Jake McKibbin

Big game today, who's ready to see big Sal outperform Shohei Ohtani? First pitch, 500ft dead center, and a Degeneration X celebation

I think their manager was saying about giving everyone a shot in group stages, he was probably making the effort to get Ketel marte out there in the last game, but yeah Adames actually outperformed them at the plate Still good to have him back, and he can enjoy Sal giving him **** about how Italy are a better baseballing nation

Tellez with a 2 RBI single, Toro also looking good with a single and a run

Yeah it did, I thought once Cuba got a lead it was over, but the 2 run jack in the next inning got me all excited, a couple of missiles finding the man or double plays just hurt Australia. Hall did really well for them though

I'm updating initial post as I go, should have all scheduled games! USA vs Colombia at 10pm ET tonight

Strikes out on a foul tip off a meatball, Cuba through to the semis off the back of wayward Australian pitching

Alex Hall leading off the top of the 9th, with Australia just one run down against Cuba... can they mount a monumental comeback?

Mexico beat Great Britain 2-1, Rowdy Tellez going 1-4 with a double, Urias a late inning defensive replacement at 3B. Interesting story is their bullpen catcher ended up getting the start and plated both of Mexico's runs for a nice feelgood story Adames didn't get the start vs Israel, Pena got a hit but hoping a big outing for Adames next game and a chance to nail it down in the next round

Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but it certainly seems at the time a lot of posters here were very torn/upset at the deal even

Quick summary of last night's action Adames going 2-4 with 2 singles in Dominican republic's win over Nicaragua Israel losing 10-0 to Puerto Rico with Stock not getting into the game And the USA battering Canada for a 12-1 win, no action for Devin, but Toro went 2-3 with 2 singles

As someone who hadn't even been to a ball game when this trade happened, I really enjoyed looking back and seeing how people felt at the time, as I'd no idea how valued the prospects were (given they've all gone bust since) Makes me wonder what if the Marlins had nabbed Burnes instead of Harrison and Diaz for instance Also interesting comparatives with "future of our franchise outfielders" then and the current batch we have now

ADAMES with 2 hits in his 4 AB's so far, hopefully giving him a leg up in future matches over peña who went 0-4 in their first game. Juan soto is absolutely raking this spring

I had the exact same view, it provides a lot of value, and potentially a very tradeable player who likely won't make a ton in arbitration

I think the thing with these contracts is there needs to be some uncertainty regarding the players outcome of performance on both sides to lock up a longer deal below market rate. If you wait a year+ and Chourio looks like Acuna, he ain't signing that deal. If you want him you need to risk that he'll not translate as easily to the majors, in the hope he does and it's shown as an above average deal

I was wondering the same thing, they sounded so uninterested Also, did anyone think Junk's fastball looks like it's begging to be melted into orbit?

That's some weekend of baseball (apologies for later update) Rowdy going OFF against USA Frelick carrying Italy to the quarter finals (so much loud contact and still no strikeouts) Toro mashing against Great Britain Under the radar, Javy Guerra and Robert stocks with the saves for Panama and Israel respectively Alex Hall with 2 home runs in 2 games, taking Australia to the quarters

Hard luck to our Italian boys! Alex Hall was also in action for Australia last night in a 12-2 win over China, going 1-4 with a walk and a double

Rocky Marciano's relative absolutely cacked himself last few innings, Italy lost 11-7

Despite his injury, I thought I'd take a glance as to why we can look forward to Taylor's return. So without further ado; Taylor, despite being at times one of the top Brewers prospects, has always come across as a bit of a “meh” player, and understandably so. He has a bunch of tools that are league average or just below league average coming into 2022, with a little additional power when pulling the ball. Primarily seen as a below league average right fielder, he surpassed all expectations with his quality defense in centre, and above average offensive output compared to most centre fielders, posting a 2.1 fWAR mostly centred around his defensive contributions. Anyway enough preamble, let’s get down to business and see what we could expect from Taylor going forward. Defense We’ll start with his primary WAR contribution; Taylor surprised everyone with his defensive metrics in 2022, where we didn’t think he would have the speed to provide above average coverage of the outfield grass in centre. This may be a misnomer however given he simply doesn’t show this on the base paths, but was in the 80th percentile for sprint speed, 86th percentile for outfield jumps, and 92nd percentile for out above average last season. He was particularly adept in his lateral movements, creating 6 OAA, while being around average in moving forward and backwards. He also added 2 OAAA in left field in only 29 fielding attempts, with a 97% success rate. Given the effect that a good route has on vertical movements, it’s quite possible that Taylor could improve defensively moving forward and backwards simply with more experience in the role. Have a look below and you’ll see that, despite high marks for his acceleration and reactions, his routes are slightly below average. Offense - Weaknesses Last season, Taylor’s offensive numbers are intriguing. He hit .233/.286/.442, really struggling to get on base, yet producing quite solid power numbers with his 17 home runs coming despite being in the 33rd percentile in average exit velocity and 34th percentile in hard hit percentage. Looking slightly further into things and you can see where the power came from. Although he didn’t actually time the ball that well last season, with below average quality of contact, when he did, he produced quality loft angles, resulting in a high scoring output from the contact he made. He averaged 16.9 degrees of loft angle last season, and was in the 68th percentile for barrels per plate appearance. His other big issue is how little he walks, with his low batting average last season contributing to a comfortably sub .300 OBP, something which isn’t sustainable in the big leagues. Looking at some background stats, it’s quite clear pitchers heavily went down and away against him, but he did a relatively decent job of not chasing these pitches as you can see: However it’s the way in which he regularly chases pitches in all areas out of the zone that create such a poor profile for him, with 27th percentile in chase rate. Combine this with his 38th percentile whiff rate (almost entirely arising due to how bad he is at hitting any pitch outside the zone) and you can see that he isn’t particularly adept at even fouling these pitches off. When he does chase, he misses far too often, as you can see below: In terms of his OBP improving, one under the radar effort might be found in a recent MLB article about those most likely to profit from banning the shift. When he put the ball on the ground, 63% of balls were pulled, most of which were in and around where the third basemen will have to cover on his own rather than with a shortstop to assist. Taylor only hit 20% of his balls in play to opposite field last season, and his WOBA with the shift was .287, without the shift it rose to .337. MLB estimated an extra ten potential hits gained if the shift laws were in place last season. He also had a very low BABIP last season against the shift of .236 contrasted to a .319 BABIP without the shift in place, so it’s reasonable to expect an uptick in his batting average next season. One final mention is his weakness both up and in, and up and away (in zone). In both areas, he hits for a BABIP below .100, with 38 degree launch angles average. He creates a lot of soft fly balls and popups in these zones, and could be served by avoiding these pitches, particularly early in the count. That being said, when you look at how her performs in each count, its’ quite interesting. He almost solely looks for walks when he get to a 3-0 or 3-1 count, taking the pitch the majority of the time. He didn’t produce a single hit in these counts across the course of the season. He actually does most of his damage in a 1-0, 1-1 or 2-1 count. Stay Tuned for Part 2!

Frelick again coming up clutch, middle of the 4th, Italy surrendered a 2-1 lead to 5-2 down, Frelick comes up with 2 runs scored, 2 on, 2 outs, mashes a double to put Italy into a 6-5 lead... he's not striking out at all either

Javy Guerra finishing off the 8th, 0.2 IP, 1 walk and no strikeouts in Panama's 13-4 loss against Cuba Matt Hardy with 1.1 IP, 3 Hits, 1 Walk for 4 ER and taking the loss in this game

Italy v Cuba - 2-2 tie in the 10th, Frelick starts on second, swipes third and is brought home by a single... FORZA ITALIA EDIT: Italy come away with a 6-3 win

Sal Frelick Currently 1-3 with a single, and scoring the opening run vs the Cuban favourites in the 6th, with former Brewer Brett Sullivan driving in the run via a sac fly

They were talking about it over the radio comms, apparently he has vast experience of a couple of minor league games in the outfield.. Also it's not like he has insane wheels that can make up for reads, I'd like him to make it too, the guy's absolutely raking atm and busting a gut to earn his way onto the team

Overnight games featured Alex Hall going 0-5 with 2 strikeouts in a huge game for Australia, taking down Korea 8-7 with a 3 run jack in the 8th the deciding blow Panama lost 3-1 to the Netherlands without either Brewer reliever getting action