MLB Daily Notes - May 18th
A daily automated report of what happened yesterday in Major League Baseball, along with other recent trends and further analysis.
Paul Skenes man! He tops the first four leaderboards here with that absolute gem. It was a 60% Strike% and a 22% SwStr%. You do not see that too often. In fact it’s happened just a dozen times this year:
The pitch mix on Skenes from his 184 career pitches:
You would say that nobody has ever sustained a 20% SwStr% on a fastball before and therefore that won’t stick, but his fastball isn’t quite like anybody else’s. I do wonder if you’ll see that average tick down to 97-98 after a bit though. Remember Hunter Greene when he came up? I think he averaged triple-digits in his first couple of starts and then reeled it back a bit.
But the difference with Skenes is these secondaries. We have 30% “Splinker” usage and 21% slider usage with a curveball and changeup to throw in there every once in awhile, and it would seem he has just fine command of all of them. It’s almost hard to believe that the Pittsburgh Pirates could have ended up with a player like this, and we’ll have him until at least 2030 (and if my calculation is wrong on that, please don’t correct me!).
I don’t have any more time to write today but here’s some more SP data from yesterday:
I should also tell you that Joey Ortiz homered again and should be added in deeper leagues.
He now has a 17% K% and 9% Brl%, and for the last month he’s at an 18% K% and 12% Brl% with a 1.022 OPS. Swinging the bat like a stud, and this is a guy with a good amount of prospect pedigree behind him (he slashed .294/.359/.483 in the minors). He’s 25, so not a brand new guy, and there’s certainly some over-performance here late. He wasn’t initially an everyday player, but I would imagine he plays every day now, at least in the short-term while he’s hitting this well.
Some more OPS leaders of the last 30 days:
And that’s all for today!
Pitcher Reports
Algo SP Ranks - Yesterday
1. Paul Skenes
2. Tarik Skubal
3. Zack Wheeler
4. Cole Ragans
5. Jesus Luzardo
6. Nestor Cortes
7. Matt Waldron
8. Kyle Hendricks
9. Ryne Nelson
10. Jake Irvin
11. Freddy Peralta
12. Mitch Spence
13. Christian Scott
14. Andrew Heaney
15. Simeon Woods Richardson
16. Hunter Brown
17. John Means
18. Tyler Anderson
19. Frankie Montas
20. James Paxton
21. Brayan Bello
22. Mike Clevinger
23. Tyler Alexander
24. Bryce Miller
25. Chris Bassitt
26. Kyle Gibson
27. Mason Black
28. Triston McKenzie
29. Max Fried
30. Ryan Feltner
Fantasy Points Leaders - Yesterday
1. Paul Skenes (vs. CHC): 38.9 Points
2. Cole Ragans (vs. OAK): 31.35 Points
3. Matt Waldron (vs. ATL): 30.56 Points
4. Tarik Skubal (vs. ARI): 28.9 Points
5. Jesus Luzardo (vs. NYM): 28.5 Points
6. Nestor Cortes (vs. CWS): 28.15 Points
7. Zack Wheeler (vs. WSH): 24.89 Points
8. Tyler Anderson (vs. TEX): 23.35 Points
9. Tyler Alexander - 641302 (vs. TOR): 20.69 Points
10. Triston McKenzie (vs. MIN): 19.41 Points
Whiffs Leaders - Yesterday
1. Paul Skenes (PIT): 22 Whiffs (100 Pitches)
2. Zack Wheeler (PHI): 17 Whiffs (104 Pitches)
3. Cole Ragans (KC): 15 Whiffs (94 Pitches)
4. Jesus Luzardo (MIA): 15 Whiffs (89 Pitches)
5. Nestor Cortes (NYY): 13 Whiffs (93 Pitches)
6. Freddy Peralta (MIL): 13 Whiffs (97 Pitches)
7. Matt Waldron (SD): 13 Whiffs (98 Pitches)
8. Tarik Skubal (DET): 13 Whiffs (74 Pitches)
9. Hunter Brown (HOU): 12 Whiffs (93 Pitches)
10. John Means (BAL): 11 Whiffs (95 Pitches)
Strike% Leaders - Yesterday
1. Paul Skenes (PIT): 60.0 Strike%, 33.0 Ball%
2. Tarik Skubal (DET): 54.1 Strike%, 28.4 Ball%
3. Matt Waldron (SD): 52.0 Strike%, 36.7 Ball%
4. Cole Ragans (KC): 51.1 Strike%, 34.0 Ball%
5. Tyler Alexander (TB): 50.5 Strike%, 29.5 Ball%
6. Simeon Woods Richardson (MIN): 48.8 Strike%, 28.8 Ball%
7. Kyle Hendricks (CHC): 48.3 Strike%, 28.1 Ball%
8. Jesus Luzardo (MIA): 48.3 Strike%, 33.7 Ball%
9. Zack Wheeler (PHI): 48.1 Strike%, 34.6 Ball%
10. Chris Bassitt (TOR): 47.6 Strike%, 36.9 Ball%
11. Freddy Peralta (MIL): 47.4 Strike%, 36.1 Ball%
12. Mitch Spence (OAK): 46.8 Strike%, 33.8 Ball%
13. Christian Scott (NYM): 46.4 Strike%, 34.5 Ball%
14. Nestor Cortes (NYY): 46.2 Strike%, 32.3 Ball%
15. Brayan Bello (BOS): 46.0 Strike%, 37.0 Ball%
Pitches/Out (POUT) Leaders - Yesterday
1. Tarik Skubal: 74 Pitches, 18 Outs, 4.11 POUT
2. Triston McKenzie: 91 Pitches, 20 Outs, 4.55 POUT
3. Tyler Anderson: 96 Pitches, 21 Outs, 4.57 POUT
4. Nestor Cortes: 93 Pitches, 20 Outs, 4.65 POUT
5. Cole Ragans: 94 Pitches, 20 Outs, 4.7 POUT
6. Zack Wheeler: 104 Pitches, 22 Outs, 4.73 POUT
7. Tyler Alexander: 105 Pitches, 22 Outs, 4.77 POUT
8. Jesus Luzardo: 89 Pitches, 18 Outs, 4.94 POUT
9. Simeon Woods Richardson: 80 Pitches, 16 Outs, 5.0 POUT
10. Kyle Gibson: 90 Pitches, 18 Outs, 5.0 POUT
Velo Changes - Yesterday
Ryne Nelson's FC velo (27 pitches) UP 4.4mph to 91.4
Tarik Skubal's SL velo (10 pitches) UP 2.7mph to 90.6
Tarik Skubal's CH velo (21 pitches) UP 2.6mph to 87.4
Chris Bassitt's FC velo (19 pitches) UP 1.8mph to 90.0
Brayan Bello's SL velo (37 pitches) UP 1.7mph to 87.5
Zack Wheeler's FS velo (12 pitches) UP 1.7mph to 87.4
Tarik Skubal's FF velo (22 pitches) UP 1.6mph to 97.7
James Paxton's FF velo (56 pitches) DOWN -1.5mph to 93.2
Tyler Anderson's CH velo (34 pitches) DOWN -1.5mph to 78.2
Kyle Gibson's SI velo (29 pitches) DOWN -1.7mph to 90.0
Cole Ragans's CH velo (29 pitches) DOWN -1.8mph to 84.6
Jesus Luzardo's FF velo (30 pitches) DOWN -1.9mph to 94.7
John Means's CU velo (10 pitches) DOWN -2.1mph to 74.8
Hunter Brown's SL velo (12 pitches) DOWN -2.1mph to 89.3
Jesus Luzardo's CH velo (24 pitches) DOWN -2.2mph to 85.9
Jesus Luzardo's SL velo (29 pitches) DOWN -2.5mph to 82.4
Freddy Peralta's SL velo (23 pitches) DOWN -4.2mph to 77.8
Pitch Mix Changes - Yesterday
Andrew Heaney's SL usage (36.1%) up 10.9 points
Brayan Bello's SL usage (37.0%) up 13.4 points
Bryce Miller's SI usage (22.1%) up 10.5 points
Bryce Miller's FS usage (19.8%) up 14.5 points
Chase Anderson's ST usage (27.1%) up 17.1 points
Frankie Montas's SL usage (23.5%) up 12.4 points
Hunter Brown's SI usage (12.9%) up 11.7 points
Jake Irvin's CU usage (44.1%) up 13.6 points
Kyle Hendricks's CH usage (64.0%) up 22.0 points
Mike Clevinger's CH usage (24.4%) up 10.3 points
Nestor Cortes's CH usage (16.1%) up 11.3 points
Ryan Feltner's FF usage (42.4%) up 10.3 points
Ryne Nelson's FC usage (32.5%) up 14.5 points
Triston McKenzie's CU usage (35.2%) up 12.5 points
Pitch Mix Changes - Last 3 Starts
Patrick Sandoval 4-Seam Fastball: -20.8%
Zach Eflin Cutter: +17.5%
Yu Darvish Slider: +15.9%
Carlos Rodon Slider: +15.9%
Jose Soriano Sinker: +15.9%
Ryan Feltner Slider: -14.9%
Chris Flexen Slider: +14.9%
Pablo Lopez 4-Seam Fastball: -14.0%
Kevin Gausman 4-Seam Fastball: +13.8%
Dakota Hudson Curveball: +13.6%
Jose Soriano 4-Seam Fastball: -13.4%
Joe Ross Sinker: -13.3%
Erick Fedde Sweeper: -13.1%
Ross Stripling Slider: +12.4%
Zach Eflin Sinker: -12.4%
Kyle Hendricks Changeup: +12.3%
Dakota Hudson Slider: -12.3%
Cole Ragans Cutter: -12.3%
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