Daily Archives: November 18, 2016
If We Had a 2017 HOF Vote, Pt. 2
Gary Sheffield: The swagger, the malice in the “bat wag,” the quickest, most violent swing in the game. Astonishingly, Sheffield also had one of the most level, controlled swings in the game. He was a hitting machine.
How bad was he with the glove? Put Manny Ramirez and Gary Sheffield in the same outfield, and you’re hoping they hit it to Manny. WAR estimates that over the course of his career, Sheffield’s defense rated 29 games worse than that of a replacement-level player. Of the 18,918 players cataloged on Baseball-Reference.com, only Adam Dunn rates worse.
Byron Buxton, Miguel Sano Need to Fix The Same Problem For 2017
The Minnesota Twins aren’t your run-of-the-mill 103-loss team. Yes, the starting rotation is a mess and new chief of baseball operations Derek Falvey has a lot of work to do, but he inherited what should be a nice core at the MLB level.
Two players getting the most attention in this regard are Byron Buxton and Miguel Sano. While they boast vastly different skill sets on the diamond, there was one aspect of the game in which they both struggled with equally in 2016: striking out way too much.
This isn’t exactly a new problem for either of them, though.
In a disappointing 46-game stretch in 2015 as a rookie, Buxton struck out 31.9 percent of the time. He then watched his strikeout rate balloon to 35.6 percent in 331 plate appearances this past season in multiple stints with the Twins.
On the other hand, Sano broke out in 2015 by hitting 18 home runs in 335 plate appearances. His 35.5 percent strikeout rate wasn’t great; but that number was easier to swallow with a 15.8 percent walk rate and 150 wRC+. Since his strikeout rate didn’t improve (36 percent) and both his walk rate (10.9 percent) and wRC+ (107) took nosedives in 2016, it’s something worth being concerned about.
In order to be the cornerstones this organization wants them to be, they must cut down on the strikeouts. And they can do that by taking back control of the strike zone.
Sully Baseball Daily Podcast – November 18, 2016
Jeff Gross/Getty Images North America
Mike Trout and Kris Bryant are the MVPs. Both good choices.
Mike Trout is half way to his Hall of Fame clinching.
Kris Bryant has already gotten some of the hard parts over with.
Now just imagine a World Series match up featuring the two.
It is a “New Generation of Superstars” episode of The Sully Baseball Daily Podcast.
MLB Reports 
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