

Tim

9:33

Mike Trout is 0 for his last 19. What’s going on? Is the world about to blow up?

Jeff Sullivan

9:34

I like how he's hitless over 22 plate appearances and his OBP is .318

9:36

I also feel for Sam Miller, who just published his article about how Trout is on pace for an all-time season

Timing is everything in this ridiculous industry

Dan

9:36

Hey Jeff, thanks for chatting! Do you know whether pitch tracking tools (statcast) adjust the strike zone based on the height of the batter? If not, does this make stats like Z-swing and O-swing unreliable for very tall or very short hitters?

Jeff Sullivan

9:37

They are individually adjusted. Now, you could question how *well* they're adjusted, but Aaron Judge and Jose Altuve definitely have different Trackman zones

The Decadent Moose

9:37

Jeff Sullivan

9:37

Where do you think they come from

Vegan Man!

9:38

Will Clint Frazier take someone's job in the NYY OF (Gardner or Hicks)? Thanks!

Jeff Sullivan

9:38

Doubt it, at least in the short-term

Sad Texas

9:39

So Ken Rosenthal reporting that the Rangers "are open for business" listing Cole Hamels as the main movable piece. Does he even have any trade value left?!

Jeff Sullivan

9:39

Hamels is actually running his highest strikeout rate since 2006

9:40

Now, he's also walking some guys and yielding hard contact, but I think a team in contention could talk itself into giving Hamels a shot

9:41

He has his numbers while facing almost exclusively good offensive teams. He's still got something in the tank

John

9:41

Should the Twins make a play for Ramos or Lucroy?

Jeff Sullivan

9:41

Don't know why either would be available right now, with the Rays and A's both right around .500

9:42

Both those teams have better records than the Twins do!

9:43

My dream is that the Twins give an opportunity to Willians Astudillo but I know that's far-fetched

9:44

They'll probably do something like trade for Caleb Joseph and leave Mitch Garver as the No. 1

Garver, to his credit, has real offensive potential

Zonk

9:45

Other than the Dodgers of course, what team do you feel has been most disappointing? Aside from the Braves, what team has been the most pleasant surprise?

Jeff Sullivan

9:46

I've been disappointed by the White Sox

Not by all of them, of course, but the pitching is terrible

9:47

Their current leaders in pitching WAR are James Shields, Bruce Rondon, and Aaron Bummer

Pirates and Phillies both count as pleasant surprises. Pirates more so

Kyle Hendricks

9:48

Hey Jeff! Throughout my career (minors and majors) my era has always been better than my peripherals. Am I just lucky or is there more to it?

Jeff Sullivan

9:49

Hendricks has two things: a proven ability to generate soft contact, and a proven ability to pitch in front of one of the best team defenses in baseball

9:50

Since 2014, Hendricks has a top-15 hard-hit rate, by which I mean, his rate ranks 15th-lowest among qualified pitchers

The Cubs have also ranked third in baseball in DRS and fourth in baseball in UZR

James

9:51

who are the Angels starting 6 for 2019? Who is playing 2B and 3B?

Jeff Sullivan

9:51

I imagine even the Angels couldn't tell you

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