Frobby

It’s interesting to compare the careers of McFarland and Danny Coulombe. TJ debuted in 2013 and is 35; Danny debuted in 2014 and is 34. TJ has appeared in 362 big league games, throwing 480.1 innings at a 4.16 ERA (101 ERA+), and has been worth -0.1 rWAR; Danny has appeared in 262 games, throwing 250.1 IP aa 3.63 ERA (114 ERA+) and has been worth 3.1 rWAR. Going into this season, TJ had accrued 8.028 years of service and had been paid $10.5 mm; Danny had accrued 5.008 years and had been paid $5.2 mm. So I’d say at this point that McFatland has spent more time and bern used more heavily in the majors than Coulombe, and has been better paid, even though Coulombe has been more effective.

I don’t think his lack of command in the early going is going to be fixed by changing roles. Irvin typically has very good command. He didn’t at the beginning of last year, but recovered it after a stint in the minors. This year he’s having early problems again, but I think the reasons may be different. He’s gained velocity and he’s added a new pitch that moves well but he hadn’t quite figured out how to command. So, I don’t know if he’ll figure it out or not. If he does, he could emerge a better pitcher than at any previous time in his career. In any event, he will get at least two more starts before Means is ready to return. Hopefully he’ll make some progress, but he’s likely to find himself in the bullpen when Means returns regardless.

He’s been murdering a lot of balls. 99th percentile in average exit velocity, 97th in hard hit rate. He’s been a little unlucky, with a .331 xOBA, .361 xwOBA going into last night.

Where did you find that info?

His homer today was really a glorified pop fly, but hit in the perfect location, right down the line 345 feet. Per Statcast, that ball had an xBA of .040 based on EV and launch angle, and yet it would have been a homer in 24 of 30 ballparks.

I mean, he’s no Machado, but he gets the job done. We’ll probably see a few deep backhand throws he won’t make, but he should be solid otherwise. He gets rid of the ball very smoothly and doesn’t require a lot of time to load up.

Sally League player of the week!

Westburg is turning into a very solid two-way player. 3 for 4 today with an excellent play in the field too. Now hitting .302/.372/.547. The balls he hit tonight were 107.5, 104.9, 101.2 and 98.0 off the bat.

The O’s absolutely scalded the baseball in this game. 12 batted balls hit at least 100 mph. https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/gamefeed?gamePk=747053

After 16 games, pretty much exactly 10% of the season, the O’s are on pace to go…101-61.

Was that 2014? Statcast didn’t exist then.

I wouldn’t say utterly irrelevant. Just incomplete information.

2000 x 81 is 162,000 which would get them to almost exactly 2.1 mm. i do think however that the March 30-31 games were impacted by spring break and Easter Sunday. So I do think an 8.1% increase so far probably understates by a good bit the increase we’ll see going forward.

No it doesn’t. xBA is a function of exit velocity and launch angle and takes no account for the direction in which the baseball is hit. A ball hit directly at a fielder is treated exactly the same as a ball that perfectly dissects the position of two fielders.

They’ve stolen 11 bases and have yet to be thrown out. Also, both BB-ref and Fangraphs have the O’s at no. 2 in baserunning runs. I’m fine with what they’re doing.