Jason Ross

Man, based on sound alone I thought Busch got a hit. Was bummed out when the radio alerted me it was a flyout.

If Nico and Tauchman could the ghost runner thing and just be hitter A and hitter B and switch out...we'd still be in the first inning with zero outs. Both guys are doing great

To give credit to both on their last swings: Busch's fly out had an EV of 99.8mph and an xBA of .550 Swanson's flyout had an EV of 104.8 mph and an xBA of .840 It's bad luck either one of them didn't land. It's real bad luck neither landed.

I can't give you a ton on him this year. With no statcast data in HIgh-A and my time split more on others, I haven't had a ton of time to spend with South Bend myself. What I can see are a few articles on him and piecemeal some stuff together. An article from New Jersey seems to suggest strong extension and ride on the fastball with mid-80's changeup/curveballs. The curve sounds like it's more horizontal movement than vertical, as well and is his better of the two. I'll try to keep an eye on SB here a bit more as school is slowing down over the next month and see if I can get a better idea on him.

Nah nah nah, nah nah nah. Canario with the webgem.

Shameless self promotion, but I wrote in-depth on it here if you're interested in it! There's a bunch of stuff in there, but basically, my feels are mixed. Changes in his swing choices are clear, whether they're going to make him a better hitter at the MLB...is debatable. I like that he's doing more damage on swings. I really like his story so I'm in his corner for sure.

Ish. There are things he's doing better; for example, he's pulling the ball more and he's hitting the ball harder. He's chasing a bit less. He's also making less contact than he's ever made on the whole; down to about 68%. Mervis has clearly changed a bit and trying something new...which was likely a necessary thing. With that said, I'm not entirely certainly he's doing things better. They're different. I still remain pretty on the fence on if they're better, though. I'm not against him getting a fair shake now that he's on the MLB roster however. No reason to overly panic about the 7 PA's. He's here...so might as well let him cook.

Yep. Early season stuff is weird. Just really takes like a good week and things shift drastically in different directions. Great to see him figuring it out. Being on the 40-man, if he can make his way to Iowa this year...that'd really help; both in a trade or the Cubs propper.

My cold-streak tracker strikes again! Will Sanders had a good game after I added him. Paciolla and Alcantara got going after they found their way on the list. I'm taking full credit.

I did a lot of digging into PCA last night when discussing him with someone else off this board. I came to some weird conclusions at first, and then with more information, I've at least come to a thought process of what's happening. He's having a weird year offensively: 1. His in-zone whiff% is down 5% (good!) and his contact% is up 4% (good!) 2. His chase rate is comically bad: 45%+. It's over 53% (double last year) in hitters' counts. 3. Pitchers are using this to their advantage. He's seen an increase of 6% of non-competitive strikes. This doesn't seem like an accident. You've got a guy who will essentially offer at anything right now, especially when he's ahead. 4. His swing% in general is way up. 5. Pitchers are more consistently attacking up and out on him and he's not responding well to that pitch I'm hoping a little break from Triple-A and a few days as a defensive replacement will calm him down a bit. The numbers look like a hitter who's struggling mentally right now and is way deep inside of his head. I can't say I know PCA the person, but my educated guess on looking at the data and the way he plays is that he's an emotional kind of guy and perhaps he's let his emotions get the better of him. He appears to be pressing, especially when he gets ahead in the count...he's trying to do too much. Perhaps he's desperately trying to force his way to Chicago, or prove that he's ready. Maybe he's struggling and letting that compound. Either way, the data makes me think this is a mental thing for him.

I teach in an advanced program. There are days when I realize that of the 31 human beings in my room, I'm probably the dumbest one. I only beat these kids with experience.

You know, you'd think so...but kids these days are huge, man. I'm between 5"10 and 5"11 and there have to be 10-15 students who already are taller than me. I've got a student who's over 6"0 and 200lbs already!

If you told me the amount of injuries the Cubs had, and their schedule... I'd never have guessed they'd be 15-9.

Ah, you'll forgive me. My ability to handle emotion and tone are completely gone after an 8 hour day of middle school. If you're wondering "Hey, what's that like?" well, I had a boy at 3:30 ask me for a spoon (I don't have one). Five minutes later, I look over, and the kid has a pyrex of mashed potatoes (which had to have been in his backback...literally all day) hand-shoveling them into his mouth using fingers he almost assuredly hadn't washed once all day. Needless to say, I'm dead inside right now.

Does Savant not change the strike zone to account for the hitter? Seems like a weird oversight.

FWIW, Savant has it a strike.

Man...there was some iffy stuff in Neris' 2023 data. I'm not loving what I'm seeing because it's all that stuff amplified.

It's weird. But probably the right move until Morel makes you more comfortable. He's clearly capable of the spectacular, but he tends to lapse on the regular.

Yodan due up 3rd and then Tucker after him, so I'd guess Wes is a no-go. Those two lefties + Wesneski probably not the best bet. I'd guess Neris.

Not sure if anyone missed it, but Morel was up to a -1 OAA pre-game. Which isn't good, but the way he looked the first week...that's kind of a big jump.

Big K,

Strangely enough...also from Duke.

So, I really like going to Adbert here. It's not a closing situation but it feels like a big situation. You let him come in, with the tying run, in the 6th. You've got a guy on second. Hopefully he can rise to the moment and start to get back to the guy he was last year.

Yeah, feels like they're going to try to squeeze what they can out of guys right now.

Pfft. Only.