MLB Pitchers with Best Stuff

The quantitative bounties found in Fangraphs linear weights help us understand most of the who, what, how, or why certain things happen on the field. It is important to remember that pitch values are not a predictive stat. They value what occurred on the field, as a result of specific pitches thrown but should not be used to attempt to predict the future. In the game of trying to guess what will happen, from a pitching standpoint, we suggest looking at players' SIERA or xFIP, as ERA predictors, or their K/BB ratio in a simpler sense.

Without further ado, as of the morning of June 3rd, here are the pitchers with the best "stuff" of the season, by Fangraphs pitch type linear weights.

June Swoons and Stars or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love BABiP and K/BB Rates

It's June 1st, and that can mean many things. for one: regression. Below are a couple of arrangements of players, as squads, whose April/May performances stand out from the norm.

Change of Pace

We did this a few times last year, and it seems to have fairly decent predictive qualities for future success.

We are looking at which pitchers have the largest discrepancy between their fastball and change-up average velocities.

Best and Worst, with Stats

It started this morning. Checking out a few things on leaderboards, I noticed that Jamie Moyer, a personal favorite, had an unsightly 1.75 WHIP. Yet, his BB/9 was a better than average 3.14. Naturally, his H/9 was going to be bad. How bad? The worst among ERA qualifiers: 12.6 H/9 ip. Checking to see what score lead the category in this young season, I saw Gio Gonzalez leads the league with a 5.3 H/9.

I'm taking this opportunity to look for other Best and Worst from certain stats that will hopefully raise an eyebrow or two. I'm not just going to say so-and-so has the highest whatever and so-and-so has the lowest. Let's look for something surprising, or as Neal Page would say, mildly amusing.

Without further ado, we present our first ever Best and Worst:

All stats through May 24, 2012 and exclude non-qualifiers...

State of the Disabled List

Jason Martinez, of the remarkably comprehensive website MLBdepthcharts.com, tweeted a keen observation on Sunday:

According to my calculations, there are 166 players on the DL. #Padres lead league with 14. #Rangers have none. 43 players on DL in AL East.
— Jason Martinez (@mlbdepthcharts) May 21, 2012

For brevity's sake, let's cut the small talk and take a closer look at how the DL is affecting each team. With the help of Jason's website and Cot's Contracts, we present our findings of teams most affected to least affected, by dollars.

Thoughts from the Air

A view from the cockpit.

It's Saturday morning, and I'm flying from New York to Chicago, with aspirations to see the Dodgers at Wrigley this afternoon.

Thinking back on recent days around baseball, developments have been a mix of good and bad.

N.Y. Mets Clowning Out West

Fans of the New York Metropolitans haven't had much to celebrate in recent seasons. Their last winning record was 89-73 in 2008, after Jerry Manuel took over for Willie Randolph midseason. Compared to the doom and gloom many predicted for the Mets, the start of this young season has been a pleasant surprise for fans from Flushing.

The Mets are three games over .500, trailing the Braves by 1, the Nationals by 2, and currently setting the pace for the 2nd NL Wild Card. They've won 5 of their last 6, after sweeping the Marlins at home and taking 2 of 3 in Colorado.

As they prepared to leave Colorado for a series in Houston, R.A. Dickey and his teammates got into the spirit of the Old West, and shared photos on Twitter.

In what looks to be the visitors clubhouse of Coors Field, R.A. is clowning around with catcher Mike Nickeas.

Dickey: "My first capture. The outlaw mike Nickeas."

Even better is the smile on Johan Santana's face in this photo:

Dickey: "The outlaw johanicus wales"

Enjoy this time, Mets fans! Before you know it, you could be hoping for nothing more than a aspiring prospects in return for trading bullpen arms to contenders.

Update: for more photos of Mets dressed as Cowboys, including Ike Davis, Josh Thole, and Lucas Duda, check out this post by Eric Simon of Amazin' Avenue.

Pujols Knows Futility

It's been well documented that Albert Pujols is struggling to adapt to the American League. Most of us know he has yet to hit a homerun. After a base on balls in the 8th inning of tonight's game, he's currently in an 0-19 slump - the worst hitless streak of his career. His current batting average (.222) is lower than the millions of dollars on his contract ($240,000,000).

Small sample size and all that, but Fangraphs shows Albert Pujols has also been the worst base runner in the game this year:

Being a worse base runner
than El Caballo ain't easy.

Albert Pujols -2.5 BsR
Carlos Lee -1.9 BsR
David Ortiz -1.8 BsR
Jason Kubel -1.6 BsR
Nick Hundley -1.4 BsR
Nick Swisher -1.4 BsR
Jaime Garcia -1.1 BsR
Ramon Hernandez -1.1 BsR
Buster Posey -1.0 BsR
Justin Smoak -1.0 BsR

Albert Pujols is too talented to struggle this mightily for long. He'll probably hit 10 homeruns in May, and still hit over 30 on the year. After adjusting to the league, he will most certainly have a better 2013 season. As a Cubs fan, subjected to rooting for the proverbial doormats of the National League, the only thing that would make Pujols's struggles more gratifying is if he were still on the Cardinals.

Now batting: Albert Pujololololols

MLB Facts and Opinions

Statistical observations of this young season should all be accompanied with a small sample size warning, and this exercise is no different. Today, we're checking the pulse of Major League Baseball, in power rankings form. For brevity's sake, we will include one fact and one opinion for each club.

2012 MLB Predictions

Spring is the time of rebirth and hope. This is the most hopeful time of year. Baseball is Spring. Hope is in the air, unless you're a realistic fan of teams from Houston, Oakland, Chicago, or Baltimore.

In towns all over the U.S., baseball fans are cling to hope. We've talked about hope here a few times before. Since 1909, there's not much more that Cubs fans have been able to hold dear other than blissful, optimistic hope.

On the other side of the docket, fans of "good" teams have high expectations. With those expectations comes pressure. Professionals should separate pressure from their realities. Don't ever get too high or too low. Baseball will humble the best players in the world - constantly.

The world of making baseball predictions is as fraught with mistakes as hitting Major League pitching. Unlike the NBA, no-one can predict with confidence most of the teams that'll make the postseason. Very few things are clear, except that less than 50% of our predictions will probably ring true. Heck, predicting the postseason is virtually futile on the last day of the regular season, let alone the first. Yet, here we are, doing our best because predictions should be fun. Anything is possible; everything is possible.

Let's do this.

Non-Displaced Fracture of the Orbital Floor

From Lynn Henning's update on Miguel Cabrera's injury:

Neither the Tigers, nor Cabrera, expect that last year's American League batting champion will miss Opening Day, April 5 at Comerica Park.

Am I in the minority thinking that MiggyCab won't be ready for Opening Day? It wouldn't be the first time, but then again, I think of the words "non-displaced fracture of the orbital floor" and my optimism begins to fade. Get well soon, Miguel! Baseball fans need you. Some of them don't even know it.

Miguel Cabrera of the Tigers, right, was injured on a ground ball
hit by Phillies outfielder Hunter Pence. (Reuters/Steve Nesius)

Spanning the Blogosphere

Featuring quotes and whispers from sites around the globe.

Notable Recent MLBTR's

Happy Saint Patrick's Day! Don't mix grain and grape.

While reading the indispensable Mlbtraderumors.com, I jotted down notes from tidbits that for one reason or another jumped off the page. As they say on Tosh.O, enjoy:

Fantasy Baseball: Catchers

At this time last year, I was readjusting to life in NYC after a three-week holiday in rural Bali. Two years ago, I wrote this piece from Valdelagrana, Spain.

It's easy to miss Valdelagrana...

Our criteria this year include:

• Past performance
• Expected spot in batting order
• Quality of hitters around him
• Flexibility to play multiple positions
• Perceived ability to stay healthy
• Job security
• Sub conscience bias

As well as projections from:

• ZiPS
• Marcel
• Bill James
• Oliver

When looking at projections and past performance, statistics of particular interest are:

• OBP
• HR
• wOBA
• BB%
• K%
• OPS+
• BB/K
• SB
• SB%
• BABIP

Please let us know in the comment section where you think we erred. Without further ado, to the rankings!