Spring Training is finally upon us …. the warm sun …. the crisp air …. the crack of the bat … the ball “thudding” into the glove …. the fresh-faced young men trying to make a good impression on the coaching staff. Here at the VORG, we appreciate those young men not only for their … Read more
MLB Advanced Media stats guru Cory Schwartz tweeted out this gem: Shohei Ohtani has made 4-of-6 starts (67%) on Sundays this year; since MLB.COM started in 2001, only six SP’s have started 10+ games in a season w/ 50%+ of them on the same day of the week; last was Yusmeiro Petit, who made 6-of-10 … Read more
Friday night marks the beginning of Passover, the celebration of the Israelites’ freedom from slavery in Egypt. That means its time for another Sabbathmetrics post, in which we look at whether certain Jewish players performed better or worse on the Sabbath. Our focus today is on pitcher Saul Rogovin. Rogovin’s career lasted eight seasons (1949–53, … Read more
Armed with my already well-worn copy of the 2018 Baseball America Prospect Handbook, here are some of my favorite player names of future stars: Arizona Diamondbacks: Jazz Chisholm, Daulton Varsho, Socrates Brito Atlanta Braves: Touki Toussaint, Huascar Ynoa Baltimore Orioles: Ryan Mountcastle, Chance Sisco, Ofelky Peralta, Jimmy Yacabonis, Boston Red Sox: Darwinzon Hernandez, Josh Ockimey … Read more
Andrew Baggarly was watching the Giants play this past Thursday, and stumbled upon this factoid: Austin Jackson lines out in his first at-bat of the spring. I actually spent 20 minutes on this, and could not find another MLB player whose name is two state capitals. — Andrew Baggarly (@extrabaggs) March 1, 2018 . . … Read more
Over on Facebook, in the Effectively Wild (Baseball Prospectus daily podcast) group, there is currently a discussion of music-oriented fantasy baseball team names. Here are some of my suggestions so far: Four Non-Bonds (if you think your team might be “one-hit wonders”, I suppose) ChiCarGo (25 or 6 to 4 ….. would be a weird … Read more
Perhaps you’ve seen the article each year where they cost out what you’d have to spend to give your beloved each of the items mentioned in “The 12 Days of Christmas“. Last year, I thought it would be cool to see if we could come up with the baseball equivalent of this, using ballplayer names. … Read more
The last of the 2017 season awards will be handed out Thursday afternoon, as the AL and NL MVPs are announced. Here at the VORG, MVP stands for “Most Voweluable Player”, that being the player in each league with the highest percentage of vowels in their first and last names combined. Over in the American … Read more