In the midst of the ongoing nonsense between the Boston Red Sox and Baltimore Orioles, I decided to investigate the extent to which the Utley Rule – officially Rule 6.01(j), which dictates that runners must engage in a bone fide slide into second base on...
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Putting a First Start in Context
This week at BP Boston I wrote about Eduardo Rodriguez’s failure to live up to expectations. He appears to have the potential to be a frontline starter, but to date has pitched more like an average-ish starter. I used his first start of the year,...
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The Magic of Opening Day
The baseball season is upon us and I am extremely excited to have it back. As I noted in my predictions for the season, I expect a strong season from the Red Sox. They have only played two games, but they won both, looked pretty...
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Predictions for the 2017 Season
MLB Opening Day is Sunday! Baseball is back! There is still a ridiculous amount of snow on the ground in my neck of the woods, but it will all seem more manageable with a ball game on. With the season so near, it is time...
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Parsing the Projections
This week at BP Boston I have an article examining differences between the three major publicly available baseball projection systems: Steamer, ZiPS, and PECOTA. Specifically, I looked at where they differ in their expectations for Red Sox players. The three systems are based on similar...
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Keeping Opponents' Barrels Off the Ball
This week at BP Boston I took another look at the Statcast Barrels metric, but this time I focused on pitching. Batters want to get the barrel of their bat to the ball, pitchers don’t want them to do that. In 2016, the Red Sox...
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Getting the Barrel to the Ball
This week at BP Boston I wrote the Red Sox’s offense from the perspective of a metric derived from the new (and exciting) Statcast data: barrels. A barrel is a batted ball with an exit velocity and launch angle that has tended to result in...
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The Red Sox and the Instant Replay Challenge System
The 2016 season was the third with the instant replay challenge system. The system allows managers an opportunity to verify umpires’ calls. The goal of the system is to get more calls right, but is also a strategic consideration. I examined how John Farrell and...
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The Looming Effect of Chris Sale Changing Divisions
This week at BP Boston I wrote about their major offseason acquisition, Chris Sale. Sale is an excellent pitcher – in the top five in the league over the last five years – but there are concerns about him moving from pitching in the soft...
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Hitting with Two-Strikes. Can the Red Sox Do It Again?
Last week I started a new role as a weekly columnist at BP Boston. In this new role I will be writing an article each week on a Red Sox related topic of my choosing. I will also be continuing with game recaps through the...
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