AL Central
Guardians: K%
37-34, 3 games back of Twins

Despite having the youngest roster in baseball, the Guardians have been able to stay in contention for the American League Central crown on the back of solid, fundamental baseball. Even with their recent swoon, the "Guardiac Kids" still have the lowest strikeout rate in baseball (18.4%), something that’s been crucial to their success.

That plate discipline has been led by stalwart José Ramírez who, along with being tied for the Major League lead with a 7.5 percent strikeout rate, is batting .300 and is third in baseball in RBIs (63) and offensive WAR (3.9). Rookie Steven Kwan (who started the year on a historic swing-and-miss streak) is mere percentage points behind Ramírez with a strikeout rate of 7.6 percent.

While no other Guardian has a strikeout rate under 10 percent, they boast five batters with a strikeout rate under 20 percent -- a group that includes lineup regulars Amed Rosario, Josh Naylor and Myles Straw.

Low strikeout rate.... nice for stat heads.

The only stats that matter are wins.....usually reflected in runs scored- runs allowed.

Still need some guys with pop.

civ - tracking my prediction of Amed Rosario's trajectory:

Amed Rosario went 4-for-4 with two doubles, a walk, an RBI, a stolen base and two runs scored in Wednesday's 7-6 extra-inning win over the Twins.

ANALYSIS

Rosario is hot to end June, hitting safely in nine of his last 10 games. He's gone 18-for-40 (.450) in that span, though only four of those hits have gone for extra bases.

The shortstop has raised his batting average from .265 to .293 in that span, and he's up to a .723 OPS after Wednesday's impressive performance. He's added nine steals in 11 attempts, two home runs, 22 RBI and 39 runs scored through 285 plate appearances.

I know you say he is streaky and that point is well taken.

But in the end I see a .290ish hitter with bat skills of a #2 hitter. Busts his tail down the line for infield hits and steals bases. And again he is only 26 - still just entering prime years.

Goes without saying the Lindor deal - so panned by everyone - looks better all the time since Gimenez alone for Lindor now looks like a steal if you include salaries. Even without salaries looking pretty damn good.

In Antonetti/Chernoff I trust.

I bring up GA to pair with AG and install Rosario as the DH. Franmil is so totally lost.

We can be sure that when Arias comes up [needs some more time in Columbus after missing nearly two weeks] Tito will do his wonderful mix and match with his lineup to get everyone who deserves reasonable amount of playing time. Rosario might be doing some time in LF instead of Clement

I am more impressed with Kwan in June than I was with Kwan in April. Then he was a hitter no one knew how to pitch to. Then they figured out how to pitch to him and his average crashed to earth [although still with few strikeouts]. Now like a good hitter he has responded and has had a great June. I'd be ok with some more doubles and triples but he really is a smart ballplayer.

How good is he in CF? They're not to get rid of Straw who is a great fielder on a 5 year deal, but is some platooning appropriate?

civ - if they get a hold of a BAT RF/LF you can bet they will consider Kwan in CF and Straw as 4th outfielder.

Someone mentioned that Nolan Jones tweaked his swing. His swing looks a lot like Joey Votto to me.

Votto https://twitter.com/i/status/1542701296695889927 also cool Votto high five of young fan

Nolan Jones https://twitter.com/i/status/1542676885938774016

no Gonzalez, second game no Naylor, not a heck of a lot of offense against a pair of unimpressive Tiger starters.
Owen Miller has stopped hitting and cannot field. I wish someone else had 1B experience --- Nolan Jones should start working at 1st;
Wills Brennan and Benson are worthy of shots in the majors but both his Left and our needs are from the right side.

I hadn't noticed how good [some of] McKenzie's stats have been this season, since the homeruns have compromised some of his efforts.
But among league leaders in:

WHIP 1.01 ranks 4th
Avg against ,201 ranks 4th

Despite those his ERA is only 16th, right behind Bieber
He's tied for 3rd with 16 home runs allowed
The shares of hits that go over the fence is just under 1/4: 16 of 67. There've also been 14 doubles and 2 triples. He is very difficult to single against, only 35 in 91 innings.

only run of the game for the Royals was set up by another Owen Miller error at 1st base. Defense really matters to me [why I'm patient with Straw and Hedges]. I'm getting tired of Miller.

4 errors at 1st; 3 at 2nd Fielding pct 986 and 956 respectively. Are those exceptional? Don't know.

Naylor who's no defensive wizard either has 5 errors at 1st and 985 pct, perhaps his injury is partly to blame.
Giminez's 6 errors at 2nd reflect a 973 pct.
allegedly slick fielding Clement has 3 errors at 2nd and a 929 fielding avg. Interesting.

So when the site is out of commission does someone actively engage with the masterminds and start it up again, or does it just happen?

I sent a couple of e-mails to Ryan Bauman the site administrator as a reminder. He has to do something yearly to keep the sites up.

I sent him a couple of emails last year to change the name of the forum and he didn't respond. I guess he likes the current name.