Tony Adams

The Nobel Prize for Physics in 2025 is for DISCOVERIES FROM 1984 & 1985 for quantum tunneling & energy quantization.

He got his physics education at Google U

How to make a pitched ball curve to your will A range of tricks pitchers use to get curve all come down to the thin layers of air next to the ball — and how a ball’s spin and seams affect them.

If you know any kids that are interested in sports-ball aerodynamics or want to learn more yourself, take a look at this excellent article: www.snexplores.org/article/pitc...

Thanks to @pobguy.bsky.social for introducing Wendy and I.

FanGraphs Membership Help support FanGraphs by becoming a Member. With Ad Free Membership, you will experience the FanGraphs website completely without third party ads while you maintain an active Ad Free Membership.

The day after trade deadline feels like a good time to mention that the price of an annual FanGraphs membership is going up from $60 to $80 on Monday. The good news is that this makes a three-year membership for $150 a massive bargain for the next 72 hours.

plus.fangraphs.com/product/fang...

But that means Altuve or Yordan in the outfield while the other DHs, and Altuve has been worse in LF than he is at 2B.

That'll work.

I don’t get it. We have a shortstop and a third baseman under control for two more years.

1969 Houston Astros Media Guide Cover

2025 Houston Astros Media Guide Cover.

Calling all #Astros Fans!
The Houston Astros have done something special for their fans. They have digitized many of their team media guides going back to 1969. Enjoy the collection. #HouAstros archive.org/search?query...

One pitch, two outs and a 'W': Stanek seizes opportunity ARLINGTON -- One pitch. That’s all Ryne Stanek needed to earn the win on Thursday night. “That’s the ultimate snake job right there,” Stanek said.

My favorite is Ryan Stanek's one-pitch win in the 2023 ALCS.
www.mlb.com/news/ryne-st...

Did you lay the eggs?

Y’all are killing it, Mike. I can’t wait to see what y’all have come up with.

he also popping up in a very interesting way in a new metric coming out next week

I was looking at the Astros’ Exit Velocity/Barrels on Statcast. Brendan Rodgers has surprisingly good numbers. He leads the team in EV50 (avg. of hardest 50% batted balls). He also has the best “hard hit %” and is 2nd in barrels/PA. His SLG is .310, but his expected SLG is .455.

Defensive metrics can be weird in small samples.

The Astros lead MLB with 7 Outs Above Average at 2B. Remarkably, Altuve accounts for 3 OAA despite playing only 42 innings at 2B. Dubón has 4 OAA. Rodgers has none.

Altuve ranks 4th in OAA at 2B (min 10 attempts). Dubón is 2nd.

Only 14.6% of the Astros’ plate appearances this season have been against a left-handed pitcher. That would be the lowest percentage of any team this century.

Tucker: 155 wRC+
Bregman: 176 wRC+

Astros’ wRC+ through April. (100 is league average)

Peña: 129 wRC+
Paredes: 127
Caratini: 122
McCormick: 113
Altuve: 108
Smith: 99
Alvarez: 87
Walker: 84
Meyers: 74
Rodgers: 74
Dezenzo: 69
Dubón: 50
Diaz: 43

Team total: 94 wRC+

An Equally Exciting Update to Our Player Cards | Baseball Prospectus Our player cards have some new visualizations and a lot of new data.

Big news out of @baseballprospectus.com today, as we've made some major upgrades across the site. Our player pages have seen additions to data viz for pitchers and a ton of filterable new stats. Craig takes you through the additions here:

This diving catch had a 99% Catch Probability. You can *see* the late reaction and slow route here. The broadcast even mentions it.

This is a great example of why you can't just grade the eye test. If this popped as an amazing catch, data-wise, you know what OF would do? Be slow & dive on purpose.

It would be cool if Congress remembered it makes the laws and determines the budget and that the Executive Branch just “executes” them.

If the ball really is “more jumpy,”
higher EV is the only thing that makes sense. (So far, drag is *UP.*👇) That requires modifying the center (pill plus yarn) to change the COR…and MLB admitted they did exactly that to deaden the ball in 2020/21.

HELP ME FIND OUT! I NEED BASEBALLS!!! 🙏 ⚾️⚾️👀

Hunter Brown vs Ryan Jeffers 🔥

96-mph sinker
96-mph sinker
84-mph knuckle curve

Here are the 5-game rolling wRC+ charts for Shohei Ohtani, Aaron Judge, Yordan Alvarez, and Jake Meyers. Who is who? They all show random variation.

After 20 PAs, 5% of players will have an OBP 210 points away from their true skill level, i.e., 1 in 20 players with a .330 OBP skill level will have a .120 or .540 OBP only due to random variation. You will never really understand baseball until you realize how random it is.

No Astros player has more than 20 plate appearances. With such a minuscule sample size, random variation dramatically impacts a player’s results.

This chart from Tom Tango’s “The Book” shows the random variation if every player had the same .330 on-base percentage.

Hayden Wesneski

94-mph 4-seam fastball
84-mph sweeper

UP NEXT:
3 games vs Giants
@ Daikin Park

Game 1: MONDAY 31st MARCH
7:10pm CT/1:10am BST

Also look out for the Astros Fans UK ‘Series Mission Plan’!

We are giant, stand up on our shoulders.
#BuiltForThis  #Astros

In 2024, Jose Altuve had a -6 Fielding Run Value (FRV) at second base. There were five left fielders with a lower FRV, with Bryan Reynolds’ -12 FRV being the worst.

Maybe a bad left fielder can have a more negative impact than a bad second baseman.

Fans frequently don’t appreciate how important outfielder jump is. Maybe because the broadcast usually cuts to the outfielder after his jump is complete. Also, getting a good jump can make a hard catch look easy.

Putin watching Trump and Zelensky.