For MLB fans

[Gryph]

You have an ambassador of baseball in Granderson there now, which is what he actually is, look up his off field work, there's a reason why he wins that award almost every year. there's zero reason to have Forsy there as a "veteran presence who hits .100" As for Taylor, there was a podcast with Jeff Zimmermann awhile back on surging babip, breakouts, and sustainability over time. I'm buying into Taylor, literally nothing has regressed for him all season and it's no longer a small sample size, even if he's only 75% of what he did this year into next year, he'd end up being a rich man's Brock Holt. Which can only be a good thing at this point for their team.

[Sanosuke]

I mean, Alex wood is on the DL and Hill just threw 9 no hit innings and was perfect until and error...

[Spencer 555]

You have an ambassador of baseball in Granderson there now, which is what he actually is, look up his off field work, there's a reason why he wins that award almost every year. there's zero reason to have Forsy there as a "veteran presence who hits .100" As for Taylor, there was a podcast with Jeff Zimmermann awhile back on surging babip, breakouts, and sustainability over time. I'm buying into Taylor, literally nothing has regressed for him all season and it's no longer a small sample size, even if he's only 75% of what he did this year into next year, he'd end up being a rich man's Brock Holt. Which can only be a good thing at this point for their team.

Ya the babip trends are interesting, but I'm not sure I'm buying it just yet. Not entirely anyways. I'm more inclined to believe in a batters ability to control his babip then a pitcher, but I think taylor was hanging on to a 400 babip the last time I checked. That's historic and obviously unsustainable. I just read an interesting article that has me tampering my expectations for now anyways. It's obvious something interesting is going on with all the guys hitting over 380 babip this year lol.

[Spencer 555]

I cant find the article, but it essentially gathered all the batted ball data in baseball and compared it to prior years and there isn't anything obviously different or funky about this year in comparison to past years.

[Gryph]

I cant find the article, but it essentially gathered all the batted ball data in baseball and compared it to prior years and there isn't anything obviously different or funky about this year in comparison to past years.

I know the article you're talking about. This is also the podcast I'm referring to (starts at 3:03) http://www.fangraphs.com/fantasy/the...akout-metrics/

[Spencer 555]

I know the article you're talking about. This is also the podcast I'm referring to (starts at 3:03) http://www.fangraphs.com/fantasy/the...akout-metrics/

Just listened to this, and ya I've been on the contact quality/batted ball profile train for awhile now (2016 I guess lol) so this wasn't really news to me. I did find it interesting though about the pull% being the most "sticky" and fangraphs trying to figure out exactly how sticky these "late bloomer" batter breakouts are based on swing improvements. On the podcast, they mentioned three guys who I definitely am buying (especially hicks and gonzalez, smoak is interesting but I can't bring myself to trust him entirely). Taylor wasn't mentioned, but if you dive into his stats a little, you'll see that august is his first month with really optimistic gains to plate discipline and contact quality. The increased pull% and moderate increase to FB% is something you can point to consistently over the course of the year, but I would say the majority of his success this year is attributable to his high babip and I don't see anything in his profile that would suggest to me even a 350 babip should be sustainable for him. He's hovering around .400 babip right now so to me it's almost unreasonable to expect him to come back next year and be 75% of the player he was this year. I'm not buying him, not yet anyways.

My predictions for each player:

Hicks: Will improve next year if given playing time. Would be a crime if the yankees started playing clint frazier and ellsbury over him. Hicks legit could be a star in the making. Very high on him.

Gonzalez: I think the power was definitely something he unlocked here this year, and I think pitchers are adjusting to him here the later we go in the season. But he's gonna come back next year and a useful player especially with the positional eligibility. I don't think he will come close to replicating the year he's had this year.

Smoak: I just don't think he has it in him to be consistent year to year. The dude is gonna get fatter in the offseason and come back with high expectations and be terrible again.

Taylor: The babip is gonna come down next year, it's up to him to prove he can continue to make adjustments to his swing and improve his plate discipline. Of the 4 players, I think next season for him has the 2nd highest ceiling, and the lowest floor. Definitely the most volatile.

[Spencer 555]

Cool. I'll take a listen soon.

[Spencer 555]

Holy hell who the fuck is rhys hoskins and why has he been in the minors all year lmfao. 7 days in a row with a dinger.

[Gryph]

Holy hell who the fuck is rhys hoskins and why has he been in the minors all year lmfao. 7 days in a row with a dinger.

control time and the lifeless bat of Tommy Joseph lol

[Spencer 555]

Unusual timing though, they could have brought him up months ago and still gotten his super 2 rights