Episode 1391: Down Goes Frazier

Summary[]

Ben Lindbergh and Sam Miller review Sam’s latest observations on Jeff Sullivan-era EW episodes, including musings on Ketel Marte, the worst team draft of all time, and Johnnie LeMaster, then banter about Shohei Ohtani’s tools, Todd Frazier’s wild swings, Max Scherzer’s nose-breaking bunting practice, and Mickey Callaway’s odd pitching-change justification. They also answer listener emails about Scott Rolen and aliens, the Angels and the .500-est teams of all time, the Houdini-esque masters of escaping bases-loaded, no-outs jams, and a stolen base that wasn’t one, plus a Stat Blast about Ryne Sandberg and the rise of Rynes.

Topics[]

Scott Rolen and introducing aliens to baseball
Tracking people and players named after Ryne Sandberg
The most .500 teams of all time
Escaping a bases-loaded, no-out jam without giving up a run
Mickey Callaways' strange pitching change justification
Rules on getting credited for a stolen base

Banter[]

Sam continues to listen to previous episodes of the podcast featuring Jeff Sullivan. He criticizes Ben's Stat Blast in Episode 1335, saying that Ben could have gotten the information manually instead of asking Dan Hirsch.
Sam is impressed with Jeff's prediction in Episode 1152 of Ketel Marte as a breakout player.
Sam reviews some of the worst drafts ever including by the Reds in the early 2000s.
After listening to Episode 1330 Sam tells the story of how his mother (an antiques dealer) once sold something to Johnnie LeMaster and his wife. Meeting LeMaster got Sam's dad interested in baseball, and he in turn introduced Sam to the game.
Can Shohei Ohtani be considered a five-tool player without playing in the field?
Reviewing Todd Frazier and Kevin Pillar's terrible swings
Max Scherzer broke his nose while bunting during batting practice

Email Questions[]

Steve: "I play a lot of Out of the Park Baseball which, in case you've never played, displays interesting stats and funny baseball quotes on its loading screens. One of these that I see all the time is the following, attributed to former Reds assistant GM Bill Bavasi: "If an alien dropped down from Mars and asked what a baseball player is, I'd tell him 'Watch Scott Rolen.'" My question is three fold: what exactly is Bavasi trying to convey with this hypothetical? Is Scott Rolen a good choice to get across whatever point Bavasi is trying to make? And, if put in the situation of trying to explain a ball player to a Martian, what one player would you tell them to go watch?"
James: "After Friday night's come-from-behind win over the A's, the Angels are once again a .500 team. It's the 24th time they've been at .500 this season, or so the broadcasters told me at the end of the game. The record is apparently 25. For nearly all of this season, the Angels seem to have been within five games of .500. I believe they were within 4 games of .500 from mid-May through the end of June, if not through the break. My question is this: Are the 2017 Angels the .500-est team ever? How do they compare historically to other teams in terms of their proximity to .500 for such a long stretch?"
Paul (Austin, TX): "Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch has taken to calling a particular pitching situation a "Houdini". It's when a relief pitcher enters with the bases loaded, nobody out, and escapes without allowing a run. Since Houdini was never a ballplayer, my question is whether Sam can determine if there is a pitcher in history who has done this enough times to have it named after him."
Chris: "I was at the Orioles vs. Red Sox game yesterday when something strange happened. In the second inning, Dylan Bundy ran the count full against Sandy Leon with two outs and Jackie Bradley Jr. on first and Michael Chavis on third. Naturally, Bradley got set to run on the pitch. But Leon proceeded to foul off the next four pitches, with Bradley running on each of them. By the fifth pitch, it was clear Bundy had stopped paying any attention to Bradley. As he got set, Bradley took off. Bundy remained set for a lengthy amount of time. During this period, Bradley easily arrived at second - indeed, if I remember correctly, he even briefly paused on the base and then proceeded to round it before Bundy finally raised his leg and delivered to the plate. Bradley had clearly arrived safely at second and even advanced beyond it before Bundy had began his motion. The next pitch was ball four to Leon. But instead of crediting Bradley with a stolen base, the official play by play from the game states that JBJ advanced to second on Leon's walk. But that isn't true! He stole second of his own accord, and deserves credit for doing so. Why was this not a stolen base?"

Stat Blast[]

The name Ryne

Sam's Stat Blast was prompted because he had been looking up facts about Ryne Sandberg. Sam learned that Ryne Sandberg was named after Ryne Duren.
Sam uses government name data to track the rise of Ryne as a name. The name first appeared in the 1,000 most frequent in 1984, staying until 1995 (when Sandberg retired for the first time).
Ryne was most frequently a name the year after Sandberg's MVP season.
Sam finds a .87 (very strong) statistical correlation between the number of newborns named Ryne and Sandberg's tailing two year WAR.
There are 19 Rynes in professional baseball, approximately 1% of all Rynes born during Sandberg's career.

Teams within 5 games of .500

Ben has two Stat Blast segments inspired by listener emails.
The 2017 Angels were within five games of .500 every game of the season.
The 1991-93 Cubs were within five games of .500 for 399 games during a three season span.

Escaping bases loaded no out jams

861 times in the 'RetroSheet Era' there has been a pitcher who escaped a bases-loaded, no-out jam without giving up a run.
Alan Embree escaped such a jam six times in his career. No other pitcher has more than four.
Editor's note: Reddit calculated results if you include Houdini escapes that the pitcher got himself into.

Notes[]

When talking about how he'd explain baseball to aliens, Sam describes uniforms as pajamas.
Ben refers to the rise of players name Ryne as a 'Rynessance'.
James' question was originally emailed in 2017.