MLB Daily Notes - June 11
A daily automated report of what happened yesterday in Major League Baseball, along with other recent trends and further analysis
Check out yesterday’s box scores here
The Daily Notes are the flagship resource of MLB Data Warehouse. Every morning, Jon breaks down the current goings on in the fantasy baseball world, and an automated daily report gets you up to date on key stats and trends. Become a paid subscriber at MLB Data Warehouse to get this unlocked in your inbox every morning!
So there is one very large problem happening. The Tableau dashboards will not refresh. Yesterday, the MLB & MiLB Stats Dashboard refreshed fine, it was just the “main” one that wasn’t working. I thought it was just Tableau having a network blip and it would be fixed today, but the problem remains - and now none of them can refresh.
And that really screws me up. I use those dashboards for basically everything I do, and I know several hundred of you out there are using the dashboards all of the time. I’ve tried different stuff to fix it with no success. I’m still thinking/hoping it will just get fixed on the Tableau side and we’ll be okay in the next day or two.
But if anybody out there has any specific Tableau troubleshooting knowledge, let me know.
I seem to be hanging by a branch here. I’ve built a lot of this business on the Tableau dashboards. And I don’t pay for Tableau (their licenses are insanely expensive - meant for big businesses rather than people like me). So it’s always been possible that those dashboards just stop working overnight. And then what? There are other options, I know, but to have to learn something new and recreate the hundred or whatever dashboards I’ve got now… sounds like something I really don’t want to do.
And with my real job too… I feel like that’s kinda hanging in the balance. I’ve been fully remote for six years now. I moved away from Pittsburgh in 2020 and they were fine with remote people back then, obviously, but they’ve shifted completely back to wanting people in the office. And I am not moving back to Pittsburgh. So I’m pretty sure, eventually, they’re not going to need me anymore and they’ll be fine letting me go since I’m fully remote and they don’t like that.
So if anybody out there is looking to hire a [fully remote] numbers dude like me who can write and make some jokes, you let me know.
Pitchers
The Google Sheet stuff is still working fine. So we can see this:
It was a sick start from Rasmussen. 21 outs, 13 strikeouts, one walk, two hits. That’s one of the best outings you’ll see. The Red Sox are just having such a pathetic season.
And because of the Tableau problem, I’m forced to use somebody else’s work. You hate to see it.
But here’s the PitcherList card from Rasmussen’s start:
These are definitely the best version of these cards I’ve seen. I don’t think most people care about all of the movement data on the pitches, and these show you a bit more about the actual results. A 31% SwStr% on that cutter yesterday… 35% on the four-seamer. What was going on there?
Sometimes, everything just clicks and you get a little bit of luck on top of it. Rasmussen once again has an ERA below three, and this time his WHIP is so far below one.
He’s one of the best in the game.
Shota Imanaga had the bounce-back in Coors.
→ 5.0IP 2H 0ER 0R 7K 2BB
18 whiffs, 20% SwStr%, good stuff handling the Rockies.
I really don’t know how to write these notes without my dashboards, man.
Max Scherzer (3.33IP 5H 5ER 5R 4K 3BB): Simply one of the worst pitchers in the league now, and that’s a sad state of affairs for the future Hall of Famer. I wonder if anybody has ever pitched themselves out of the Hall Of Fame by just staying in the league too long?
MacKenzie Gore (5.0IP 8H 2ER 2R 6K 3BB): Kinda did fine, he’s just usually so inefficient that we’re not seeing him get past five innings very often, and the WHIP is always a disaster.
Jared Jones (4.0IP 3H 2ER 2R 4K 1BB): It was the Dodgers, and he wasn’t great in 75 pitches. A bad ball rate this time. We can always forgive dudes for starts against the Dodgers, but if you thought you had some SP2-SP3 on your fantasy team when Jones came back, I think you were wrong about that.
I got the Tableau back for my own use… I’ll publish these links later if the old one won’t start working again. Here’s Jones’ season:
The fastball isn’t getting strikes. A 42% Strike% isn’t good, and it’s not because of a super high ball rate (36% is fine), it’s just that it’s kind of a hittable pitch, I guess? A 12.5% SwStr% is a good sign, though. We’re talking about 88 pitches. The slider has been very, very good. And he’s throwing more changeups and curves this year, which he really needed to do. So I think he’s got plenty of upside and all the talent and stuff in the world. But it’ll be hit-or-miss. He’s going to walk some guys and he’s going to give up some homers. And with the pitch counts being 77, 74, and 75 so far - you wonder if there’s not going to be a limit around 80-85 all season long.
Jesus Luzardo (5.67IP 4H 1ER 1R 8K 4BB): The walks bit him there and got him out after just 5.2. But Luzardo has been mostly good for a while now. Funny enough, his peripherals have been worse as his box score results have been better. 24% K-BB% in the first part of his season and it’s just 16% for the last eight starts.
Davis Martin (6.0IP 6H 0ER 0R 6K 0BB): Your boy Davis Martin outdueled Chris Sale.
Chris Sale (5.67IP 6H 2ER 2R 6K 1BB): Fine start there, but not a dominant start. He was a bad DFS play, it turned out. He’s given up a .432 BABIP in his last two starts now, but a higher .292 xBA as well. So hitters have been on him more in the last couple.
Jake Bennett (5.0IP 7H 4ER 4R 4K 1BB): I guess the Red Sox are going to give Bennett some run. It came out yesterday that Crochet’s injury is really bad and they have “no idea” when he’ll throw again. So it seems pretty likely to me that we won’t see Crochet again this year. It looks like Bennett sucks:
George Kirby (6.0IP 7H 3ER 3R 10K 3BB): There’s some Kirby K’s! Still a pretty mediocre 12.5% SwStr%, but the pitches were landing and he had a great outing.
Reid Detmers (7.0IP 1H 1ER 1R 9K 0BB): Is he just a stud pitcher? He has the 8th best K-BB% among SPs in baseball since May 1st. 32% K%, 8% BB%… he now has 36 strikeouts and five walks in his last four starts. Since May 24th, he has a 1.73 ERA with a 0.54 WHIP and a 39.6% K% (four starts). Looking pretty studly to me.
Shohei Ohtani (6.67IP 6H 3ER 4R 6K 3BB): The PIRATES got to him. Only 11 whiffs, a bad 41.2% Strike%. Took his ERA the whole way up to 1.06!
Parker Messick (5.67IP 5H 4ER 5R 4K 3BB): The league might be kinda figuring the kid out. He has a 21% K% with a 9% BB% and a 3.98 JA ERA in his last five. He’s still getting weak contact over this time (.299 xwOBA), but the nastiness factor is gone and the strikeouts have dried up. That was actually something we predicted, but we’re seeing it happen pretty significantly lately.
Ryne Nelson (4.0IP 8H 7ER 7R 2K 1BB): Guy can get tanked with the best of them. That was his second trip below zero fantasy points scored, and his seventh time at or below ten points, which is a bad start.
Robbie Ray (5.67IP 7H 5ER 5R 3K 0BB): He’s been a little better lately but still not looking hard to hit at all. Three strikeouts, six whiffs, seven hits, five earned. He’s toast.
