A New Season, A New Grip?

With my other blog, I had an opportunity to have a productive discussion on Chen's changeup grips with few very knowledgeable baseball bloggers.

How Good Is Jung Ho?

Last winter, the Pirates signed Jung Ho Kang, a fully developed 28-year-old shortstop who's coming off a career year with .346/.459/.739, 40 home runs and 117 RBIs, to a four year, $11 million contract, plus a $5 million posting fee that went to Nexen Heroes of Korea Baseball Organization. He owns a career OPS of .886. Pirates made a relative cheap investment in Kang to provide depth and options to an already solid infield. The plan behind the signing makes sense despite many were skeptical of Kang's ability to perform in Major League level:

Scouts I spoke with on Kang said he has a chance to be a nice bench bat/utility man. Posting fee reflects that.

— Ben Badler (@BenBadler) 2014 12月 22日

ZiPS has Kang at 230/299/389, 93 OPS+ in Pittsburgh. WAR depends on how the defense shakes out. If -5, it's 1.5 WAR in 498 PA.

— Dan Szymborski (@DSzymborski) 2014 12月 22日

Severino Could Be Better Than Advertised

Luis Severino made his Major League debut with an impressive repertoire that somehow caught my eye, holding Red Sox to two hits with zero walks and seven strikeouts in five innings of work in a 2-1 loss. Here is a look at Severino's pitch type classification on Aug 5, 2015:

The Future is Now

The Blue Jays have reached agreement on a deal to acquire All-Star left-hander David Price in a blockbuster trade with prospects Daniel Norris, Matt Boyd and Jairo Labourt heading to Detroit Tigers. Blue Jays have traded six pitching prospects this week in the Price and Tulowitzki deals. Many speculators argue that Blue Jays have given up too much in farm arms for a short rental. 

A Slap in the Face ?

Kang has found his power stroke after a slow start and hit his first home run in MLB off Cardinals closer Trevor Rosenthal, forcing the game into extra innings.

Tanaka Shines in MLB Debut

 Masahiro Tanaka’s first SFF in big league: a hanging splitter to Melky Cabrera

Scouting Myth

As a passionate amateur baseball blogger, I love to go over scouting reports of top ranked prospects with a fine tooth comb. Many scouts often claim that they have an intuitive ability to identify unpolished talents. The draft provides teams with a cost effective resource to build a successful franchise. The next question is, in an unpredictable and baffling world of projecting young baseball talents, do scouts demonstrate a strong track record on gauging future major league performance of young players?

Tanaka Not Your Ordinary Import

Masahiro Tanaka, who went 24-0 with a 1.27 ERA, 2.26 FIP, 7.8 K/9, 1.36 BB/9 and 0.25 HR/9 with Rakuten Golden Eagles in 2013, is indisputably the biggest pitcher in Japan since Daisuke Matsuzaka and Yu Darvish. Over seven seasons in NPB, Tanaka compiled a 99-35 record and a 2.30 ERA with 8.5 strikeouts per nine innings. According to David Golebiewski of Baseball Analytics, Tanaka has managed to post a 236 ERA+ in previous three seasons. Below is a comparison of Tanaka and other NPB pitchers:

Pittsburgh Pirates' Renaissance ─ Gerrit Cole

Gerrit Cole, Pirates’ rookie sensation, has developed into their first legitimate top-of-the-rotation pitcher since Doug Drabek. He posted a 10-7 record in 117.1 innings with a 3.22 ERA of his 19 starts. The lack of strikeouts was certainly worrisome in seven first half starts; nevertheless, it did not take long for Gerrit Cole to figure out how to translate his electric stuff into missed bats. In 12 second half starts, Cole has managed to put up a 2.72 FIP, 2.80 xFIP, 8.92 k/9, 3.95 K/BB and 25.3 K%.

My Two Cents on PITCHf/x

PITCHf/x is a popular graphical analysis tool that offers great accessibility to public domain and a complementary advanced scouting system with user friendly platform which allows Sabermetric enthusiasts to manage and repurpose content and extract valuable insight to give a glimpse into the art of pitching.

The Next Great Import from Korea?

Hyun Jin Ryu’s most significant achievement might be making Korean Baseball Organization respectable in the eyes of Major League Baseball, like Hideo Nomo to Japan, when all is said and done. So who is going to be Korean’s Shigetoshi Hasegawa? My best guess is Suk Min Yoon.

Suk Min Yoon is arguably the most highly regarded right-handed pitcher in Korea today. He achieved pitcher’s triple crown in 2011 with 17 wins, a 2.45 ERA and 178 strikeouts in 172- 1/3 innings. Yoon will be eligible for free agency this off-season. If signed, he will be more likely to become the second player to make a direct jump from KBO to the majors. Yoon pitches to both sides of the of plate with a 88-92mph fastball that touches 96. Below is Yoon’s average fastball velocity from 2009 to 2012:

Was Ryu a Gamble?

Is Hyun Jin Ryu’s early-season success a surprise?  Definitely not for many KBO observers who have thoroughly followed Ryu since 2006. Ryu’s stellar performance against the Angels on 5/28 has commanded attention and recognition throughout the realm of Dodger Blue, but Korea Baseball still remains as an unknown territory for many baseball fans in North America. Ryu’s repertoire consists mainly of four pitches: a fastball, a slider, a curve, and a change-up. Below is Ryu’s pitch type data in his last KBO season: