JotCast | Dave Cameron FanGraphs Chat

Dave Cameron FanGraphs Chat

Dave Cameron

12:02

Back after a nice vacation last week, so let's try to get two weeks worth of questions in today.

Alan

12:02

As a miserable Atlanta fan, can you give me some hope? And when's the earliest you could see this franchise back in the mix for a playoff spot?

Dave Cameron

12:03

Have you seen what Swanson and Albies are doing in the minors? There's a real chance that could be your starting middle infield next year, and those guys could represent a massive improvement from the disaster that Aybar/Peterson have been. Inciarte is still a nice player when he gets healthy, Freeman will bounce back. They are halfway to a decent lineup. The pitching stinks, so this will take a few years, but there are pieces in place.

O's Lover

12:03

Is it time to give up on Schoop? All predictions had his breakout year coming - too soon to pull the plug?

Dave Cameron

12:04

He is what he is; a powerful slugger with lousy command of the strike zone.

12:04

Rockies fans have to be encouraged by Jon Gray so far, right?

Dave Cameron

12:04

I'd like to see him dominate someone besides the Padres, but sure.

Tom

12:04

Should Luis Severino be back in Triple A right now?

Dave Cameron

12:04

No; his struggles are mostly about runner stranding. He'll be fine.

Jacob

12:04

Top 5 position players in the game right now?

Dave Cameron

12:05

Trout, Harper, Machado, Donaldson, and Posey.

12:05

In hindsight, Jeff Bridich unloaded Tulo just in time before his value flopped. Would current Tulo bring back anything close to Jeff Hoffman and others?

Dave Cameron

12:06

No; his value is way down since the trade. That said, so is Jose Reyes', so the Blue Jays also dumped a toxic asset who was about to become immovable.

Cubs.

12:06

Cubs? Cubs!

Dave Cameron

12:07

They are what, 19-7, and underperforming both pythag and BaseRuns. It's crazy.

Eric

12:08

Kris Bryant has cut his K-rate from 30% to almost 20%. Still somewhat of a small sample, but it's been over 100 PA. Do you think he can maintain these gains? Can he be a .300 hitter going forward?

Dave Cameron

12:08

Contact rate is up from 67 to 75%, which is more encouraging than the cut in strikeout rate by itself. Still hard to hit .300 with a 75% contact rate, but he could do it.

Dr. Henry Killinger

12:08

What's your thought on Taijuan Walker these days? You have (justifiably, in my opinion) expressed skepticism before, but from what I can see he seems to be legitimately improving. Barring an exploded arm, see any reason to still be particularly wary?

Dave Cameron

12:09

Yeah, this version is just better than previous versions. I don't think he's this good, but he's definitely proving my skepticism wrong.

njs

12:10

if you know: how many singles does it take to create the same offense (runs scored?) as a HR? i ask b/c i'm interested in the tipping point between when a player should trade contact (singles) for power (hrs).

Dave Cameron

12:10

This site has the variables we use to calculate wOBA, which will help you derive your answer. http://www.fangraphs.com/guts.aspx?type=cn

Johnny Appleseed

12:10

If the world series this year somehow ended up being Cardinals/Yankees, would you just take time off and go hike the Appalachian Trail? I'd imagine it would be mighty tempting.

Dave Cameron

12:12

Well, I won't be able to hike the Appalachian Trail during the World Series, because I won't be living in North Carolina in October. The wife and I are heading west this fall, and I'm pretty excited about it.

Young Jeezy

12:12

What's your outlook for Michael Conforto? Does he continue his breakout through the rest of the season?

Dave Cameron

12:12

He's not going to keep hitting for this kind of power, but he's clearly a very good hitter.

12:13

These new emoji reaction things are weirding me out.

Shoeless Joe

12:13

How long do the White Sox need to play at this level before everyone is a believer?

Dave Cameron

12:14

Well they aren't this good, so no one should be a believer that they're a .650 team. But the AL Central isn't very good, so this hot start should allow them to be a legitimate contender all year.

12:15

Alright, taking a pause to figure out how to turn these emoji reactions off.

12:16

Apparently I can't turn them off mid-chat.

So let's just try a public request; how about people stop using them? It's highly distracting.

12:17

I guess I should have known that wouldn't work.

Ben

12:18

Early thoughts on the roster Jerry Dipoto put together? After a disappointing 2-6 start, they've now won 6 series in a row. Are they overperforming or is this pretty much what we expected?

Dave Cameron

12:18

The bullpen won't keep pitching this well forever.

But they're a decent .500ish team.

Confortod for the Jokes

12:19

Are the rays better off with Erasmo as their 5th starter, or in the bullpen and Snell in the rotation?

Dave Cameron

12:19

The latter.

Hamist02

12:19

Can you please explain how the high fastball and pitching up in the zone helps a pitcher. For example, how is pitching up in the zone helping Drew Smyly. I thought traditional wisdom was staying down in the zone was better.

Dave Cameron

12:19

You get more whiffs up in the zone. Pitching low in the zone leads to more contact.

Kevin

12:20

What is the protocol with Rich Hill? Ignore the lack of innings and just keep throwing him out there because he is 36?

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