Aaron_Kennelly
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Everything posted by Aaron_Kennelly
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NL Central: Reds, Pirates and others
Aaron_Kennelly replied to Hairyducked Idiot's topic in General Baseball Talk
Someone spelled "Cubs" wrong in the title. -
Probably looking at 10.5-10.5.
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wat
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If we changed Kris Bryant's name to Jason Heyward, could we let KB take this AB?
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I'm never eating nachos again.
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The bodies are going to be piling up in Des Moines soon enough.
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Happ has definitely gone Full Schwarber. He's going to show up to Spring Training next year looking like this:
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Someone give Ian some nachos. Stat.
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Throw the damn curve to put guys away.
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It’s damn impressive. What’s the pitch he throws at 87-90? A cutter/change/split/sinker or 2-seam? I think it's a cutter.
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JAVY!
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That curve is nice. Throw it more, dammit.
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How is he so fast?
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I had some pulled pork left over from the barbecue place I went to last night, so I just threw that horsefeathers on some nachos. I'm ready for some baseball.
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Minor League Discussion & Boxes, 4-9-18
Aaron_Kennelly replied to CaliforniaRaisin's topic in Cubs Minor League Talk
*Addison Russell starts doing the math in his head* -
I'm dying.
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Am I supposed to be impressed with either of these teams?
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Gigantic Willy Style - The Willson Contreras Thread
Aaron_Kennelly replied to Sammy Sofa's topic in Chicago Cubs Talk
As a team, we've hit the third-most "barreled" balls with 26, and we are tied for 19th with 8 homers. We're definitely hitting it hard, with poor results to show for it. -
Team contact is 80% and they have the lowest K rate at 15%, with a healthy 10% walk rate. They have several hitters playing over their heads right now but putting that many balls in play puts a lot of pressure on the defense. They've had a heck of a start to the season offensively. If they can keep up that kind of BBK they should be pretty dangerous to face. The team offensive leaderboard is like the upside down right now. None of the top 5 were in the top 10 last year (Braves, Pirates, CWS were no better than 19th) and only 3 in the top 10 were top 10 last year. That's because we're a week into the season.
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I definitely think it's Bryant. He has a chance to go down as the greatest Cub ever, and he's treated like he's just one of the guys. What he's doing is just crazy. I know he technically had a bit of a "down" year last year, because of the high leverage stuff and a drop in power, plus small drops in defense and base running. Taken altogether, it was just a little bit of an off year. But I really thought his improvements in contact and plate discipline would set him up very well for the future. I think he might put up a monster season this year. And so far this season, he's still improving in those same areas he improved upon last year! Contact% still going up. Swinging at even fewer balls out of the zone. There's other good stuff, too. Like, in 2016, he had a 12.6% IFFB%. It was 5.5% last year. He hasn't hit one pop-up yet this year. And his power is back up so far. He's basically completely cut out all of the bad stuff in his game. And now everything he does is great. It's scary to think about.
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Here is his 4-seam heatmap from yesterday: For reference, here is what it looked like his first start: Here is what it was in his first start as a Cub against the Orioles, when he struck out 12 in 7 shutout innings: Here it is from his complete game, 10-K shutout against the Brewers in September: I definitely think this is a thing for him. The high heat is hard for hitters to handle. And it sets up the curveball perfectly. I think Q is at his best when he is throwing his 4-seam up. But I also don't think it's something necessary for him to be good. Here is the heatmap of every 4-seam fastball he's thrown in his career: He really doesn't have any huge tendencies with it. He throws it up and down and all over the zone. And he's got a 3.54 career ERA, so he's doing something right. More important to him is going to be hitting his spots, wherever he wants them. But I think his strikeouts went up last year as he went up in the zone more. And I think he could see a boost from his normal stellar results if he did so more often.
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*3 months later* "Vaunted Pirates"
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Bryce is going to look so good in a Cubs uniform.
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I went to a game last year and trying to leave was insane. They have a huge parking lot and two ways out resulting in it taking over an hour to get out of the parking lot. It's horrible. It's not usually a problem for them.
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Kershaw's given up 4 runs in 3 starts and is 0-2.