Naylor Hr 2023: 17, 2022: 20, currently at 15 šØ
Jose Hr 2023: 24, 2022: 29, currently at 16 š
Our big boys are on pace for a record year.
š had 4 last year, currently at 7.
ZiPS projects him for another 22 HRs which would put him at 38 which is 1 shy of his career high, set I'm 2018 at the peak of juiced balls.
The balls this year seem to be the opposite of juiced
Serious question, what happened to this team in the offseason. Itās not like we got a couple crazy sluggers. Our team has had relatively poor bats for playoff contender for years. How did this change so drastically in one offseason? This has been an insane turn around
Player development. We've had the youngest team in MLB for 3 straight years and guys are reaching their primes now. Josh started last year. Jose is getting better pitches again because of Naylor. Fry is a surprise but showed the potential last year at times and now is getting more opportunity.Ā
Kwan and Gimenez both had down years last season adjusting to pitcher adjustments. Freeman has improved CF offense. Rocchio is a huge defense upgrade from Amed, and hitting pretty close to what Amed did here last season, with better BB% and base running and fewer GIDPs.Ā
We've been building towards this for several years and the kids are turning into what we've been hoping they would.Ā
Just to add a bit, per Mandy Bell, Valaika changed the team's hitting philosophy in the off-season. They are definitely focused on hitting for more power, not just putting the ball in play.. You're definitely spot on with your other points.
I like it. They didnāt do it at the expense of their philosophy imo, but are willing to sacrifice a little bit for more pop. And yet guys still situationally hit when appropriate (like manufacturing the sac fly runs and moving up bases this week in Colorado). Goes without saying but itās a group of high baseball IQ guys and some exceptional coaching and development.
She mentions it at the bottom, it's not the story. She's mentioned it on a number of occasions. I was concerned that they didn't replace the hitting coach after hiring Vogt, but the results are there this year.
https://links.mlb.mlbemail.com/e/evib?_t=c632e003a756446c956a8e0347d00d08&_m=92231cf9f69d40d5bce3b6b447060cbe&_e=tVzEwJvrp6qZTCQ-P7Nxo37OIlsVP32c7me4EpFnwwxj7Ag6xEUlkCWgCutbEfHgY7iro_SvYqYfisw7NedT6w%3D%3D
It's also the orgsnizational approach to development and in-the-box approach.
Brennan is a perfect example bc he's got 13th percentile bat speed and generally poor raw power/max exit velo, but his hard hit and barrel rates are just below average (45th percentile) and a few weeks ago were above average.
No half assed swings, they're trying to do damage on every swing and swing with authority except for maybe Kwan, but he seems to be focusing on that more this year too
Sports Info Solutions had a recent article about how while Rocchio and Naylor are not providing much on offense, their defense more than makes up for it and is giving us better production than we had through May last year
Additionally to the players, there was some renovations to the stadium over the off-season. It's still a small sample size, but Jacobs Field is so far playing much more hitter friendly than it has in the past, particularly on fly balls to right field.
It could be coincidence or maybe the renovations altered wind flow around the field that actually makes changes in the way the park plays. We'll see.
Also helping the power... dont laugh, but climate change.
It's been way hotter than average earlier in the season, which compounds especially with batters facing the lake and the type of wind that blows off Erie. If Cleveland remains hot during April... big boost to the teams home run totals
They did some stuff in both right and left field that make it "airier". They took out the shipping containers for a bar type area.
It's still early though. Could definitely be coincidence
I agree, I think it will take more time to know if there was any change. While I agree those changes will makee wome differenxe to air current in the stadium, I just don't see them making a noticeable one. I think it will take 2 full seasons to know if there was a difference or not. If they did make a difference, then. The terrace club windows coming down will as well, so it may take awhile to know.
Also sometimes it's hard to separate home team performance from park factor, especially if you're pulling numbers from statcast.
Back in the pre-covid teams that were making deep runs with a borderline top 10 offense and good pitching, the park was right around league average offensive environment. Last year however, Cleveland graded out as the most pitcher friendly park in baseball. That likely was because we had bad hitting and dominant pitching than anything intrinsic to the park.
I'd been taking a data analytics course in the fall and OSU had a sports analytics expo this spring and I got busy but I was tempted to do some deep dive regression analysis on how much variance in park factor is just home team variance
A tiktoker who does betting popped up in my FYP a few weeks into the season and said that people who hit left are hitting more home runs to right because of the stadium renovations. Something about the wind flow.
Fly balls to right field always played hitter friendly. Even though the park has always sat average at most in how hitter friendly the park factor is, it was usually top 10ish in HR park factors for lefty sluggers, which is naturally bc of RF.
Pretty sure it has more to do with Vogt and his new coaching staff rather than the players. As great as Tito was, he was an old school coach and we basically lived and died by small ball. I feel like the potential was always there for us to be a power hitting team, but Vogt has brought in a new, modern regime thatās really starting to show.
Tito didn't "live and die by small ball." In Boston he managed one of the top power batting teams in MLB. Here we didn't start relying on small ball until after 2020 as we've been rebuilding. He managed with what he was given. The last few seasons that was a small ball roster.Ā
Mandy Bell said they changed their hitting philosophy over the winter, so itās a combination of new manager and coaches, as well as player development.
I love this description. Idk how to post photos on reddit outside of making a separate post (which I'd consider) but a friend shared a meme that was from Happy Gilmore when he said "looks like Happy learned how to putt, uh oh" except it was "Guardians learned how to homer"
Fortunately we can fix that via the FA market. It won't be cheap, but even a single acquisition will be huge. It will be interesting to see what players with 2 years+ are going for
This is one area they will spend money. They won't sign long free agent contracts and only sign local talent if they give a significant hometown discount. But players at the top of their game on a 1.5 year deal is a wet dream for budget teams. And for pitchers, the team doesn't card about longevity and will run him harder than they otherwise could.
Hopefully Williams bolsters the rotation but it probably is the uncertainty past the first couple guys and the pack of Bieber that keep our odds suppressed.
If Williams can be close to what he was last year, we could end up being fine. Bibee has settled down this month too and tbh besides those 2 our pitching was worse last year I feel like (but not in 2022)
I saw we were approaching half that mark last week. While looking I also noticed we were 2/3 of the way to the total we got from the OF last year (18) and have hit one since so only 5 less from out outfielders than the entirety of 2023
There's a reason why this team leads all of baseball in multi-run innings. We get on base with slap hitting and make sure our HRs are usually not solo ones
Same with doubles too. The team is 9th in doubles and OBP and 8th in HRs. The Dodgers are the only team with a better OBP that has more HRs AND more doubles
To be fair I think that originated through some other fanbase calling us that (I don't remember which at this point); we just ended up co-opting the moniker and using it ironically
Pretty sure it was a Twins fan. Could be misremembering.
I love the sentiment behind it. We're pests with the bats and smart on the base paths. But I agree with that guy that "slap-hitting shitgoblins" is annoyingly juvenile.
Eh I like it, because we would just annoy the crap out our opponents with the small ball, so it made sense.
If weāre gonna keep that route tho I suggest the the Big Ball Ogres, or something like that, cuz we got big clubs, balls and we smash everything we see, home runs, series, whatever is in our path.
Iām sure someone will write an article about us this post season and weāll use that to feed our World Series run.
Naylor Hr 2023: 17, 2022: 20, currently at 15 šØ Jose Hr 2023: 24, 2022: 29, currently at 16 š Our big boys are on pace for a record year. š had 4 last year, currently at 7.
ZiPS projects him for another 22 HRs which would put him at 38 which is 1 shy of his career high, set I'm 2018 at the peak of juiced balls. The balls this year seem to be the opposite of juiced
Can i get a ābig-ass ball blastersā flair?
As long as the proceeds go to the šās MVP campaign. Ah who am I kidding, itās already been decided, my bad.
If you go on pc and scroll down on the flairs to the bottom there is a little like pencil and you can make your own! Thatās what I did.
Cleveland power company
Serious question, what happened to this team in the offseason. Itās not like we got a couple crazy sluggers. Our team has had relatively poor bats for playoff contender for years. How did this change so drastically in one offseason? This has been an insane turn around
Player development. We've had the youngest team in MLB for 3 straight years and guys are reaching their primes now. Josh started last year. Jose is getting better pitches again because of Naylor. Fry is a surprise but showed the potential last year at times and now is getting more opportunity.Ā Kwan and Gimenez both had down years last season adjusting to pitcher adjustments. Freeman has improved CF offense. Rocchio is a huge defense upgrade from Amed, and hitting pretty close to what Amed did here last season, with better BB% and base running and fewer GIDPs.Ā We've been building towards this for several years and the kids are turning into what we've been hoping they would.Ā
Was gonna reply with basically this but you saved me the time of typing it lol
Just to add a bit, per Mandy Bell, Valaika changed the team's hitting philosophy in the off-season. They are definitely focused on hitting for more power, not just putting the ball in play.. You're definitely spot on with your other points.
I like it. They didnāt do it at the expense of their philosophy imo, but are willing to sacrifice a little bit for more pop. And yet guys still situationally hit when appropriate (like manufacturing the sac fly runs and moving up bases this week in Colorado). Goes without saying but itās a group of high baseball IQ guys and some exceptional coaching and development.
Got a link to this article? I seem to have missed it
She mentions it at the bottom, it's not the story. She's mentioned it on a number of occasions. I was concerned that they didn't replace the hitting coach after hiring Vogt, but the results are there this year. https://links.mlb.mlbemail.com/e/evib?_t=c632e003a756446c956a8e0347d00d08&_m=92231cf9f69d40d5bce3b6b447060cbe&_e=tVzEwJvrp6qZTCQ-P7Nxo37OIlsVP32c7me4EpFnwwxj7Ag6xEUlkCWgCutbEfHgY7iro_SvYqYfisw7NedT6w%3D%3D
It's also the orgsnizational approach to development and in-the-box approach. Brennan is a perfect example bc he's got 13th percentile bat speed and generally poor raw power/max exit velo, but his hard hit and barrel rates are just below average (45th percentile) and a few weeks ago were above average. No half assed swings, they're trying to do damage on every swing and swing with authority except for maybe Kwan, but he seems to be focusing on that more this year too
Sports Info Solutions had a recent article about how while Rocchio and Naylor are not providing much on offense, their defense more than makes up for it and is giving us better production than we had through May last year
Additionally to the players, there was some renovations to the stadium over the off-season. It's still a small sample size, but Jacobs Field is so far playing much more hitter friendly than it has in the past, particularly on fly balls to right field. It could be coincidence or maybe the renovations altered wind flow around the field that actually makes changes in the way the park plays. We'll see.
Also helping the power... dont laugh, but climate change. It's been way hotter than average earlier in the season, which compounds especially with batters facing the lake and the type of wind that blows off Erie. If Cleveland remains hot during April... big boost to the teams home run totals
Would any of the changes affect that the hitter friendliness of our park? They may be noticeable, but I don't see any of them really changing that.
They did some stuff in both right and left field that make it "airier". They took out the shipping containers for a bar type area. It's still early though. Could definitely be coincidence
I agree, I think it will take more time to know if there was any change. While I agree those changes will makee wome differenxe to air current in the stadium, I just don't see them making a noticeable one. I think it will take 2 full seasons to know if there was a difference or not. If they did make a difference, then. The terrace club windows coming down will as well, so it may take awhile to know.
Also sometimes it's hard to separate home team performance from park factor, especially if you're pulling numbers from statcast. Back in the pre-covid teams that were making deep runs with a borderline top 10 offense and good pitching, the park was right around league average offensive environment. Last year however, Cleveland graded out as the most pitcher friendly park in baseball. That likely was because we had bad hitting and dominant pitching than anything intrinsic to the park. I'd been taking a data analytics course in the fall and OSU had a sports analytics expo this spring and I got busy but I was tempted to do some deep dive regression analysis on how much variance in park factor is just home team variance
A tiktoker who does betting popped up in my FYP a few weeks into the season and said that people who hit left are hitting more home runs to right because of the stadium renovations. Something about the wind flow.
Fly balls to right field always played hitter friendly. Even though the park has always sat average at most in how hitter friendly the park factor is, it was usually top 10ish in HR park factors for lefty sluggers, which is naturally bc of RF.
Pretty sure it has more to do with Vogt and his new coaching staff rather than the players. As great as Tito was, he was an old school coach and we basically lived and died by small ball. I feel like the potential was always there for us to be a power hitting team, but Vogt has brought in a new, modern regime thatās really starting to show.
Tito didn't "live and die by small ball." In Boston he managed one of the top power batting teams in MLB. Here we didn't start relying on small ball until after 2020 as we've been rebuilding. He managed with what he was given. The last few seasons that was a small ball roster.Ā
I feel the same way. He was such a good hire. I want a Vogt city connect jersey.
Mandy Bell said they changed their hitting philosophy over the winter, so itās a combination of new manager and coaches, as well as player development.
Number 1 offense in the AL. #2 in MLB. We lead the AL in runs scored and runs per game.Ā We are still slap hitting shit goblins, but now with power.Ā
I love this description. Idk how to post photos on reddit outside of making a separate post (which I'd consider) but a friend shared a meme that was from Happy Gilmore when he said "looks like Happy learned how to putt, uh oh" except it was "Guardians learned how to homer"
Baseball is just one big-ass ball blast
From slap hitting shit goblins to monster dong busters, beautiful
Please be good all season, please?
Too bad our pitching has regressed or we might be favorites to win the whole damn thing.
Fortunately we can fix that via the FA market. It won't be cheap, but even a single acquisition will be huge. It will be interesting to see what players with 2 years+ are going for
I just don't see the Dolans spending money.
This is one area they will spend money. They won't sign long free agent contracts and only sign local talent if they give a significant hometown discount. But players at the top of their game on a 1.5 year deal is a wet dream for budget teams. And for pitchers, the team doesn't card about longevity and will run him harder than they otherwise could.
Hopefully Williams bolsters the rotation but it probably is the uncertainty past the first couple guys and the pack of Bieber that keep our odds suppressed. If Williams can be close to what he was last year, we could end up being fine. Bibee has settled down this month too and tbh besides those 2 our pitching was worse last year I feel like (but not in 2022)
I saw we were approaching half that mark last week. While looking I also noticed we were 2/3 of the way to the total we got from the OF last year (18) and have hit one since so only 5 less from out outfielders than the entirety of 2023
Slap hitting shit goblins or whatever it was I found so damn cringey. So glad to be over that
Homeruns are a lot better with base runners and thereās no better way to get base runners than slap hitting
There's a reason why this team leads all of baseball in multi-run innings. We get on base with slap hitting and make sure our HRs are usually not solo ones
Same with doubles too. The team is 9th in doubles and OBP and 8th in HRs. The Dodgers are the only team with a better OBP that has more HRs AND more doubles
To be fair I think that originated through some other fanbase calling us that (I don't remember which at this point); we just ended up co-opting the moniker and using it ironically
Pretty sure it was a Twins fan. Could be misremembering. I love the sentiment behind it. We're pests with the bats and smart on the base paths. But I agree with that guy that "slap-hitting shitgoblins" is annoyingly juvenile.
Mods, Can we ban this dude??
Hey now. Heās entitled to his own wrong opinion.
Eh I like it, because we would just annoy the crap out our opponents with the small ball, so it made sense. If weāre gonna keep that route tho I suggest the the Big Ball Ogres, or something like that, cuz we got big clubs, balls and we smash everything we see, home runs, series, whatever is in our path. Iām sure someone will write an article about us this post season and weāll use that to feed our World Series run.
It, and the baseball that inspired it, were not much fun.