Advanced Slash
Packaging three metrics into a modern slash line As I learn more about modern metrics in baseball, I find myself filtering and sorting on those stats most often to get a better understanding of an offensive player’s production. The stats are easy to access at sites like FanGraphs. But at this point, we kind of…
Extend Willson! As a DH.
Scroll through Twitter after any exciting moment ignited by Willson Contreras and you’ll find multiple #ExtendWillson tweets on your timeline. Big hits, back-picks, and caught-stealing are his signature and as fans, we love all of it. After the 2021 sell-off of The Core, Contreras became ingrained as the heart and soul of a team that…
Kyle Hendricks’ Hard-hit Start to 2022
Before Kyle Hendricks takes the mound for the second game of the Crosstown Series with White Sox on May 4th, I wanted to dig into his early season results. Through five starts this season, Kyle Hendricks hasn’t pitched like a frontline starter at the top of the Cubs’ rotation. It’s been a few seasons since…
Mark Leiter Jr., the Unintentional Opener
The Cubs started the season knowing only four pitchers on their roster could be slotted into the starting rotation due to the injuries to Alec Mills, Wade Miley, and Adbert Alzolay. Without those three arms, the Cubs don’t have a lot of stretched-out pitching depth capable of throwing 4.0+ innings. Two early off-days worked in…
Rethink the Win: Measuring a Pitcher’s Impact Using Win Probability Added
For more than a decade, the value of the pitcher win statistic has been debated between the analytic and traditional schools of thought. There is perhaps no stronger proponent of eliminating the win statistic than Brian Kenny. In 2016, the MLB Network Analyst and host of “MLB Now” wrote a book titled Ahead of the Curve:…
A New Cub You’re Gonna Love: Nick Madrigal
In recent seasons it’s no secret the Cubs’ lineup has been missing contact-first style hitters. The Cubs acquired Nick Madrigal from the White Sox as part of the return for Craig Kimbrel at the 2021 trade deadline in an effort to design a new-look offense. It signaled a change in strategy for a lineup that…
Evaluating David Ross in 2022
How We Got Here When David Ross was hired as the 61st manager of the Chicago Cubs after the 2019 season we knew they were getting a strong clubhouse leader. Ross had shown those traits consistently during his fifteen-year major league career with seven different franchises. It would take a strong leader to steer the…
wOBA and xwOBA: Actual vs. Expected Outcomes
Now that we’ve had an introduction to weighted on-base average (wOBA), I want to expand on another statistic we can use to contextualize hitting performance: xwOBA, or expected weighted on-base average. If you haven’t read the wOBA article yet, start there first. xwOBA is calculated using two physics metrics on batted balls: exit velocity and…
Qualifying Offers and the Cubs’ Plans for a 2022 Reload
Heading into the 2021-2022 offseason there is a lot of speculation on Cubs President of Business Operations Jed Hoyer’s player acquisition strategy and his comment about “spending intelligently” in free agency to fill the Cubs’ 2022 roster (which at time of writing has more holes than swiss cheese). One of the factors being talked about…
The Case to Replace Batting Average
Batting average. It’s a stat most of us learned early on in our baseball fandom as we scoured the backs of baseball cards to know who the best hitters were. It’s the first stat in the traditional “slash line” of batting average, on-base percentage, and slugging percentage (AVG/OBP/SLG). A .300 batting average is the unofficial…
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