We Got The Whole 9

horsefeathers Ben crushed that. We got this. Gonna be the best win of the season.

[expletive] Ian's sample has been great

That was the most similar rotation to ours IMO. Their 1-4 went out there every night and gave 7 or 8 innings it seemed. That season felt hella fluky and it turned out to be the case. I feel like our guys definitely have what it takes to get us back into the playoffs though. We've been seeing better results, tonight and Butler's start notwithstanding.

Sometimes our opponents make it look so easy to lift the ball whilst we rack up grounders

Loopy breaking ball

Fantastic bunt

It's gotta be frustrating when base runners are 3/4 of the way to the base by the time the pitch arrives.

And of course that happens next

John is lucky Al and Addy saved him in the first. He sucks tonight.

All that attention given and John just gives him the base

Zo is working this AB to death

Get that run back. The defense is horsefeathering ready today.

Good lord Addy that was phenomenal

Glad Zac is getting a shot. He seems to be throwing more strikes than ever and his Ks are skyrocketing. He would be a difference maker, if he keeps up something similar to what he's done in Iowa.

I think there is partial installation of Trackman equipment in minor league parks, but the big thing is that the teams own that information as opposed to MLB as a whole for big league stadiums. So the data is getting partially collected, but it's not making its way to the public sphere. Ah that makes sense. Yeah I saw someone in the comment section on a Cubs Den article mention that Maples curve was measured at 2900 rpm and I was like, how the hell does he know that... I hope we have installed something of that nature in our parks. You would think it would be very helpful in trades as well as your own player evaluation.

So, here's something I've been trying to get an answer on and haven't found anything definitive yet: do they have Statcast type equipment in minor league parks yet? Seems like spin rate, EV, first step, route efficiency, etc. would be extremely helpful in scouting prospects. Maybe some guy doesn't seem like a power hitter statistically but he's basically an altered launch angle from being a stud because his average EV is in the 90s. Just an example. Statcast has revolutionized the game; I'm just wondering if it's being utilized as completely as possible.

I'll tell you a positive stat that holds a good bit of my interest for this year: KB has a 802 oppo OPS and is maintaining his absurd numbers to pull and up the middle. He is going to post his best season yet.

FG has Judge's game power as 20/50 Needs a little updating.

I'm not trying to bite your head off. It just seems like you worry about stuff a lot: "Zobrist's contact% is down after 10 games... We don't have any of the league leaders in average exit velocity... Our line drive% is down..." I keep seeing you harping on peripheral stats that may or may not mean anything long-term, without ever seeing you mention, say, that Kris Bryant's contact% is above 80%. You seem to pick and choose which peripheral stats to care about, and you always seem to pick the ones that look bad for Cubs' players. I don't think you are too negative or anything. You are a knowledgeable poster, and you aren't exclusively negative or anything. I think you've been a good addition to the board. I just think you worry too much. Fair enough. When I bring up stats like that, it is usually to illuminate a possible issue; not always to sound the alarm. Just something to keep a tab on. A hitter dropping 10 points in contact signaled to me that maybe Zobrist was hurt. Contact stabilizes quick and I found that to be a glaring decrease. The EV surprised me. I was even more shocked when you explained that they were roughly the same last year. I figured they were markedly better. However that's my fault for not checking. I just try to bring up things that aren't already or haven't been talked about yet. You and my boy Brendan and company at cubsinsider pretty much cover everything, honestly. I don't see a reason to mention KBs contact rate, or Kyle's, because they are pretty much common knowledge at this point. But when Willson was making 50% contact early on, I was like, holy horsefeathers, that is significant (especially for a guy who didn't look to have huge swing and miss issues). Truthfully, there aren't a ton of sexy peripherals this season beyond a couple guys. But you cover most of it already I'd there are some.

Zobrist in 2016 Bases empty: .288 AVG, .396 OBP Men on: .253 AVG, .375 OBP Schwarber 2015 bases empty: .223 AVG, .347 OBP 2015 men on: .270 AVG, .364 OBP 2017 bases empty: .165 AVG, .270 OBP 2017 men on: .222 AVG, .373 OBP Schwarber has some progression coming his way regardless, but shifts aren't just a button you press with the bases empty that affect everyone equally. Even without looking up the numbers it's clear that Zobrist uses the whole field more than Schwarber(on top of being a switch hitter) and should be less susceptible to shifts. Zobrist this year is hitting 80% of his batted balls to pull or up the middle. This is why I questioned how effective this will actually be. But thanks for not biting my head off. That horsefeathers is getting old.

Is there nothing you don't worry about? Seriously? These are like the 2nd posts I've made in the last few weeks with any tinge of "worry". You guys asked me to dial back the panic and i havent said horsefeathers for like a month even through a really poor stretch of baseball. I get bashed for the slightest little things around here. Meanwhile I can go into a GT in a game we lose and find about a hundred posts moaning to the moon about bad play from any given player. All I was suggesting is that it doesn't seem to fix any problem.

Zobrist has been around long enough that he's probably less mentally affected by shifting than Schwarber. I guess that could be true. Statcast says Schwarber should have a 345 wOBA and that he's among the unluckiest hitters in baseball. It's gotta be a bit demoralizing watching so many rockets get caught.

His accuracy is going become legendary

Joe says they're thinking maybe Kyle will get shifted less having Zo on base. Seems to me they're just gonna shift Zo also and turn a lot of hard hit balls into outs just the same.

Cease said this. Which is nothing revelatory but you figure they have told this to each pitching prospect.