Twins (Ryan) vs Cubs (Assad): 8/7/24, 1:20pm

[Brock Beauchamp]

[Bertz]

A lot of people point to the Angels series last year as the low point of the first half.  That's not necessarily wrong, but for me it was the game where Joe Ryan pantsed us and every Twins lefty with a pulse hit a dong off of Wesneski.

Let's try and avoid today being any sort of comparable debacle.

[mul21]

Any of you stats guys out there seeing anything obvious with Assad since he came off the IL?  It feels like he's really nibbling even more than before or he's not locating nearly as well and getting swings on pitches on the edge of the zone or even hitting the edges of the zone as well.

[We Got The Whole 9]

Random observation that doesn't yet have much to do with the Cubs but I didn't notice just how crazy Vlad's 2nd half has been. I knew he was mashing but...

 

1st half: 288/361/456/132 with a 10%/16% BBK

2nd half: 492/568/1.033/329 with a 13.5%/9.5% BBK

Now up to 317/392/537/161, good for 7th in MLB. 

 

Also, Jurickson Profar posted a 242/321/368/76 last year and the Padres got him back from the Rockies for nothing. This year he has finally exploded hitting 302/395/494/155. Pretty horsefeathers crazy breakout even given he was the #1 prospect for multiple years.

 

 

 

[squally1313]

2 minutes ago, TomtheBombadil said:

*Another* “national” game? MLB pushing the Cubs? The org’s undeniably been great for the company for a long time including selling two super smert half decade rebuilds in the past dozen years. Maybe and as I’ve long suspected, with Soto really the last pre-pandemic stuperster lined up for a megadeal, the Cubs are finally going to be players. Sure it took a global pandemic that reshaped the economics of the world even more in favor of wealth, but perhaps it’s time? What an even trade for fans lol 

lol it's 1:20 on a wednesday

[CUBDOM4life]

Cubs are the only last place team in baseball with a positive run diff. Meanwhile, the Cardinals are only 3 games back in the WC at -47. That’s not annoying at all. 

Edited August 7, 2024 by CUBDOM4life

[mul21]

3 minutes ago, CUBDOM4life said:

Cubs are the only last place team in baseball with a positive run diff. Meanwhile, the Cardinals are only 3 games back in the WC at -47. That’s not annoying at all. 

Check out the rest of their August schedule.  It's gonna be a bad month for them.

[CubUgly]

1 hour ago, mul21 said:

Check out the rest of their August schedule.  It's gonna be a bad month for them.

Especially with that rotation, outside of Gray and even he's starting to struggle some, and their two bell cow stars aging - not so gracefully.

[CubinNY]

Not a good start. PCA needs to play within himself. 

[Cubbies1996]

God Assad has fallen off so hard 😂 needs to be a bullpen arm next year 

[Transmogrified Tiger]

1 minute ago, Cubbies1996 said:

God Assad has fallen off so hard 😂 needs to be a bullpen arm next year 

It is 1-0 in the first inning

[CubinNY]

Happer missed a cookie for the first pitch.

[CubinNY]

7 minutes ago, Transmogrified Tiger said:

It is 1-0 in the first inning

Agree. I would like to see Assad in a little better shape though. Taillion lost about 20 pounds from last year and it's shown in his stamina and results. 

Edited August 7, 2024 by CubinNY

[CubinNY]

Busch did not miss that cookie. 

[Andy]

Michael Busch is awesome and we need more players as awesome as he is

[Cubbies1996]

1 minute ago, CubinNY said:

Agree. I would like to see Assad in a little better shape though. Trillion lost about 20 pounds from last year and it's shown in his stamina and results. 

I would like to see that too. He looks gassed after each inning lol

[Ding Dong Johnson]

16 minutes ago, Transmogrified Tiger said:

It is 1-0 in the first inning

He turned back into a pumpkin a couple months ago.

[731.4life]

just the inability to get guys out on less than 3/4 pitches is frustrating to see. He just doesn't have good stuff.

[Cubbies1996]

1 minute ago, 731.4life said:

just the inability to get guys out on less than 3/4 pitches is frustrating to see. He just doesn't have good stuff.

It’s so brutally inefficient. He struggles just to get through 5 innings 

[CubinNY]

10 minutes ago, 731.4life said:

just the inability to get guys out on less than 3/4 pitches is frustrating to see. He just doesn't have good stuff.

its not "stuff" it's command. He's not locating. It could be injury related or regression or any number of things. 

Edited August 7, 2024 by CubinNY

[PackLandVA]

And a very efficient 10 pitch inning by Ryan.

[731.4life]

17 minutes ago, CubinNY said:

its not "stuff" in command. He's not locating. It could be injury related or regression or any number of things. 

It's just a bunch of high pitch counts because he has to nibble around the corners of the strike zone. Batters are comfortable with him on the mound and they just have to foul things off knowing they have a better reaction time with his 91 MPH fastball. If it's around 97, he'll have more strikeouts. I doubt he'll have a higher pitch-count. 

When it comes to the season, he might be tired because of innings pitch. But no one should feel sorry for that.

Edited August 7, 2024 by 731.4life

[squally1313]

Assad has never struck anyone out. His K/9 this year is a career high and it's actually higher than his season average for this bad stretch dating back to 5/21 (4.83/6.11/5.09). In this stretch he's down like 30 BABIP points and his HR/FB rate is up 50% and his walk rate is up from 3.88 career to 5.4, probably as a result. His ideal form is probably just pounding the bottom of the zone and letting Swanson and Nico do what they do so his ERA ends up a good amount below his FIP. 

[We Got The Whole 9]

What a run PCA is on. He's just rarely striking out and has made big strides in his swing decisions. 

 

And another easy steal.

[CubinNY]

Just now, We Got The Whole 9 said:

What a run PCA is on. He's just rarely striking out and has made big strides in his swing decisions. 

 

And another easy steal.

He's a true disruptor. A Vince Coleman type of player.