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Baseball Prospectus | Zach Crizer: Billy Hamilton has been struggling at the plate, and especially in one area in particular: bunting, where his .347 batting average on bunts is well below-average. Why? This is because he’s pulling them to the first-base side, a place where this is a much lower likelihood of success. If hitters were capable of hitting it to the third base side, which we’re not even sure is a possible skill, it would drastically increase their batting average. This is a possibly un-mined area of production for speedy hitters.
FanGraphs | Travis Sawchik: Jonathan Loaisiga is a new Yankees revelation, and it reveals a general strength in their player development: under-scouted pitching gems like Luis Severino, Domingo German, Erik Swanson, and Al Abreu, for example. There could be some luck involved, but their intentional targeting of high-velocity, high-spin rate slider/curve pitchers has had success over the last few years.
The Ringer | Michael Baumann: The Dodgers aren’t just successful because of their stars, but also the reclamation projects like Max Muncy. Los Angeles refined Muncy by making him a launch angle player that doesn’t swing unless it’s the best possible pitch, and it has resulted in his ISO jumping nearly 300 points year-over-year.
The Athletic | Mark Saxon ($): Paul DeJong may be on the Cardinals’ disabled list with a broken bone in his hand, but he is still doing work: working with renowned energy scientist Lawrence Rocks to study the effects of heat on baseballs.