Pitching Grips

2:02 Jason Martinez : Welcome to the RosterResource chat! Reminder that you need a FanGraphs account (membership not required) to sign in and ask a question. It worked fine last week but please let us know if you have any issues. Here we go … 2:02 ankoalec : It sounds like Jared Jones will be able to return to the Pirates within the next week – what do you expect the rotation to look like upon his return? Does Chandler get sent down? Does Mlodzinski move back to a bullpen role, or maybe layer on with Jones initially if they want to build up Jones’ workload? Do they go six man? 2:03 Jon Becker : A Jones/Mlodzinski piggyback feels likeliest to me, at least for a turn or two. But if Chandler’s next start is yet another rough one then maybe they change course and send him down, because he’s just not throwing enough strikes and that’s taxing on the bullpen. 2:04 Yakety Sox : Thanks as always for these chats. Is Didier...

Matt Krohn-Imagn Images Expectations were generally quite low for the Minnesota Twins coming into the 2026 season after last summer’s fire sale that resulted in the departure of seven players from the 26-man roster, including Carlos Correa and half the bullpen. To defy those expectations this year, the Twins needed to wring as much performance as they could out of the talent that remained. In the early going, Ryan Jeffers did more than meet his projection, hitting .295/.408/.541 for a sterling 165 wRC+. At 1.7 WAR in just under two months, he was already nearing his career-best 2.3 WAR from 2023. Now, a broken left hamate bone will likely knock him out for four to six weeks, resulting in a lot more Victor Caratini in the lineup than anyone wants to see. The Twins also held onto third baseman Royce Lewis last summer. Part of that was because he was affordable and under club control through the 2028 season, but it was also because he took a major step backward last year and wouldn...

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Steven Bisig-Imagn Images The Mariners didn’t expect to call up Colt Emerson , but they had no choice. Emerson made his big league debut Sunday in the Mariners’ 8-3 loss to the Padres. It wasn’t a particularly eventful day in the box score. He flied out to right field in his first at-bat, drew a walk in his second, and flied out to right field again in his third. But at just 20 years old, he became the youngest Mariner to reach the majors since Félix Hernández in 2005. General manager Justin Hollander told reporters that calling up Emerson wasn’t a move he anticipated making when he woke up that morning. However, Emerson was next on the depth chart, and once it became clear that Brendan Donovan needed time on the injured list, Hollander felt it was the only choice to make. “We want to do the right thing for Colt. We also want to do the right thing for the Mariners. We think he’s the best option. This period will give him some runway. This is not a 15-at-bat or a 20-at-bat tryout...

AJ Blubaugh has given a boost to the Astros bullpen since debuting in late April of last season. Over 29 big-league appearances (including three as a starter), the 25-year-old right-hander has logged a 3.22 ERA over 58-and-two-thirds innings while being credited with five wins, against three losses, and three saves. Drafted in the seventh round by Houston out of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in 2022, he ranked third among the system’s prospects with a 45 FV when he reached The Show. His backstory is atypical, in part because of a pitch he hasn’t thrown since his days as an Ohio prep. Moreover, the Mansfield native now has a delivery that is both conventional and consistent. That wasn’t always the case. “When I was in high school and started to get into pitching, I threw from three different slots,” Blubaugh explained. “An over-the-top arm slot, a sidearm arm slot, and a submarine arm slot. I would differentiate that every single pitch. One pitch would be a curveball from ove...

Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images Earlier this week, we crossed the quarter mark of the season, and while 40 games is hardly a large sample size, the round number makes for an easy occasion to reflect on what’s happened thus far and consider how that could impact what’s still to come. My favorite bit of trivia is that it’s been a month since an NL Central team had a losing record. That team, remarkably, was the Cubs, who were last below .500 on the morning of April 15 and are now in first place after rattling off two separate 10-game winning streaks. Meanwhile, both the Brewers and Cardinals have never spent a game below .500. Only three other teams in baseball have not had a losing record this season: the Yankees, Braves, and Dodgers. Notice that quintet includes just one team in the American League, which has been underwhelming overall through the first quarter of the season. Entering play Friday, only five teams in the AL had winning records. In addition to the Yankees, the o...

2:03 Jason Martinez : Welcome to the RosterResource chat! We’re trying out a new system where you’re required to log in to FanGraphs to ask a question during the chat. You don’t need to be a Member, but you do need to have an account. Please let us know if you have any issues. Here we go … 2:03 baseballer8489 : Help me understand the Brewers lineup construction. Today they’re batting three RHHs (Contreras, Sanchez, Vaughn) in a row followed by three straight lefties (Mitchell, Frelick, Hamilton). I’m not one to doubt Pat Murphy or the brewers but feels like they’re making it too easy on opposing managers to find lanes in the pen. 2:06 Jon Becker : I take lineup construction on a case-by-case basis. I think as a manager you certainly do want to consider to what extent you can alternate left-right-left as often as possible, but you also want to have your better hitters get more plate appearances. I don’t think I’d want any o...

Arianna Grainey-Imagn Images Ceddanne Rafaela has a weak arm. He also has a strong arm. This is an analysis I’ve wanted to do for a while. It’s not that important or complicated, and most of it is fairly obvious. But it gets at something that comes up from time to time in the various places baseball is discussed online. The conversation tends to start like this: Team A should sign Player X and move him to a new position. Inevitably, one of the first questions asked about such a plan is whether Player X has the arm strength to play that new position. The number that gets cited to “yay” or “nay” such a follow-up is arm strength, in miles per hour. But ask any baseball fan to sit with this for a moment, and they’ll raise a concern. Arm strength, to some degree, is a function of position. A third baseman has a longer throw to make than a second baseman. A right fielder has a longer throw to make than a left fielder. This means players with better arms tend to play those positions, as w...