By MARK SIMON Which hitter made the biggest improvement against a pitch type from 2017 to 2018? The answer should be no surprise – it’s Christian Yelich, though it wasn’t one pitch type, it was two. In 2017, Yelich hit .149 and slugged .194 against curveballs. He had 10 hits,…
By Mark Simon With the 2018 regular season concluded, let’s look at the leaders in Defensive Runs Saved (DRS). Athletics third baseman Matt Chapman finished as the overall leader with 29. Chapman dominated all season, with his work being particularly outstanding on balls hit down the third base line. The next-closest third…
By ANDREW ZENNER Jon Gray’s 2018 season has been something of a roller coaster ride. Following a 2017 campaign in which he posted a 3.67 ERA and 3.18 FIP in 20 starts, along with a start in the NL Wild Card game, Gray earned the opening day nod for the…
BY MARK SIMON After winning the Home Run Derby, Washington Nationals outfielder Bryce Harper got his hitting back on track in the second half of the season. Since the All-Star Break, he’s hitting .304 with a 1.004 OPS in 55 games. With Harper hitting free agency for the first time…
Christian Yelich's first-pitch aggressiveness has been a big-part of his success.
By WILL HOEFER If you’re a fan of baseball, chances are you’ve watched the David Bote walk-off grand slam at least 25 times by now. We’re talking about a perfect moment. In the wake of that, there have been excellent pieces written about the sheer magnitude of that play in…
As of this past Sunday, teams have shifted more in 2018 than in any other season.
By MARK SIMON All statistics through Saturday’s games I received a tweet recently that asked if I could demonstrate the difference between the team with the most Defensive Runs Saved (the Diamondbacks with 120) and the team with the fewest (the Phillies with -102). It seemed a reasonable question to…
The National League MVP race is shaping up to be incredibly tight with a little more than a month left in the regular season, and it parallels the race for the lead in the Total Runs stat. Total Runs combines Runs Created (offense), Baserunning Runs and Defensive Runs Saved, along…
By BRETT BITTIGER Few baseball pundits predicted that on August 16, the Oakland Athletics would be two games back in the AL West and in command of the second AL Wild Card spot. There has been ample coverage of several of the team’s sources of insurgence: Matt Chapman’s highlight reel…
