Hitting for the Cycle #14
A Sunday Review - April 24, 2022
📖 What I’m Reading:
Lineup Analysis - Jeff Zimmerman
Lineup Takeaways - Mike Kurland
Lineups here. Get your lineups! A doubleheader reminder of two great resources that you should continually be checking in on especially early in the season. Changes in playing time and batting order can be one of the most important things to monitor as we all work through worrying or not worrying about small sample size results. We are all trying to find the signal from the noise, and it’s difficult to determine whether some skills have improved or eroded at this point. However, lineups give us something more definitive to measure from the perspective of how a player’s team is deciding roles (e.g., platoons, rest days, etc.). The lineup work on FanGraphs from Jeff Zimmerman and on SKPlaybook from Mike Kurland can help you find some lineup signals to act on.
🎧 What I’m Hearing:
The Dish - A Fantasy Baseball Strategy Podcast: Strategy w/Rudy Gamble
I always find these evergreen type episodes relevant to listen at different points whether it be for drafts or in-season. This podcast was relevant to listen to again now in case you need to re-think your approach to in-season management. Better to adjust earlier rather than later. It’s the balancing act of not overreacting but not letting too much slip by when you could have made a good enough decision instead of waiting for complete confirmation. Around the 20 minute mark of this podcast, Dan Stafford inquires about Rudy Gamble’s draft strategy of DARWINISM (“Drafting A Roster Which Integrates Needs (of) In Season Management”). The overall strategy boils down to long-term thinking of how your draft can complement your in-season strengths. There is so much focus on the draft which is important, but it’s the in-season management that can really change the direction of where you finish in the standings at the end. With DARWINISM, Rudy has described it as wearing the two hats of a general manager and manager. Though you maybe thinking I can’t possibly implement this strategy now since drafts are over, you are in the position to course correct with some information at your disposal whether its injuries, current league pitching/hitting landscape or FAAB spending. What are you finding out about yourself now in how you’re going to manage the rest of season? Are you going to be streaming pitchers or hitters more? It’s not fun to ask these questions when we could be watching highlights of home runs and strikeouts, but if you want to maximize your chances of winning, answering the hard questions now sets you up for success at game 162.
📊 Metric of the Week:
K-BB%
The percentage of batters that a pitcher strikes out minus the percentage of batters that pitcher walks. K-BB% is used to determine the general quality of a pitcher, and can be one of the best indicators of a pitcher’s future performance especially early in the season. Typically, you want to look for pitchers with K-BB% greater than 15% but ideally you really want greater than 20% K-BB%.
💬 Quote of the Week:
“You may not think you’re going to make it. You may want to quit. But if you keep your eye on the ball, you can accomplish anything.”
- Hank Aaron