The Best of FanGraphs: April 16-20, 2018

Each week, we publish in the neighborhood of 75 articles across our various blogs. With this post, we hope to highlight 10 to 15 of them. You can read more on it here. The links below are color coded — green for FanGraphs, brown for RotoGraphs, dark red for The Hardball Times and blue for Community Research.

MONDAY, 4/16
Francisco Mejia and the Legal Limits of Brand Contracts, by Sheryl Ring
Limits exist in many functions, despite what one might assume from a particular “Mean Girls” scene. Where are the lines drawn in terms of brand contracts, and how does that relate to Mejia’s situation?

The Bonkers Game That Probably Shouldn’t Have Been, by Craig Edwards
Many thanks to the mishaps of fate that gave us a healthy dose of weird baseball.

TUESDAY, 4/17
The Past, Present and Future of Baseball in Puerto Rico, by Chris Davies
An excerpt: “This cadre of incredibly gifted young men inspires kids around the globe to pick up a ball and glove and imitate their heroics. But as the recovery from the most devastating hurricane in island history drags on, these players also inspire a question: How will the aftermath of Hurricane Maria affect the next generation of Puerto Rican ballplayer?”

Players’ View: Learning and Developing a Pitch, Part 4, by David Laurila
Part 4 of David’s series highlights a pitch from three pitchers, featuring the sinker, slider, and curve. On his curveball, Drew Pomeranz says, “Everybody I play with is like, ‘How the hell do you throw that?'” We’ve all asked the same question of pitchers out loud from our couch or the stadium seats.

The Cardinals Should Utilize a Six-Man Rotation, by Craig Edwards
The Cardinals starting pitchers in both Triple-A and the majors pose problems that can best be addressed by a six-man rotation.

Jackie Robinson and the Integration Advantage, by Jay Jaffe
The injustice of the racism ingrained into MLB had kept teams from being the best they could be.

WEDNESDAY, 4/18
Momentum-Controlled and Season-Adjusted Controlled Runs Averages, by seanstephans
This Community Research post aims to solve the problems with measuring a pitcher’s true value. The author shares two metrics developed in support of this cause.

How Mookie Betts Has Been Baseball’s Best Hitter, by Jeff Sullivan
Great work, Mookie. You’re doing amazing.

The Cubs Just Can’t Find a Leadoff Hitter, by Craig Edwards
A good leadoff hitter is hard to find. Maybe try Tinder, Cubs.

The Underappreciated Legacy of Larry Doby, by Shakeia Taylor
Though Major League Baseball has long been integrated, some important figures and their careers are left covered in dust.

THURSDAY, 4/19
The Physics of Bryce Harper’s Broken Bat Blast, by David Kagan
An excerpt: “At first glance, one is tempted to think that hitting a ball that hard as the bat is breaking apart would make a home run impossible. However, there is a flaw in that thinking. If there were super slow-motion video of the ball-bat collision in this case, we could look more carefully at just what exactly happened when horsehide met lumber.”

2018 MLB Mock Draft v 1.0, by Eric Longenhagen and Kiley McDaniel
The draft is still about a month and a half away, which is far, but not too early to set a countdown and definitely not too soon for version 1.0 of a mock draft.

FRIDAY, 4/20
Pitcher Spotlight: J.A. Happ, Strikeout King, by Nick Pollack
Long live the king.

Yoan Moncada’s Approach Is Actually Working, by Craig Edwards
He’s come a long way in three years.

The Reds’ Slump Has Extended to Joey Votto, by Jeff Sullivan
The Reds slump virus is contagious.





Find Mina on Twitter @maddc8.

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