With less than a month to go until the first part of the Major League season ends, several surprises continue to emerge. Some of them related to the collective action of certain squads, we analyzed in previous columns. Remember when we talked about the Orioles bullpen, the Angels’ slump and the amazing Minnesota Twins? Such stories are still being studied, but now we seek to discover what lies behind three individual performances.
Here we go. How can Justin Verlander continue to perform like this? Can Byron Buxton be included in the race for the American League’s Most Valuable Player? Are we aware of how good Cuban José “Candelita” has been in these first months of the season?
Without further ado, we tasted the first Strike.
First Strike
The offices of the Colorado Rockies in recent years have a strange operation, lousy, some would say. To argue that claim, suffice it to say that they traded the best third baseman in the business (Nolan Arenado) after giving him a mega-contract, and prior to that they failed to retain DJ LeMahieu, one of the best hitters in MLB, who signed with the Yankees in free agency.
The last wrong move for the Rockies was to let Trevor Story go and get nothing in return, the same thing that happened with starter John Gray. Now, not everything has been bad, when things are not going well in a place, it is best to renew it and that was done by the president of the club, Richard L. Monfort.
Last October, Bill Schmidt was officially appointed as general manager, although this man had already been in management on an interim basis since April. Under his tenure, Colorado handed out contract extensions to pitcher Antonio Senzatela and utility man Ryan McMahon, and after the lockout was lifted they also signed Kris Bryant to a mega-deal. But, among all those movements they made, one went under the platform and it is the one that is giving the best results.
You don’t know who I’m talking about? We are going to find out, because it is a son of Cuba.
Last offseason, it was commented that José “Candelita” Iglesias could get a contract in the MLB, but it was also speculated that there were possibilities of taking a sharp turn and landing in Asian lands, a formula that other Cubans have already applied in the recent past. like Dayán Viciedo, Adeiny Hechavarría, Leonys Martín, Yasiel Puig, Odrisamer Despaigne, Ariel Miranda, José Miguel Fernández or Rusney Castillo.
However, Asia was far from the destination for Iglesias, who, after all, signed a one-year, $5 million deal with the Coors Field franchise on March 12.
The West Indian is having a great season, although it is not the best in the first 50 games. Some are shocked when they see Iglesias posting a .315 batting average and a .361 on-base percentage (OBP), but they really shouldn’t be. In 2013, when he was playing for the Red Sox, the shortstop hit .384 with a .435 OBP in the first 50 games of the season, and that made him a key player in a exchange which brought him to the Detroit Tigers.
Similarly, in the 2015 contest, Iglesias began on fire with the Tigers and posted an offensive line (AVE/OBP/Slugging/OPS) of .329/.378/.407/.785 in the first 50 games. Knowing that, we should appreciate Tealight’s ability to put the ball in play.
There is another detail to consider, and that is that Iglesias has been a better hitter in the early parts of the seasons. For his career, José averages .284 before the All-Star Game —which marks the middle of the season— and .262 after. Also, the best-averaging months are June (.302), April/March (.288), May (.275) and July (.272), and the same goes for his lifetime monthly OPS.
“Look at his stats with runners in scoring position,” a colleague suggested, and when I looked up his advanced metrics and looked at those numbers, the awe was immediate. “Wow!”
“Tealight” is at an elite level when hitting with runners in scoring position (RISP). A small sample of that is his batting average in such a situation in this 2022. Among the players who have added at least 45 appearances with a runner at second and third base or a combination of both, Iglesias it’s fourth (.429) throughout the MLB circuit.
Of the 17 RBIs he has this year, 16 have been with a man in scoring position. If we filter how he has done with two outs and in RISP, the result is similar: his average is .412 among hitters with at least 15 appearances in those circumstances and he is ranked sixteenth in MLB this year. But that’s not news, because his lifetime average with RISP is .308.
The truth is that Schmidt “hit the nail on the head” with the hiring of the Cuban, and that his defense has not lived up to what was expected. As we approach the trade deadline, the question arises: Will Colorado bet on moving “Tanlight”? To know the answer, we must wait for the next few weeks.
strike two
The surprise is not that Byron Buxton is performing at an impressive level, the surprise is that he is healthy. Nobody can doubt the quality of the second overall selection of the amateur draft in 2012 but, at the same time, we have to be concerned about his extensive injury history.
Since Byron debuted in 2015, he has only played one season with more than 100 games (140 in 2017), excluding, of course, the campaign shortened by the pandemic in 2020, in which he participated in 39 games out of 60. If we study his career in general, he has averaged 68 games per game.
“I’m sure he’ll do something next week or tomorrow that we haven’t seen him do before. He is an impressive player,” said Rocco Baldelli after his center field had two games with two homers in the past week. The numbers that he is leaving in this campaign are also amazing.
His total base average or slugging he is ninth-best among major league qualified hitters, largely because of his home run production. So far, he has taken 18 balls beyond the limits, the second most of his career and there is still half a season to go. To get an idea, Buxton has the second-best home run rate in MLB (one every 10.1 at-bats), second only to Aaron Judge (9.2).
Don’t expect a hitter with a high OBP or a batting average over . 300. Buxton is a power player who could easily hit 30 balls out of the park a year if injuries let him.
Are you a lover of underlying metrics? In those Byron is one of the best. Each player has a percentage of slugging (xSLU), an indicator that measures the probability that a batted ball will be a hit, double, triple or home run based on the frequency with which similar connections in terms of speed and angle of departure became hits, doubles, triples or home runs
The Twins player is one of the best power hitters in the league, as evidenced by his ranking among the top 20 in MLB in xSLG (.587) and average exit velocity (92.2 miles). . On the other hand, 17.3% of Buxton’s hits are considered barrelsthose ideal connections of 98 miles or more at an angle of 26 to 30 degrees, which ranks him seventh in the majors.
As many good sluggers as the Twins have, none can amaze us more than the product of Apping County High School. Baseball Reference projections indicate he can hit more than 60 home runs this season, though for him to cap off a historic year he’ll need to stay on the active roster.
Strike Three Strikeout!
The word “limit” does not exist in Justin Verlander’s vocabulary. Quite simply, anything is possible for the nearly 40-year-old pitcher, who has returned in impressive form to the top of Houston’s rotation, something that many were not able to visualize in October of last year.
At the time, leaks suggested differences between the pitcher and some members of the Astros, after Verlander distanced himself from the team almost completely during his rehab period for Tommy John surgery. Many thought that, after these episodes, the right-hander would not be able to join the squad again, but he really continues to make history at Minuted Maid Park.
Verlander made a showcase in early November and a few days later, he ended up signing a two-year, $50 million deal with the franchise that had won the 2017 World Series. “It’s like putting a new set of tires on the same old race car. It’s great to see,” his former teammate Gerrit Cole said a few days ago.
Perhaps the Yankees’ ace is right, as Verlander has a better average fastball speed this season (94.8 miles) than he did in 2019 (94.6), when he won his second Cy Young Award and struck out 300 for the first and only time. in his carrer. If this were not enough, he has managed to almost match his average speed before the injury (94.9 in 2020) and is not far from the indicators of 2018 (95 miles), a campaign in which he led the American League in starts, strikeouts and average number of men on base per inning.
In addition, “El Insensible” —as he was baptized by the star ESPN Deportes announcer, Ernesto Jérez— is leaving an ERA of 1.94 in 78.2 innings of work. No pitcher has worked harder than him on the new circuit.
What we are seeing is the exception to the rule. Since 1981, when data on pitchers who have had elbow surgery began, only nine pitchers age 37 and older have undergone the process:
* Gary Lavelle (1986-37 years) 1
* Mike Fetters (2003-38) 1
* Arthur Rhodes (2007-37) 4 all stars
* Jose Ariel Contreras (2012-40) 1
* Rafael Betancourt (2013-38) 2
* Bronson Creek (2014-37) 1
* Joe Nathan (2015-40) 1
*Justin Verlander (2021-37)
*John Axford (2021-38)
Of all of them, only Rhodes was able to stay active for more than two seasons after the injury, even participating in an All-Star Game. However, Verlander seems to have taken it all to the next level, because he’s not only pitching, but he’s adamantly opting for top honors. pitcher of the American League in this 2022.
The coach Astros bench Joe Espada recently said of Verlander: “I have a ringside seat to one of the best competitors I’ve ever met.” On other occasions, several have cataloged him as the Tom Brady of baseball, which is not unreasonable. Let’s enjoy his jewels from the mound and recognize that his path to Cooperstown is mapped out.
