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Umpire completely took that at-bat away from Robert... One thing's for certain, that McCann will be catching Giolito for the rest of the season.

For anyone who wants to read the article, I posted it today on my site: Here is a the link. Thanks to Soxtalk for allowing the sharing of links: https://www.ecopolibbling.com/post/launch-engel-to-the-rescue 2018: 2020: So yesterday when I was watching the game, and saw Engel raking, I decided I wanted to take a deep dive into the changes Engel has obviously made. I completely disregarded 2019. Why? Great question! I disregarded 2019 because as you can see from the picture below, Engel implemented a large leg kick before his swing. He actually started to make some of the good changes to his hands last year, but he didn't see much benefit because of the leg kick. BUT at the end of 2019, when Engel was recalled, he had kept the changes he made to his hands from 2018, but he ditched the leg kick. This led to a 778 OPS in September of last year: What does that mean? The big change, besides the fact that Engel no longer dips his bat head parallel to the ground as he did in the 3rd still above of 2018, his hand position at contact and after is another change. While these weren't identical pitches, you'll notice Engel's bat is less parallel to the ground at contact than it was in 2018, in addition at the point of contact and after Engel's hands lift towards the sky, as opposed to a the flatter follow through in 2018. This has led to a big change in Engel's launch angle this year: Engel's launch angle is up 6% from last year - to 17.1% - and 3% over his career average. In addition, Engel is has a career low GB rate at 30.4% (11% below his career average). Additionally, he's pulling the ball much more frequently - 54% vs 44% in career - as he has opened his stance a bit and stopped straightening his front leg on impact as much. By eliminating the leg kick and opening his stance, Engel has found a way to make more contact in general (up 3% over last year) a, but especially in the zone (up 10% from his career average to 91%) and that has led to a dramatic decline in Engel's strike out rate which is down to 21% from a career average hovering around 30. This has led to good numbers, as Engel has maximized his skill set to generate power to the pull side. While Engel still isn't crushing the baseball (exit velocity is actually down over last year), nor is he barreling everything up (only 1 barrel this season), the changes he has made is helping him maximize his skill set. While he has had some luck, his xBA is 285, his xSLG is .463 and his wxOBA is .343 which means even if things regress to his contact profile, he's still a better than league average hitter with elite defense. Publishing the full post/version of this on my Blog tomorrow likely if anyone does care to read it.

This is blatantly false, usual game thread bias. Sometimes he decides to fuck around right from the start!

Good time for Yaz’s first career sox home run here

lucas had to jump to avoid tripping over his own balls there, holy shit

porn stash and porn 'stache are two very very different things....

DFAing Basabe was stupid. Once you DFA'd him, I guess getting something is better than nothing.

cash considerations, Jerry's favorite!

Let's take this series!

8-8 after a tough stretch of schedule. Valiant effort against Bieber. Tigers tomorrow. Not a loss to get to hung up on. Crap happens.

It's official. I hate the man on 2nd in extras. I also reserve the right to change that opinion based on the next Sox extra inning game.

How many times are we going to F'ing walk Santana this year? The one time we should have walked him we didn't

Fresh off a rain delay, new pitcher on the mound and you swing at the first pitch. I can not stress enough how dumb Leury Garcia is as a baseball player.

Let’s hope Roger BowZard is getting this field ready for an Edwin Encarnacion walk-off

It should be required for all new stadiums.

I’m glad a select few people are positive.

It’s the year 2020 and MLB teams rake in billions of dollars. You would think that every team would play in a stadium with a retractable roof by now.

Roger BO-ZARD, LOL.

Whether they win or lose this game it's been pretty enjoyable. As has the season for the most part. Still excited for the future.

How is Engel not in the game for defense?

Ricky must be so mad that he can’t bunt now. That idiot needs to be fired so badly.

They should walk Santana here

That sounds kinda kinky!

Two off the plate. 2017-18 Moncada strike zone.

LGIAA

Good call here. This is every single 2020 Game thread. Giolito game line: 7 ip, 4 hits, 2 runs, 5 bb's, 9k's. If you read this thread, he was the worst starter on planet earth.

fuck no.

Drew Anderson gonna pitch 7, 8 and 9th

Anyone else missing Stoney and Benetti right now? Sheesh...

Nice! We’re within one...stop fucking around and score a god damn run!

The constant Bieber sucking off by ESPN is tiresome. Yes he’s been great this year we got it

Dude is a competitor and just wants to win. He might be in his own head thinking he has to pitch a shut out instead of just slinging it.

Not enjoyable at all.

Mendick lost the porn stash...lost the exit velocity...if you know what i mean.

They've had 4 days to prepare. That's a bad excuse.

"El Capitan"

There is your run Giolito, good luck

Bumgarner is absolute toast. Bullet dodged. Average FB velo down about 4 mph. Someone just homered for his 8th of the year (and 4th of series) against him and shimmied across the dugout, playfully ignored by teammates with the silent treatment. Bumgarner will be royally pissed LF didn’t even bother to turn around.

Their entire tanking period rides on Madrigal/Vaughn/Crochet now. The middle years of the 2010s were a complete disaster with Fulmer/Collins/Burger. If you want to throw Rodon in there it's fair actually.

He should honestly be towards the bottom. He's the same type of manager as Renteria - stubborn, puts together stupid ass lineups, rigid with traditional baseball roles - and negotiated a contract with another team while still employed by the White Sox. Ozzie can always have a place with the team as an ambassador and his number should be retired. He should never be allowed to manage again.

Thanks for the memories Timmy

That is a great trade for the Giants. Low risk, high reward.

How many times have we heard this already? This is just the BSOHL story for Eloy (and Tim) and I am at the same point for both of them - they can talk all they want but I won't believe it until I see it now

luka........

Well, missing Hill and Odorrizi doesn't help very much.

Let's ignore that RR is probably not going anywhere, and pretend he was fired. Perhaps I am just so prospect obsessed at this point that I even want to see a managerial prospect break spring camp with the team, but I really do like the idea of Jirschele getting the job. A lot of the key, young players know him, he's been successful at both winning and developing talent in his minor league jobs so far, and he would finally be a WS manager that embraces the modern aspects of baseball analysis. However, giving the keys of a contender over to 30 year old AA manager is definitely a risk. In my dream world, JJ is the manager next year, but they somehow convince a former manager like Ron Washington to come on as 3rd base coach to mentor JJ and offset his lack of experience (and maybe handle any personalities that don't want to follow a leader 5-10 years their junior at first).

Chris Getz