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Jose Campos - Inner Attitude

 

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In the picture leading yesterday's article, as well as in the picture here, Campos' lead palm is facing the baseball.  The picture posted yesterday conveys a much better impression of Campos' relaxed attitude.

The palms-connected-by-a-string motion creates --- > a "dynamic spiral" within the plane of Campos' shoulder turn.  His shoulders, arms and hands are in harmony with the single intent of his mind.

Other examples ... the two-handed SpockPunch, or any golf swing, or watch a tennis player "gather" his groundstroke with his lead arm.

The alternative would be to have the glove facing the plate, "greedily" reaching out to grab it.  The idea is that Campos is getting himself under control first, before worrying about a rush to grab his object.

We Rrrrr $parta!, Dept.

I/O:  Boston gives up ....

(1) the Eastern League's Flying Mothra Conflagration, a/k/a Video Game Chiang, and .... (2) Trayvon Robinson* for ... ?

.... a tragedy of Bostonian proportions.  

As with Michael Vick, the curse of the Bambino was banned only for the short run.  I'd like a WtPAIN metric on Boston's disappointments.  Wouldn't this one make the top five?

CRUNCH:  Erikkk doesn't look likely to return to Boston, now does he?  And he'd never play in New York.

Luckily for his arm, he misses the high-stress playoff performances, meaning that his arm has light mileage going into ST next year.

Alex Liddi: Proceed to Level 202 Scan (Dean Palmer comp)

 ... I knocked off the Liddi "POTD" in a cursory fashion, having watched him for one game and having spent about 10 minutes thinking about him.

Liddi fanboyz were quick to declare unto me the Cheney word more perfectly, notably Lonnie and Malcontent.  Lonnie assures me that the Wells-type scatter chart doth not apply, and Malcontent presses the differences with just as much gusto:

If you let go of Liddi's April and look at his season in progress, Liddi was much better than his overall season suggests, his post April OPS was .857 (compared to his overall .821), his strike out rate was 25.9% instead of 27%.  In fact, his strike out rate fell every month:

POTD Alex Liddi (bat)

 Q.  Why do you say Casper Wells at the plate?

A.  Only because everything's the same.

Similar size, similar body type, same natural power where if either man connects with a pitch (THWOCKKK) the ball travels a considerable distance over the fence.

Similar flat-arc'ing RH swing shapes.  Similar desire to pull everything over the LF fence.  Similar compact paths to the ball -- both men prefer to let their muscles, not their backswings, do the talking.

Similar K/BB ratios at the same age ....

POWER hitters or GOOD hitters?

 ....... 

Good read from Geoff Baker on the need for power hitting in modern baseball.

There is no dout about the Corner Power historical trend in baseball. In my view, the Corner Power imperative is driven by these laws of baseball physics:

MAJOR LAW:  You want good hitters at the corners.

MINOR LAW:  If you don't have tough RBI men, your chest is going to collapse.  Somewhere in that 162-game stretch.

MINOR LAW:  If you don't have tough RBI men, you get pitched differently and your synergy is negative - your players have bad years together.

COROLLARY:  Good hitters are power hitters.  At a correlation level of about 0.80.

You need good hitters at bat positions, and 25+ homers is the reliable way to get a "good hitter."  That's all.

Carp 34 RBI in 38 games since callup

 .......... 

"RBI" being a dirty word to saber-only folks, but to Eric Wedge, Carp's RBI are one manifestation of the fact that Mike Carp enjoys bare-knuckle fighting.

Angels up by one run late, bring in Downs precisely to face Mike Carp, and how many times did we see the May-June ballclub roll over and die right there?

***

It was one of Bill James' earliest insights that, in 1978 --- > the RBI stat was overrated.   And that "clutch hitting" was overstated.

POTD Jose Campos: Saber Corner

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=== Jose Campos, Saber Corner ===

The 18-year-old Campos right now has -- embellishing just a tad -- 10.0 strikeouts, 1.0 walks, and 0.0 homers in the low-A Northwest League.  

Considering the strength of opposition, what sense do you make of that?

An accomplished pitcher, a 23-year-old, will sometimes run crazy numbers in a league that low.  Royce Ring would fan 82 men and walk 11 in that league.  Matthew Bischoff, age 24, is running a 23:3 CTL this year.

The item out of alignment here?  Is for an 18-year-old flamethrower to be running K/BB's as though he were Roy Halladay.  That, you don't see.

 

Here is the Rangers' NWL affiliate.  Find the Vicente Campos there.  Nope.

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Wilhelmsen for 5 SP

Spec sez,

You're forgetting one [in your rookie rundown] ... Tom Wilhelmsen, take two

7 G, 12.1 IP, 9 H, 4 ER, 0 HR, 4 BB, 14 K

2.92 ERA, 1.05 WHIP, 0.0 HR/9, 2.92 BB/9, 10.22 K/9

He didn't make the highlights, so I don't know what he looked like, but Gameday sez:

97, 95, 81, 97 (1 out)

96, 79, 96, 81 (2 outs)

97, 80, 96, 81, 98, 97, 97 (3 outs)

Ruffin and Lueke have been 93-95 while Wilhelmsen has been 95-97.

Didn't make the highlights, eh ... Dr. D and Mrs. D had the pleasure of watching Mr. Martini live with a monitor in line of sight, and GameDay did not do him justice ...

Wilhelmsen was 96-97 standin' still, and this time when he came back with the 81 hook they just watched it go by.  For a few batters, he was Josh Beckett.  They were utterly locked up on anything offspeed.  (GameDay shows one called strike on the yakker, but there were two others that froze the batters and the ump didn't call the strikes.)

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