Prospectus Hit List for May 17



by Matt Sussman

Hit List for May 16

If you read just one daily hit list at Baseball Prospectus today, make it this one.

RkTmWLW1W2W3HLFAHLFWin Div%Win WC%Playoff%1-Day7-Day
1

22

17

24.9

27.6

26.6

.612

.631

70.6%

15.5%

86.0%

-1.9%

-3.0%

Justin Verlander walked two batters with the bases loaded yesterday, bringing his season total to three and career total to five.
2

27

14

25.6

26.4

25.4

.594

.613

86.2%

5.1%

91.3%

1.5%

7.3%

No amount of composite GIFs can help us understand how Yu Darvish allowed a home run to Don Kelly.
3

25

16

22.2

20.9

20.8

.553

.573

57.2%

23.6%

80.8%

-0.4%

7.4%

At what point do we admit that Mariano Rivera is responsible for much of the earth's deforestation?
4

24

17

23.2

23.8

23.2

.552

.572

24.0%

34.1%

58.1%

3.8%

-6.1%

13 of the 24 batters Felix Doubront faced ended in a strikeout or walk. The outfielders had plenty of time to play Candy Crush.
5

22

17

22.1

23.2

22.7

.539

.559

20.3%

25.0%

45.3%

0.1%

2.8%

Just to stay fresh on the off day, they played a local third grade team and won 11-2. Everyone had ice cream afterward.
6

25

16

25.0

24.4

23.5

.576

.556

47.1%

33.2%

80.3%

1.6%

12.1%

They own the longest active winning streak at six games. Aroldis Chapman should blow more saves and let his team score in the 10th more often!
7

20

20

20.5

21.5

22.6

.530

.550

11.6%

22.4%

34.0%

-4.0%

7.3%

Fernando Rodney walked four batters in a game for the first time in his career, which officially makes him the sequel to Eric Gagne.
8

26

14

25.5

23.8

23.7

.569

.549

38.4%

34.8%

73.2%

-4.1%

9.0%

David Freese is in a bit of a slump, but you can't blame him, given it's getting warmer outside.
9

23

17

22.7

22.0

21.7

.514

.534

6.3%

16.2%

22.5%

0.3%

-3.4%

They're looking for a top-of-the-rotation starter? This just screams "reality show."
10

22

18

23.0

22.9

22.6

.540

.521

46.3%

17.2%

63.6%

-1.0%

-13.7%

In his last four games, Reed Johnson is 5-for-5 with a walk. He's just in a pinch-hitter zone, which is not an actual physical place, but not from a lack of searching.
11

20

22

21.0

20.7

20.3

.499

.519

6.9%

12.8%

19.7%

0.2%

-8.0%

Scratch odds that Eric Sogard will be the first person to play a baseball game wearing Google Glass.
12

20

17

20.3

17.6

18.0

.496

.516

6.1%

15.5%

21.6%

-0.1%

-6.7%

At some point, George Kottaras will have to stop correcting people and just go along with being called Jason Kendall.
13

23

18

22.6

21.3

21.8

.530

.510

28.7%

20.1%

48.7%

-1.8%

-10.5%

Is it possible Heath Bell's is back as a shutdown closer? Fat guys everywhere need this to be true.
14

20

21

19.3

21.1

21.1

.488

.508

3.6%

8.3%

11.8%

1.2%

3.4%

Michael Morse hit the decisive home run in Yankee Stadium yesterday, but they should really call it a road run! I'll draft the petition papers.
15

24

17

22.7

22.0

22.3

.527

.507

12.4%

28.2%

40.7%

3.5%

12.8%

Looks like they finally figured out the Brewers, or gave reparations to that gremlin. Or both.
16

24

17

21.4

21.3

21.7

.527

.507

36.2%

15.8%

52.0%

5.6%

9.1%

Brandon Crawford enjoyed his eighth 3-RBI game, the third against Colorado. At least I'm assuming he enjoyed it.
17

15

26

16.3

18.3

17.9

.481

.501

3.3%

10.1%

13.4%

-2.9%

-5.5%

For the shame of being the first pitcher to walk Jeff Keppinger this year, Michael Kohn will have to wear a red "A" on his ... nevermind, we'll think of something else.
18

22

19

19.5

19.8

20.2

.516

.496

45.7%

13.4%

59.2%

2.8%

-2.4%

It may be shorter to list the things Bryce Harper isn't. We know he isn't a frog. That's all we got so far.
19

17

22

16.0

18.7

18.4

.512

.492

25.3%

13.2%

38.5%

-0.9%

5.2%

The Twins and Padres. Those are the only other teams whose team leader only has five or fewer home runs — and for the Dodgers it's Carl Crawford with five.
20

21

20

22.4

24.1

23.5

.509

.489

7.8%

6.7%

14.6%

-2.5%

-9.9%

Given a 6-0 lead, they left Jhoulys Chacin in there a little too long and he started to curdle.
21

18

21

18.2

18.0

18.0

.468

.487

2.6%

6.1%

8.7%

1.5%

2.8%

Jeff Keppinger finally walked! On four straight pitches! And it drove in a run! Another exclamation point!
22

17

24

17.0

15.3

16.6

.452

.472

0.8%

3.9%

4.7%

0.1%

1.7%

They've scored 33 runs in their last three games. Doing the math, that's ... not bad.
23

17

23

19.2

21.0

21.1

.490

.470

1.2%

6.1%

7.2%

-0.0%

1.6%

Jeff Samardzija has two career home runs which, depending on your point of view, now matches the number of silent consonants in his surname.
24

18

19

18.6

17.0

18.0

.444

.464

0.5%

1.6%

2.0%

0.7%

0.2%

No starting pitcher has a K/9 higher than 4.8. I didn't even know they MADE those kinds of pitchers anymore.
25

16

23

16.5

17.8

18.8

.461

.441

0.9%

2.8%

3.7%

-2.1%

-5.1%

Not unlike a "The Fast And The Furious" reboot, Francisco Rodriguez is back and you didn't even ask for it.
26

19

22

17.4

17.5

17.4

.456

.436

5.0%

3.8%

8.9%

-0.6%

2.6%

They may be playing inconsistently, but let's look at how their minor league teams are having any— nope, just snakes.
27

18

22

17.7

17.0

17.3

.454

.434

2.0%

2.3%

4.2%

-1.1%

-2.2%

They're ahead of the Dodgers in the standings, and even though it's May, they deserve some type of trophy. A big, shiny, camouflage trophy.
28

15

23

16.6

15.7

15.5

.450

.430

2.9%

2.3%

5.3%

0.6%

-8.5%

Daniel Murphy's 4-for-4 days included a double that went through the outfield wall, which means it's possible he was playing a Nintendo 64 baseball game.
29

11

30

12.4

10.8

12.5

.335

.353

0.0%

0.0%

0.0%

0.0%

-0.0%

A combined 5.00 ERA for their bullpen, while pretty atrocious, is at least an even number.
30

11

30

12.6

11.4

11.3

.344

.326

0.0%

0.0%

0.0%

-0.0%

-0.1%

That the Home Run Sculpture didn't short circuit after Juan Pierre's home run is proof it is not sentient. We are safe. For now.

Matt Sussman is an author of Baseball Prospectus. 
Click here to see Matt's other articles. You can contact Matt by clicking here


3 comments have been left for this article.
DetroitDale

Re: Verlander giving up two bases loaded walks: Temperature in Hell 33 degrees and falling

May 17, 2013 08:44 AM
up_image

+1

down_image
 
newsense

5 is an even number?

May 17, 2013 12:07 PM
up_image

+1

down_image
 
CrashJones

As opposed to 5.33 or 5.75 for example I would imagine.

May 17, 2013 17:57 PM
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+1

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