As the baseball season ends today, one of the rituals of this time is to look at the numbers that appear on the screen. For most of the last month, it was Aaron Judge. Whether it’s the number of home players he hits – or more often, it’s simply the distance from him to the second-place total, which is Kyle Schwarber who owes about 20 home players. home. That’s how Judge is much more powerful. But there could be another more impressive figure.
That’s six, and that’s the complete number of games Sandy Alcantara of the Miami Marlins has rotated this season. You may not have heard much about it, because it takes place in Miami, where baseball takes place in a pool that lacks sensation (the stadium even looks like one). The Marlins (68-93 as of Tuesday night) remains irrelevant, but that doesn’t detract from Alcantara’s performance.
Six complete games in a season doesn’t sound like much, but like Judge’s total, it’s important to watch the atmosphere unfold. Ball players are usually not allowed past the sixth inning, much less the route. Hell, even pitchers were embroiled in bids that didn’t hit the target. Alcantara’s six complete games is the most in eight years, since Clayton Kershaw also threw six complete games in 2014. Even in those eight years, the aversion to letting any pitcher see the lineup for the first time. third has grown exponentially. Judge’s home runs are impressive because of the way the game is played today, with the baseball having the damper that allows for the devilish magic most pitchers can deliver. Even the painkillers you’re sure out of the single-player folder have sliders for turning left or right, or fast orbs that squeak so loud you need earplugs. Alcantara can hit all 27 regular outs when managers have the most itchy, hard-to-reach trigger fingers with those painkillers, no less than a zig-zag when baseball has zagged.
As long as Babe Ruth’s name keeps popping up in a discussion, it’s a sign of him hitting more hosts than any team in a number of years. Alcantara has done just that this season, launching two more comprehensive games than any other team has done this whole season. When Kershaw did that in 2014, six teams matched his total or exceeded it. This is still really impressive from Kershaw, but obviously, Alcantara’s total top 29 other teams stand alone. When Kershaw throws six complete sets, there are five other throwers in one or two of his sets. Alcantara has doubled the next pitcher on the list – Houston’s Framber Valdez – but even with one saver rather than five, being close to him gives you some idea of how rare pitchers are Ball can even try this.
Additionally, Alcantara will lead the league in throws, and he will do so 23 turns against Aaron Nola. No one has topped the play chart so much since Roy Halladay in 2003. when he tops the 25 innings list and throws 268. Alcantara will only throw 228.2, but that’s the game today. Within the tight walls of pitchers, that’s how Alcantara took the lead on the field.
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Alcantara also doesn’t generate a lot of buzz because he doesn’t strike out a ton of hitters. His K-rate was 23 percent, which is more than decent, but only ranks 20th among qualified starters. Alcantara has great walk numbers, only allowing free passes to 5.6 percent of the hitters he sees. But again, that only ranks 14th.
Alcantara’s success is based on getting a ton of grounders (53.4 percent, good for fourth) and hardly ever giving up hard contact. Alcantara ranks fifth among starters in barrels per plate appearance, and fourth in launch-angle against.
Alcantara gets these numbers with a sinker somehow turns into a bowling ball somewhere on the journey to the plate. His submersible has an average launch angle of -5 degrees, which causes it to hit the dirt right in front of the plate quite a bit. His shift too, he actually throws more than sinks. Making it more unfair is that Alcantara’s sunken ship averages 97.1 MPH when diving-bomb to the bottom of the kneecap. You have to catch it before you can worry about lifting it, which you can’t. If you need visual assistance:
If you time the submersible and catch up to its motion, the shift will emerge from the same tunnel and also have the same transverse break – it’s only six to seven MPH slower, which is why. why fans flock to it 34 percent of the time. Based on Baseballthere is no more valuable change in the game, about 10 runs are worth better than the next one on the list!
Alcantara will run away with NL Cy Young, as he should, as he is second in the ERA in the NL behind Julio Urias, but has thrown nearly 60 more innings, and his bWAR is miles ahead of anyone else .
What will be interesting will be how the change ban affects Alcantara next season. The Marlins change the fourth highest percentage of the bats against them, and Alcantara is clearly dependent on the platforms he gives up to vacuum. Perhaps the grounders he sees now dribbling through the first and second middle holes will be canceled by someone on the left side of the field against the lefties, but we don’t. know. Alcantara has always run BABIP below average and just as strong (.262 this season). It’s possible that Alcantara will throw his Ks on the counter-attack, but in a sense, Alcantara is the team that MLB is targeting indirectly with their changeover.
