It's funny. The Braves had one of these great farms 7-8 years ago and several of those guys failed to materialize and then it seems a bunch of guys have just shown up as superstars. Imagine where they would be without all the sanctions they incurred

Speaking of which, I saw the first of the international FA the Braves were forced to let go over that scandal finally reached the big leagues - Livan Soto with the Angels. I haven't been checking up on the players, but the Royals got two of them, and neither have amounted to much.

The Pirates have second basemen Ji-hwan Bae. He's 23, has spent the whole season at Indianapolis despite hitting .287 with 8 homers and 27 stolen bases while the Pirates churn infielders weekly. He was convicted in Korea of assault against his girlfriend in 2019, fined by the court and served a suspension from playing. There's been speculation that the history is why he hasn't been called up to Pittsburgh. It wouldn't surprise if the Pirates bring him up in the last week, so that he'll be old news next spring.

Strider's stuff is electric. I don't know how long he'll last throwing this hard - his legs are absolutely ripped and his mechanics are sound, but its a high-effort delivery - but as long as he does he will be one of the best.

On post 2:
Beyond Soto (BA ranks him 19th in the Angels system) and Bae (23rd in the Pirates) - not much (which means, in total, not much)
Abrahan Gutierrez is a fringy, but not bad, Pirates prospect, as a 22 year old catcher with an okay glove who's always a decent hitter. No standout tool, but should keep getting pushed up the ladder and looks like a future big league backup. (BA ranked 26th in system)
Brandol Mezquita, the only one Atlanta re-upped, is emerging as a sleeper. Gets on base, posts high exit velocities, decent outfielder defender. BA ranks him 18th in the (desolate) Atlanta system and he's still only 20. (Well, seasonal age - is actually 21.)
One of the Royals who hasn't done much, Yefri Del Rosario, was BA's pick as the #21 guy in the Royals system. I'm not impressed, personally.
Yunior Severino has a pretty good bat for an infielder and is up to AA, but I'm not sure that he'll field enough to stay in the infield. It's what likely keeps him off a 40 man this winter.
Kevin Maitan, the biggest deal of this bunch at the time, held his own as a 22 year old in AA (making it by default by far the best year of his career). Just a guy, though.
Beyond that ... a AA closer (Zuniga), a toolsy outfielder with contact problems (Negret), and org guy middle infielders (Pena, Rojas). Think Sucre and Contreras are out of pro ball?

#1 That's an amazing amount of talent to be added to some top tier young players. I mean most teams would be happy with Acuna, Riley and Contreras (yeah Contreras is arguable, but who wouldn't want him?) and then ...

And they've got any number of fine players still in their prime.

So those "lost" prospects ended up mostly with the Angels, Royals and Pirates and didn't develop ... I'm shocked. :-)

Yeah, it’s a wonder.

BA has an article ($) out this afternoon on the lost 12 (and added Bae + Robert Puason, who I had forgotten was slated to sign with Atlanta but instead had to go to Oakland … he’s not developing either).

Meanwhile ... Electric Strider ... race walking trainer or guitar pedal?

Not to mention, the mustache!

Meanwhile ... Electric Strider ... race walking trainer or guitar pedal?

Tolkien reimagined for the current era.

Speaking of which, I saw the first of the international FA the Braves were forced to let go over that scandal finally reached the big leagues - Livan Soto with the Angels. I haven't been checking up on the players, but the Royals got two of them, and neither have amounted to much.

Kevin Maitan was the big get for the Angels from those sanctions. I remember being excited about signing him. Maitan joined the Angels organization as a shortstop with some questions about whether he would stick there; he immediately gained 50 pounds and removed all doubt about sticking there, or anywhere, for that matter. I don't think he got out of High-A ball. I have no clue where he is now, but I don't think he's still in the organization.

still with the angels, now in aa, is a 3b/1b/dh (he's added another 25+ pounds, weighs 250). was almost a league average hitter for the first time, though.

David O'Brien
@DOBrienATL
·
1h
#Braves’ Spencer Strider has left oblique soreness, will be skipped in rotation but not go on IL. Bryce Elder will start tomorrow and bump Max Fried back one day to Philly series opener Thursday. Snitker said Strider would continue playing catch and be slotted back in when ready.

From Keith Law:

"...by the way, this is completely nuts: right now, Strider is the only pitcher in MLB history with 200+ strikeouts and fewer than 100 hits allowed in a single season. Ever."

Ji-hwan Bae promoted to Pittsburgh.

From Keith Law:

"...by the way, this is completely nuts: right now, Strider is the only pitcher in MLB history with 200+ strikeouts and fewer than 100 hits allowed in a single season. Ever."

I had a colleague like this, whose job performance was based on something vaguely like this.

meaning, in this variation, they would tell Strider to stop pitching, because they would get full credit for this level.
but if he wound up with 20 more Ks but exactly 100 hits allowed, no bonus for them. never mind if that hurt the Braves.

the whole thing was preposterous, because the goals of this person were very much at odds with the company's goals.

in unrelated news, I no longer work there and the company is sinking like a stone.

:)

here, it sounds like Law will be less impressed by Strider if he allows that 100th hit. also, it would have been nice if someone had told SPs in the past 100 years that this would be "a thing."

here, it sounds like Law will be less impressed by Strider if he allows that 100th hit. also, it would have been nice if someone had told SPs in the past 100 years that this would be "a thing."

He might, and he wouldn't be wrong. Strider has allowed 86 hits (to go with 202 strikeouts). Given that he's unlikely to make more than 1-2 more starts, that will likely be truncated to ensure playoff freshness, 14 hits allowed would meaningfully degrade his seasonal performance.

so we just now, in Sept. 2022, created a new category of "awesomeness" just for Spencer Strider's season?

no cherry-picking here! selective endpoints? no way!

in the last 2 years, deGrom has 232 K and allowed 69 hits.

meh

last year, as of early Sept, Mad Max had 210 K and 99 hits allowed.

"this is completely nuts" - yep, no idea why the Dodgers blundered and let him keep pitching rather than achieve a hallowed mark that would not (to be fair) be invented until a year later.

of course, that's the first time ever that a pitcher reached 200 K with not even 100 hits allowed.

yes, I'm kidding.

yes, I'm kidding.

Also, overreacting.

I can't tell if it's about me getting older, or if the quality of the gotchas has declined. But 'this cool stat does not perfectly and precisely describe the full scope of a player's value--the only thing it is legitimate to care about' is far less appealing to me than it once was.

Also, overreacting.

yet the "completely nuts... Ever." comment by someone who obviously knows better = NOT overreacting, even though numerous pitchers have done the same thing, and in fact (at least) one just did it last year.

as I noted, the gimmick is you need to stop pitching at precisely the right endpoint to gain the accolade. if the 100th hit is allowed, it doesn't matter how many more innings you pitch, per Keith's Law.

if he wrote is as a curiosity/quirk of endpoints or even just "a cool stat" with no implications beyond that, different story. but he is positing that this is something historically incredible, when clearly it is not, rather than just very impressive.

interesting scale y'all have there.

context never goes out of style, yet Law made a bigtime overbid. that is not a 'gotcha.'

if a pitcher ever does something truly remarkably and historically dominant, it would be a shame that "completely nuts" already has been retired - and in popular fashion, no less.

not sure where one can go from there.

OK, he was overly excited and you're overreacting.

Happy?

I've no doubt a host of pitchers have done the 200+k and less then 100 hits at times over their careers. Recent HOFers Johnson, Martinez and Maddux would surely have done this at some stage. Nolan Ryan comes to mind. Lots of K's not a lot of hits(boatloads of walks though).

It's kind of fun, but not extraordinary.

pass, point has been made

I thought Keith was more 'how has this never been done before?' but who knows. He did just write an article about how Strider was one he missed on, so perhaps he was making up for having him #12 on his 2022 Brave prospect rating list:

"He’ll still need a better changeup, or maybe a splitter, which I think would work with his arm slot and hand position. If he gets that, he’s a league-average starter, with a small chance for more."

No mention of his mustache. I'm not saying it's Larry Csonka level, but it's pretty solid.

Mike A,

Thanks much for the productive response.

To your specific and new point, I think we all know that virtually every excellent pitcher that has ever barely reached 200 K - many of whom have not allowed 100 H yet - hasn't stopped there.

so that would be why it never happened before. and no, I don't think the Braves or Strider have anything to do with this. maybe Keith is sort of a Jayson Stark acolyte who is fascinated with what I always took from Stark to be meaningless but fun stats? if Law is trying to imitate that, he needs some new joke writers.

now, if a teenage Braves fan had posted this, I'd have welcomed his enthusiasm and his naivete both.

but at "The Site For Thinking Fans," I thought we agreed on a higher standard - especially for someone with almost half a million followers on Twitter. He can't possibly expect 99 pct of those would recognize a nuance (if there even was one).

most importantly of all, co-sign on the Strider/Csonka 'stache efforts...

Yeah, others would have hit it had they stopped their seasons at 200 Ks. But it's not as many as one would think.

For example, Schrezer has pitched roughly the same amount of innings as Strider and also given up fewer than 100 hits (95). But the pitcher who is 5th on the all-time K/9 list is 'only' at 162 Ks. The strikeout part is really hard, and even the best pitchers give up 7 H/9.

He won't qualify, but if he did, Strider's current K/9 (13.8) would rank 2nd all-time for a single season and his H/9 (5.9) would rank in the top 50 single seasons. That's pretty nuts. And yeah, a lot of that is Strider, but it also shows how the game has changed - which is probably the biggest reason why Law's 'cool stat' has never been done before.

(And as a side note, might it be time to reduce IP for a pitcher to 'qualify?' Right now, we're on track to have fewer than 50 pitchers qualify this year).