Various Orioles related FanGraphs articles

[Frobby]

What I was remembering was a Roch Kubatko blog entry where he reported Kim's BA vs. LHP from the KBO site:

2010 - .220

2011 - .249

2012 - .310

2013 - .304

2014 - .374

2015 - .333

http://www.masnsports.com/school-of-roch/2016/11/will-the-orioles-be-left-with-kim-as-the-everyday-left-fielder.html

[baltfan]

This article is premature.  Seth Smith’s OPS is 947. Mancini’s OPS is 1.152. Kim’s OPS is 558.  Seems like Buck has made the right calls thus far.  

[BohKnowsBmore]

3 hours ago, ArtVanDelay said:

It does? Where? 

Swydan is saying Kim should be in the lineup every day.

Yes he is.  And he's saying that currently he's being used as a platoon guy against RHP (and not even all RHP).  

Quote

 

Of course, Baltimore faced left-handed pitchers in three of those four games. Six of the eight games in which Kim hasn’t appeared as a starter were against left-handers. The Orioles are seemingly convinced that Kim is incapable of playing against left-handed pitching. This strikes me as odd. In his nine full seasons with the Doosan Bears in the Korean Baseball Organization, Kim played in 96.7% of his team’s regular season games — 1,130 out of a possible 1,168 games. In those nine seasons, he tallied a .406 OBP. Now, I don’t claim to be a KBO expert, but this seems like a promising indication of Kim’s ability to handle the duties of a full-time role.

This isn’t just hearsay. While there doesn’t seem to be a publicly available record of Kim’s career splits in the KBO, the website Statiz (graciously translated for me by Hardball Times writer Sung-Min Kim) has at least tracked such splits since 2014. The numbers there indicate that, in 2014 and 2015, Kim hit .353/.438/.503 in 372 plate appearances against left-handed pitching. That’s very, very good!!! Like, good enough that it should have bought him more than 23 measly PA against lefties here stateside last season.

Nevertheless, the Orioles seem determined not play him against left-handed starters. This significantly reduces his utility to their team given all the current AL East southpaw starting pitchers — a list that includes J.A. Happ and Francisco Liriano on Toronto; Drew Pomeranz, David Price, Eduardo Rodriguez, and Chris Sale in Boston; Jordan Montgomery and CC Sabathia in New York; and Blake Snell in Tampa Bay. That’s nine left-handed starting pitchers in their own division — eight, if you don’t think Price will pitch this season. Baltimore has already faced Happ twice, and they sat Kim both times. It doesn’t seem likely that they’ll ever let him prove he can hit lefties.

 

 

[Can_of_corn]

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/sunday-notes-whitleys-cattle-cubs-butler-gausmans-analogy-yard-goats-more/

Quote

I think it’s just like any job,” opined Gausman. “The more time you spend in it, the more you’re going to learn about yourself. Time and experience are only going to help. The first article you write is probably going to be worse than the last one you write. It’s kind of like that.”

(Now there’s an analogy a sportswriter can wrap his head around.)

Gausman went on to say that going through tough times can be a great teaching tool, although you often don’t realize it until later. At the same time, he can’t look back and point to any one game and say, ‘This was when I figured it out.’

There are games that matter. Gausman considers confidence “a huge factor,” and last September he threw eight scoreless innings at Fenway Park in a pennant race. Gausman feels he grew a lot that day. In his mind, that effort — a 1-0 win that brought Baltimore within a game of first place — was “a stepping stone” in his burgeoning career.

 

[ArtVanDelay]

The Night Seth Smith Turned Into Mike Trout

[Can_of_corn]

Hart, Dan on diversity in Boston, Buck on Schoop's consecutive game streak.

 

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/sunday-notes-berberet-brewer-katys-hart-red-sox-integration-orioles-cubs-more/

[ReclaimTheCrown]

1 hour ago, Can_of_corn said:

Hart, Dan on diversity in Boston, Buck on Schoop's consecutive game streak.

 

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/sunday-notes-berberet-brewer-katys-hart-red-sox-integration-orioles-cubs-more/

The highlight of this article was the very last sentence, reminding us that there was a time, many moons ago, that Ubaldo had a sub-1.40 ERA through over a month of baseball. 

Sigh...

[BohKnowsBmore]

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/well-the-orioles-are-doing-it-again/

[Can_of_corn]

Interesting piece posted today.  Folks like to say how athletic Davis is and how it will allow him to age more gracefully than your average slugger.  I've seen it said how well he moves in the outfield.

The first batch of Home to First times are out.

Francisco Cervelli	4.57
Yangervis Solarte	4.57
Tucker Barnhart	4.60
Chris Davis	4.61
Maikel Franco	4.66
Nelson Cruz	4.71
Matt Wieters	4.72
Yasmani Grandal	4.73
Martin Maldonado	4.74
Tommy Joseph	4.85

 

 

There Davis is on the slowest list.

Davis is also left handed, which should give him an advantage.

[SilverRocket]

1 hour ago, Can_of_corn said:

Interesting piece posted today.  Folks like to say how athletic Davis is and how it will allow him to age more gracefully than your average slugger.  I've seen it said how well he moves in the outfield.

It also mentions he was at 4.39 last year, and he's in the top 10 of worse times this year vs last. Average for LHH was 4.26 last year (4.30 for RHH).

[Can_of_corn]

3 minutes ago, SilverRocket said:

It also mentions he was at 4.39 last year, and he's in the top 10 of worse times this year vs last. Average for LHH was 4.26 last year (4.30 for RHH).

And?

He isn't hurt is he?

[Frobby]

I have a hard time believing Davis' raw speed is in the bottom ten.  I wonder if these times depend a little on how the hitter hits.    Seems to me that the time runners run their fastest is when they are trying to beat out a grounder hit to the left side -- something that Davis almost never does.     His grounders tend to go to spots where, no matter how hard he runs, he's going to be out.     That's just a possible theory.     

I looked at the full list that is linked in the article, and it doesn't seem to include Manny or JJ.   I wonder why not.   

[SilverRocket]

They took players with a minimum of 15 home-to-first times, and then took the average of the top 3, so presumably the ones where they ran hardest. I'd be surprised if Manny hasn't grounded out 15 times so I wonder if the data was just from really early in the year. I'm not sure how much I trust the 2017 data yet.

[Can_of_corn]

This is actually an article about why Rich Hill isn't doing well but there are numerous Oriole mentions.

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/rich-hill-is-out-of-whack/

It talks about how Dylan Bundy's 4 seam FB velocity is down 2.2 MPH.  Then we have this:

Quote

Hey, look, a whole bunch of Orioles! That’s how you know this isn’t good.

That part is when they show a graph showing that three Oriole starting pitchers out of the bottom ten when it comes to swings in and outside the strike zone.  Turns out for all the worry about Tillman both Miley and Ubaldo have decreased by more this year!  Might have something to do with Miley's walk rate.

[SilverRocket]

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/whats-up-with-manny-machado/