When Vlad Guerrero Jr. was in the minor leagues, scouts believed he had the potential to be one of the best hitters in the game. This was due, in part, to his power. Last season, Guerrero Jr. had a hard hit percentage of approximately 50%, and his average exit velocity was 92.5 mph. But for…
The Mets consistently rank among the worst teams in terms of defense. In 2020, the team defensive runs saved (DRS) was the 6th worst in MLB, at -16. With Steve Cohen leading the charge as the new Mets owner, there was an effort to add new players, and better defenders. So what kind of impact…
Jameson Taillon was traded to the Yankees in late January 2021 from the Pirates. 2018 was his best season, Taillon was considered to be one of the best pitchers in the National League. Generally speaking, he has league average strikeout rates, low walk rates, and league average hard hit rates. What he lacks in strikeout…
In late January, the Yankees traded relief pitcher Adam Ottavino to the Boston Red Sox. Many fans considered 2020 to be a down year for Ottavino, but that doesn’t mean he won’t perform better for Boston this year. Let’s take a look and see where things went wrong in 2020, and if there is any…
The Rays signed former Cardinals and Mets pitcher Michael Wacha to a one year, $3 million deal. While Wacha has never been an elite pitcher, his pitch mix does suggest that there is hope for him to improve his numbers. After Wacha joined the Mets, he changed a couple of aspects of his game including:…
The one position the Rays struggle to fill is catcher. When Blake Snell was traded to the Padres, the Rays received two catchers in return, and one of them will be going head to head with Mike Zunino for the starting role. So here is a little more about the Rays potentially new starting catcher,…
Ryan Yarbrough lost his arbitration case last week after trying to get a $3.1 million salary for 2021. He will end up receiving the number that the Rays provided – $2.3 million. Let’s take a look at why he lost, and what made the Rays number more appropriate according to the arbitrators. But first, check…
With Chris Archer signing to the Rays, I’ve been posting about how he’s changed since being on the Pirates. In this final part, I am going to go through changes Archer made to his wind-up. If you missed the first couple parts, check them out here: Part 1: Archer’s Sinker Part 2: Archer’s Fourseam Archer’s…
Ever since Chris Archer was traded back to the Rays, I’ve been taking a deep look into his numbers to see what changed during his time with the Pirates. In Part 1, I spoke about how Archer added a sinker to his pitch mix. In this post, I’m going to shift gears and talk about…
After Chris Archer was traded back in 2018, I thought for sure that we’d seen the last of him in a Rays uniform. Well, here we are now two and a half years later, and I’m digging my Archer jersey out of my closet. Last week, the Rays signed Chris Archer to a one year,…