Sam, I don’t know of a better way to tell you this, but your Windup podcast is such a great listen every week. I’m really glad you got back into regular podcasting. You, Grant and Andy have awesome vibes. It’s a perfect hangout listen for 2 hours every week. Kudos to you, man.
I've always wondered whether Yadier Molina's reputation as a thrower-outer was so strong (we've all seen the charts: https://blogs.fangraphs.com/instagraphs/yadier-molinas-career-in-four-graphs/) that the Cardinals would've actually been better against the running game with a catcher whose closer-to-normal caught-stealing percentage came against an average amount of attempts.
The "reputation --> results" scenario that always irks me is when an umpire, say, calls a strike on a ball that's 3 inches outside. Then on the very next pitch the pitcher will throw the ball in the exact same spot, and the hitter - knowing a pitch in that spot is in the de facto strike zone - feels obligated to swing (even if there's a decent chance the umpire wouldn't have made the same mistake twice if the hitter had just let it go). Invariably it's a swing and a miss. So the pitcher throws a deliberate "ball;" the hitter makes a deliberately "poor" choice to swing; and the umpire, doing nothing but standing there, affects the outcome of the AB.
Re the Pete Crow-Armstrong play, I thought of it when I read this in The Boys of Summer, which I'm reading for the first time. Jackie Robinson is at third with one out:
"Snider bunted at Ed Mathews, the third baseman. Mathews charged and Robinson charged with him, staying one step behind. Mathews gloved the ball. He glanced back at Robinson, who stopped short. He threw to first. As Mathews released the baseball, Robinson sprinted home. He scored the winning run with a long, graceful slide.
'Helluva play,' I said in the clubhouse.
'No,' Robinson said. 'Just the play you make in that situation. As long as I'm a step behind him, he can't tag me. He can't reach that far. And he can't catch me. I'm quicker than he is. So he can do two things. He can hold the ball. Then I stay at third and Duke is safe at first. Or he can throw. Then I go home. But there's no way they can get an out without giving up the winning run.'"
Re: Arraez swinging too much out of the zone… Jed lowrie has been talking a lot on the Rates n Barrels podcast the last couple months about this type of thing… generally speaking, he wants swing & miss outside the zone rather than swing & weak contact. It’s been cool hearing him discuss why not being TOO defensive can be helpful for you at the plate.
Sam, I don’t know of a better way to tell you this, but your Windup podcast is such a great listen every week. I’m really glad you got back into regular podcasting. You, Grant and Andy have awesome vibes. It’s a perfect hangout listen for 2 hours every week. Kudos to you, man.
Thank you Brent! Made my day.
We’re all geeks here so I’m sure we’ve all seen this: https://xkcd.com/2899/
Not only have I seen it, I printed it out and posted it on the wall next to my desk at work
I love this year-long series, don't know how you're actively consuming all this baseball
I've always wondered whether Yadier Molina's reputation as a thrower-outer was so strong (we've all seen the charts: https://blogs.fangraphs.com/instagraphs/yadier-molinas-career-in-four-graphs/) that the Cardinals would've actually been better against the running game with a catcher whose closer-to-normal caught-stealing percentage came against an average amount of attempts.
Nah
The "reputation --> results" scenario that always irks me is when an umpire, say, calls a strike on a ball that's 3 inches outside. Then on the very next pitch the pitcher will throw the ball in the exact same spot, and the hitter - knowing a pitch in that spot is in the de facto strike zone - feels obligated to swing (even if there's a decent chance the umpire wouldn't have made the same mistake twice if the hitter had just let it go). Invariably it's a swing and a miss. So the pitcher throws a deliberate "ball;" the hitter makes a deliberately "poor" choice to swing; and the umpire, doing nothing but standing there, affects the outcome of the AB.
Re the Pete Crow-Armstrong play, I thought of it when I read this in The Boys of Summer, which I'm reading for the first time. Jackie Robinson is at third with one out:
"Snider bunted at Ed Mathews, the third baseman. Mathews charged and Robinson charged with him, staying one step behind. Mathews gloved the ball. He glanced back at Robinson, who stopped short. He threw to first. As Mathews released the baseball, Robinson sprinted home. He scored the winning run with a long, graceful slide.
'Helluva play,' I said in the clubhouse.
'No,' Robinson said. 'Just the play you make in that situation. As long as I'm a step behind him, he can't tag me. He can't reach that far. And he can't catch me. I'm quicker than he is. So he can do two things. He can hold the ball. Then I stay at third and Duke is safe at first. Or he can throw. Then I go home. But there's no way they can get an out without giving up the winning run.'"
I just like Kyle Higashioka making sure his old teammate was ok. Love a tender boy.
Re: Arraez swinging too much out of the zone… Jed lowrie has been talking a lot on the Rates n Barrels podcast the last couple months about this type of thing… generally speaking, he wants swing & miss outside the zone rather than swing & weak contact. It’s been cool hearing him discuss why not being TOO defensive can be helpful for you at the plate.