In any baseball organization, the stats department is most likely its fastest growing. It’s a big numbers game. The traditional BB, SO, K and RBI is entry-level compared to the calculations being done on players and teams throughout the game. If you really want your head to spin, check out the Glossary section on FanGraphs.com.

Phillies GM Matt Klentak says he has a few favorite stats/numbers he tends to focus on most: walk rate, strike out rate, run differential and power. The players themselves pay far less attention to anything beyond the basics, but there is one stat that’s catching their attention – exit velocity. Aaron Altherr said that at Great America Ballpark in Cincinnati, the Reds showed the exit velocity (not to be confused with bat speed) of every ball that came off the bat, something he and a few other players thought was pretty cool.

Just as there is a different level of respect for pitchers who can throw in the high 90s or low 100s, there is high regard for those whose exit velocity pops over 100 mph and averages north of 90 mph. Maikel Franco is the highest ranked Phillies player on MLB’s exit velocity Statcast Leaderboard with an average exit velocity of 91.2 mph. That’s 40th in baseball, at the moment. By comparison, Miguel Sano tops the list with an average exit velocity of 101.1 mph. Freddie Freeman (4th) and Giancarlo Stanton (5th) are currently averaging 95.8 and 95.6 mph, respectively.

Launch angle usually gets mentioned alongside exit velocity, mostly because it tells a more complete picture when paired with the latter. The right combination of exit velocity and launch angle will result in the ball leaving the yard. Of course, it will leave anyway, whether we’re measuring or not.

Then there are those who look at an entirely different set of metrics when determining a player’s chance of success. Former major league pitcher Kent Mercker shared his favorite stats on Facebook just as the season was getting underway:

“I’m submitting three more “metrics” to add to the already extensive list of equations and formulas used to evaluate players.

1. CHURN RATE. How much does a players stomach “churn” when the bright lights come on and the cameras are rolling? (Typically measured in butterflies)

2. EEG FACTOR. Simply measures brain activity. Higher EEG rates mean a player is thinking too much. Players with high EEG rates tend not to rely on their preparation, coaching and instincts when it’s time to perform in high leveraged situations.

3. SHRIVEL EFFECT. Highly leveraged situations and cold water are the two major contributors to this metric. Players with a high shrivel rate (HSR) tend to underperform when it counts the most. Another sign of an HSR is a higher pitched voice.

These are the metrics I typically look for when I’m watching games.

The analytics debate rages on.


Catcher Cameron Rupp is off to a rough start. In 13 games, he’s batting .186 with 1 home run, 3 RBI… and an average exit velocity of around 86 mph. Rupp said he’s not worried about his mechanics, he’s just approaching the game as he always has because he’s typically a slow starter. Historically, his numbers in April support this fact and his most productive months are from May to August.


Meanwhile, the Marlins have a catcher who appears to be the real deal in JT Realmuto. He’s currently hitting .344 with 2 homers, 8 RBI and a .394 OBP.

The Marlins are the Phillies’ next opponent, rolling into Philadelphia on Tuesday with a 10-8 record. Giancarlo Stanton is healthy and clobbering the ball and the team as a whole is ranked in the top six in the league in hits (2nd), runs (6th), batting average (3rd), home runs (5th), RBI (6th) and OBP (6th).

All the talk in the NL East has surrounded the Mets and the Nationals, for good reason, but the Marlins starting eight are a seasoned bunch and what can’t be measured is the Jose effect. Star pitcher Jose Fernandez died tragically in a boating accident last September. His loss has created a bond that is fueling this Marlins team, as manager Don Mattingly explained to me recently:

“What happened last year with us at the end of the season was pretty traumatic, right? And I think there was no choice but to find a bond together and they were already pretty close. I think that just kinda threw cement in there on it. You go through something like that, I think you can’t help but have it change you. It’s just as simple as that without even having to try or think about it. It just changes you, it changes your thought process a little bit, about certain things. I hate to look at this group and say, “This is the reason these guys are really close now,” but they were all pretty close, they were tight before, but definitely Jose’s tragic passing did some things to these guys.”

Catcher AJ Ellis spent the final two months with the Phillies last season and is now the Marlins’ backup catcher. His locker is directly across from Jose’s locker, which has been memorialized behind a sheet Plexiglas since his death:

“It’s unfortunate how tragic that was, and even from afar as an opposing player, you got a sense of the brotherhood of this game, the fraternity of this game. But, then I join the Marlins and go to spring training and see the way these guys still get emotional talking about Jose and they rally around him and rally around his spirit and the way he approached this game, it’s definitely a topic that gets brought up a lot. Guys talk about Jose a lot… they hear a song or they say, ‘remember when Jose did this?’ or ‘Remember when Jose did that?’ His spirit is still a really big part of this club. You really sense the way this team bonded, came together. There’s a closeness and a brotherhood on this team that I’ve never experienced before in my career and I’m really thrilled to be a part of it.”


It’s unlikely that Evansville, Indiana will ever produce a baseball player better than Don Mattingly, but Phillies right-hander Jerad Eickhoff would like to make run at it. Eickhoff and Mattingly both hail from Evansville. The two got to know each other a little this past offseason when they attended an event together in their hometown. Mattingly on Eickhoff:

“He was a guy that I heard about obviously, as he got through high school and got drafted, so he’s a guy the town talks about a lot and then I had a chance to meet him last year and he’s impressive, the way he works. We talked about it this winter, we did a thing together and he’s one of those guys we hit him ok a little bit at times, but he’s one of those guys, he always just hangs in there on us and that tells you a lot. That told me a lot about him and he just wasn’t going to give in. He’ll keep going and keep fightin’ and just keep making pitches.”

Donnie Baseball will have to wait to learn more. The Marlins miss Eickhoff in this upcoming series.


The Marlins have quite the trek this week. Due to the NFL Draft, the hotels in Philadelphia are full, so the Marlins were forced to stay 30 miles outside the city.

 

Show Me Your Feed

Getting Phillies centerfielder Odubel Herrera to sit down for an interview is like chasing your kid around the playground. He’s far too busy enjoying himself to sit in one place for too long, which is why it took two separate interviews to complete what we started.

The engaging, energetic, 25-year old with an infectious smile is clearly enjoying his time in the big leagues. Put Herrera’s hometown, San Jose, Zulia, Venezuela, into Google and you won’t find much on this small town east of Maracaibo. So, to say that Herrera came out of nowhere a couple of years ago isn’t a stretch.

A Rule 5 draft pick from the rangers in 2014, Herrera made the jump from Double A to the big leagues and he stuck. No small feat. One of the bright spots in the 2016 season, Herrera ascended quickly, making the All-Star team and securing a five-year, $30.5 million contract in the offseason. It’s a win-win for Herrera and the Phillies, who bought out Herrera’s three arbitration years and his first year of free agency.

Herrera had his ups and downs in 2016, so how consistent he’ll be in the long run is uncertain. He’s off to a great start, though. He went 4-13 in the weekend series sweep of the Braves, and in Sunday’s finale, Herrera capped off a trifecta in the eighth inning when he followed up home runs by Cesar Hernandez and Aaron Altherr with one of his own. There was no lack of emphasis on Herrera’s part, who added his signature bat flip to the end of his swing before rounding the bases.

To learn more about Herrera as a person, I went through his Instagram photos with him and the help of an interpreter in our latest edition of Show Me Your Feed.

Maikel make like bull

“It’s a picture that I decided to post because Maikel and I were going to the batting cage and we saw a photographer from far and he started doing the horn signs and I thought it was a cool picture and I just posted it because we have a good friendship.”

Tell the story about the bull, for those who don’t know it.

“When I was a little thick, not fat, but strong kind of like a bull. I looked like a little bull, so my dad started calling me El Torito, Little Bull. Everyone kept saying that and it’s kind of what’s sticking around.”

 

His two favorite girls

“That picture is very special to me because those are the women of my life. They mean the world to me. That’s my mom and my daughter. That was actually my mom’s birthday. We were in Maracaibo, we were having a great time and I thought it was a beautiful picture so I decided to post it.”

Daddy’s girl

“That’s actually a funny moment because she didn’t want to take that picture. I actually have a great relationship with my daughter, she’s very sweet, very smart, she really gets me smiling all the time. I was actually eating fish and she was playing around, so I wanted to take that picture with her, but she didn’t want to take it. I was finally able to do it and she took the picture with me and I think it’s great.”

Cousin love

“That’s a cousin of mine that I love with all my heart. He’s like a little brother to me and he’s always imitating me. He’s always trying to do what I do. He always makes me laugh. I was actually in my house in Merida”

The wishing well

“That was in Chicago. I don’t remember what I wished for, but I remember that a girl, she wrote me. I told her that my wish had been to get married to her.”

Have you talked to her since?

“Yes.” (smiles)

Fun Freddy

“Freddy is definitely more fun (in the photo) the way he’s posing. He’s just… he has swag.”

So you have to learn how to have more swag from Freddy?

“No, no, no, no, I’ve got it, too” (laughs)

A visit with Rocky

“It was last year they (his parents) came up here to visit me. It was a day game so after the day game we had enough time to go there and I just wanted to show them around. They didn’t know about it but we were driving by so I told my dad that it was a Rocky statue and so we noticed we had time, so we pulled over and showed them because they’d seen the movie.”

CarGo

“That’s Carlos Gonzalez. That was also last year. Obviously, I was at the all-star game. It meant a lot to me because I was representing my team, I was representing Venezuela, I was there with someone that I look up to, so that was a very special moment to me. We actually were right next to each other in the locker room, so we would talk a lot about baseball, about life, about many things. I really learned a lot from him.”

Plenty of bull

“That’s a true fan of La Guaira (Odubel’s Winter Ball team). So, she’s a huge fan of me and of La Guaira. She has a fan club and she’s the President. It’s mostly women.  I don’t know the number, if it’s hundreds or thousands. [It’s called] ‘Las Toritas’. That picture was at a carnival in Venezuela, so she dressed up as a torita, a lady bull. I was in the states and she sent it to me.”

New York City

“First of all, that’s a special moment because I was with my dad and my mom in New York for the first time. It was very special. New York is amazing for tourism, a lot of things to see. My mom was actually very nervous when she was up there because it was too high, but it was a great experience for me, for them… they loved it. It’s a great city.”