BatFlip Crazy Fantasy Baseball

Episode 78 of the BatFlip Crazy podcast features a new podcast intro song (thanks @kaylenprescott!) and answers mailbag questions from Twitter. Topics include over and underachieving players, trade targets in redraft and dynasty, player analysis and more. Players discussed: Zack Wheeler, Justin Smoak, Brandon Lowe, Felix Peña, Yonny Chirinos, Austin Riley, Avisail García, Luis Rengifo, Myles Straw, Ozzie Albies, Mitch Keller, Chris Archer, Kiké Hernandez, Joe Musgrove, German Marquez, Derek Dietrich, Corbin Martin, Josh James, Jesse Winker, Max Kepler, Bryce Harper, Keston Hiura, Nicky Lopéz, Harold Ramirez and Garrett Cooper. You can follow me on Twitter @BatFlipCrazy.

Episode 77 takes a deep dive into the skills of 7 hitters and 3 pitchers to determine what’s fueling their struggles or success and whether or not it will continue. I also answer a (singular) mailbag question on stashing injures pitchers. Players discussed (in order): Garrett Cooper, Paul Goldschmidt, Joey Votto, Clint Frazier, Gleyber Torres, Bryan Reynolds, Dansby Swanson, Kyle Gibson, Martin Perez and Domingo German. Find me on Twitter @BatFlipCrazy.

In Episode 76 I discuss the rationale for sharing weekly Statcast leaders on important metrics, dive into the profiles of five struggling hitters and two interesting arms, and answer some questions from the Twitter mailbag. Players and topics discussed (in order): Robinson Cano, Brian Dozier, José Peraza, Jorge Soler, Daniel Murphy, Lucas Giolito, Griffin Canning, how to handle recently demoted prospects, selling high or staying put on early season surprises (Mancini, Polanco, Anderson & Franco), surging Angels hitters of interest (Calhoun, Fletcher, La Stella & Goodwin) and FAABing in 15-team leagues. Find me on Twitter @BatFlipCrazy.

Episode 75 looks at the skills of 6 hitters and 3 pitchers through four plus weeks of the season to determine what’s fueling their struggles or success and whether or not it will continue. I also answer some mailbag questions on stashing players, FAAB bid strategy, closer trade value and more. Players discussed (in order): Logan Forsythe, Jake Bauers, Manny Machado, Ramon Laureano, José Ramirez, Jackie Bradley Jr., Kyle Hendricks, Jalen Beeks and Chris Bassitt. Find me on Twitter @BatFlipCrazy.

Episode 74 looks at the early season skills of 7 hitters and 6 pitchers to determine what’s fueling their struggles or success and whether or not it will continue. I also answer a couple questions around my process for save speculations and what to do with players with long-term injuries if you don’t have a DL and shallow benches. Players discussed (in order): Howie Kendrick, Christian Walker, Hunter Dozier, Travis Shaw, Justin Turner, Victor Robles, Gleyber Torres, Brad Peacock, Shane Greene, Marcus Stroman, Charlie Morton, Ryan Brasier and Reonis Elias. Find me on Twitter @BatFlipCrazy.

Episode 73 looks at the early season skills of 9 hitters and 22 pitchers to determine what’s fueling their struggles or success and whether or not it will continue. I start off the podcast with a Reach Charles! shoutout to Alex Fast at Pitchers List (@AlexFast8) for his terrific work on the CSW metric ((called strike + swinging strike)/pitches). Players discussed (in order): Chad Pinder, Robinson Cano, Freddy Galvis, Franmil Reyes, Nick Markakis, Eric Hosmer, Jorge Polanco, Elvis Andrus, José Altuve, Eduardo Rodriguez, Nick Pivetta, Caleb Smith, Yusei Kikuchi, Tyler Glasnow, Collin McHugh, Touki Toussaint, Jacob deGrom, Matt Boyd, Yonny Chirinos, Andrew Miller, Steven Matz, Trevor Richards, Carlos Carrasco, Luis Castillo, Trevor Williams, James Paxton, Walker Buehler, Joe Musgrove, Yu Darvish, Reynaldo Lopéz and Jack Flaherty. Find me on Twitter @BatFlioCrazy.

Episode 72 looks at the early season skills of 24 hitters to determine what’s fueling their struggles or success. Players discussed (in order): Josh Bell, Joey Votto, Austin Meadows, Mookie Betts, Jung-Ho Kang, Dansby Swanson, Dwight Smith Jr., Willy Adames, Tyler Naquin, Mitch Garver, Max Kepler, Amed Rosario, Leonys Martin, Marcus Semien, Rafael Devers, Francisco Mejia, Lewis Brinson, Yasiel Puig, Matt Carpenter, Manuel Margot, Michael Conforto, Miguel Cabrera, Jose Peraza, and A.J. Pollock. Find me on Twitter @BatFlioCrazy.

Episode 71 looks at the early season skills of 26 hitters and 10 pitchers to determine what’s fueling their struggles or success. Players discussed (in order): Niko Goodrum, Asdrubal Cabrera, Wilson Contreras, Kevin Kiermaier, Teoscar Hernandez, Danny Jansen, Josh Phegley, Christian Walker, Jeff McNeil, Garrett Hampson, Nolan Arenado, Brandon Lowe, Ryan Healy, Tim Anderson, Wilmer Flores, Jake Bauers, Jesus Aguilar, Eloy Jimenez, Jesse Winker, Jorge Soler, Brandon Nimmo, Buster Posey, Ian Desmond, Jurickson Profar, Adam Frazier, Yandy Diaz, David Robertson, Seranthony Dominguez, Corey Kluber, Yu Darvish, Chris Sale, Carlos Rodon, Miles Mikolas, Lucas Giolito, Aaron Nola and Jose Alvarado. Find me on Twitter @BatFlioCrazy.

Episode 70 looks at the early season skills of 22 players to determine what’s fueling their struggles or success. I also give a Reach Charles! Shoutout to Rob Arthur (@no_little_plans on Twitter) for his recent article highlighting the re-juicing of the balls in 2019. Players discussed: J.D. Davis, Alex Gordon, Jason Heyward, Kris Bryant, Max Muncy, Delino DeShields, Kiké Hernandez, Hunter Dozier, Brian Dozier, Domingo Santana, Josh Donaldson, Trey Mancini, José Ramirez, Luke Voit, Ketel Marte, Jay Bruce, Marcell Ozuna, Pete Alonso, Yasiel Puig, Joey Votto, Yoan Moncada and Joey Gallo.

Episode 69 looks at important early season metrics to monitor in evaluating player performance and potential changes in underlying skills or approach. With all the relevant small sample size caveats in place, I share my process for investigating hitter and pitcher skills to answer why a player has improved, gotten worse or if they look like the same old player just on a hot or cold streak. Skills discussed include o-swing, contact rates, batted ball profile, xwOBA, Statcast data, velocity, pitch mix, new pitches, SwStr and others. I also share some online tools to monitor the metrics, including portions of the FanGraphs, Baseball Savant and Brooks Baseball webpages. You can follow me on Twitter @BatFlipCrazy.