This month, two of baseball’s promising young pitchers—Shohei Ohtani of the Angels and Michael Kopech of the White Sox—learned that they will likely need Tommy John surgery due to torn ulnar collateral ligaments in their throwing arms. While Ohtani remains in the Angels’ lineup as a hitter, Kopech’s debut season…
Christian Yelich's first-pitch aggressiveness has been a big-part of his success.
In a crowded group of highly-talented center fielders, it has been tough for Adam Engel to stand out from the rest. But in August he did. He’s our selection as the MLB Defensive Player of the Month. Engel finished the month with eight Defensive Runs Saved, the most by any…
By WILL HOEFER If you’re a fan of baseball, chances are you’ve watched the David Bote walk-off grand slam at least 25 times by now. We’re talking about a perfect moment. In the wake of that, there have been excellent pieces written about the sheer magnitude of that play in…
As of this past Sunday, teams have shifted more in 2018 than in any other season.
By MARK SIMON All statistics through Saturday’s games I received a tweet recently that asked if I could demonstrate the difference between the team with the most Defensive Runs Saved (the Diamondbacks with 120) and the team with the fewest (the Phillies with -102). It seemed a reasonable question to…
The National League MVP race is shaping up to be incredibly tight with a little more than a month left in the regular season, and it parallels the race for the lead in the Total Runs stat. Total Runs combines Runs Created (offense), Baserunning Runs and Defensive Runs Saved, along…
By BRETT BITTIGER Few baseball pundits predicted that on August 16, the Oakland Athletics would be two games back in the AL West and in command of the second AL Wild Card spot. There has been ample coverage of several of the team’s sources of insurgence: Matt Chapman’s highlight reel…
By EZRA RAWDON Red Sox catcher Sandy León has been the topic of much conversation in the baseball universe of late, thanks to this play and the fact that his team is 40-15 when he catches a winning percentage nearly 30 points higher than their absurd overall pace of .698.…
BY MARK SIMON Though we shone a spotlight on the Milwaukee Brewers’ defense last week, we neglected to mention a team that was just a notch behind them. That team has since surpassed the Brewers statistically and currently has no equals on the defensive front—the Arizona Diamondbacks. The Diamondbacks have…
