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April 23, 2012

Run Ryan, run

The last out of Philip Humber’s perfect game brought some controversy as an umpire’s call was questioned. The last pitch was on 3-2 count involving a called third strike on a checked swing.

The problem, though, was missed. The controversy should not be about the call itself, but Brendan Ryan’s reaction. Down to your last out in a 4-0 game, instead of attempting to get on base, you argue the call instead of running to first base?!? I think Ryan, if he would have run, probably would have been safe at first.

Yes, Ryan could have ended a perfect game by being safe and also the 27th out, since Humber would have been credited for the strikeout. In fact, if Ryan would have run, the discussion of Brian Runge’s call on the checked swing would have been muted immediately.

The real problem was Ryan’s lack of hustle.

Given that, I still want to take a look at Runge’s call. Interesting enough, it was one of the Fox national games, opposite the Red Sox and Yankees. Significantly, this means the game’s camera coverage was increased a bit.

We—at least, I—have not yet seen a first-base angle replay of the check swing. This leads some people to speculate that MLB is just trying to hide the fact that Runge’s call was incorrect. Most likely the reason for a lack of replay is less sinister.

The center field camera was used to record the pitch, and a normal set of cameras was prepared to cover the live action. Any remaining cameras available to record the batter and different angles probably were used to record the reaction of the White Sox’s dugout, Humber, etc.

Since checked swings are not a reviewable call, the production team has the option not to record it at every angle. Watching a replay of the last pitch and the events surrounding it, it is pretty clear the Fox production team was scrambling a bit. It was a fairly unique circumstance.

But here lies the problem with a fan’s expectation of replays and the reality of the production of a televised baseball game. If something is not reviewable, the production team is under little obligation be able to produce replay material for it. As I believe happened in Humber’s perfect game, Fox used extra cameras for entertainment value.*

*This is why, in a previous post about instant replay, I included uniform standards across games and stadiums for instant replay specifically so something like this could not happen on a reviewable call.

Like most people, Fox did not anticipate a called third strike on a checked swing where the catcher missed the ball and the batter argued before running to first.

Thus, we circle back to the real problem: Brendan Ryan didn’t run.
Posted by: Mat Kovach

March 28, 2012

Extremely early awards voting

Sure, it's only one game (Mariners 3-1 over the A's in 11 in Tokyo), but a few players already have set themselves apart from the competition, establishing themselves are early front-runners for the American League MVP and Cy Young awards. Here's a look at the candidates and their credentials.

AL MVP

1. Dustin Ackley is slugging 1.000 and on pace for 162 homers, the same number of stolen bases, 324 RBI, and an equal number of runs scored. Naturally, all of those would be major league records. He had the game-winning RBI in Wednesday's contest, too, so he has the clutchiness factor working for him.

2. Ackley's 324-hit pace would shatter the current record. However, Ichiro Suzuki is looking to protect his status as the record holder in that category by getting off on a 648-hit pace, nearly 400 base knocks over the current record of 262 safties. Also, Ichiro's .800 batting average would make Ted Williams' .406 mark look pathetic in comparison.

3. A distant third, Cliff Pennington is batting .400 with a stolen base. Hey, someone has to get those third-place votes.

If you prefer to put one of the pitchers below in the MVP discussion, that's completely understandable. For now, I'm keeping the hitters and hurlers separate.

AL Cy Young

1. He didn't get the Opening Day win, but a low win total didn't stop Felix Hernandez from bringing home the hardware a couple of seasons ago. His eight-inning, six-strikeout, one-run, five-hit, no-walk performance enabled the Mariners to stay in the game long enough for Ackley to execute his heroics. And Hernandez's 1.13 ERA would be just off Bob Gibson's 1968 record of 1.12.

2. Brandon McCarthy did his best to keep pace with King Felix, but he managed to twirl only seven innings of six-hit, one-run ball. He also didn't walk anyone (nor did any other pitcher on either staff), but his mere three punchouts hint at a lack of dominance that could weaken his case as the season progresses.

3. Brandon League preserved the M's win, throwing a shutout frame in the 11th inning, whiffing two batters while allowing one hit. Sure, saves are overrated, but League's peripheral numbers show he's more than just an accumulator.
Posted by: Greg Simons

March 07, 2012

Carlos Guillen career highlights

On Tuesday, veteran major leaguer Carlos Guillen retired after 14 seasons. When a player retires, it makes sense to look back on his career, so let’s do that now.

Below is a list of his career highlights, presented in chronological order. They include the greatest and most important games he played in, his personal highs (and lows), and also some odds and ends along the way.
Click for more...

Posted by: Chris Jaffe

September 12, 2011

How baseball failed Steve Delabar

Pro Ball NW's editor Jon Shields showed me an article by Geoff Baker at the Seattle Times about Steve Delabar, the newest feel-good story in baseball. Delabar is a relief pitcher for the Seattle Mariners who was recently out of baseball due to a blown elbow. Geoff's story sums it up nicely here:

What happened is that a substitute teacher and baseball coach who'd given up on his playing career because of a shattered elbow found new life in a training regimen he was trying out in advance for his players. Delabar, 28, was a 29th-round draft pick of the Padres in 2003 who'd played five seasons of pro ball and topped out at Single-A.

He then pitched in the independent leagues in 2008 and 2009. His arm was tiring in 2009, but his coach, despite Delabar's protests, insisted he was needed to finish off a game. He heard his elbow pop while throwing a pitch, then saw the bone jutting out from his skin as he stared at the painful fracture.

Surgeons had to wire the elbow back together, inserting a steel plate with nine screws in it that Delabar still shows to anyone brave enough to look via photo on his iPhone. His career was pretty much done in 2010, when he converted to Friday night softball player and began taking courses at the University of Louisville to finish his teaching degree.

Jon wanted to know my thoughts on this story, since he knew about my work at Driveline Baseball. I thought for a bit, and told him:

Most people will see this and think: "Wow, that's great for him!" What I see is a colossal failure by MLB teams. Why wasn't Delabar exposed to better training methods before he flamed out, or after he was injured, by MLB organizations?

People like Dave Cameron have posted how ridiculous it is that teams don't provide adequate nutrition for their minor league baseball players, and this philosophy certainly extends into training as well, as evidenced by the Delabar story.

It's easy to point to Steve Delabar and say: "Wow, what a great story! A guy who came back despite facing major adversity and made his mark in major league baseball!"

But the story is far more complex than that.

For every Delabar out there, there's many more Jason Neighborgalls (the golden arm) who needs unconventional coaching and doesn't get it, and eventually quits baseball or becomes severely injured, ending his career. There's no reason that Delabar should have been released from professional baseball and forced to find his own velocity training program. Major league organizations should have rehabilitation plans for their fringe guys and should have experimental plans for their non-prospects (like Delabar) to get the most they can out of so-called "organizational players."

Organizations that have lower payrolls can't just get the most out of their top prospects if they hope to compete in the playoffs. They need to develop their organizational players and develop "lesser talented players" into players who can contribute at the highest level. And it shouldn't be up to the Steve Delabars of the world to find out how to break back into professional baseball.
Posted by: Kyle Boddy

August 23, 2011

Perry busted

It took 21 years, but on Aug. 23, 1982 Gaylord Perry was finally ejected from a game for throwing his infamous "hard slider."

Pitching for the Seattle Mainers, Perry got a warning in the fifth inning. The home plate umpire said he found a funny substance on the ball, but Perry was not checked. Of course, it was known at the time that Perry loaded up the crotch of his pants to help with his hard slider, and umpires were not going to check that particular area.

Later, Perry was ejected but the umpire, David Phillips, did not check the ball. He was ejected because of the movement of the ball. Catcher Jim Essian threw the ball right back to Perry without Phillips examining it.

This, folks, was how many spitball ejections occurred. It wasn’t about finding a substances on the ball, since catchers would get the ball back to the pitcher as soon as they could in a effort to avoid an examination by the umpire.* Instead, the umpires had to judge if the ball traveled in a manner that looked "funny." If so, a warning and ejection could follow.

*It certainly was not like today, when, if the ball comes within one inch of the ground, the catcher will automatically bring the ball up to the umpire to have it replaced.

It was this reliance on visual judgment to determine if a spitball was thrown that got Baseball Commissioner Ford Frick to advocate making the spitball legal. Umpires were not able to make clear determinations of a pitch's movement. Perry is a good example: It took 21 years for his first ejection, as captured on TV.

Imagine an umpire in the game today attempting to determine if a pitch was a slider, a splitter, a spitter or a cutter.
Posted by: Mat Kovach


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