Pitching Grips

Brad Penner-Imagn Images Major League Baseball’s rules have been in a constant state of flux during the 2020s, with the implementation of the extra-innings runner (the so-called Manfred Man ), the universal designated hitter, the three-batter minimum, the pitch clock, the disengagement rule, larger bases, and the infield shift ban accompanying additional changes to roster sizes and the injured list. Most — but not all — of these rule changes have been aimed at livening the game up, with more action and fewer dead spots, and have generally favored offenses rather than pitchers. This year’s Big New Rule is the Automated Ball-Strike Challenge System , which has shaken up batters’ and pitchers’ understanding of the strike zone. With the month of April now behind us, it’s worth checking in on this season’s numbers, in part to see what kind of impact the ABS is having. For starters, scoring levels are up, both relative to last year as whole and to the opening month, ...

2:02 Jason Martinez : Welcome to the RosterResource Chat! Big day today with the release of our new Roster Grid. Great job by Jon, who has re-created an old MLBDepthCharts feature and added some really cool stuff to it. For those of you who have ever wanted to see all 30 teams on one page or download all 30 teams in one click, this is where to go … https://blogs.fangraphs.com/instagraphs/the-rosterresource-roster-grid… Let’s chat. 2:02 Metsox : Ben Brown got a shot at closing in Chicago for a while? 2:04 Jon Becker : Not really, but not for any reason that’s his fault. Daniel Palencia’s lat strain appears to have been extremely mild and they’re debating activating him this weekend without a rehab assignment. That’ll put Brown back into a multi-inning fireman role and he’ll continue to be crucial while there are still a bunch of relievers on the IL and Phil Maton hasn’t gotten it going yet. That new sinke...

Brett Davis-Imagn Images The moment may prove fleeting, but at this writing, the Braves have a claim as the best team in baseball. At the outset of this season, Atlanta looked as though it might be headed for disaster yet again due to injuries and absences, with another Jurickson Profar suspension and the loss of Spencer Strider providing a particular sense of déjà vu . Instead of stumbling out of the gate, however, and even with a far-from-complete roster, the 2026 Braves have dominated opponents on both sides of the ball. At 21-9, they own the majors’ best record — and it appears they’ll get Strider back soon, as well. Nearly five weeks in, the Braves haven’t lost a series. They kicked things off at Truist Park by taking two out of three from both the Royals and A’s, then went on the road and split a four-game set with the Diamondbacks before taking two out of three from the Angels. Upon returning to Atlanta, they took two of three from both the Guardians ...

Brett Davis-Imagn Images Rob Thomson, the unlikely skipper of the 2022 National League Champion Philadelphia Phillies, has fulfilled his most important function as manager. The Phillies are 9-19, tied for last place not only in the division, but also in the entire league. That’s unacceptable for a team with championship aspirations. So overboard Thomson goes. Bench coach Don Mattingly , father of Phillies GM Preston Mattingly and an experienced big league manager in his own right, will take the tiller for the foreseeable future. This is the second managerial firing in four days, after Alex Cora ’s ouster in Boston . Both cases involved a well-regarded and successful bench boss paying for the sins of a flawed roster. And just as some wondered why Cora lost his job when Craig Breslow had put a losing team together, fingers across the Delaware Valley are pointing to president of baseball ops Dave Dombrowski as much as Thomson. Including mine, for what it’s worth; just last week ...

Troy Taormina-Imagn Images The Houston Astros have a knack for disappointing Aprils. Despite usually being projected as the favorite or second favorite in the AL West every year for the last decade, the last time the Astros didn’t have a losing record at some point in the second half of April was 2019. But year after year, they’ve tended to get a powerful second wind. Excluding 2020, for obvious reasons, they haven’t finished with fewer than 87 wins in a season since 2016; overall, Houston has the second-most wins in baseball since the start of the 2017 season. During those previous mediocre starts, the projections have stood by the Astros. This time… not so much. To see the last time the Astros started this dreadfully, you don’t have to go back very far. In 2024, they hit their nadir after 26 games, at 7-19. I wrote then, as I do now, about the hole they were digging for themselves . Though it was still an uphill battle to come back in the AL West — they in f...