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FanGraphs | Sheryl Ring: A tattoo artist has sued the company behind NBA 2K for using Lebron James’ tattoo in a video game, and that’s a whole new front in copyright law that could affect baseball. If players with tattoos are shown with them in, say, The Show, who would hold the rights to that art? It’s an interesting question, for sure.
The Athletic | Sahadev Sharma ($): Cole Hamels has a 0.79 ERA in his first five starts with the Cubs, and that success is due to his adjustments in mechanics. By both bumping his velocity through “cross-firing” and then bringing more top-down action as well, he has been able to get both the velocity, movement, and plane necessary to bring him back to form.
Bill James Online | Daniel Marks: Juan Soto is the teen rookie sensation, so what other “Teen Titans” have there been in baseball history? Going by position you’ll see the likes of Pudge Rodriguez, Jimmie Foxx, Manny Machado, Mel Ott, Bryce Harper, and Mickey Mantle, to name a few.
Tangotiger Blog | Tom Tango: Tango goes deeper into the “roles” designation, and how the field is put into slices where the positioning shows the likelihood to make a play in another slice. It’s fascinating stuff, and you can really smell how that could be practically applied to better defensive metrics.