Baseball Chick

24Jul 2014 by Jessica DeLine

Richards vs. Scherzer

Angels

Tonight at the Big A could very well be quite the pitching battle. A possible playoff preview. Weaver has been pitching well (only 6 earned runs in his last 4 starts with 18 Ks and 5 walks in 23 innings), Wilson will be back soon (and hopefully in fine form), but the Angels Ace spot still lies with Richards who matched up tonight with the reigning Cy Young Award winner. Below is a traditional stat comparison. Record ERA IP SO WHIP Scherzer 11-3 3.34 132 150 1.20 Richards 11-2 2.47 131 134 1.03 Two things immediately jump out - Scherzer has a much higher strikeout rate and Richards gives up less walks and hits in general. The Angels are right in the middle when it comes to team strike out…

21Jul 2014 by Jessica DeLine

Angels Power Rankings Post All Star – Batters

Angels, Rankings

My ranking include the entire 40 man roster - not just the active 25 man. These rankings were compiled with the help of MLB stats, FanGraphs, misc. data, personal opinion, and some fairy dust I found hidden in Shoemaker's beard. >> Rank Player Last Week Change High Low Comments 1 Mike Trout 1 - 1 1 All Star Game MVP. Another home run. *snooze*. Wake me when he hits 5 home runs in one game. Slacker. 2 Albert Pujols 2 - 2 2 1-for-14 his last three games. But no one impressed enough to take over the 2 spot. 3 Howie Kendrick 5 +2 3 5 6-for-15 this past weekend. Howie was reliable to say the least! 4 Kole Calhoun 3 -1 3 4 Calhoun had a decent weekend.…

21Jul 2014 by Jessica DeLine

Angels Power Rankings Post All Star – Pitchers

Angels, Rankings

My rankings include the entire 40 man roster - not just the active 25 man. These rankings were compiled with the help of MLB stats, FanGraphs, misc. data, personal opinion, and some fairy dust I found hidden in Shoemaker's beard. Rank Player Last Week Change High Low Comments 1 Garrett Richards 1 - 1 1 Just missed being the only Angels Pitcher to make the All Star Game. He's been the ace so far this season 2 Jered Weaver 2 - 2 2 8 strikeouts through 6 innings of the marathon game on Friday. Nicely done Weaver. 3 Joe Smith 3 - 3 3 We'll let his few bad games go since he has a .90 WHIP and is a beast against righties (.149 Avg) and in away games (.143…

21Jul 2014 by Jessica DeLine

Angels newest Shortstop?

Angels

I was literally JUST talking about Grant Green a few days ago and how the Angels seem to think he can't play shortstop. On the Angels Depth chart, he's NOW listed as short stop, but was not previously. As we now know, yesterday was Green's first big league start at short stop, AND he hit the game winning single. This is a great development for the Halos since Aybar can't play every game at short stop, and the previous Aybar backup has left something to be desired (yes I'm looking at you John McDonald). McDonald has been a mess at the plate since sporting a .357 average in April. His monthly average was .176 in May, .100 in June, and a dismal .077 in July. With 54 at bats on…

17Jul 2014 by Jessica DeLine

Fastest Man in Baseball and why doesn’t Trout steal more?

Angels

As we know, you can't measure speed by stolen bases alone. Sure, you need to be fast to steal bases but a high number of stolen bases does not mean you are the fastest. This year - Dee Gordon, Billy Hamilton, and Jose Altuve have been swiping bases like crazy, while many are wondering - has Mike Trout slowed down? Trout has only 10 stolen bases this year compared to the others 43, 38, and 41. An interesting statistic is that Trout has been on base 163 times this year. Stolen base leader Dee Gordon has been on base 134 times. However, if you take away extra base hits from both of them you have them on first base at 109 times (Gordon) and 110 times (Trout). So, theoretically, they…

14Jul 2014 by Jessica DeLine

Angels Mid Season 40 Man Roster Power Rankings – Position Players

Angels, Rankings

It's time for the Angel's Mid Season Power Rankings! Next up - position players! Oh, I know. Technically mid season was June 29th or so but I figured All Star Break was a good time to start. My rankings will include the entire 40 man roster - not just the active 25 man. These rankings were compiled with the help of MLB stats, FanGraphs, misc. data, personal opinion, and some fairy dust I found hidden in Shoemaker's beard. 1 Mike Trout 1 1 Who the heck else would be #1 aside from Mike Trout? He ain't making all that money for nothing. Unless you count this year's salary then the Angels are getting a steal, just like Trouts 100% success rate. See what I did there? 2 Albert Pujols 2…

14Jul 2014 by Jessica DeLine

Angels Mid Season 40 Man Roster Power Rankings – Pitchers

Angels, pitching, Rankings

It's time for the Angel's Mid Season Power Rankings! First up - pitchers. Oh, I know. Technically mid season was June 29th or so but I figured All Star Break was a good time to start. My rankings will include the entire 40 man roster - not just the active 25 man. These rankings were compiled with the help of MLB stats, FanGraphs, misc. data, personal opinion, and some fairy dust I found hidden in Shoemaker's beard. Rank Player Last Week Change High Low Comments 1 Garrett Richards 1 1 Just missed being the only Angels Pitcher to make the All Star Game. He's been the ace so far this season 2 Jered Weaver 2 2 Weaver has had his moment this year. Good and bad. But pulls in the…

09Jul 2014 by Jessica DeLine

Bye Bye Green, Hello Bedrosian

Angels, pitching, Transactions

So I'm enjoying my beer at the Angels game last night, only to almost spit it out when I see Cam Bedrosian jogging in from the bullpen. Beer isn't cheap Scioscia - why did you do that to me? Unbeknownst to me, Bedrosian had been called up from Arkansas earlier in the day and Grant Green was sent packing back to Salt Lake. Apparently Scioscia thought his buddy Cam had learned his lesson after his less than stellar MLB debut even though very little time has passed. It's almost like when Frieri lost his closer job only to get it back again like 3 hours later then proceed to lose it again. Do we see a pattern here? I can think of plenty of other pitchers I would call up…

07Jul 2014 by Jessica DeLine

The two best teams make pitching moves

A's, Angels, pitching

In recent weeks, the two teams holding the best two records in baseball have made some moves to help assure their spot in the post season. The A's have not made a lot of transactions but they DID make one big one on July 4th. Despite having the best record in baseball, they were not content to sit by and wonder if their record and inexperienced pitching staff would hold up into October, so they traded away Dan Straily (P), Addison Russell (SS), Billy McKinney (OF), and a player to be named later to the Cubs for All Star Jeff Samardzija (P) and Jason Hammel (P). Both Samardzija and Hammel arguably have been top 10 pitchers in the NL this year and are likely to benefit from the A's offense…

02Jul 2014 by Jessica DeLine

As the pitchers turn

Angels, pitching

The pitching revolving door for the Halos continues with the addition of veteran lefty Rich Hill who was acquired from Pawtucket yesterday and The Wrath of Kohn was sent packing to Salt Lake. Hill managed to pitch to 4 batters over 2 games yesterday and allowed a perfect 1.000 OBP with 3 walks and 1 hit given up. Eventually Dipoto and Scioscia will realize that just because you throw left doesn't mean you can pitch , right? Won't they? Hill is 34 years old and has been kicking around the minors since 2002. With a 1.179 WHIP and 10.4 SO9 for his career in the minors, this guy is no solution to anyone's problem in the majors. In the majors he has a less impressive career of 8.5 SO9 and…