Episode 1089: A Very Odd Way of Walking

## Summary

*Ben Lindbergh and Jeff Sullivan banter about Shohei Otani, another strange stance, and Eduardo Nunez, then answer listener emails about players owning particular teams, a potential tagging-up loophole, the all-time record for grounding into double plays, the negative interpretation of the White Sox rebuild, trading for players who would have played one’s opponents, switch-hitters with big splits, a world in which the Astros are still in the NL Central, Mike Trout’s consistency, offering advice to players, Satchel Paige’s stats, Alex Verdugo’s off-the-head homer, and more.*

## Topics

* Trading for players who do the best against them.
* The White Sox rebuild, should they have rebuilt?
* Baseball rules loopholes.
* Do teams think about trade timelines vs teams.
* How much would the Astros still being NL Central change the narrative about the team.
* Mike Trout's remarkable consistency but nothing exceptional.
* Advice to a current major leaguer.
* Satchel Paige baseball reference page, and what would he have done in the MLB if he were allowed his whole career.
* How do you use a potato for a hidden ball trick.
* Home run off of Alex Verdugo’s head.

## Banter

* Shohei Ohtani hit a massive home run.
* Adam Engel's batting stance.
* Not talking about Eduardo Nunez trade.

## Email Questions

* Mike D in St. Louis: If a team could trade for all the players that did the best against them, would that improve your team by decreasing your opponents value? Does this question make sense? For example, when Bud Norris first came up for the Astros, the Cardinals could not hit him for about 5 games.
* Alex (similar question from Erik): At what point should the returns the White Sox have gotten over the past year lead to a discussion over the failure to build around a core the rest of baseball has shown to have deemed very valuable? Doesn't the amount of talent they've gotten back show how insane it was they couldn't even reach .500 with the stars they had, as cheap as they had them, especially for a nominally big-market team? I'm not saying I disagree with selling -- the White Sox had added some veterans in free agency/trades over the previous seasons and still not gotten much better, and Sale/Quintana/Eaton were certainly at the peak of their value -- but it just seems a little odd to celebrate breaking up a still-young core in exchange for a best-case scenario that's essentially just all the prospects you acquired turning into the cost-controlled assets you still couldn't win with.

* Scott: My friends and I were discussing baseball rule "loopholes," and we came up with one we weren't quite able to reconcile. Hypothetical situation - bottom of the 9th, tie game, man on third, one out. The batter hits a very deep fly ball to the warning track in center; the runner on third would easily be able to tag and score if the center fielder caught the ball. What's to stop the center fielder from using the outside of his glove to hit the ball up to himself and then walk in to the infield while hitting the ball up and bobbling it with his bare hand? The runner can't tag because the ball was never caught, and the worst case scenario is the fielder mishandles and drops the ball and his team loses the game (which would have happened anyway if he made the routine catch). We consider ourselves very informed baseball people, but apologies if this question is totally absurd and we are missing something obvious! We're dorks so we wanted to show you what we meant...a quick video is attached. It's certainly difficult, but far from impossible. We were able to do it, and we are mediocre at baseball! It's something people with elite athleticism and hand-eye coordination could practice? And even if it only worked half the time, still worth it??

* Michael: As of today (Wednesday, July 26th) the Cubs are half a game back of the Brewers in the NL Central after being 5.5 back at the ASB. The Cubs just split two games at Wrigley with the White Sox and are set to play two more against them at Guaranteed Rate Field (ugh, what a name.) It was then announced yesterday that the Brewers have acquired Anthony Swarzak from the White Sox for a prospect. The White Sox already had a depleted bullpen from moving Robertson and Kahnle, which will make the rest of the season rough, including these two games against the Cubs, which presumably the Brewers want the White Sox to win. This case isn't that large, only two games, but could that potentially be a thing teams look at when considering their trades and their trade partners? Like, if you knew your rival had to play a particular team 9 more times in a year and you only have to play them 3 times. Would you want to avoid weakening that team too much because it gives your rival an advantage? Or, is this so speculative about how future games are going to pan out that it doesn't matter? Or, do teams just not even worry about it because it's just more important to shore up your weaknesses and not worry about how it affects the rest of the league?

* Steven: For switch hitters, how closely intertwined are their mechanics between the two sides? Has anyone been, for example, a slap-hitting righty and a mashing lefty? Also, can a guy go through a lefty slump while being fine as a righty? My Play Index fu is weak, so I can't figure out how to look this up. I remember the talk around late-career Shane Victorino (who is apparently a free agent) being bad enough from the left side that he had to abandon switch-hitting, though Wikipedia says it was injury-related. If not for injuries, how bad would someone have to be from one side before he just had to stop switch-hitting?
* Michael: Should we be talking about this more?
* Brenden: Imagine a world where the Astros are in the NL Central. Oh, wait that was a reality until Hall of Famer Bud Selig decided that was no longer a thing. How much of this change in leagues would change the narrative in the MLB? Currently the AL is considered the stronger league but what would it be like having the top 3 teams in the majors all in the NL with the talented Cubs vastly underperforming also being in that league. Additionally, the Cubs and Astros are currently the model franchises of the current rebuilding model. How much would them being in the same division change the perception of their success since they would probably be being up on each other for years to come affecting their overall records.
* Eric in Milbrae: Hi Ben and Jeff, I've taken to checking Angels' box scores for Trout's latest results as part of my nightly ritual, and it struck me that he is consistently excellent but rarely has crazy games. In scanning his game log, he has had remarkably unremarkable individual games this season: - Only one 3 hit game - Only two 3-RBI and two 3-walk games - No multi-homer games - In 42/52 games played, he has had either one or two hits exactly. Small sample, sure, but isn't he kind of always like this or am I suffering recency bias? Aside from his all-time greatness, is he also an all-time consistent player? I'm not sure if there is a good measure of streakiness, but he must be historically low (both great and awful streaks)? From a broader perspective, might this contribute to his low fame/talent ratio? Thanks, Eric in Millbrae
* Jordan: In Eno Sarris's article last week, it was mentioned that Kevin Pillar made significant changes to his swing over the past year because he of articles he read on FanGraphs. Pillar came to the same realization while reading this very site. “To be honest, you’ll talk to other people in here and they’ll make a conscious effort to think about their launch angle. I’m just trying to hit the ball hard,” he said. “FanGraphs is the reason I wanted to make a lot of changes.” As a FanGraphs podcast, we now have to consider it at least plausible that (a) regular MLB player(s) listen at least occasionally. With that in mind, assuming a hypothetical MLB player was listening, what advice would you pass on to them? Something specific to an individual game, generic strategy that could apply to a bunch of players but could make the game better if adopted at large, or just that they really should start contributing to the patreon once they hit arbitration?

## StatBlast

* Min of 250 PA per handedness
* Reggie Jefferson was the worst switch hitter vs lefties.
* Wally Backman .726 OPS vs righties .460 OPS vs Lefties.
* Nook Logan was .800 OPS vs lefties. 592 OPS vs righties.
* Bobby Kilaty .881 vs lefties and .675 vs righties
* Geronimo Pena was better by .202 OPS vs lefties.
* Joe Wallace struck out twice as often against lefties.
* Nick Swisher walked 15 more times against lefties.

## Notes

* Shohei Ohtani has been hurt much of the season.
* “I bet Shohei Ohtani and Josh Donaldson could have a good conversation, if Josh Donaldson wasn't such a dick" - Jeff
* Eduardo Nunez played 608 innings as a shortstop had a - 20.6 UZR and a - 28 DRS in 2013.
* Joe DiMaggio was 27 percent better than his normal performance against St. Louis.
* The best split against himself when playing against himself was Todd Zeile against the Angels.
* There is a rule that a player can tag up as soon as a player touches the ball (rule 5.09A)
* League average of grounding into double plays is 11%, Albert Pujols is 14%.
* Reggie Jefferson used to drag his entire left foot when he walked.
* Jeff would love if the Cubs and Astros played in the same division.
* AL is currently up 102 - 96 in interleague play.
* Mike Trout's stats really don't fluctuate per season.
* Having a high walk rate makes you less volatile and more consistent.
* Since 2012 Mike Trout is league leader in games with multiple extra base hits, reaching base at least 3 times, and has most games with Slug above 1.00p and second in games when he reaches half the time.
* “The best advice would be to ignore anything we are saying" - Ben
* Kevin Pillar is being more disciplined this year, looking at the difference between his z swing rate and o swing rate, 2nd or third most disciplined this year.
* David Price seems thinned skinned to Jeff and thinks maybe the playoffs just get to him.
* Josh Reddick has reached on catcher interference 7 times this year.
* Satchel Paige struck out over a batter per inning in the Negro league record books.
* Satchel Paige had a 0 ERA at age 58.
* David Bresnahan once used a potato to try and use the “hidden ball trick".

## Links

* https://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/effectively-wild-episode-1089-a-very-odd-way-of-walking/
* https://twitter.com/rzND9cObsu33IWl/status/890096220986847232/video/1
* http://www.nbcsports.com/chicago/chicago-white-sox/why-adam-engel-came-his-unique-batting-stance-and-how-hes-tweaked-it
* https://www.facebook.com/groups/effectivelywild/permalink/1403968839723297/?comment\_id=1403969523056562&comment\_tracking=%7B%22tn%22%3A%22R%22%7D
* https://twitter.com/JeffPassan/status/890069843998855169
* http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/official\_info/official\_rules/official\_rules.jsp