Comments on: Felix Hernandez, Groundball Machine

By: Colm

Colm — Fri, 12 Aug 2005 15:37:02 +0000

“He’s a frontline major league starting pitcher right now.”

Oh yummy! I’m going on Monday.

By: Bela Txadux

Bela Txadux — Fri, 12 Aug 2005 05:48:30 +0000

Thanks for the thread, Dave; this is the only place in ‘town’ one can follow a discussion of this kind.

Looking at #35, Dave, it would appear that lefties actually hit more flyballs than groundballs off Felix El Rey. Which makes sense, since lefthand batters tend to hit the low ball better, not least because the also get a better look at the pitch. OTH, lefties also struck out more. The sample isn’t large to be sure, but this suggests something interesting to come: Felix has a slider, and that pitch may very well just eat. lefties. up. He annihilates righties now. With a slider boring in on the lefthand batters . . . This cat’s got it all.

By: ray

ray — Fri, 12 Aug 2005 03:55:56 +0000

Well, it someone hasn’t mentioned this already, this may put more pressure on Bavasi to keep a very good defense infield. I think there is no way he’ll get a power guy with shitty defense for the infield. He’s gotta keep his stars happy. So I see this having a trickle down affect on the roster. Morse surely is gone from SS and Willie will never become the 2B. Morse may become the 2B but I bet the FO will hope to find something lucky: a 2001-Boone version. Any “big” bats will probably be at the expensive of Reed’s or Doyle’s (unfortunately) playing time. This in turn could mean Raul back in left if Bucky proves to be a cheap power bat DH they are looking for. The 2006 roster will be very interesting.

By: John D.

John D. — Fri, 12 Aug 2005 02:17:53 +0000

“Small sample size police!” – wow! A term whose time has come. And on the heels of “King Felix.”
David, you’re on a roll.

By: Brian Rust

Brian Rust — Fri, 12 Aug 2005 00:21:36 +0000

Actually, I also envision “Ultima Ratio Regum” as two-strike chant, sung with clearly Latin pronunciation, and the proper Gregorian descending pitch interval on the final syllable of each word:

“Ool-tee-mah . . . rah-tee-oh . . . ray-goom”

Oh yeah.

By: DMZ

DMZ — Fri, 12 Aug 2005 00:07:33 +0000

Or, for short, “The Argument”. Like the Fugazi song (and album)

By: Eric

Eric — Thu, 11 Aug 2005 23:56:18 +0000

On nicknames: The fastball has one already–”ultima ratio regum.” And that sticks even if the curve becomes his out pitch.

By: mfan

mfan — Thu, 11 Aug 2005 22:38:53 +0000

Dave – Simple suggestion on the s.d. problem. Divide mean by s.d. and use those to judge the variability. Samples with higher means many times, and specifically in this instance, will naturally have higher s.d.’s because larger numbers are involved. Alternatively, you could calculate F/G ratios and it would look like the flyball pitchers were more variable.

By: Rusty

Rusty — Thu, 11 Aug 2005 22:33:21 +0000

Actually, Bavasi seems to have a pretty good working relationship with Boras. It is one thing that I am definitely greatful for in regards to Bavasi. If Boras continues to attract top talent to his agency, then having a GM that knows how to deal with that agency is definitely a plus.

By: Mike

Mike — Thu, 11 Aug 2005 22:19:58 +0000

I sure hope that Scott Boras doesn’t get Felix’s phone number from Adrian.