Are these all photoshops, or are they gonna just go ahead and wear them all?

Double ug

bearkatag15 said:

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Paired with Javier’s slider of course*

— Full Count Baseball (@FullCountMLB) February 6, 2023

Lots of Christian Javier love today

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I'll swear his fastball is rising as it crosses the plate. I know that has to be an optical illusion. Doesn't it?

McInnis said:

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bearkatag15 said:

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Paired with Javier’s slider of course*

— Full Count Baseball (@FullCountMLB) February 6, 2023

Lots of Christian Javier love today

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I'll swear his fastball is rising as it crosses the plate. I know that has to be an optical illusion. Doesn't it?

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Physics says there's no way it can rise UNLESS he was somehow cheating - idiot fan bases.

Prosperdick said:

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McInnis said:

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bearkatag15 said:

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Paired with Javier’s slider of course*

— Full Count Baseball (@FullCountMLB) February 6, 2023

Lots of Christian Javier love today

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I'll swear his fastball is rising as it crosses the plate. I know that has to be an optical illusion. Doesn't it?

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Physics says there's no way it can rise UNLESS he was somehow cheating - idiot fan bases.

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Are you saying only idiots think the ball can't go up? Because it cannot go up.

Even without using actual physics to prove it, just think about it. The mound is raised above the ground where the batter stands. The pitcher usually releases the ball above his head. The ball finishes at the top of the strike zone, which is below the batters head.

Maybe a submarine style pitcher could throw the ball up

Let's still go with calling it a rise ball.

https://www.espn.com/mlb/insider/story/_/id/35563220/way-too-early-2023-mlb-starting-rotation-rankings

anyone have access to this list?

We've been watching Javier and others with high spin years now on this team. We know all know this, right? Javier is just at the upper echelon of the spinny ones and he's difficult to pick up. That's why his fastball was dubbed the invisiball years ago.

Edit:

Adding the statcast graph. His fastball didn't drop 3 inches when compared to the avg 4 seamer.

McInnis said:

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Beat40 said:

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Let's still go with calling it a rise ball.

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I suppose in our mind's eyes we're used to seeing fastballs with a normal trajectory, and his has so much backspin that they drop at a lesser rate when crossing the plate that they appear to be rising. I'm guessing that's the problem hitters have with it. Does that make sense?

Imagine seeing Framber's sinking fastball one day and then having to deal with that the next.

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Makes sense. Javier can just put a ton of backspin on the ball.

AggieNiebs said:

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https://www.espn.com/mlb/insider/story/_/id/35563220/way-too-early-2023-mlb-starting-rotation-rankings

anyone have access to this list?

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My impression of the article was it was written with certain fan bases in mind "cough" NYY "cough".

Snippets
#1 Yankees - The depth of the Yankees' power-laden rotation is underscored by Severino landing as the fourth starter here, followed by Montas. With the Yankees, the question will center around health. Can Severino put up a full season? Will Montas' right shoulder keep him on the sideline? There are potential issues, sure, but the Yankees are starting from a very good place.

#2 Brewers - Projection systems generally favor power pitching and its defense-independent attributes, and you can see that with the Brewers, whose real-life depth in the rotation is likely even better than these numbers suggest if you think Miley and Houser are being shortchanged. Even if the forecasts are right, the Milwaukee rotation is once again loaded, headed up by the top two of Burnes and Woodruff, who compose as good of a one-two punch as you'll find.

#3 Mets - No team can challenge the Mets' top two in terms of a combination of their totality of accomplishment along with the fact that they are both still really good. But the Mets' rotation is more than that. Their depth chart is chock-full of hurlers even beyond Scherzer and Velander who will be able to keep them in games most nights.

#4 Braves - As good as this looks for the Braves, it could be a whole lot better. Wright's projections haven't quite yet caught up to his breakout 2022 season. Soroka is a one-time ace who has been battling to get back from injury for a long time. We don't know how that will work out, but if he's 90% of the pre-injury Soroka, that makes an excellent rotation even better. Even Anderson was looked at as a rising star before taking a step back last season. Even if he gets back on track, the Braves' rotation might be too good for him to get much of a run.

#5 Phillies - The addition of Walker and the expected rise of Painter make this a deeper unit. And Suarez might be ready to take his place alongside Nola and Wheeler to give the Phillies a powerhouse rotation trio for a full season.

#6 Astros - The dynamic Brown could be used in any number of ways for a Houston staff deep in both starters and relievers. But if he holds down a frequent rotation slot, he could well offer some of what the Astros lost in Verlander's departure. If any staff could withstand the loss of someone of Verlander's stature, it's this one.


How they ranked the rotations
The core question behind these rankings is this: Is my starting pitcher today better than his counterpart on the other side? It's a simple question with a complicated answer. The aim here is to not just tally up a team's forecasted rotation ERA or its WAR from starting pitchers, but to see how it's going to function in the ways that rotations function. Here's how I went about doing that:


Using the depth charts at Fangraphs.com and my innings pitched projections, I tabbed the top eight most likely starters for each club, dividing up how many turns each would get on the 162-game schedule.


For each game, a random number was used to select a starter based on those estimates. Forecast game scores were then calculated for each pitcher.


The first step in determining a pitcher's game score was to figure the pitcher's baseline, park-adjusted game score based on statistical projections from the ATC system, which can be found at Fangraphs.


Next, each pitcher received a rating that serves as the basis for the likely distribution of the "stuff" in each of his starts. That rating is based on factors such as durability, consistency (quality start percentage) and dominance (strikeout percentage minus walk percentage).


Using random numbers and each pitcher's likely distribution for start quality, it was determined whether each outing would be a "gem" (15 game score points above his average), an "egg" (as in he "laid an egg," which is a game score 15 points below his average) or his average game score.


If the starter's stuff-adjusted game score was higher than that of his opposing starter, he earned a "game score win." If not, he got the loss. Ties go to the home team.


This process was repeated 100 times to reach the aggregate numbers you see.


Note: Teams are ranked by game score won-lost record, with ties broken by average game score. Pitchers and their individual game score won-lost records are listed under each club in the order of projected rotation slot.

I love that space cowboys logo. I need to get a fitted soon.

ESPN's rotation rankings:

1. yankees
2. brewers
3. mets
4. braves
5. phillies

Quote:

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6. Houston Astros
Game score W/L: 96-66, .593
Average game score: 54.3
Dominance rank: 16 | Consistency rank: 2
Gems: 41 | Eggs: 23
Rotation: Framber Valdez (22-9), Cristian Javier (21-8), Luis Garcia (16-11), Jose Urquidy (10-19), Lance McCullers Jr. (16-11), Hunter Brown (10-6), Shawn Dubin (1-2), Forrest Whitley (0-1)
The dynamic Brown could be used in any number of ways for a Houston staff deep in both starters and relievers. But if he holds down a frequent rotation slot, he could well offer some of what the Astros lost in Verlander's departure. If any staff could withstand the loss of someone of Verlander's stature, it's this one.

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7. white sox
8. blue jays
9. dodgers
10. rays

i think many of you are not realizing how good Rodon is.

Game score W/L: 107-55, .660
Average game score: 57.2
Dominance rank: 1 | Consistency rank: 6
Gems: 47 | Eggs: 19
Rotation: Gerrit Cole (23-7), Carlos Rodon (25-7), Nestor Cortes (20-9), Luis Severino (18-8), Frankie Montas (11-8), Clarke Schmidt (3-7), Domingo German (6-7), Deivi Garcia (1-3)
The depth of the Yankees' power-laden rotation is underscored by Severino landing as the fourth starter here, followed by Montas. With the Yankees, the question will center around health. Can Severino put up a full season? Will Montas' right shoulder keep him on the sideline? There are potential issues, sure, but the Yankees are starting from a very good place.

I'd probably go with braves at #1, but its not crazy to have yankees first

Another instance of not bothering to read what others post above. It's not like there is tons of activity on the thread

Parte del Corrido de @LosAstros tras ganar la #WorldSeries2022 … Esta BUENISIMO @MLB @MLB_Mexico de Ricardo y Genaro. pic.twitter.com/UQtJOLzOFX

— Francisco Romero (@FRomeroAstros) February 7, 2023