MLB Daily Notes - April 20th

A daily automated report of what happened yesterday in Major League Baseball, along with other recent trends and further analysis.

Jon A

Apr 20, 2024

∙ Paid

Top of the pitcher data sheet:

Some pitcher notes between me changing diapers, making breakfast, and wiping noses.

Flaherty: Now up to a 29% K% and down to a 4% BB%. Look out. The Ball% is two points better than average at 34%, and he has a great 16% SwStr%. I’m becoming more and more convinced. Season marks:

Taillon: Pretty solid debut with a good 16.4% SwStr%. He threw a lot of different pitches and didn’t have any trobule commanding them, look at those strike rates!

Peralta: A bit wild (44% Ball%) but once again not scored on with seven strikeouts.

Yamamoto: Gave up seven hits and three runs but raised his season K% to 32.3%. He has a very good 14.7% SwStr% and a 51% Strike%, both of those make me think he’s more 28-30% K% rather than well into the thirties, but yes, he can get strikeouts in the Major Leagues.

Chris Sale: Three earned runs given up but he got through seven innings and had a nice 7:1 K:BB. He now has an inflated 4.05 ERA but an elite 1.05 WHIP and 21.4% K-BB%.

Yariel Rodriguez: Once again not efficient, requiring 83 pitches to get through four innings, but he’s been able to fool big league hitters so far. A nice 15.2% SwStr%, most of that coming from the slider. The fastball has been fine, and he has a cool splitter/curveball combo at the bottom here. Interesting arm, he should probably be added in deeper leagues.

Lodolo: Once again very good, not overly dominant with a 12.5% SwStr%, but a 6:0 K:BB and he pitched into the seventh inning. Stud.

Blake Snell highlighted the bad news crew. He’s now thrown as many balls as strikes:

Gore: The Astros welcomed him back to the Majors after that soft matchup with Oakland. He had a good 53.3% Strike% but the Astros put a ton of balls in play and knocked him out after four (7 hits and three earned runs allowed). Still good to see him attacking the zone though (30.4% Ball%).

Verlander: A quality start to get things started, but just four whiffs for a 5.1% SwStr%. Still managed a 4:0 K:BB, so it was a good start to the year, it’s just going to be tough for him to succeed if he has to be so reliant on command (just an 11% SwStr% last season).

On the hitting side, Elly De La Cruz hit another homer, and pretty much everything is moving in the right direction for him.

That’s a 17% Brl% and a 32% K% right now, and that will work just fine for him. Since April 8th, he has just a 20% K%, six homers, and a 1.261 OPS. Look out. Still hitting an outrageous number of ground balls, but that’s not the worst thing in the world given that he beats a lot of those out for singles and then steals second, and then when he’s getting the ball in the air things are going extremely well for him.

SLG On Fly Balls - 2024

Elly De La Cruz (8 fly balls): 2.125
Tyler O’Neill (14): 2.000
Marcell Ozuna (17): 2.000
C.J. Abrams (12): 2.000
Christian Yelich (9): 1.889

That’s right, Elly has hit just eight fly balls. And he has six homers (one inside the parker). He has two line drive homers, only Pete Alonso and Starling Marte have more (3).

Elly’s homer last night was pretty cheap (homer in just 9 parks). Yesterday’s shortest homers:

It was an opposite field jack, and I was watching the Pirates game and I saw Triston Casas also hit an opposite field jack, and it was one of the most impressive homers I’ve ever seen in PNC Park.

Average Distance of Home Runs, 2024:
Pulled: 394 feet
Center: 412 feet
Oppo: 369 feet
Average Distance of Home Runs, 2023:
Pulled: 396 feet
Center: 416 feet
Oppo: 375 feet

Casas’s homer was indeed the furthest-hit opposite field homer of the season:

And is in the top 15 if you bring in last year as well. Prodigious power.

Travis d’Arnaud hit three homers, the second player and second catcher to do that this year. Here’s your list of catchers with at least three dongjobs:

2024 HR + SB Leaders

Elly De La Cruz 16
Mike Trout 13
Lane Thomas 10
Brice Turang 10
Gunnar Henderson 10
Corbin Carroll 9
Kyle Tucker 9
Mookie Betts 9
Adolis Garcia 9
Shohei Ohtani 9
Fernando Tatis 9
Ronald Acuna Jr. 9

Pretty fun to see Ohtani running a lot (20% SB Attempt%). He’s hitting .356/.400/.622 with four homers and five steals. He’s scored 16 times and driven in 11. That is in 100 PA, so if he stays healthy and plays most every day, we could get a 700-PA season from him as the #2 hitter on the Dodgers (Freeman had 730 last year). So if we multiply Ohtani’s stats by 7:

700 PA , 112 R, 28 HR, 77 RBI, 35 SB

Pretty wild, and that’s probably low on the homers.

And that’s it for the Saturday notes. Reminder about Week 5 Waiver Wire Targets here, that came out yesterday and will continue to come out on (most?) Fridays.

Pitcher Reports

Algo SP Ranks - Yesterday

1. Jameson Taillon

2. Yoshinobu Yamamoto

3. Jack Flaherty

4. Chris Sale

5. Joe Ryan

6. Yariel Rodriguez

7. Alec Marsh

8. Nick Lodolo

9. Clarke Schmidt

10. Brayan Bello

11. Tyler Alexander

12. Garrett Crochet

13. Spencer Turnbull

14. Jordan Montgomery

15. Andrew Heaney

16. MacKenzie Gore

17. Triston McKenzie

18. Freddy Peralta

19. Joe Boyle

20. Quinn Priester

21. Tyler Anderson

22. Blake Snell

23. Sean Manaea

24. A.J. Puk

25. Kyle Gibson

26. Justin Verlander

27. Dean Kremer

28. Matt Waldron

Fantasy Points Leaders - Yesterday

1. Spencer Turnbull (vs. CWS): 29.95 Points

2. Brayan Bello (vs. PIT): 29.7 Points

3. Jack Flaherty (vs. MIN): 26.5 Points

4. Alec Marsh (vs. BAL): 25.76 Points

5. Chris Sale (vs. TEX): 24.15 Points

6. Nick Lodolo (vs. LAA): 24.04 Points

7. Freddy Peralta (vs. STL): 23.9 Points

8. Triston McKenzie (vs. OAK): 21.65 Points

9. Yoshinobu Yamamoto (vs. NYM): 20.7 Points

10. Clarke Schmidt (vs. TB): 19.79 Points

Whiffs Leaders - Yesterday

1. Jack Flaherty (DET): 19 Whiffs (97 Pitches)

2. Yoshinobu Yamamoto (LAD): 18 Whiffs (99 Pitches)

3. Freddy Peralta (MIL): 13 Whiffs (100 Pitches)

4. Clarke Schmidt (NYY): 13 Whiffs (102 Pitches)

5. Alec Marsh (KC): 12 Whiffs (86 Pitches)

6. Chris Sale (ATL): 12 Whiffs (89 Pitches)

7. Jameson Taillon (CHC): 12 Whiffs (73 Pitches)

8. Joe Ryan (MIN): 12 Whiffs (93 Pitches)

9. Brayan Bello (BOS): 12 Whiffs (96 Pitches)

10. Yariel Rodriguez (TOR): 11 Whiffs (83 Pitches)

Strike% Leaders - Yesterday

1. Yariel Rodriguez (TOR): 57.8 Strike%, 32.5 Ball%

2. Yoshinobu Yamamoto (LAD): 55.6 Strike%, 27.3 Ball%

3. Chris Sale (ATL): 55.1 Strike%, 23.6 Ball%

4. Jameson Taillon (CHC): 54.8 Strike%, 26.0 Ball%

5. MacKenzie Gore (WSH): 53.3 Strike%, 30.4 Ball%

6. Clarke Schmidt (NYY): 52.9 Strike%, 32.4 Ball%

7. Andrew Heaney (TEX): 52.2 Strike%, 33.3 Ball%

8. Jack Flaherty (DET): 51.5 Strike%, 35.1 Ball%

9. Joe Ryan (MIN): 50.5 Strike%, 32.3 Ball%

10. Brayan Bello (BOS): 49.0 Strike%, 37.5 Ball%

11. Alec Marsh (KC): 48.8 Strike%, 36.0 Ball%

12. Tyler Alexander (TB): 48.1 Strike%, 34.2 Ball%

13. Nick Lodolo (CIN): 47.5 Strike%, 28.8 Ball%

14. Chris Flexen (CWS): 46.6 Strike%, 37.9 Ball%

15. Triston McKenzie (CLE): 46.4 Strike%, 39.3 Ball%

Pitches/Out (POUT) Leaders - Yesterday

1. Chris Sale: 89 Pitches, 21 Outs, 4.24 POUT

2. Spencer Turnbull: 92 Pitches, 21 Outs, 4.38 POUT

3. Nick Lodolo: 80 Pitches, 18 Outs, 4.44 POUT

4. Tyler Anderson: 95 Pitches, 21 Outs, 4.52 POUT

5. Justin Verlander: 78 Pitches, 17 Outs, 4.59 POUT

6. Jordan Montgomery: 78 Pitches, 17 Outs, 4.59 POUT

7. Chris Flexen: 58 Pitches, 12 Outs, 4.83 POUT

8. Jameson Taillon: 73 Pitches, 15 Outs, 4.87 POUT

9. Kyle Gibson: 89 Pitches, 18 Outs, 4.94 POUT

10. Tyler Alexander: 79 Pitches, 16 Outs, 4.94 POUT

Velo Changes - Yesterday

Joe Ryan's FS velo (10 pitches) UP 4.8mph to 89.2

MacKenzie Gore's SL velo (11 pitches) UP 2.9mph to 91.8

Joe Ryan's SL velo (14 pitches) UP 2.8mph to 87.1

Joe Ryan's ST velo (26 pitches) UP 1.7mph to 81.3

Alec Marsh's CU velo (25 pitches) UP 1.5mph to 83.1

Tyler Alexander's ST velo (15 pitches) DOWN -1.5mph to 75.7

Tyler Alexander's CH velo (10 pitches) DOWN -1.6mph to 80.7

A.J. Puk's FS velo (10 pitches) DOWN -1.6mph to 82.7

Jordan Montgomery's SI velo (30 pitches) DOWN -1.6mph to 91.6

Jordan Montgomery's CU velo (24 pitches) DOWN -1.7mph to 78.7

Tyler Anderson's CH velo (33 pitches) DOWN -1.7mph to 78.2

Freddy Peralta's SL velo (29 pitches) DOWN -1.8mph to 80.5

Tyler Alexander's FC velo (26 pitches) DOWN -2.0mph to 83.8

A.J. Puk's SI velo (12 pitches) DOWN -2.3mph to 91.9

Jameson Taillon's FC velo (15 pitches) DOWN -2.4mph to 86.1

A.J. Puk's FF velo (18 pitches) DOWN -3.7mph to 91.7

A.J. Puk's ST velo (29 pitches) DOWN -3.9mph to 79.4

Pitch Mix Changes - Yesterday

A.J. Puk's FS usage (14.3%) up 12.0 points

Alec Marsh's CU usage (29.1%) up 13.9 points

Brayan Bello's CH usage (41.7%) up 10.4 points

Dean Kremer's FS usage (12.1%) up 10.3 points

Garrett Crochet's FC usage (28.0%) up 16.7 points

Joe Ryan's ST usage (28.0%) up 15.9 points

Kyle Gibson's SI usage (43.8%) up 17.3 points

Matt Waldron's ST usage (18.8%) up 12.4 points

Sean Manaea's ST usage (22.4%) up 15.5 points

Spencer Turnbull's ST usage (29.3%) up 15.6 points

Triston McKenzie's SL usage (41.7%) up 18.8 points

Tyler Alexander's ST usage (19.0%) up 13.5 points

Yoshinobu Yamamoto's FS usage (38.4%) up 11.0 points

CSW% Leaders - Last 3 Weeks

Jared Jones - 88 TBF, 38.3% CSW%

Jack Flaherty - 103 TBF, 37.3% CSW%

Yoshinobu Yamamoto - 84 TBF, 37.0% CSW%

Tyler Glasnow - 73 TBF, 34.4% CSW%

Tanner Houck - 105 TBF, 34.0% CSW%

Chris Sale - 98 TBF, 33.5% CSW%

Max Meyer - 65 TBF, 33.2% CSW%

Aaron Civale - 67 TBF, 33.1% CSW%

Nathan Eovaldi - 73 TBF, 33.0% CSW%

Michael King - 97 TBF, 32.8% CSW%

K% Leaders - Last 3 Weeks

Jared Jones - 88 TBF, 36.4% K%

Tyler Glasnow - 73 TBF, 35.6% K%

Freddy Peralta - 71 TBF, 35.2% K%

Reid Detmers - 86 TBF, 34.9% K%

Zac Gallen - 68 TBF, 33.8% K%

Yoshinobu Yamamoto - 84 TBF, 33.3% K%

Yusei Kikuchi - 88 TBF, 33.0% K%

Hunter Greene - 92 TBF, 32.6% K%

Zack Wheeler - 77 TBF, 32.5% K%

Joe Ryan - 93 TBF, 32.3% K%

K-BB% Leaders - Last 3 Weeks

Jared Jones - 88 TBF, 34.1% K-BB%

Freddy Peralta - 71 TBF, 31.0% K-BB%

Tyler Glasnow - 73 TBF, 30.1% K-BB%

Joe Ryan - 93 TBF, 29.0% K-BB%

Yoshinobu Yamamoto - 84 TBF, 28.6% K-BB%

Luis Castillo - 75 TBF, 28.0% K-BB%

Reid Detmers - 86 TBF, 26.7% K-BB%

Zac Gallen - 68 TBF, 26.5% K-BB%

Zack Wheeler - 77 TBF, 26.0% K-BB%

Aaron Civale - 67 TBF, 25.4% K-BB%

GB% Leaders - Last 3 Weeks

Ranger Suarez - 95 TBF, 63.5% GB%

Cristopher Sanchez - 92 TBF, 62.7% GB%

Marcus Stroman - 91 TBF, 61.3% GB%

Max Fried - 80 TBF, 60.3% GB%

Luis Severino - 92 TBF, 59.0% GB%

Brady Singer - 89 TBF, 58.6% GB%

Jordan Hicks - 86 TBF, 58.1% GB%

Adrian Houser - 68 TBF, 57.4% GB%

Logan Webb - 99 TBF, 57.1% GB%

Keaton Winn - 87 TBF, 56.7% GB%

Magic Formula Qualifiers - Pitchers - Last 3 Weeks

Chris Sale - 98 TBF, 27.6 K%, 6.1 BB%, 48.4% GB%

Cole Ragans - 72 TBF, 27.8 K%, 5.6 BB%, 46.8% GB%

James McArthur - 42 TBF, 28.6 K%, 2.4 BB%, 46.4% GB%

Nick Lodolo - 46 TBF, 34.8 K%, 2.2 BB%, 48.1% GB%

Ranger Suarez - 95 TBF, 28.4 K%, 4.2 BB%, 63.5% GB%

Ryan Helsley - 42 TBF, 28.6 K%, 0.0 BB%, 56.7% GB%

Tarik Skubal - 71 TBF, 28.2 K%, 7.0 BB%, 51.1% GB%

Tyler Glasnow - 73 TBF, 35.6 K%, 5.5 BB%, 46.5% GB%

Zac Gallen - 68 TBF, 33.8 K%, 7.4 BB%, 50.0% GB%

Zack Wheeler - 77 TBF, 32.5 K%, 6.5 BB%, 45.7% GB%

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