When the Yankees drafted Phil Hughes with the 23rd overall pick back in 2004, the hope was that the young right-hander from California could become a dominant front line pitcher. Hughes did nothing but encourage those pie in the sky thoughts during his first 3 years in the minor leagues and by the start of the 2007 season he was considered to be one of the elite prospects in all of baseball by the likes of Keith Law, Baseball America, and others. His fastball was considered to be the best in the minor leagues, his curve rated as a plus secondary offering and his control was 2nd to none.

By the middle of the 2010 season those scouting reports were looking rather spot on. Hughes had blossomed into an 18 game winner with a solidly above average strikeout/walk ratio and a new pitch, a cutter, to boot. But there were also some rather ominous warning signs laced into that 18-win campaign. Hughes posted a 4.90 ERA over the 2nd half of the season, had a gaudy home run rate and a chunk of that sparkly 18-8 record was owed to the fact that the Yankees’ offense put up 6.75 runs per game during his starts. But even with those minor nitpicks, that front line starter talent was starting to show through. Hughes just hadn’t put the entire package together quite yet.

Continue reading →

@D-backs 3, Marlins 1: Another late-game Snakebite. Locked in a scoreless duel, Jose Fernandez had allowed just 3 singles through 7. But he walked the first man in the 8th — a 9-pitch battle with Jason Kubel — and another with one down, so when Eric Hinske was announced to hit, Jose gave way to southpaw Mike Dunn. Cue the lefty-slayer, Cody Ross.

Continue reading →

Rather more players included here than in most quizzes. But, there is a reason for that.

These sixteen pitchers are indeed among the “sweetest” of the live ball era. But, the number 16 is also part of the quiz answer, relating to a seasonal accomplishment since 1920 of which only these pitchers can boast.

Hint #1: there is no significance to the arrangement of the rows or columns

Hint #2: outside of the 5 seasons from 1968 to 1972, only 10 of these pitchers accomplished this feat

Congratulations to –bill ! He correctly identified that only these pitchers have posted a season (min. 200 IP) since 1920 allowing less than one run per 16 batters faced. Some of baseball’s most memorable pitching seasons are represented in the list after the jump.

Continue reading →

Got a little caught up in my Metzgers … forgive me!

Mets 4, @Braves 3 (day game): Which reminds your Game Notes narrator, “Always set the DVR for Harvey!” Facing the batting strikeout leaders for the first time this year — and a watered-down lineup, at that — Matt Harvey kept the scoreboard’s first two columns barren until the 7th, then saw the no-no end comically when the first-base ump declined to receive Harvey’s timely toss, leaving Jason Heyward safe in a cloud of chalk. That brought the dreaded Freddie Freeman up as the tying run in a 2-0 game.

Continue reading →

Here is the final installment of this series, looking at players at each position recording the best hitting months.

As with Part 1 on Outfielders and Part 2 on Infielders, the method is to identify the top OPS in each calendar month for players with a minimum 80 PAs in the month (50 PAs for April). As well, the player must have played a majority of his games in that month at one position, though all of his playing time is included in the reported OPS. For Part 3, the PA threshold for pitchers has been set at 20 PAs, and 15 PAs for April.

More on these hot hitters after the jump.

Continue reading →

This post is for voting and discussion in the twenty-second round of balloting for the Circle of Greats.  This round adds those players born in 1950.  Rules and lists are after the jump. Continue reading →

Bert Blyleven is the 21st inductee into the High Heat Stats Circle of Greats and, as a native of the Netherlands, our first inductee born in a nation with no major league team.

While it took 14 long years of voting with Blyleven on the ballot for the Baseball Writers Association of America to induct Bert into the Hall of Fame, COG voters have now inducted him at the first opportunity.  You picked Bert in preference to ten guys that the BBWAA elected while making Blyleven wait (Gwynn, Sandberg, Murray, Dawson, Winfield, Puckett, Rice, Sutter, Eckersley and Gossage).   More on Byleven and the 1951 round of voting is after the jump. Continue reading →

Happy Father’s Day, all you dads, grand-dads, uncles & big brothers.

@Padres 4, D-backs 1: The Pads wanted the sweep, the 6-win streak and the good side of .500, but the last game of this series would be the hardest. The Snakes scratched in the 3rd on Ian Kennedy‘s hit, but Will Venable parked one in the home half, and there things stayed into the 8th. Clayton Richard had his game of the year, holding Goldschmidt and Parra hitless with a DP each, the latter ending the 8th and Richard’s day. Everth Cabrera singled with one out in the home half, his 3rd hit of the afternoon lifting his BA to .305. A steal seemed imminent, but David Hernandez is hard to run on; just 6 have tried in the last 3 years. And Miguel Montero had caught Cabrera in the 1st.

Continue reading →

Robinson Cano is an outstanding hitter, but much less so when there are runners in scoring position (RISP). This fact is well known to those who follow the Yankees, but the extent of his struggles, compared to other good hitters, might surprise you.

To be clear, this is not an anti-Cano piece; I’d be thrilled to have him on either of the teams I root for. And I have no theory to explain his difficulty or prove its predictive value; although I know these numbers, I’m still terrified when he comes up in a big spot with men on against my Mets or Tigers.

I just think it’s fascinating.

Continue reading →