Jake McKibbin

Just to add some extra detail to this, around the motion The Lat will be involved in a contraction phase, along with the rear deltoid and bicep on the preparation part of the movement, and in an extension phase (ie stretching out) as the shoulder, chest and tricep extend outwards in the throwing part of the motion. While the lat is engaged per se, the part of the motion that causes the damage is mostly the extension phase, a more explosive movement, and should be easily corrected through mobility exercises and some strengthening work. The shoulder affects so many different movements, the rear deltoids will work in tandem with the lats, but most of the strain comes through the front and side deltoids in the pitching motion. Most shoulder injuries actually come through the rotator cuff due to the stability of the joint always being under strain because of its involvement in so many motions. I'd suggest it's highly likely the injuries aren't related as such, but the shoulder is definitely the one to be more wary of, as so many fibres connect around the rotator cuff, and it's tough to strengthen in the short term. Even after recovery, quite often the scar tissue can impinge upon the range of movement too

Could this be taken as a specific effort not just to look to the future but to take a risk on upgrading now and winning now? It's a tightrope that's tough to walk, but Winker does have the potential to be the hitter we've really craved in Milwaukee for the last few years

Seems to be fixed now

I think similarly, probably on 5 days rest and using the early rest days to their advantage to at least ease into the season for first two months and see where they fit after that

True, but even then, Williams has been so elite since coming in, I think it's almost handier to keep in mind if you can find a really stable 8th inning and 7th inning guy, if you have others, trading seems logical particularly at the deadline, but not all of these guys are going to click in all likelihood

They can close, yes, but out of them, Uribe is probably the only one with the stuff to be a dominant closer rather than a league average one

I think the Brewers value a shutdown closer too much that unless Uribe develops into that role, even the thought of Williams being traded is off the table

I think if he maintains those numbers he'll be very happy. I'd say currently he's maximising his potential, I certainly didn't expect him to be THAT good defensively in CF but it was great to watch He was however in the 33rd and 34th percentile for average exit velocity and hard hit rate, and none of his background number really scream a breakout. He does have a good barrel rate, but I'd say that's more indicative of him having a good average launch angle (16.9 degrees last season) and just a 38% ground ball rate. Still he's a valuable player, especially against lefties and with his + defense. His expected stats would've produced a .236/.300/.412 which is very serviceable. It'll be interesting to see if there's something behind the monthly form mentioned in the article, but I can't really investigate that too closely other than saying small sample sizes and a streaky player

Let's humour this thought for a second (given there were rumours the Brewers were sign stealing in 2017/18). The Astros were proven stealing in 2017; - Altuve 2017 had a WRC+ of 160, in 2022 a WRC+ of 160 - Bregman 2017 had a WRC+ of 125, 2018 of 152, 2019 of 162 - Springer 2017 had a WRC+ of 141, 2019 of 150 and hit 141 in both 2020 & 2021 again - Carlos Correa is the only player producing his career high WRC+ in 2017, and even then had nowhere near the falloff that Yelich has In 2019 in particular the sign stealing scandals were generally considered stopped, and Yelich had arguably the best year of his career. So I think it's highly unlikely this played a part in his recent demise

That's a brilliant article, thanks for the link! I'm very new to baseball technical ideas, but have had a sporting background all my life and the key in almost any sport to maximising power output is balance. You can see immediately how much more control his body seems to have, and it's so interesting to see how much he's improved alongside tangible results. And that glove looks slickkkkk

I remember going to a place with insane hot wings and eating them in the car park, blew me away! My only experience at then Miller park, but have to say I'd recommend it big time

The age of the NL coastlines is over. The time of the NL Central has just begun

I think it all depends entirely on his availability this season. If he's got any significant time out then maybe a deal like this is on the table (potentially) but the issue is he's just off the back of making 33 starts last season. If he makes 30+ this year then he's in line for a massive contract length and AAV wise, and that guaranteed money is absolutely essential given how easily a pitchers health can completely change them as baseball players. Burnes will almost certainly take a long term deal of 8-10 years and rake in, unless he needs an extra year or two to build up confidence in his durability. Obviously that isn't necessary if he's relatively healthy with a sub 3.00 ERA this season Otherwise he's essentially risking well over a hundred million dollars just to sign earlier, and he doesn't necessarily need that security at the moment

I do find it ridiculous that as someone who doesn't live in the US, I can watch any game via MLB.tv, but for those living in it, you can watch almost any team except your local team on TV for large parts. It just seems so absurd

So the pitch was an 88mph changeup that couldn't have been more middle-middle if you placed it on a tee Yelich hit it 109.9 mph, which isn't a mind boggling exit velocity by any means, and he's hit balls much harder this year, more than likely a perfect combination of back-spin + the Colorado air took it that extra distance. There's no doubting Yelich still has power, with big time average exit velocity in 2022, it's just making the most of that power and getting it in the air.

Would Mitchell and Harrison Bader be an interesting comp?

Woodruff (partially because I think he may last a little better this season) Adames Burnes Yelich (Would love Winker but his defense will mean negative marks/DHing which is hard to get WAR from) Urias/Peralta

I very much agree with this, plus a lot of reports are that Frelick has some defensive work still to do, so leaving him down to focus on that, as well as allowing him to continue the growth he showed last year as he moved up each level. If he's bashing down doors and Mitchell struggles then that's grand, but if Mitchell shows ++ defense, with .220 hitting and stolen bases galore, then he'll probably be the first choice until service time shenanigans are sorted

Also on a more relative note, in the Q&A's after, Law was asked if Steven Kwan was a good comp for Sal Frelick, to which he answered "No, Frelick's faster, a better defender and I think he's going to make harder contact too"

Interesting to look back at the 2020 draft and see where players are now.. Brewers picked one spot ahead of the Cards in the first and second rounds Brewers 20. Garrett Mitchell Cardinals 21. Jordan Walker Brewers 53. Freddy Zamora Cardinals 54. Masyn Winn

@Brock Beauchampwith a cheeky name drop on the Milwaukee Tailgate podcast

As I am sure few would argue, Christian Yelich has demonstrated one of the highest ceilings in franchise history. However, despite the disappointment of the last few years, it's important to pick out why he's been struggling. First off, let's dive into what the stats say has changed for Yelich since that infamous knee injury, first looking at the 2020 season, why it wasn't as bad as we thought, and then the following years where the back has possibly played up a little more. 2020 In 2020, he had a career-high average exit velocity of 94.0 mph, a hard hit rate of 55.6%, and a walk rate of 18.6%, which doesn't scream the "declining peripherals" of someone whose knee injury has demolished him. His launch angle on average was 7.1 degrees, which, to give context for him personally, his average launch angle was just 5 degrees in his 2018 MVP year. So why did 2020 feel like a down year for Yelich? Well, there's a straightforward answer: he started to whiff on fastballs, but with secondary pitches too. In 2018 and 2019, Yelich had no weaknesses for any pitch, hitting well across all areas of the strike zone. Yet in 2020, he couldn't hit anything other than a four-seam fastball and a slider. Every other pitch had a batting average below the Mendoza line and a slugging % below .370. Even with his better pitches, his whiff rate increased massively; in 2018, Yelich's whiff rates on fastballs and sinkers were 12.6% and 11.2%, respectively; in 2020, this increased to 26.9% and 22.2%. 2021 In 2021, Yelich had some back issues during the season, but his swing started to regain some control over fastballs again, dropping to a whiff rate of 18.8% and 10.6%, respectively, for four-seam fastballs and sinkers. However, the power wasn't there, particularly against breaking balls hitting .228/.246 in PAs finishing on the slider and hitting .105/.158 in PAs that finished with a curve. At times, it's looked as though his timing could have been better, able to foul off the fastballs but not barrelling them up. To back up the eye test, his most considerable power output has come against the change-up in the last two seasons, hitting to the tune of .274/.581 against it in 2021. 2021/2022 Pitch Breakdown 2022 In 2022, his whiff rate stayed below 20% on both four-seam and two-seam fastballs, but he increased his batting average and xBA by over .030 points, recording a .307/.469 against the four-seam version and a +12 run differential. He also took a big step forward against the slider, hitting .250/.398 but struggled with the curveball at .125/.188 and took a step back against the changeup, albeit with power as he hit .224/.466 against the pitch. His ground ball rate was 59.1% and had been increasing each of the last two years, with a particular propensity for contact classified as "weak" or "topped," a lot of which have come against breaking balls (backed up by his 2021 xBA against them of .210, xSLG of .211). However, in 2022 he did take a step forward in launch angle against breaking balls, allowing him to create a bit of power when he did make quality contact against them. To look deeper into the curveball issues, from watching the past few years, he has an issue picking up the curve when it's thrown to him, regularly chasing it as it drops well below the strike zone. It's an area pitchers are targeting, with 31.8% of a pitcher being thrown at him outside the zone in the lower half. He creates a lot of line drives and hard contact, with five of the nine zones producing average exit velocities over 95mph, and in the middle/upper half of the strike zone, he creates a high number of line drives. The issue is pitching in the bottom third or below, where his highest line drive percentage is 15%, yet contrast this with a few inches above that, where he manages 36% line drives. Below the zone, he whiffs 71% & 61% of the time vs. his ability to foul off pitches above the zone, to whiff rates at 36% and 25%, and a pattern begins to emerge. A vast, glaring weakness that he's facing, and one the curveball perfectly exploits, also is a leading cause in his ground ball rate. On pitches down and middle or down and away (In zone), the launch angle averages at -5 degrees, and this only worsens as the pitches drop out of the strike zone. 2022 K%/Whiff % He has the same swing that could cover every pitch, so it's possible that either through overthinking his approach, or the back injury in 2021, he's gone back to an approach that's been more engrained in him from his days with the Marlins. One big difference is in the 2019 vs. 2022 comparison; his whiff rate on curveballs (45.6% vs. 37.6%), sliders (46.6% vs. 32.7%), and changeups (39.1% vs. 33.9%) tell us that Yelich is potentially swinging more conservatively and taking less of a cut at pitches to maintain maybe a longer/higher quality AB, and would go a way to explain his decrease in average exit velocity from 94 mph to 91mph. However, for comparison's sake, it's also important to note that O'Neil Cruz had a similar average exit velocity at 91.9mph last season. In terms of his "run value" from his swing/take decisions, specifically focusing on the heart of the plate, look at the comparison between 2018/19 vs 2020-2022. A more aggressive approach in terms of what he swings at seems to pay massive dividends in results for him: His line drive rate in the lower part of the zone appears to be an area of weakness that has only sometimes been there, and it may be a timing issue rather than back-related. However, back injuries can have an impact in a variety of ways. If he can get a handle on even picking and laying off those low curveballs and pitches below the zone, we could see a dramatic improvement in his production this year. It's important to stress that it's a small area, targeted heavily, having the most significant impact on Yelich's performance, and it's not an all-encompassing weakness across the board. His ground ball rate is a product of pitchers targeting the weakness down in the zone, and the question for 2023 is - can he neutralize them? Should Yelich embrace a bit of swing and miss to utilize his power more often?

This game was registered as a fielding error, but be interesting to hear reports of guys this season in the minors and see how he holds up

Hall went 2-2 catching base stealers, and Moore, with another fielding error. Strange how many he's made down under when he's in an MLB prospect defense team

On the bright side, you could be paying $19 million to Cody Bellinger, who's per basbeall savant, worse defensively in CF than Taylor was last year, and even less of a hit tool