Rates and Barrels podcast

[Just Regular]

Eno Sarris today noted LAD-NYY-BAL as top answers in a light survey he conducted with a few independent pitching labs which MLB organizations are now strongest at pitching development.     

A lot of Orioles content in today's show as Brittany Ghiroli returns to the podcast, and they talked through Clubs best set up for next 5 years.

 

[btdart20]

1 hour ago, Just Regular said:

LAD-NYY-BAL

In a previous one he suspects NYY is teaching max spin/movement (sweepers, etc) but not tunneling, angle of entry, and other ways to develop pitching.  He suspects it's chasing metrics vs. developing an actual MLB pitcher.  It'll be in to see how some of their recently traded pitchers play out.  He said something similar about LAD but not quite to that extreme.

Great to get on the podium with big media/voter markers!  But I wonder if it's truly about our pitching development or coasting in the overall development tailwinds...

[btdart20]

Brit Ghirolli is going to be one with them every Tuesday talking general baseball.

[Just Regular]

YouTube transcript of Eno on today's episode, as they were talking about Jordan Westburg finding another level.

42:46

right um well anyway the thing that I hear about Baltimore orio's Player Development is that they draft guys that

42:52

make contact and have good vertical bat angle um and then basically run them

42:58

through overweight and underweight bats through most batting practices uh in the

43:03

minor leagues so it's just part of the process it's not something oh do you do weighted bats or not it's just those are

43:10

the bats that are there and we do them all the time at every batting practice you know um and so what you see is a guy

43:18

that never really I mean just a little inkling and high a of a 51% ground ball rate but since then has had a really

43:25

even ground ball flyball mix um and surprising power I think uh you

43:31

know like if you you fixate on the nine home runs or something you missed the 225 ISO that he had in daa the first the

43:38

second time he tried you know so this is a guy who you know again 227

43:43

ISO he's gonna he's gonna hit like 25 homers this year and steal like 15 bags

43:50

really good where he was going he was basically a draft day tossup against Colt Keith whose Big League career has gotten off to a really slow start glad

43:58

in my 12 teer it was just uncertainty about playing time for Westberg

44:03

initially like it's a crowd so if you don't play well you can lose your spot or at least lose a share of your playing

44:09

time and so far he's played really well and kind of locked that down at least for the first first chunk of the season

44:15

so yeah I jumped him up quite a bit I think he's in the 69 spot overall on the

44:20

hitter list now so another top 100 sort of player if we were drafting for today 

[btdart20]

13 hours ago, Just Regular said:

overweight and underweight bats

One of those things that helps bat speed.  Especially the underweight bats.

[Just Regular]

Yesterday Max Bay was Eno's guest.   I'd known the name as Eno often described him as the mathy co-parent of Stuff+ but it was new to me in the video he'd been a 1-time member of the Astros analytics department.

[emmett16]

On 5/7/2024 at 7:28 AM, btdart20 said:

One of those things that helps bat speed.  Especially the underweight bats.

It’s not just bat speed.  Its the acquisition of the motor skills and building of myelin sheathing in the brain.  The different bats, bats with weight in different locations, bats at different lengths (short bat long bat), bats with smaller (skinny) barrels all makes each rep difficult and causes the batter to focus to an extreme level to achieve success.  The body self organizes depending on the batting implement and in doing so make the batter better at that particular skill.   Anything you can do to make the reps more challenging makes the batter better.  Throwing from different locations in cage…..set up L screen 10’ off center to left then 10’ off center to right.  Set up two pitching machines with one set as a curve and one set as a FB and don’t let the batter know what’s coming.  Anything to make the rep challenging and different from the previous rep.  

[emmett16]

On 5/6/2024 at 6:19 PM, Just Regular said:

YouTube transcript of Eno on today's episode, as they were talking about Jordan Westburg finding another level.

42:46

right um well anyway the thing that I hear about Baltimore orio's Player Development is that they draft guys that

42:52

make contact and have good vertical bat angle um and then basically run them

42:58

through overweight and underweight bats through most batting practices uh in the

43:03

minor leagues so it's just part of the process it's not something oh do you do weighted bats or not it's just those are

43:10

the bats that are there and we do them all the time at every batting practice you know um and so what you see is a guy

43:18

that never really I mean just a little inkling and high a of a 51% ground ball rate but since then has had a really

43:25

even ground ball flyball mix um and surprising power I think uh you

43:31

know like if you you fixate on the nine home runs or something you missed the 225 ISO that he had in daa the first the

43:38

second time he tried you know so this is a guy who you know again 227

43:43

ISO he's gonna he's gonna hit like 25 homers this year and steal like 15 bags

43:50

really good where he was going he was basically a draft day tossup against Colt Keith whose Big League career has gotten off to a really slow start glad

43:58

in my 12 teer it was just uncertainty about playing time for Westberg

44:03

initially like it's a crowd so if you don't play well you can lose your spot or at least lose a share of your playing

44:09

time and so far he's played really well and kind of locked that down at least for the first first chunk of the season

44:15

so yeah I jumped him up quite a bit I think he's in the 69 spot overall on the

44:20

hitter list now so another top 100 sort of player if we were drafting for today 

Interesting they focus on vertical angle.  I have noticed their swings tend to be on a flat low-vertical angle swing plane.... think Gunnars HR last night where his bat looked almost parallel to the ground.  

 

I'll have to give that episode a watch.  

[emmett16]

Good read on bat path 

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/we-know-more-about-the-swing-now-but-what-else-is-missing/?utm_source=Klaviyo&utm_medium=campaign&utm_campaign=052624 STN CMP&_kx=TwQIvtR5rZ3UuYD9qfVxdpSOmotjzODSnoWUmgWlYk8.XHXak9

[btdart20]

This week Eno made a brief comment about LAD being a perennial leader in BABIP allowed for a pitching staff.  NYY is usually among the leaders too.

BAL was toward the bottom a few years ago.  Middle of the pack last year.  And among the best currently.

It got me thinking about team goals, development, and pitch selection as it impacts balls in play.  We frequently point to K% and HR allowed as key factors.  Even throwing to the heart of the plate to limit walks and "trust your stuff" (and Waltimore).  But it also looks like there's an emphasis on controlling quality of contact too.

The best wizards are always learning and evolving following the evidence.