Explaining Marco Estrada
Sep06

Explaining Marco Estrada

When Blue Jays GM Alex Anthopoulos acquired SP Marco Estrada from the Brewers this past offseason for 1B Adam Lind, the logic behind the move was fairly easy to see. The Jays needed arms, and they had an extra bat to use as currency. They made the deal and both sides have enjoyed success from their respective players. Lind is on pace to up just over 2 WAR for a team that is going nowhere while not paying him a ton, and Estrada is...

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How Well Have Hitters Been Hitting, Objectively? | Expected wOBA and Slash Lines
Jun29

How Well Have Hitters Been Hitting, Objectively? | Expected wOBA and Slash Lines

(Title photo courtesy of Dave R, https://www.flickr.com/photos/daver6/) This is the culmination of Breaking Blue’s mini-series on expected hitter peripherals. The idea of the series is to take a look at how hitters have been performing at each of the fundamental skills, from the perspective of the advanced new data that is available. Through StatCast (as collected by BaseballSavant), we have information on how hard players are...

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Continuing Our ‘xSeries’ By Estimating BABIP, Using StatCast and BIS Data
Jun26

Continuing Our ‘xSeries’ By Estimating BABIP, Using StatCast and BIS Data

(Title photo courtesy of Keith Allison, https://www.flickr.com/photos/keithallison/) Recently, Breaking Blue has used batted ball and plate discipline data to get closer to objective performance indicators of isolated power and strikeout and walk rates. The idea of this exercise is not, as similar exercises are often interpreted as, to estimate the player’s true-talent or to project him going forward. These xSeries measures aim...

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Using StatCast and BIS Batted Ball Data to Assess Expected Power Output
Jun10

Using StatCast and BIS Batted Ball Data to Assess Expected Power Output

Major League front offices have had access to comprehensive StatCast data all season, data that describes essentially everything quantifiable about the movements of fielders, baserunners, batters and the baseball. Those of us in the public realm have only been privy to what’s released sparsely through MLB’s GameDay and At Bat applications. Baseball Savant, an invaluable resource for many things created by Daren Willman,...

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MLB Draft: Blue Jays Select RHP Jon Harris, RHP Brady Singer
Jun08

MLB Draft: Blue Jays Select RHP Jon Harris, RHP Brady Singer

With the 29th overall pick of the MLB Draft, the Toronto Blue Jays selected Missouri State RHP Jon Harris. The 6’4″ right-hander set a school record by winning his first starts in his Freshman season. He posted an ERA of 2.45 with 116 strikeouts in 110 innings. The Blue Jays had previously selected Harris in the 33rd round of the 2012 draft. MLB.com had Harris ranked #10 overall, and Kiley McDaniels of FanGraphs.com had...

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Breaking Blue Top 600 Dynasty League Assets | Fantasy Flashpoint
Apr01

Breaking Blue Top 600 Dynasty League Assets | Fantasy Flashpoint

(Mike Trout photo credit to Jeff Self: https://www.flickr.com/photos/jeffself/)     This project continues our new fantasy baseball series, Fantasy Flashpoint, and will kick-start a rankings conversation that will persist into the season and beyond. Breaking Blue has ranked the top 600 players for dynasty leagues, for leagues with standard 5×5 scoring. League roster structures and sizes will vary and the rankings can be...

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