turnin' two

The question was does he still get paid. The answer is no. Drug suspensions are without pay.

Keep in mind that he was probably expected to be completely overmatched last season since he had never pitched above A-Ball before being thrown to the wolves last season. He sure looked great last night against a team, that while incomplete, has some dudes that can hit.

No

He is having a good year and is the primary catcher on a division leading team. Somehow I doubt he will be traded.

The pride of my memorabilia collection is a Ben Davis signature on the sweet spot. He was confused as hell. Haha. I amuse myself.

It is my understanding that something like this would have to be addressed in a collective bargaining agreement and can't just be put into individual contracts until that happens.

He sure seems too good for the SAL. He hasn't walked much, but he hits. Boy does he hit. I am so curious to see what happens with the minors over the next month or so.

Golly, Thompson has made Engel look like a decent hitter.

I think not drafting him because of his size would be silly. Just like not drafting Bohm because he is too big would be silly. Draft the guy you think will be the best player. I agree with you on the skill set. Having a guy in the lineup that doesn't K, and puts the ball in play seems really good to have in my opinion.

I hope Jones pitches well enough to lure some team in to trading for him. I have no confidence in him to a) stay healthy and b) become an elite reliever for which he held so much promise.

I like Madrigal, and would in no way be upset if he was picked by the Sox, but expecting this result out of him (or any pick) is only setting yourself up for failure. Could he be Altuve-like? Sure, but there are probably better odds he never makes it out of AA. What 5% he is Altuve, 10% he stalls out (made the numbers up entirely). While these potential outcomes must be considered, the bulk of the consideration should be given to his most likely outcome. With Madrigal, I would think most scouts think it is most likely that he becomes at least an average everyday player, with a chance to be above average and a smaller chance to be an all star with an even smaller chance to be a perennial all star. But that is a guy you pick.

Fair enough. If he can even get a late season call up to Charlotte, that should be considered a win.

And yet, despite this being his 3rd crack at AA, he is younger than pretty much every other hitter in Birmingham right now except Eloy (and actually younger than a few guys in W-S). It seems like he has been around forever, but maybe he is putting it together. If nothing else, he has at least made himself another interesting guy to look for in the box score each night. You'd like to see more walks and fewer K's but he does seem to be hitting for more power. He had 25 XBH last year in Birmingham in 419 PA, this year he has 11 in 120. I think that is some reason for optimism.

Ah, yes, my bad. Thanks for the correction.

And despite skipping WS, Jameson Fisher hasn't been overwhelmed by playing in AA.

I am curious as to what information this opinion is based. He is slugging .500 with 14 XBH. All while playing at about a year and a half younger than the league.

I'm not sure these guys have much in the way of sources in the Sox. I don't seem to remember anyone connecting the team with Burger last year, I guess I just take it all as worth a grain of salt and mostly as educated guessing and entertainment.

In that particular case (and boy do I hope it is real so I can see the outcome...) I would just happen to guess that this pitcher is outperforming his FIP. The K's and HR/9 rate look pretty good, the walks are high. The walks are too high. They are something that just looking at, you say, he has to fix that or it is going to cause him problems. I would guess a guy like that would have a FIP of about low to mid 3 or so.

Great article. Thank you for posting it. Really a lot of great stuff in there and Mark was truly one of a kind. I have to say that this, though: " A pitcher who doesn’t throw hard, and doesn’t have a gimmick pitch, and doesn’t strike out a lot of batters, can’t be a successful starter in the major leagues. He might be able to do it once with a lot of luck, but he can’t do it year after year after year." is a really funny statement in an article that also references Tom Glavine.

Holy Crap. That is unbelievable.

He is sure living up to this.

https://www.fangraphs.com/library/pitching/xfip/ Again, I don't see it in there. It uses a league average HR/FB ratio. Averaged, not park factor.

This is the purpose of FIP, from fangraphs. "FIP is an attempt to isolate the performance of the pitcher by using only those outcomes we know do not involve luck on balls in play or defense; strikeouts, walks, hit batters, and home runs allowed. Research has shown that pitchers have very little control on the outcome of balls in play, so while we care about how often a pitcher allows a ball to be put into play, whether a ground ball goes for a hit or is turned into an out is almost entirely out of their control." So no, not exactly.

Where is park factor baked in? https://www.fangraphs.com/library/pitching/fip/ I don't see it anywhere.

Well, the thing that makes it superfluous is that if you look at a guys stats, you not only see Ks, but also BBs. So the relationship is right there for you. https://www.fangraphs.com/library/pitching/fip/ FIP uses homeruns. xFIP uses flyballs https://www.fangraphs.com/library/pitching/xfip/ I guess I just don't see the use for it. It seems to me like having a stat for the sake of having a stat to talk about. It isn't anything groundbreaking or, at least in my opinion, revealing.