Japan

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Beard-second:  unit of length, opposed to the light-year, used to measure very short distances (such as used in integrated circuits, or as used to measure Kendrys Morales' leads off of first base).

Furlong per Firkin per Fortnight (FFF):  a good-natured jab at America's rejection of the metric system.  One FFF is almost exactly 1 centimeter per minute, a remarkable coinkydink.  C = 1.8 terafurlongs per fortnight.

Potrzebie:  the thickness of Mad Magazine 26.  A famous computer scientist "improved" our system of weights and measures using this as a basic unit.

For other humorous (?) units of measurement, see this wiki article, or Dustin Ackley's home run column.

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Q.  How well can you get your arms around a pitcher, based on a video?

A.  Guess what.  It depends on the pitcher.  That's not a cliche.  It's the key to understanding this issue.

Some athletes -- that's any sport -- you can watch them for two minutes and "get" who they are.  Randy Johnson? In 1997, you'd have needed two (2) pitches.  On video.  And you'd have known that he was a Hall of Famer.

Michael Jordan?  Two minutes, in shootaround.  Josh Hamilton?  His wife could tell, from one batting practice taken with his teammates, that he was a Hall of Famer.  Ken Griffey Jr. or ARod?  At age 18, anybody could see what they were going to be.

...

Other guys are different.  Russell Wilson?  Joe Montana?  Jamie Moyer?  Their greatness is based on things that take you much longer to perceive.

Different things, make different athletes great.  Sometimes those "things" are very easy to see.  Sometimes they're not.

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Q.  Like what, in Tanaka's case?

A.  Suppose you had seen video of Hisashi Iwakuma, three years ago, pitching in Japan.  Would you have been able to perceive, in 20 pitches of a YouTube video, the specific attributes that Iwakuma exploited --- > in order to star in the American League?

You would not have.

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We're runnin' a little bit low tonight.  We'll just give you the last page of the file, if that's OK with you.  This isn't comprehensive; it's just a sample, to give you a feel for what we've looked at on tape.

Here is the Kansas City highlight video.  We went through the full game on DVR, as we did the other games.

Here is the Brooks game log, Paxton vs. KC ... 95.5 MPH fastball, 9-for-13 curves for strikes, an 88 MPH changeup was weak ... he rolled out a slider, thrown like a cutter, but broke so hard you could call it a slider.  8 thrown, 8 for strikes.

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At the Top

Here is K-Pax in his debut game vs. TB.  He's at (or near) "the top," floating his weight.  Baseball scouts are looking for posture, symmetry, tempo, and rhythm.  They want the head over the belly button and back foot, they want the pitcher to get as tall as possible, lining everything up on the centerline.  They want the hands to break in good tempo, etc etc.

At SSI we are wondering about his Center of Gravity (CG):

• Where is it?  Is it as low as possible -- "keeping weight underside" -- given that he's "standing tall"?
• Does it flow from his back TOE as he drives?
• Does it gain momentum in a smooth fashion?
• Does he tilt the back of his skull even fractionally backwards of his CG, creating vertigo?
• Is the ball spiritually connected to his CG, as if he "likes" the baseball?
• etc. 
• etc.