Hitting for the Cycle #27
A Sunday Review - August 14, 2022
📖 What I’m Reading:
Groovin’ with Govier - Michael Govier
New baseball column debuted by Michael Govier who just joined the FTN Fantasy team. I enjoyed Michael’s writing in this column as well as the concept of linking his player title headings with references to movie scenes and songs. It’s fun! As Michael points out, he’s here to entertain and inform. I love watching everyone’s approach in analyzing this fantasy baseball game, and there is so much room to get creative. Speaking of creative, definitely check out his Pallazzo Podcast Fantasy Baseball Show on YouTube. Look forward to future weekly columns from Michael.
🎧 What I’m Hearing:
FTN Fantasy Baseball Podcast - Episode 31: Silver Wishes & Platinum Dreams with Rob Silver
I guess we are entering an FTN Fantasy Baseball centric newsletter here with the highlight of this week’s “What I’m Hearing” coming from Episode 31 of the FTN Fantasy Baseball Podcast hosted this week by Vlad Sedler. Rob Silver is this week’s guest. I know lots of folks know Rob as a former NFBC Main Event Champion, and player of truly high stakes fantasy baseball leagues as Vlad and Rob discuss the $15k-entry NFBC Platinum league that Rob is currently playing. All that is nice and well, but I don’t care so much about all that. Meaning, even if Rob was playing or only winning $50 Yahoo leagues, I would still listen to the way he breaks down draft, roster and game management strategies. He’s one of the more thoughtful and honest players out there. Also, his Twitter posts got me interested in the concept of superforecasting, and the additional works of Dan Gardner and Philip E. Tetlock who authored the book, Superforecasting: The Art and Science of Prediction.
📊 Metric of the Week:
Weighted Runs Created Plus (wRC+)
Last week we mentioned WAR not being that fantastic of a metric to assess the overall fantasy skills of a player. Enter wRC+, which is the go-to metric to measure a hitter’s overall offensive output. wRC+ uses wOBA, park factors, and the league run environment to produce one number that is adjusted so that a wRC+ of 100 represents a league average hitter. For example, a wRC+ of 125 means that the player was 25% better than league average. So, this metric is a great way to compare the offensive performance of any two players in the league. As we close out the 2022 season, perhaps one way to start prepping for next year is to look at the year’s 2nd half gainers and faders in wRC+. Then, you can start to dive into the detail of hitters that standout from both those lists. You can take a look at the following Fangraphs wRC+ 2nd half leaderboard HERE.
💬 Quote of the Week:
"People don't need to see you do your work. As long as you do it, that's what matters."
- Ken Griffey Jr.