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ReasonablySober wrote:Fangraphs had Willy's contract projection being six years and $150 million. So yea, no chance he's back.

That said, the Brewers would take an absolutely most hit in public over moving him. It sucks, but I see them riding out the year and getting a comp.

Thunder Muscle wrote:Is Gasser going to start or be in the bullpen?

The anti-Stanton
On the other end of the spectrum is San Diego Padres craftsman Luis Arraez, who can add a new title to his two batting crowns: the slowest bat in baseball. Arráez's bat speed of 62.3 mph lags more than 2 mph behind the second-most languid, Cleveland Guardians outfielder Steven Kwan, and the two are perhaps the best examples of what players without elite bat speed can do to continue thriving in the big leagues.

Arráez and Kwan are part of the cohort of controlled, short swings that get squared up with a phenomenal amount of regularity. Arráez's swing is just 5.9 feet and Kwan's 6.4. In the group of sub-68-mph bat speed and sub-6.4-foot swing length are Milwaukee Brewers second baseman Brice Turang (128 OPS+), Yankees outfielder Alex Verdugo (107) and Toronto Blue Jays DH Justin Turner (111), all of whom are productive offensive players.

One might suggest it's in spite of their swings, but perhaps it's better to start treating it like it's because of them. Arráez leads MLB by squaring up the ball on 43.9% of his swings. To determine whether a pitch has been squared up, the system takes two variables -- bat speed and pitch speed -- and determines the maximum exit velocity. Then it takes the actual EV on a batted ball and compares it to the peak. If it's at least 80% of the top-end number, it is deemed to be squared up, because only balls that hit the bat's sweet spot can produce 80%-plus velocities.

When hitters square up a ball, they bat .372 and slug .659. When they don't, they hit .127 and slug .144. In other words, even if neither possesses much power, appreciate Arráez, Kwan and others for what they are: masters of the art of hitting.

The best hitter in baseball nobody knows
He's got more blasts than Soto and Ohtani.

Only four players have squared up more balls than him, and each is a multi-time All-Star.

He doesn't even swing, on average, as hard as his brother. But that doesn't matter, because William Contreras -- the Brewers' catcher, younger sibling of St. Louis Cardinals catcher Willson Contreras -- does plenty of damage with a 74-mph effort. Not only is the 26-year-old Contreras atop the list of blasts, it's not particularly close: His 57 are ahead of Soto's 49 and Ohtani's 46, and his big league-best blast rate of 34.8% is 2½ times the major league average of 13.7%.

The reason for Contreras' success is clear: He swings hard, hits the ball very hard and doesn't strike out much (sub-20% punchout rate on the season). It's an exceptional combination of skills, and to have maintained this offensive output playing every Brewers game, not to mention 33 of 40 at catcher, is MVP-caliber work.

ReasonablySober wrote:Takeaways from new Statcast MLB bat-tracking data

The anti-Stanton
On the other end of the spectrum is San Diego Padres craftsman Luis Arraez, who can add a new title to his two batting crowns: the slowest bat in baseball. Arráez's bat speed of 62.3 mph lags more than 2 mph behind the second-most languid, Cleveland Guardians outfielder Steven Kwan, and the two are perhaps the best examples of what players without elite bat speed can do to continue thriving in the big leagues.

Arráez and Kwan are part of the cohort of controlled, short swings that get squared up with a phenomenal amount of regularity. Arráez's swing is just 5.9 feet and Kwan's 6.4. In the group of sub-68-mph bat speed and sub-6.4-foot swing length are Milwaukee Brewers second baseman Brice Turang (128 OPS+), Yankees outfielder Alex Verdugo (107) and Toronto Blue Jays DH Justin Turner (111), all of whom are productive offensive players.

One might suggest it's in spite of their swings, but perhaps it's better to start treating it like it's because of them. Arráez leads MLB by squaring up the ball on 43.9% of his swings. To determine whether a pitch has been squared up, the system takes two variables -- bat speed and pitch speed -- and determines the maximum exit velocity. Then it takes the actual EV on a batted ball and compares it to the peak. If it's at least 80% of the top-end number, it is deemed to be squared up, because only balls that hit the bat's sweet spot can produce 80%-plus velocities.

When hitters square up a ball, they bat .372 and slug .659. When they don't, they hit .127 and slug .144. In other words, even if neither possesses much power, appreciate Arráez, Kwan and others for what they are: masters of the art of hitting.

The best hitter in baseball nobody knows
He's got more blasts than Soto and Ohtani.

Only four players have squared up more balls than him, and each is a multi-time All-Star.

He doesn't even swing, on average, as hard as his brother. But that doesn't matter, because William Contreras -- the Brewers' catcher, younger sibling of St. Louis Cardinals catcher Willson Contreras -- does plenty of damage with a 74-mph effort. Not only is the 26-year-old Contreras atop the list of blasts, it's not particularly close: His 57 are ahead of Soto's 49 and Ohtani's 46, and his big league-best blast rate of 34.8% is 2½ times the major league average of 13.7%.

The reason for Contreras' success is clear: He swings hard, hits the ball very hard and doesn't strike out much (sub-20% punchout rate on the season). It's an exceptional combination of skills, and to have maintained this offensive output playing every Brewers game, not to mention 33 of 40 at catcher, is MVP-caliber work.

Hey ESPN finally figured out who William Contreras is.