Photo by Keith Allison/Flickr

Incidentally, I still hate the Cardinals, of course, but at this point it’s pretty much for the fun of it. Tony LaRussa is gone. Chris Carpenter is (sorta?) gone. Other jerks are gone. The dichotomy of terrible fans who call themselves the best fans in baseball and mediocre/good fans who pretend those other fans don’t exist and insist that no Cardinals fans actually refer to the BFIB title while subtly (or not so subtly) implying that they are indeed better than other teams’ fans …. that is still tiring. But in the scheme of shitty fanbase drama, it’s really not remarkable. I’m probably way worse, objectively, just complaining about it as much as I do.

But still. The Cardinals are stupid and dumb, because it’s fun to say so. Losing to the Cardinals? Doubly stupid and trebly dumb. That’s why it was no nice to not lose yesterday. Losing today was not so good, especially when things went off the rails so suddenly, and then slowly slipped beyond saving. But here at C-ing Red, we actually don’t like scapegoats and sadness and talking about how the Reds weren’t good.

• Bronson Arroyo’s 5 inning of perfect baseball – I mean, yeah, it would’ve been better if it were, say, 9 innings of perfect baseball, but you take what you can get. Arroyo’s eventual 6 IP and 4 runs allowed is not ideal by any means, but Bronson’s not as young as you used to be, and you’ve gotta take what you can get. A little excitement in innings 4 and 5? Hey, why not.

• JJ Hoover didn’t pitch today. Get that kid some rest. Dang. Really, we only used Parra out of the bullpen, so that gives as good a chance as any in tomorrow’s rubber match – featuring Jake Westbrook and Homer Bailey.

• Joey Votto got on base. That extends his streak to 8 games – which is, incidentally, all of the games we’ve played. The remarkable thing is that Shin Soo Choo also got on base today, which matches Joey (on-base streaks don’t cross seasons). 8 games is not that remarkable – Joey’s had much longer streaks, obviously, but it’s kinda cool to have two guys to start off the season. The Reds offense has been pretty consistent from that point of view – Brandon Phillips and Todd Frazier each have gotten hits in 6 out of the Reds 8 total games.

• 5-3 is really pretty good. And more than that, playing the Cardinals definitely feels like just playing another team, this year- I don’t think there’s any (or very much) emotional baggage tied to the Cards series at this point.  I’m glad if we win and sad if we lose (Because, as stated early, the Cardinals are stupid and dumb), but that’s all there is to it.

NOT THAT KIND OF BATTERY, GUYS.

Well, that’s probably not fair to Devin. In any case, here’s a battery combo chart (which I started doing last year), for the 2012 Reds. (The 2011 version, with an explanation is here).  This chart is very different from 2011′s, but at the same time, it’s remarkably similar. For one, we had only 6 pitchers start this season, a far cry from the 10 different starters we used in 2011. Along with that, Redmond only started one game, so having 5 starters combine for 161 starts this season is really remarkable – in 2011, we had six pitchers with at least half a season’s worth of starts, and Willis and LeCure had a few as well.

This shows us that whatever Dusty may have said back in 2009 (~), he definitely favors designated catchers, no matter the primary language of his backstops. Arroyo/Hanigan is a combination that’s been going on forever, but Cueto has been caught almost exclusively by Hernandez since getting to the big leagues. This year, all but one of his starts was caught by Hanigan, and that turned out really well for both Cueto and the Reds. Leake has expressed him preference for Mesoraco before – so it’s not surprising that Devin became his full-time catcher this year.

I think the Latos and Bailey situations are pretty interesting. I’m probably reading too much into this, but the fact that Meso caught Latos’ first three starts really caught my eye. It makes sense that Dusty would try to assign Mesoraco to Latos , both of them being new to the Reds, essentially. But Latos’ first three starts were not impressive. In his fourth start, Latos was caught by Ryan Hanigan, and his best outing thus far, and his very first Reds win – after that it was all Hanigan. Now, that, again, is probably not fair to Devin. Latos’s firth start was also not great, and Mat’s had some recurring early season woes. You hope that the switch to Hanigan was more just about a change of pace for Latos, as both him and Mesoraco figure to play big parts in Cincinnati Reds teams of the future.

On the other hand, it’s no slight to Devin that Hanigan is an excellent defensive catcher, and has a lot more experience calling games than Mesoraco does. Meso’s only 25, which gives him plenty of time to learn some veteran catching tricks. Plus, he’s got a good chance to develop into a pretty strong hitter. For now though, matching up Latos and Hanigan meant that Mesoraco needed to catch another pitcher almost full time – and that pitcher was Homer Bailey. Bailey was caught mostly by Hanigan in his MLB starts in 2o11, but he also matched up with Mesoraco a few times, and probably worked with him during his rehab time at AAA.

Homer had a pretty great season with Devin as his full time backstop. But it probably hasn’t escaped anyone’s notice that it was Hanigan who caught Homer’s no-hitter – and by ERA, K and BB numbers, Bailey was better with Hanigan calling the shots. Of course, that was mostly in the last part of the season, after Mesoraco got suspended and demoted in favor of Dioner Navarro as backup – the end of the season has also been when Bailey has done some of his best pitching in the last two years – so much like with Latos, it could just be an unfortunate happenstance that puts Mesoraco’s handling in a bad light.

All this makes me wonder what the plan is for next year. The Reds definitely favored Navarro after Mesoraco’s suspension this year, but Navarro is gone now, which leaves us once again with the Hanigan/Mesoraco situation. Hanigan catching Cueto/Arroyo/Latos, with Mesoraco catching Bailey/Leake is fairly like scenario, but it’s a little hard on Bailey to say “With Hanigan, you threw a no-hitter, but Mesoraco will be catching for you for all of 2013, kthxbye!”  It may be time to shake up the catching situation so that no one has a designated catcher. (Or maybe just Arroyo). I also wonder a little bit about Hanigan – Hanigan played 112 games in 2012, the most he’s ever played in the majors. Along with that came one of his worst hitting performances. Now, he’s still valuable at that level, given his on-base and defensive talents, but if we can get him down to half-time, he may be able to hit a little better, as well.

Of course, maybe we’ll just trade away Homer Bailey, and it won’t be an issue anymore. (/sadface)

Or, more likely, I’m reading too much into things.

Arroyo, Phillips, and Rolen with their 2010 Gold Glove Awards (Photo by Matthew D. Britt/Flickr)

The Gold Glove finalists were announced yesterday, with the winners to be announced tonight. As Mark Sheldon reports, six Reds, the most of any team, are finalists this year: Arroyo, Bruce, Cozart, Phillips, Stubbs, and Votto.Phillips, Votto, and Arroyo are all previous Gold Glove winners, which is always a leg up, but I think most of the finalist-Reds have a fairly small chance of winning the award itself. Incidentally, the most GG awards on one team is four, which has been fairly often. Here’s the list, in the form of a sporcle quiz. On the list are four consecutive Big Red Machine teams, so, while unlikely, a big gold glove haul team would be an excellent return to form for the modern-day Reds.

By the numbers, UZR specifically, Joey Votto is the only one who was actually the most valuable defender in the NL at his position. However, I think Joey is going to be disadvantaged by the fact that he only played a little more than half a season. Still, if you like advanced defensive metrics (at least over  any other indicator), Joey was worth more in his limited playing time than any other NL first baseman, even in a whole season, according to both UZR and DRS. I think he may have to combat the narrative power of Adam LaRoche, who played a full season with good defense, and was a pretty big part in leading the Nationals to the playoffs.

Brandon Phillips probably has the best chance, with 3 Gold Gloves under his belt already. His biggest challenge is probably Darwin Barney. Barney may have the perfect storm of fielding attributes. His UZR and DRS numbers are sky high this year, and even though defensive metrics are not particularly reliable in a 1 season sample (and he was only a little above average last season), that will probably sway some people. Plus, he had that whole error-less innings streak, which probably caught the attention of the more traditional voters. On the other hand, Barney was a terrible hitter on a terrible team, whereas Brandon was a decent hitter on a very strong team, which another trend in Gold Glove voting.

 Zack Cozart, I think, might also have a decent chance. He’s got good UZR numbers, though he lags well behind Clint Barmes of the Pirates, and Brandon Crawford, who flashed the leather to great effect while winning the World Series – though they all have about the same Defensive Runs Scored. But, ah, neither of those two made the ‘finals’ , which includes Reyes, Desmond, and Rollins. Cozart has better numbers than any of those guy, but I don’t think there’s a clear favorite here at all.

As I’ve said before, I would be shocked if anyone but Mark Buehrle won the Pitcher’s Gold Glove this year. Seems like he deserves it too, as his DRS (there’s no UZR listed for pitchers), is well above anyone else’s – and based on number of plays and controlling baserunners, he just looks like a superlative defender (for a pitcher). My guess is that Bronson Arroyo‘s finalist appellation, is as much to recognize that he is a previous GG winner as anything else.

Bruce and Stubbs probably both have low chances. Neither of them have particularly excellent UZR/DRS/fielding % numbers. Mostly, it’s nice to have a little bit of recognition for Drew Stubbs‘ fantastic range, and Jay Bruce‘s powerful arm. It might be fun to see whether the whole Braves outfield will go ahead and get the award, though – Bourn, Prado, and Heyward were all spectacular.

As far as snubs, which I love to complain about, I could wish that Hanigan and Cueto got some recognition. Hanigan’s got excellent defensive skills, all across the spectrum of catching responsibilities. As much as I hate to admit it, Molina probably will, and deserves to win, but it would be nice to have Hanigan’s name up there in consideration. I imagine Hanigan’s comparatively limited playing time has something to do with it. Cueto, of course, also has excellent defensive numbers. He makes as many plays as anyone who isn’t Mark Buehrle, and he’s got the best right-handed pickoff move in the MLB, hands down. On the other hand, he does make more errors, than say, Bronson. But, as with all fielding positions, that’s partially related to making more plays. Cueto was involved with 16 more successful outs than Bronson, and make five more errors. Again though, these are small issues, as the likely winners of these awards probably deserve them.

EDIT: So, I apologize for the first draft of this, which happened when I had no internet, and apparently, thought it was two years ago. I’ve made things marginally less dumb now.

When trying to throw a no-hitter, it probably helps to be the best fielding pitchers in the majors. (Photo by Keith Allison/Flickr)

So, every year, since 1958, two baseball pitchers have won a Gold Glove award. This is despite the fact that most of them field about 200 (these days) to 300 (in the old days) innings, where most of the other Gold Glove winners have over 1000. The award is voted on by managers and coaches, which also helps explain why the award is a bit idiosyncratic. You can imagine that half the coaches in the league probably see, for example, Clayton Kershaw, in the field for maybe 6, 7 innings, which isn’t a strong sample size to go on. That’s probably why when the voters find a pitcher they like, they tend to stay with him over, and over, and over, and over again. (And only 27 different pitchers have won the 109 Gold Gloves awarded.)

So when I look at the numbers, I’m not really suggesting the voters looks at the numbers (because I doubt they do), or that the decision should match the numbers more closely (because with such a small sample size, I’m not sure it’s all that important). I’m merely looking at whether the numbers reflect the kind of fielding that the voters tend to go for. I mean, it’s not that big of a deal. You’ll see that Gold Glove winners generally have a lot of assists, which you know,  means that the pitcher fields a lot of ground balls, and people are going to see that. So, I’ve put a bunch of information in giant chart which is mildly color-coded. You are welcome.

So, that’s a really big chart. I mean, putouts, assists, and fielding percentage aren’t the most compelling fielding statistics out there, but considering that pitchers these days tend to participate in about 60 plays in the course of a year, you’re limited on meaningful data anyway. I also just wanted to include some SB and PickOff numbers, just to indicate how well the runner controlled the running game.

Mostly, I think the Assists number is a pretty strong indicator, but that may just be because Greg Maddux was excellent at fielding groundballs, and the voters were really addicted to him. Maddux tended to make an error or two, but if you’re trying to slip in to the voting, having a 1.000 fielding percentage can’t hurt you. Mussina, you can tell, had a great three consecutive years with no errors, which pretty much cemented his defensive reputation for the rest of his career – even winning him a Gold Glove in 2008, when nothing really indicates he had a very good fielding year.

Although, theoretically, a pitcher’s ability to control the running game and pick runners off the bases is a relevant fielding consideration, I don’t think it looks like the voters really give it much consideration. To the extent that Gold Glove winners do have good baserunning numbers, I think it’s more that left-handed pitchers have better fielding numbers and control the running game better. Again, though, the case of Greg Maddux is either instructive or obstructive – Maddux clearly couldn’t care less about the running game, but he was great at getting assists.

So, for example, Johnny Cueto probably isn’t going to be able to count on the sweet-pickoff-move part of his Defensive Runs Saved to win him a Gold Glove. That is, of course, what the original idea on this article was – Who is Going To Win the NL Gold Glove Award in 2012? But with a little research, it becomes obvious. Now that Maddux is out for good, the NL voters have been flailing around, selecting Kershaw, Arroyo, and Wainwright in the last three years. These are all ok choices. (I love Bronson, I really do. I don’t know how good a fielder he, though.) They don’t generally have very good assist or putout numbers, but maybe most importantly, none of them made any errors. A safe method of choosing the best fielding pitchers, generally speaking. Of course, there are generally at least five starting pitchers every year with a perfect fielding percentage, so it still seems a bit arbitrary.

(Incidentally, the leading pitchers in Defensive Runs Scored in the NL for the last three years have been RA Dickey, Jon Garland, and a Zambrano/Wolf/Garland tie. The AL voters have actually selected the AL leader in DRS for 8 out of the last 9 years. The NL voters have done so once.)

That’s why I think voters in the NL will leap at the chance to vote for Mark Buehrle, three time AL gold glove winner, this year. Buehrle, coincidentally, still has great fielding numbers, and his DRS of 12 is number 1 in the NL. All around, it’s a choice that makes sense. Sorry, Johnny, you really did have a great year both in fielding batted balls and picking off runners, but maybe when Buehrle retires.

Of course, that leads to the somewhat more interesting question – Who is Going to Win the Gold Glove in the American League This Year?

(I have no idea)

Dear TNT and the Makers of Law & Order:

Tonight, I turned on the television to TNT, which I assume is short for “Turner Network Tnetennba”, to watch one of my favorite shows, Law  & Order. I was highly disappointed by what I saw.

Tonight’s episode “Reds vs. Giants” was the worst episode of Law and Order that I have ever seen in my life.

For one, I recognized right away that it was one of those gimmick episodes that tries to cross-promote shows on the same network by switching casts of characters. I have no idea what television program these characters were supposedly from, but this was obviously a terrible idea. Clearly, these characters were from a sports-based show, which does not mesh well with Law and Order’s procedural format, and moreover, they were ludicrous. The handsome, soft-spoken, good-at-everything Canadian, Joey Votto? What’s the point of a character who never makes a single mistake and is better than everyone at everything in the world? If you want a character to be relatable, don’t make him go 3-4 with two runs scored. Or the friendly, easy-going Ryan Ludwick. A guy going 2-3 with a HR is just too much skill for a convincing TV character.

Second of all, there was no conflict to this story. It was obvious from the very beginning that lead prosecutor Bronson Arroyo would give all those Giants fellas what they deserved. Where’s the fun in the story if one side only gets two hits, and is completely shut down by the opposition? It was easy to root for Arroyo, given his background, and his flowing, blond mane, and his double-ear-beflapped helmet, but it’s really only fulfilling if we get to see him develop and overcome adversity for even a little bit. There was no adversity here! Just a seven inning postseason outing with only 2 baserunners!

Lastly, the right fielding character, Hunter Pence? That beard should not be allowed on television.

I really hope that this episode of Law & Order is never aired on TNT again. Thank you for your time

Sincerely,

A Concerned Fan

P.S. Oh, gods of baseball karma, please don’t take this too seriously. It is clearly satire. Amen.

Photo by Keith Allison/Flickr

Ok, so it wasn’t that bad a showing from the 2012 NL Central Champions. Bronson Arroyo was decidedly un-brilliant, giving up three runs in five innings, starting with a solo home-run by the Cardinals pitcher Jaime Garcia, the second of his career. But BA really wasn’t all that bad, especially considering the peripherals. 6 hits, 1 walk, and 6 strikeouts isn’t great, but the game remained close into the ninth inning.

Alfredo Simon in the sixth and seventh innings was worse, allowing another run. He just pitched poorly, allowing 3 hits and walking 2 – I’m really not looking forward to seeing him anytime in the playoffs. Of course, I know that he really hasn’t been that bad this season, especially when you compare his numbers with, say, Jose Arredondo. I guess it’s good that we’re using this time to get some of our other bullpen options some more rest. J.J. Hoover had an easy, uneventful inning in the 8th. I know Hoover has control problems of his own, and doesn’t have Arredondo’s experience, but I’d still almost have Hoover on the playoff roster.

Offensively, two runs scored is obviously slightly pathetic, but it wasn’t so terrible as it sounds. The worst performances were turned in by Joey Votto, who no one should be worried about, and Ryan Ludwick, who is probably still a little rusty. And hey, Drew Stubbs actually got 2 hits! Assuming a three game hot streak doesn’t convince the management to bat him second again in the post-season (maybe a bad assumption to make), we can all be happy about that, right? Probably my least favorite part of the night was Jay Bruce getting caught stealing.  I mean, sure, the numbers say it’s only the third time he’s been caught stealing this season, but my gut says that he’s been a horrible baserunner. Also saying that, baseball reference’s tracking of outs made on the basepaths – where Bruce leads the team with 9. (But that’s not much worse than Votto’s 8, or Rolen’s 7.)

Mostly, it’s hard to care too much at this point. Yes, we all hate the Cardinals with the fire of one billion suns, but we’re also the division winners easily, while the Cards, at best, get to try their luck in the wild card. Right now, the Dodgers are leading by one run, and a win will keep their wild card chances alive, but the Cardinals’ magic number is down to one. Would I like the Dodgers to win their next two, while the Reds take the final two games to eliminate St. Louis? A little. Ok, maybe a lot. But the Reds have nothing to play for, and the Cards have everything. We’re probably just as well off trying to wear down the pitching, to try and add a little stress their playoff schedule.

(Photo by Andre Chinn/Flickr)

The day started out well. Although the Cardinals took an early lead against the Cubs and Chris Carpenter pitched a solid 5 innings in his return from the DL, Darwin Barney tied the game with a two-run homer, and DeJesus had a walk-off hit in the 9th. That brought the Reds’ magic number down to one.

The evening also saw the return of Zack Cozart to the lineup, a stellar defensive play from Brandon Phillips, and an impressive start from Bronson Arroyo. And, in a lucky turn of events, I got to actually watch the game tonight, since it was the big MLB Network game of the night.

Unfortunately, the bats were very uncooperative. Joe Blanton of the Dodgers has not been particularly good in 2012, and the offense couldn’t get anything done against him. They did chase him early, but Kenley Jansen was good in the 7th, and Ronald Belisario dominated us in the 8th and 9th, when the Reds were dreaming of late inning heroics and swinging away. Unfortunately, Sam LeCure and Sean Marshall conspired to be not quite good enough to get out of the 10th inning, which put the Dodgers up 3-1, and the Reds couldn’t answer.

Really, Bronson was spectacular all around. Bronson had all arm-angles working, and was aggressive with breaking balls in the zone to get ahead in the count. This allowed him to avoid walks, and conserve pitches, as he hit for himself in the bottom of the seventh with less than 80 pitches under his belt. He ended up pitching 8 innings, allowing only one run, and he drove in a run in the bottom of the 5th inning, to boot!

Just not spectacular enough to win all on his own. Well, tomorrow’s another day.

Yay for Bronson! (Photo by DavidMeyersPhotos on Flickr)

There’s not much to talk about right now: the Reds had the day off, the division is well in hand, and our manager doesn’t go around telling people he . There is some mild concern in the Cueto arena. He’s had three increasingly distressing starts. It started with a reasonable, but somewhat hard luck start, where four runs scored, via two home runs – and we all sort of knew Cueto’s home run had to run out at some point. The last two have been more in the way of bad.

It doesn’t seem like an issue, but it’s nice to remember that we have other capable pitchers in the rotation. Leake hasn’t been so great of late, but he’s more than serviceable for a No. 5 .  All members of the rotation show up in this list – it seems unlikely, but it actually includes the top 7 pitching performances, since three starts are tied for number 5. Yes, I’ve used game score, as is my wont. I like it.

Number 5 (ish): Johnny Cueto, June 23; Homer Bailey, May 29; Mike Leake, August 15

• This is Cueto’s only appearance on the list, somewhat surprisingly – not too much, because Cueto’s byword is sustained excellence, not individual performances here and there. Cueto pitched this perfect game against the Twins. The three hits he allowed included a double by Joe Mauer, but no other extra base hits, and he yielded only one run, with 9 strikeouts. He did hit a dude, as well, but I think that doesn’t count towards gamescore.
• Bailey appears one more time on the list, but this game was against the Pirates, who we know Homer loves to face. He pitched a complete game, allowing only 1 run on 4 hits – with 1 BB and 5 K. Bailey’s complete game was in contrast to the Pirates, who used 6 pitchers after starter Charlie Morton left after the fourth
• This is also Leake’s only game on the list, just one month ago versus the Mets. Mikey outpitched R.A. Dickey in this one – throwing a complete game, 1 R, 0 BB, 4K. None of the hits he allowed were for extra bases, and went to only two of the Mets hitters – he shut down the other 3/4 of the line up entirely.

Number 4: Homer Bailey, September 1.

This is sort of a horrible one, because, as you might remember (it was only two weeks ago), the Reds actually lost this game – and not even in extra innings. Homer Bailey pitched about as well as you could want – though to the not-well-hitting Houston Astros. He went 8 innings, allowed 1 run on 3 hits, a walk, and 9 strikeouts. Of course, one of those hits was a home run – which figures for the run scored. Homer’s mistake was throwing 107 whole pitches in that 8 innings, which meant that Sean Marshall took over the mound in the bottom of the 9th, with the game tied 1-1. Marshall allowed a double, intentionally walked the next guy, and hit the guy after that. Thus, when Brandon Phillips made on error on Jose Altuve’s groundball, the Astros walked off, despite all Bailey’s fine work. Boo.

Numbers 2 and 3: Mat Latos and Mat Latos, June 25 and June 30

Mat Latos really outdid himself against the Brewers on June 25 – pitching a complete game, with a very impressive 13 strikeouts, especially since that’s a team that can kind of hit. It’s tough to come back and try to match that performance, but Mat did it against the Giants. Exactly. Obviously the game wasn’t exactly the same, but he matched his gamescore of 86 exactly with another complete game – one run allowed, no walks and 7 strikeouts. Latos has struggled with home runs at Great American, but you can still tell that he’s a great pitcher in the making.

Number 1: Bronson Arroyo, July 6

It’s appropriate that number one on this list belongs to the elder statesman of the Reds rotation – who has both struggled and excelled during his time with the Reds, but whose innings numbers will be hard to match. It the only shutout pitched by a Reds pitcher in 2012. Arroyo did so in PetCo against the Padres, which perhaps hints at the secret of Bronson’s success, but it’s undoubtedly a great pitching performance anyway: 9 innings, 0 runs, 3 hits, 1 BB, 8 Ks. That’s the second best number of Ks in a game for Bronson this year, so you know it was a pretty great day for him all-around.

So now that we’re all thinking happy thoughts, let’s not lay awake in our beds, obsessing about the playoff rotation. Go to sleep friends, it will be alright. There’s baseball tomorrow.

Turner as a Lakeland, FL Tiger (Photo by lakelandlocal/Flickr)

And like the Reds, I struggled tonight as well, though obviously more in the writing-a-clever-headline  department.

Jacob Turner is a former Tigers top prospect, so I was eager to see the young gun tonight. Apparently, I should not have been so eager, as the 21-year old right-hander shut the Reds down. Turner allowed only two hits in his 7 total innings, relying heavily on his defense to do so, as he struck out only 3 and walked only 2. Although Turner doesn’t throw exceptionally fast, he had his cutter and curve working, and the Reds lineup has always seemed vulnerable to unfamiliar pitchers.

Of course, to correspond, the Reds hitters almost all had terrible nights – 6 of the Reds 8 starters had 0-fers, though Ryan Ludwick’s came with two walks, and Todd Frazier had a double and a walk, the Reds best hitter of the night by default. On the other side, Arroyo was obviously not sharp, but he probably wasn’t as bad as the numbers look. He had decent K/BB stats – and almost all of the balls that went into the outfield fell in for hits – especially the ones in left and center field.

The Cardinals have yet to win or lose tonight against the Dodgers, so, for now, the magic number remains at 8.

This is not an original idea or anything, I know I’ve seen them around, in various permutations and combinations, and maybe in almost exactly this form, too. The data is all from ESPN Home Run Tracker. The length of the line is the related to the speed off the bat, and the elevation angle contributes the angle of the vector. I also differentiated HRT’s main classifications by color. “No doubters” are in red, “Plenties” are in blue, and “Just enoughs” are in green. (The colors didn’t exactly come out perfect). I believe the speed off the bat is just calculated from the distance and angle, but it’s there to give an idea of the pure amount of force.

The best comparison is Bailey (above) and Arroyo. Bailey’s let a lot of low, hard hit go over the wall in Great American, but Bronson’s home runs are coming on a lot of higher flies. You can see how hard hit Bronson’s no doubters are, too.

Then, of course, you have Johnny Cueto, who makes my life easy by not giving up home runs.

Mat Latos has also had a few high flies – but also has a bunch of low, just-enough home runs. You can see where he would have done much better in PetCo’s spacious confines.

Mike Leake’s had a little better overall luck with home runs than Latos, or Bailey, but he seems to have a smaller proportion of GABP-specials.

To be honest, I don’t have a lot of analysis on these – I just thought they were pretty. And maybe a little interesting.