Morning Mound Visit: sabermetrics news - 9/12/18

FanGraphs | Craig Edwards: What if we used batted ball quality-of-contact to sort out the AL Cy Young race? This would lead us to show that the likes of Justin Verlander, Chris Sale, and Trevor Bauer are underrated based on xwOBA. And with Sale, the question is how much you weigh his not-so-full season.

Baseball Prospectus | Matthew Trueblood ($): Good defense is usually a determinant of a young, exciting team, and the Diamondbacks fit that mold. Not only have they picked up more than 20 runs on the year from framing, but Nick Ahmed has also been one of the best defensive players in the league. Adding Jarrod Dyson was a nice boost, too.

Tangotiger Blog | Tom Tango: Tango walks through the most updated math regarding TTO disadvantages, both for relief pitchers and starters. Of note, the advantage of coming in as a starter versus reliever has jumped from 8 points of wOBA in 2006 to nearly 15 points today.

The Athletic | Eno Sarris ($): Aaron Hicks’ Yankees career was largely boosted by taking advantage of Yankee Stadium and pulling the ball to right field, and he has since taken that approach on the road, as well. Instead of bifurcating his approach for home and away, he found mechanics that worked for him and made them consistent across park.