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Morning Mound Visit: sabermetrics news - 4/23/19

Clayton Kershaw’s post-peak repertoire; JT Realmuto’s improved framing; the most on-trend teams

By Matt Provenzano

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Philadelphia Phillies v Colorado Rockies Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images

FanGraphs | Craig Edwards: Clayton Kershaw is not the same as his peak, but he can absolutely still be an effective pitcher. While in his peak he was throwing the fastball primarily with a curve that could be thrown basically anywhere, he has moved to pitching backwards with the slider and changing his curve location to exclusively outside the zone. That still allows him the ability to be successful, but not like five years ago.

Baseball Prospectus | Matthew Trueblood ($): We knew that JT Realmuto would be a good offensive catcher, especially in Philadelphia, but the question has always been defense and framing. Now he’s turned a corner on that, posting a CSAA of .009 to start the year. If that holds, he could be a legitimate MVP candidate when all is said and done.

The Athletic | Eno Sarris ($): Which team has mirrored the trends in baseball this year, namely higher launch angles and exit velocities, as well as more high-spin pitches? Those teams are unsurprisingly the good ones, like the Yankees, Rays, Dodgers, and Astros.

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