JotCast | Ben Clemens FanGraphs Chat

Ben Clemens FanGraphs Chat - 5/24/21

Ben Clemens

2:01

Hey everyone

Let's talk about baseball!

Nick

2:01

How much do you think the new baseball is affecting the overall decline in battering average / increase in strikes? It just seems noticeably worse than last year. I'm having trouble watching games and I don't normally mind watching games most

Oops didn't finish. I don't normally mind watching games most people would think are boring.

Ben Clemens

2:01

Hard for me to say exactly how much the new ball is affecting strikeouts specifically, but anecdotally it's not great!

With less threat of home runs, uh

2:02

Might as well just go after them

David

2:02

Do you think the worst player in MLB today would have been an All Star caliber player a century ago?

Ben Clemens

2:02

Well, kind of depends on how this works

Are they sent back exactly as they are right onw?

If so, I think so. Athletes are just so big and strong these days

2:03

I'm not saying they'd have the best pitch recognition, or that they'd be better baserunners or better technical fielders or whatever

But they'd just be too big and fast and strong and it wouldn't matter

If you had them grow up in the same conditions as everyone else from that time, but guaranteed they'd play baseball, I think they'd stlil have a good shot at being a star

2:04

Basically, these days the world does a GREAT job finding the best baseball players and getting them into baseball

100 years ago, there were a lot of schoolteachers and whatnot

Marshall

2:04

Is Matt Beaty good enough to start for some teams? In general, if a reserve player is good enough to start, would the team be better off trading them for other assets (like prospects or relievers)?

Ben Clemens

2:04

I tihnk Beaty could start for some teams, sure

But I don't think it's optimal to flip all your surplus all the time

2:05

As the Dodgers have shown, depth is really important

It's not just about having the best starting 8, if you want to win your division depth is quite important

Vermont Lake Monsters

2:06

Will there ever be a top Oakland Athletics prospects story this year?

Ben Clemens

2:07

Haha, yes for sure. There are still five teams left (Angels, Mariners, A's, Brewers, Cubs), all Arizona Spring Training teams I believe

Eric and Kevin do an absurdly thorough job, which involves a ton of cross-checking and validating with third-party scouts, which takes a while

Guest

2:08

Do you think a draft prospect could realistically inflate their own helium by coming into chats like this, or leaving a comment under one of the Kevin's article's that's like "hey this so and so seems pretty good, I saw him and he has real power!" Or is everyone too suspicious of that? Ty Cobb apparently used to do it by sending letters to sportswriters.

Ben Clemens

2:09

Mmm, I think it might work if the prospect was actually quite good but overlooked

2:10

Not that that happens a ton these days, but I think if there was a true out-of-nowhere guy who threw 100 or whatever, maybe that's a way to be seen? But basically no. And honestly, Flatground and baseball twitter and such are already doing a lot of that work

Biscuit Pants

2:10

Hi Ben. How come league average WRC+ isnt 100? (https://www.fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?pos=all&stats=bat&lg=all&qual=0...)

Ben Clemens

2:11

It's a function of how we define it. wRC+ is based off of non-pitcher batting lines (and it gets somewhat funky in the extreme past). If you filter by non-pitchers (there's a handy NP position filter) you'll see that wrC+ has been 100 every year for forever

giodude

2:12

I sent you a tweet yesterday about "hanging curve/slider" and how the designation seems based more on the outcome than actual pitch movement. seems like the hardest part of this analysis would be getting the "did the broadcasters call this a hanger" data. is this something you've looked into before, and would crowd-sourcing be the way to go to get that (very important) data?

Ben Clemens

2:12

I've been pondering hanging/backup sliders lately, but I think I'd leave the broadcasters' opinions out of it

2:13

You'd need to adjust for each announcer's propensity to call things a hanger, and that sounds like more work than I feel like doing

Appa Yip Yip

2:13

If Mike Trout was teleported, as is, back to the 1920s what would his slash line look like?

Ben Clemens

2:13

Oh man, I have no idea how to think about this but I'm going to say something absurd. Like .450/.550/1.200

2:14

Clearly I've done no research at all and just thrown out three numbers, but uh, that's how questions like this are best answered

raikura

2:14

Thank you for plugging Oro di Oliva last week. Made a clutch b-day present.

Ben Clemens

2:15

Glad I could help! Yeah it makes a nice gift, as someone who has received it as a gift

Moose_Bolton

2:15

What is your favorite hot dog toppings? I had veggie dogs for lunch. One with giardiniera and hot sauce and sport peppers. One with BBQ sauce, cheddar, and grilled onions. Both very yumbo.

Ben Clemens

2:15

I'm not much of a hot dog person, but maybe I should be. My favorite toppings revolve around some kind of spice. So maybe banana peppers?

Banana peppers are just tremendously underrated on the whole, I think

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