Not sure how *COUGH*, but a couple weeks ago Chipola College in Marianna, Florida, sent out a press release that slipped across the interweb, unnoticed by us,j announcing the return of alumni Jose Bautista for their annual home run derby.
WTVY.com, of nearby Dothan, AL, picked up the release and posted it on January 28th, and today Twiterrer @SlaytonT1 tweeted out the picture above, confirming (y’know, assuming it’s not from a previous year’s event), that the Jays’ slugger is indeed at the event, swinging a bat. And, damn it, it’s great to see– assuming of course that Bautista, whose request to play for the Dominican Republic in next month’s World Baseball Classic was denied by the club– has gotten all his permission slips signed.
Of course, we’d already heard reports that he’s been swinging, and with only meatballs being tossed his way, it’s not exactly like he’s facing the kind of live pitching the Jays were hoping to ease him into over the course of camp. So… uh… I’m sure it’s all good. Actually Jose retweeted it, too, so… obviously it is.
And actually, you can tell from this clip of last year’s event that he’s wearing something different in the pitcure above– and also that he was using an aluminium bat back then, too. Which is just kinda ridiculous to contemplate.
Apparently he also threw a bullpen session, as well…
Just watched @joeybats19 throw a pen… And yes I would drop a bomb… But still very impressive
— Chase Davidson (@DavidsonChase) February 9, 2013
Crotch grab in the direction of @jefflewis21 for the tip.
Am I the only one concerned that the $65M man is not wearing a helmet?
Yes.
Watch the clip from the year before and your concerns will disappear. They’re not throwing hard.
Considering how stringent mega-million-dollar contracts are when it comes to off-season activities I guess I’m more surprised now than concerned, especially seeing those lobs from last year.
Fair enough. Don’t think they wear them in the MLB HR Derby either.
Or everyday during the season when they hit BP
There’s a reason they have BP caps, the players wear them during BP.
Not helmets.
True, but insurance would cover any injuries that take place at the stadium while doing MLB-approved baseball activities, not pre-Spring Training.
I’m just as glad as anyone to see Bautista hit live baseballs. Was just intriguing to me.
Jose swinging a lumee?? That is mind boggling.
Did he win?
That’s what I wanna know
fucking right he won wooo!! wooo!!
Three more days……
http://ca.sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mlb-big-league-stew/gun-accident-red-sox-prospect-bryce-brentz-shoots-192035731–mlb.html
Suck it, Farrell.
That’s going to one big clusterfuck this year
Lets get them golf mats permenently installed for all games. HR’s will go up in numbers and they”ll keep Laurie from trying to steal home theis year
Over at SI the first Power Rankings are in. Obviously, they mean nothing. But it’s nice to see the Jays at #5, with the rest of the AL East at #s 6, 13, 14, & 18 !!!
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/mlb/news/20130207/mlb-offseason-power-rankings/?sct=hp_wr_a1&eref=sihp
I wonder if SI has abandoned the fangraphs calculated , WAR based,pythag win method,that they used last year, for their power rankings?
Not trying to start a flame war over it, but it is curious.
Your condescension every time you mention pythagorean wins probably deserves a flame war, though. You got your 2013 Orioles playoff tickets yet?
I thought you took weekends off.
Didn’t buy Orioles 2013 playoff tickets.
Didn’t buy them in 2012 when the Pythag Wins said they’d never make the playoffs.
Guess you’ll have to fall back on the “outlier” excuse.
Or when KC actually rose in ranking from 11th to 7th after losing TEN games in a row.
7
Last Week: 11
Kansas City Royals
WAR Winning Percentage: .544; Current Winning Percentage: .200; WAR Wins: 8; Current Wins: 3
Here’s a case where a team’s WAR winning percentage can be more telling than its current record. Judging by wins and losses alone, the Royals have been atrocious. But their offensive line of .254/.316/.408 is pretty close to league average and their pitching hasn’t been disastrous. The problem has been when the hits have come: Kansas City has hit just .198 in high-leverage situations. The Royals don’t have to play much better in order to start winning games — they just need to start coming through in the clutch.
Read More: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/baseball/mlb/04/23/mlb.power.rankings/index.html#ixzz2KZJLUbys
So does it makes sense that a team with a 3 and 12 record ,RISES in ranking based on their Pythag Win totals?They went on to be swept by the Jays and lose 2 more for a total of 12 in a row.If they could’ve been more “clutch”,according to the author, ( which doesn’t exist supposedly).they coulda won more.
This was the 7th best team in baseball?
BTW. This is Fangraphs based WAR stat that is used to calculate the Pythag Wins.
There’s more examples. Call me a cynic until I see more proof that the stat is a true predictor..
Pythagorean record didn’t suggest at all that the Orioles would never make the playoffs, it suggested that they were not as good as their record. Big difference. The longer a Pythag. overperformance lasts, the more time it will take for the record to find a truer equilibrium with the talent on the roster, and the O’s overperformed for long enough that the regular season ended while they were still ten games better than what they’re Pythagorean record said. As a big stats guy, you should know this.
As for the SI ones, they abandoned them in September of last year, probably because it hurt peoples’ brains. The last one they had isn’t as truly awful as your example makes it seems– of course, with a sample size that small, there’s going to be weird fluctuations in the data to be ironed out (but as a big stats guy, I’m sure you know this). Their top five were playoff teams, 6-7-8 were a little weird with Arizona, Anaheim (who missed the playoffs but had a better record than Detroit) and Boston. The next three listed were playoff clubs, followed by Tampa. The bottom group looks fine enough, and so does the middle– though it contains playoff-bound Baltimore and Oakland, who are ranked pretty reasonably, talent-wise.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/baseball/mlb/08/20/fangraphs-power-rankings-week-19/index.html
I would never call myself a “big stats guy”,at least not compared to many on this site,including yourself and Drew.But that doesn’t mean I ignore them either.They’re a tool.
Stats are used to evaluate performance and aid in predicting future performance.
But when the numbers don’t add up and the wrong conclusions are drawn, the evaluation methods should be questioned.
When the stats don’t coincide with reality, then common sense must prevail.Instead of feverently defending the stats as the only truth perhaps there are other factors that weren’t considered in the formulas.
WAR is used to compare players across all of baseball and across all eras.It’s useful but some use it as an absolute without realizing the data gathered to calculate the value can be skewed,due to do the differences in environment and situations.
Does that mean WAR is useless?Not at all,but to blindly say it’s the absolute difinitive of a player’s worth and should remain as the ultimate in player evaluations,flies in the face of common sense.
You think Pythag Wins is an effective,valuable stat that should be unquestioned?
I disagree because I’ve seen it disproved too many times.
In the zeal to find conformity,people see what they want.
When it works uniformly ,I’ll believe
To me,when it comes to Pythag Wins, the “Emperor has no clothes”.
Jesus fuck RADAR for the millionth time, NO ONE claims WAR is definitive anything, or the be all, end all stat. Stoeten doesn’t and neither does anyone else that wouldn’t be laughed off this board, or any other that doesn’t end in SN. You’re arguing against shadows man.
Uh oh. Now he’ll incur the College HR Derby Curse.
Beautiful.
It seemed to me that Baistista’s swing became more violent after he took part in the Home Run Derby last year. Hopefully, he doesn’t injure himself again.
It’d be interesting to compare the GIF’s of his swing before and after the derby to see if it actually changed.
I really wish Jose would stop participating in HR Derbies.
Yes to that!
With all this off-season action, people Forgot About J.O.S.E.
clearly this guy isn’t Louie CK…
Here’s the guy from Bluebird Banter with some notes on a recent talk Beeston gave:
http://www.bluebirdbanter.com/2013/2/10/3971316/paul-beeston-goes-to-class-speaks-about-the-blue-jays
Apparently he said the dome with need $250 mil of renovations/retrofit in the next decade.
New stadium would cost upwards of double that right?
double at the minimum, if a new stadium was a remote possibility where would the location be? the dome is in a great location just kinda wished they had made it an outdoor stadium.
Portlands. New transit and development going up, it could revitalize the area. And with the new transit it’s a very short ride from downtown.
Synergies man.
I think Jose Bautista with bat in hand wins a fight with a T-Rex, Velociraptor or a Stegosaurus. He probably loses to a Dilophosaur though, those fuckers can spit poison 20 yards. That’s how they got Newman.
Phht 20 yards? As in the distance from the pitchers rubber to home plate? I think Jose’s got that one.
Jose Home run total over/under 45?
I’d take the under on that, and I won’t be the least bit upset about it.
Yup. Under. I’ll take a raise in OBP though. Hit .275 and take some walks. Keep the line moving. That’d work for me.