Buster Posey showed off some incredible reflexes to corral a ball in the dirt and throw out a runner | MLB.com

It cannot be repeated often enough, "You cannot run on Buster Posey!!" Even when you think you should be able to run on Buster Posey, you should not run on Buster Posey!! He's like a cat going after a mouse corralling that loose ball.



from MLB.com

Buster Posey showed off some incredible reflexes to corral a ball in the dirt and throw out a runner | MLB.com:

Buster Posey has been great his entire Major League career. He has a Rookie of the Year Award and an MVP Award. He's a five-time All-Star and has won the Silver Slugger Award four times. He's been so good for so long, it didn't seem possible for him to surprise us with his ability on the field.

On Sunday, however, Posey proved that greatness always finds a way to impress. With two outs in the ninth inning of the Giants' 9-5 win over the Rockies, a pitch in the dirt looked like it was going to get away from the Giants' catcher and allow Trevor Story to advance. Let's just say that it didn't quite work out that way:

'via Blog this'

OK, so this we know. What do we not know? We really don't know what we have with the 2018 Gigantes due to all the injuries and this game puts us at .500 through 48 games at 24-24. This game wasn't a "must game", but it was a game the Giants had to have. You cannot let the Rockies come in to your house and take three out of four. So, mission accomplished there.

We're all waiting for the wounded to return. Adding Bumgarner, Cueto, Panik, Williamson, Hanson and to a lesser degree Pence and Melancon will help. But how much?

If the returnees elevate the team from a .500 team to a .600 team, when do they need to start playing like one?

Now would be the immediate answer. A .600 pace the rest of the way, with 114 games left, gets you to 92-70. Playoffs!! Can you say Playoffs?

Even waiting another 7 games to get a kick from some of the returnees would take you from 31-31 to 91-71 in the remaining 100 games. Cool, not much of a decrease in our chances.

How about if we wait until the halfway mark? Play 41-41 for the first 82 games and then turn on the jets and win 49 of the next 82 gets you to 90 wins. Still a probable playoff spot, but not by much, right?

Somehow I feel as if the All-Star break is when you see the team that has to pull the train into the station, regular lineup in place and healthy. No turning back at that point, since 45-45 through the first 90 leads you to 88-74 with a .600 pace the rest of the way. That's not likely to make the playoffs, but it is possible.

Let's see what happens, but at least using math plus reasonable assumptions and past history as a guide as to probability of advancement, we shouldn't need to even consider panicking (What who me?? Panik??)

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No puede repetirse con la suficiente frecuencia, "¡No puedes correr en Buster Posey!" ¡¡Incluso cuando creas que deberías poder correr en Buster Posey, no deberías correr en Buster Posey !! Es como un gato que persigue a un ratón acorralando esa bola suelta.

OK, entonces esto lo sabemos. ¿Qué no sabemos? Realmente no sabemos lo que tenemos con los 2018 Gigantes debido a todas las lesiones y este juego nos pone en .500 a través de 48 juegos en 24-24. Este juego no era un "juego obligatorio", pero era un juego que los Gigantes tenían que tener. No puedes permitir que los Rockies entren a tu casa y tomen tres de cuatro. Entonces, misión cumplida allí.

Todos estamos esperando que los heridos regresen. Agregando Bumgarner, Cueto, Panik, Williamson, Hanson y en menor grado Pence y Melancon ayudarán. ¿Pero cuanto?

Si los repatriados elevan al equipo de un equipo de .500 a un equipo de .600, ¿cuándo deben comenzar a jugar como uno?

Ahora sería la respuesta inmediata. Un ritmo de .600 el resto del camino, con 114 juegos restantes, te lleva a 92-70. ¡Playoffs! ¿Puedes decir Playoffs?

Incluso esperar otros 7 juegos para obtener una patada de algunos de los retornados te llevaría de 31-31 a 91-71 en los restantes 100 juegos. Genial, no hay una gran disminución en nuestras posibilidades.

¿Qué tal si esperamos hasta la mitad del camino? Juega 41-41 para los primeros 82 juegos y luego enciende los jets y gana 49 de los siguientes 82 que te llevan a 90 victorias. Todavía es un lugar probable para los playoffs, pero no por mucho, ¿verdad?

De alguna manera siento como si el receso del Juego de las Estrellas fuera cuando ves al equipo que tiene que tirar del tren a la estación, alineación regular en su lugar y saludable. No hay vuelta atrás en ese punto, ya que 45-45 a través de los primeros 90 te lleva a 88-74 con un ritmo de .600 el resto del camino. No es probable que llegue a los playoffs, pero es posible.


Veamos qué pasa, pero al menos usando matemáticas más suposiciones razonables e historia pasada como guía en cuanto a la probabilidad de avance, no deberíamos siquiera tener que considerar entrar en pánico (¿Qué me di ?? Panik?)

Finding one stat to represent each Giants hitter - McCovey Chronicles

I'm not sure Giants fans needed a fancy computer to confirm this stat, but....He probably leads the majors in toppers back to the mound. Those two stats are probably highly correlated.

from McCovey Chronicles.com
Finding one stat to represent each Giants hitter - McCovey Chronicles:

Hunter Pence: 0 barrels
According to Statcast, in his 61 plate appearances in the majors so far this year, Hunter Pence has not barrelled up a single ball. Barrelling up a ball is a key part of hitting it hard, which Pence has had trouble with this year. This is the thing that you can see from home on TV. He’s just not hitting the ball like he used to.

'via Blog this'

Also, it's good to see the numbers confirm that Brandon Crawford is back to hitting the ball hard, Andrew McCutchen is really, really hitting the ball hard and often and Evan Longoria maybe should mix in a walk every now and again. And Belt, while he might not be Freddie Freeman, is still pretty darn good.

Also, not news that Kelby Tomlinson has no ISO. He's still pretty productive with his AB's. Buster Posey, only 2 HR's...really? Yeah, I guess I can believe that. He goes through this and then he'll go on a 2-3 week tear and gets back on pace for around 15 HR's. Not too worry....yet.

Giants rehabbing in Sacramento - McCovey Chronicles

The following Tweet from a fan show why you gotta love Hunter Pence, even if he's hitting .190 and topping to many grounder back to the pitcher. He's a team-first guy. We probably need more of those guys in management, but..


Plus he hustles and gives 100% like no other superstar south of Pete Rose. Maybe he should have been nicknamed "Hunter Hustle".


from McCovey Chronicles:
Giants rehabbing in Sacramento - McCovey Chronicles:

So Smith and Pence are both going to be back soon, Smith having aced every test he’s faced in AAA, and Pence still needing to eke out a few more C’s. Smith will return to a bullpen that needs him very badly, while Pence will have to fight Mac Williamson for playing time, though not literally, because, well:

Madison Marie Parks-Valetta@legaleagle88

A guy said to Pence, “you don’t want Mac to do too well.” And Pence said, “No, I want him to do excellent” with total sincerity.

7:45 PM - Apr 27, 2018

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Nick Hundley hits walk-off 2-run single

The Giants finish the month 15-14, over .500 mark, which is good for their confidence as they continue to paddle a boat made leaky by injuries.

from mlb.com
Nick Hundley hits walk-off 2-run single:

UP NEXT Giants rookie Andrew Suarez will receive his second career big league start in Tuesday's 7:15 p.m. PT encounter against the Padres and right-hander Tyson Ross. Suarez showed promise in his April 11 Major League debut against Arizona, allowing four runs in 5 1/3 innings but striking out seven while walking none.

Chris Haft has covered the Giants since 2005, and for MLB.com since 2007. 

'via Blog this'

This is the most telling statistic in the story:

The decision lifted the Giants over .500 (15-14) for the first time since the end of the 2016 season.

D.J. Snelten continues to do well and it's good to see Andrew Suarez get another opportunity tonight.

There are so many guys that fall in the category "What are you going to do with...." that it's hard to keep track of sometimes.

• Sam Dyson and now Cory Gearin in the bullpen. Josh Osich when he gets off the DL for that matter. 
• Hunter Pence .172 almost a negative OPS+. 
• Brandon Crawford .189 and falling by the day. Same near negative OPS+
• Negative OPS+ is pitchers as hitters territory. 

Hanson has filled in well at 2B, sam with Slater, but I still would like to see Panik and Williamson back ASAP, especially Williamson. His injury has eerie similarities to Jarret Parker running into the wall and never really coming back the same.

I think I could get comfortable with a  starting staff of Bum, Cueto, Shark, Stratton and Blach with Suarez and Beede knocking on the door. If Will Smith can get back to speed quickly and Snelten can keep performing well in spots, the bullpen could solidify although the need Gearrin back and Moronta to stay steady on the RH side of the ledger.

Keep paddling boys. help is on the way. (I hope)

Giants’ Mac Williamson does it again — homer beats Nationals - SFGate

It looks like the only thing that can slow Mac down is the Giants ridiculous on-field bullpen mound. and perhaps Hunter Pence's triumphant return to the lineup as rally-killer.

Remove the mound. Build a 21st century bullpen. Ignore the return of Pence as far as lineup changes go. We won't get Adam Duvall'd again.

from SFGate.com
Giants’ Mac Williamson does it again — homer beats Nationals - SFGate:

"The Giants have their first three-game win streak and their second consecutive series victory regardless of how they fare against Max Scherzer on Wednesday.

They have taken four of their past five games in a run fueled largely by homers from Williamson and Brandon Belt. On Tuesday, both homered in the same game for the first time."

'via Blog this'

6-9, dudes! - McCovey Chronicles

Let's do the math.
6-9 = .400 ball.

• .400 ball = 65-97 final record
• 65-97 record = zero improvement over last year. 
• Zero Improvement over last year = UNACCEPTABLE!!

from McCovey Chronicles:
Chroncast #76: 6-9, dudes! - McCovey Chronicles:

Yes, the Belt Wars get some play in this week’s episode, which is admittedly not the most topical discussion to have, but still feels pretty relevant to the first 3 weeks of the regular season. But rather than watch pitches go by, we take a swing at other topics including: did the Giants make a mistake sticking with Beede over Suarez? Is Mac Williamson simply too good to be on the Giants? Is the definitive Josh Osich the one we’re seeing now? We also tackle your Twitter questions.

'via Blog this'

• OK, Longoria and McCutcheon aren't going anywhere. 
• OK, Pence goes down to AAA, Williamson goes to AAAA or LF, whatever. 
• Whoever authorized keeping Beede over Suarez needs their head examined. 
• Whoever still sees something in Osich also needs their head examined. 

Belt is the least of the Giants many problems right now, although he has Joey Votto-itis minus the production. Swing the bat once in a while, you're not Ted Williams and the Moneyball - OBA love fest is over, replaced by exit velo and launch angle.

You get neither with the bat on your shoulders.

Oh, and fire Hensley Meulens, please.

Is the "Perfect Model" always perfect and the pitching guru wars

SMART POWER FOR PITCHERS: SMART POWER TRAINING SYSTEMS FOR PITCHERS

				SMART POWER FOR PITCHERS: SMART POWER TR... The following is a response from Paul Nyman to a post on the internet about over and underload training: The ...
				View on www.setpro.com	Preview by Yahoo

This was the tail end of one of my exchanges with Paul Nyman @ SETPRO one of the early pioneers in the pitching guru wars. He was pretty good with advanced training methods for hitters as well.

The following is a response from Paul Nyman to a post on the internet about over and underload training:

The Slav,

Words can be very difficult medium for communication. Stress for a marathoner is different than stress for a pitcher.

Stress to me means elevating the level of activity beyond the point of normal activity.

So if a person is normally throwing a baseball at 80 mph, we must find a way to elevate the stress on his body beyond the 80 mph level.

There is both physical and mental stress.

One of the least understood training issues is the need to create explosive "intent".

Without opening a can of worms, tribe999 asked the question of what is a difference in philosophy in between "other programs" and SETPRO's.

One significant difference is my belief that we need to train the intent to throw hard as opposed to following a mechanical sequence.

The way that pitching mechanics is being taught (in general) is by "picture association".

In other words a visual and verbal representation of the pitching process is used to convey the "external" picture (information) of the pitching process.

It is then left for the person doing is picture or reading the words to "internalize" this information into a sequence (motor program) of posture and muscular actions.

The problem with this is that a lot of the important information cannot be or should I say is not being transmitted by many of these pitching programs, pitching.com being one of them.

And it is not because they are intentionally doing this. It's because they just don't know how to create a richer picture (more information that can be used to more effectively create the internal actions necessary).

In short this is a long-winded way of my saying there's a difference between a pitcher being mechanical and having good mechanics (maximizing his potemtial).

I don't subscribe to the principal that if you work on your mechanics "that velocity will come".

Your velocity will not happen unless you make it happen.

If this occurs because of a specific pitching program, that all well and good.

But is not the pitching program that develops your velocity, it is YOU the player that develops the velocity.

The pitching program is/was only a means for you to achieve that.

I guess you might say that I have a more "holistic" approach to developing pitchers.

As opposed to the cure by "prescription" approach.

Anyway, back to the question of stress.

By definition as long as the effort to throw as hard as possible is there, throwing a different weight baseball has the possibility of creating greater stress.

One of the physiological aspects of the body that I don't think is really understood as much as it should by those who wish to improve their ballistic performance i.e. throwing or swinging a baseball bat, is a fact that muscular response is not linear to the force applied.

I see this phenomenon very clearly if you measure the velocity of a player throwing different weighted baseballs.

Many players can throw a 6 ounce baseball as hard (same velocity) as a five ounce baseball. Even though the 6 ounce baseball is 20 percent heavier than a five ounce baseball. This is a great illustration (to me anyways) that this particular player(s) is not trained to their maximum throwing capabilities.

The reason I say this is because with players that I work with who I believe are throwing a very high-level in terms of their potential, there is a noticeable or significant difference in velocity of their throwing a regulation five ounce baseball as compared to a 6 ounce baseball.

The same is true with them throwing a five ounce baseball as compared to a four ounce baseball.

So therefore players inability to throw a 6 ounce baseball almost as hard as a five ounce baseball indicates that there is undeveloped potential primarily in the form of neuromuscular capabilities.

And in fact significant gains can be made in short periods of time due to neuromuscular recruitment as opposed to developing additional muscle strength.

The intent to throw hard, the intent to swing hard is every bit if not more important than the actual building a strength of the muscle itself.

And we continue to "bump heads" with the specificity principal. Especially the higher we attempt to rise in our athletic capabilities.

I believe that longer durations or lower level throwing, and we have to be very careful asked what we mean by lower level, can be beneficial because my belief that prolong stress, assuming its above a certain level, will lead to physical adaptations in the form of increased tissue size (tendons and ligaments in particular).

And we have to be very careful in what is meant by duration and intensity.

But low level throwing will not in itself develop the neural systems to be explosive.

For those people or very involved in trying to understand how the body develops athletic power, there are different classifications for this power.

As example for football the training professional is more concerned with strength-speed development.

This is different than what the baseball trainer is concerned with for a pitcher, that being speed-strength development.

As far as Coop DeRenne's program, I think is a very good and very safe program to use.

I believe the SETPRO program goes beyond what DeRenne's program started (my sales pitch for today).

As far as MLB and college coaching and training philosophy, I agree 100 percent that their primary job is to maintain a player's ability to perform everyday. As opposed to maximizing their daily performance.

When I was in Atlanta at the National Strength and Conditioning Sport Specific Training Seminar for Baseball, the head training person for the Cleveland Indians said that if a player injured himself because he was doing something that the trainer recommended and was not part of the normal training routine for that athlete then the next day he would be out looking for a new job.

Dr. Frank Fultz of the Atlanta Braves related the same story about Chipper Jones. That Chipper Jones have to come to him and that Chipper have to take total responsibility for his decisions before Dr. Fultz would designed a more aggressive training program for Chipper. This training program resulted in Chipper Jones increasing his strength significantly and going from 20 plus homeruns to 50 homeruns the next season.

I have said hundreds of times that if you expect to perform at the highest level you have to accept the risk of this expectation.

But the key point is that it is "managed" risk.

You use sound training principles, something which most baseball people haven't or won't learn about.

Training principles that former "high jumpers" knew about thirty years ago.

Principles that former major league pitchers or s should I say say someone who pitched three innings in the Major Leagues has no idea about.

Slav, I'm sorry, your post was such a good one, good questions and no sarcasm, but I couldn't resist.

Paul Nyman

Theses discussions around a set of "perfect" pitching mechanics came back to me front and center when I heard Mark Prior on MLB/Sirius say that he "cringed" when he heard the term used to describe his mechanics.

https://www.si.com/thecauldron/2016/08/03/mark-prior-chicago-cubs-no-regrets

Given what happened, I still grimace when I think about those people who said I had perfect mechanics. The Kershaws, the Greinkes, the Arrietas — even they have times when their mechanics are off, and they are the best pitchers on the planet. As a pitcher, there are just times when you feel like you can’t sync up; when your sequence is off. That’s a big part of a pitcher’s responsibility: To execute and to find that groove. I never thought my mechanics were perfect. I just thought that I had a solid delivery that suited my body. I threw the way I had been taught; the way I had since I was six years old.

This was Tom House's doing, using words more to sell than to inform, but it is what it is. If I were to apply the term "perfect" to anyone's mechanics, and I would use the word optimal, it would be Nolan Ryan, who threw 95+ from 19 years old to 45 years old at the MLB level, without much injury down time, except his blister problems early in his career, which may have been related to his National Guard duties. Next, would be Tom Seaver. 

We've come full circle in trying to change arm-slots and mechanics around some pre-conceived models, that we almost ruined guys like Jake Arieta, Clayton Kershaw, Madison Bumgarner and others, who were changed, floundered and then insisted on their own that they were going to either succeed or fail by doing it "My Way" like Sinatra.

If it ain't broke, stop trying to break it! - CS