Then and Now (Home Runs)

Opening some packs of baseball cards is always a great thing to do. Recently, I bought some packs of baseball cards that included some 2019 Topps Heritage cards. One insert card I got was a “Then and Now”. On the front is Hall of Famer Harmon Killebrew and Oakland A’s Khris Davis.

Strikeout rate

Going to a sports card shop is surely an interesting thing to do. You can pull baseball cards that are newly released, at the same time, you can also find something that brings you back to the past. I found a topps league leaders card, on the front is the 1999 NL strikeout leader Randy Johnson, on the back is 1999 AL strikeout leader Pedro Martinez. Each threw more than 300 strikeouts in 1999 and both of them are Hall of Famers.

New Home

José Iglesias (2015)

2020 is almost gone. It’s not the usual year as we know. Baseball season was shortened and MLB winter meetings became virtual meetings. But there is still something normal, we see there are free agent signings, trades and rule 5 draft. Of course, it’s too early to evaluate and say if a trade is good or bad. But, it’s worthwhile to take a close look at some trades.

xERA

Expected ERA (xERA) translates xwOBA into the ERA scale. It’s not necessarily predictive, but it helps us compare to the pitcher’s actual ERA. ERA has some flaws and many factors could affect a pitcher’s ERA. xERA can give us a different way to evaluate a pitcher’s performance since it’s a translation of xwOBA and the amount of contact and quality of contact are taken into consideration.

Do you like home runs?

Home runs are important elements in today’s baseball. Fans love to watch home runs in games. However, pitchers definitely don’t like to give up any home runs. We always see pitchers frustrated after giving up a homer. In 2020, there were 2304 homers during the regular season. And I went to visit the statcast website.

No Names, No Logos

 

There are several companies that produce baseball cards. However, MLB granted Topps an exclusive license in 2009 and the exclusive partnership between MLB and Topps will run through 2025. If they extend the deal before 2025, the long-term partnership will be even longer. Since it’s an exclusive license, Topps is the one and only manufacturer to produce MLB baseball cards. However, we can also see baseball cards from other manufacturers.

When spin rate reaches 2500 rpm

A few days ago, I just came up with an idea. Spin rate. When seeing pitches at a spin rate of at least 2500 rpm, which MLB hitters can hit well? Again, I visited the statcast website. I found something interesting.

Throw a curve in 2020

Curveball, a pitch that is thrown slower, is mainly used to keep hitters off-balance. It’s widely used throughout baseball history and many pitchers have it in their pitch arsenals. To know more about curveball usage in the 2020 season, I went to visit the statcast website.