FWFB | Baseball - Episode 842 Part 1

Episode 842 Part 1 - What to Look For

Host: Justin Mason @JustinMasonFWFB
Co-Host: Dave McDonald @RunDMCD

1. Recent MLB News
   • Arraez traded to SD
   • Parker Meadows demoted to AAA
   • Buxton knee to IL
   • Musgrove elbow inflammation IL
   • Kwan hamstring IL
   • Langford hamstring IL
   • Lane Thomas knee IL
   • Trout knee IL - “should be back this season”
   • Evan Phillips hamstring IL
   • Yelich, Bellinger, Suzuki, Sano all getting close to returning later this week or next
   • Steele back, Ben Brown to bullpen, Wesneski staying in rotation for now
   • Woo, Garrett, Pivetta and Bello likely returning this week
   • Christian Scott, Mason Black, Jack Leiter, Jordan Beck, Joey Loperfido, Tyler Black, Kyle Manzardo, Bryan Ramos, PCA all up
   • Gasser coming up to start Friday?
   • Skenes not coming up this week?
   • Holliday, Mervis, Clase, Jordan Walker sent down

1. What to look for at this point in the season:
   • Pitchers
     1. SIERA not ERA
     2. WHIP will stabilize eventually but it’s too early
     3. Ks and BBs stabilize early, but SwStrk% is more telling for Ks early
     4. Check HR rate, BABIP and LOB% for luck
   • Hitters
     1. Check AVG vs xBA
     2. For AVG look at Contact% Z-Con% LD% BABIP HH% K% not AVG
     3. For power, look at EV50, Pull%, barrel%, FB%, HR/FB not HRs
   • Also look at historical results and compare how they’re doing in these stats vs historical trends
   • Have to be able to figure out what just looks like a hot streak and what’s sustainable legitimate growth
     1. Adell: K% and SwStrk% way down, barrel% and HH% way up, contact% way up, Z-Con% way up, BABIP normal

1. Don’t just look at results - look under the hood
   • Connor Wong vs Logan O’Hoppe
   • Wong: 98.9 EV50 (206) / HH: 33% / 6.7% barrel / xBA .248
   • O’Hoppe: 100.6 EV50 (100) / HH: 47% / 8.3% barrel / xBA .270
   • check HR/FB, BABIP