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Box Score: Starting Pitcher: Pablo Lopez - 5.2 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 3 K (93 Pitches, 62 Strikes, 67%) Home Runs: Royce Lewis 2 (2) Top WPA: Lewis (.243), Lopex (.165), Griffin Jax & Jhoan Duran (.074) Win Probability Chart (Via Fangraphs): The Twins and Blue Jays split their season series thi...
What should the Twins do with Max Kepler?
Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports By now, we know that we shouldn’t trust early-season stat lines. We have seen too many fast April starts crash in May or June, too many batters or pitchers struggle in the first few weeks of a season, only to pick it up later down the road. There is a reason for that. Baseball is a game with a considerable degree of randomness involved; we need chunks of data to provide legitimacy to a specific player’s performance or stat line. The more data, the better. Here are some weird stat lines by Yankees’ players in the early going:
Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images The Yankees received very little production from their catchers in 2020. Gary Sánchez, the starter to begin the year, had a negative -0.1 fWAR in 49 games, with a paltry .147/.253/.365 line and a 69 wRC+ despite hitting ten homers. Kyle Higashioka replaced him in the lineup for most of the playoffs, but he only played in 16 regular season contests and is a career 55 wRC+ hitter. While Higashioka is a superior defensive option, especially at blocking balls in the dirt, he probably isn’t a viable long-term solution. Sánchez, on the other hand, still has ...