Jake

Was just reported on MLB Network that part of the drug testing agreement calls for an independent doctor to review cases like this to determine whether there was likely a legitimate medical use for the substance. Given that he was suspended, the doctor must not have been convinced.

105.6 off the bat there for Nicky. 73% hit probability per Statcast. Wrong ballpark/conditions to hit it there.

Here's Lucas's average release points this year. You can see the curve is release both much higher and earlier than the others. The slider is released earlier but coming from closer to the same spot in terms of left/right and up/down so is probably still hard to track out of the hand.

If I had to guess, I think it may mean the opposite. What we can't see in that chart is the distance from home but I suspect the reason the curveballs are higher release point is because he lets go of them sooner (before the arm is finished moving forward).

I'm having too much fun with Statcast, but if you wonder why nobody swings and misses at Lucas's curveball it's because its release is almost a foot higher than his fastball.

Fry managed to get 4 different pitch types into that one at bat. Last year I thought part of his problem was trying to use what was a pretty big repertoire even for a starter. But this year he's kept the 4-5 pitch mix and is dominating.

Fry's ability to mix up his pitches out of the pen is astounding to me

If you wonder whether the problem is Lucas's ability to repeat his release point... (this is just today) It is. Hendricks today for comparison:

Really playing with fire leaving Gio in here

Ricky's boys...don't...quit?

104 off the bat for Nicky. Little more lift and that's outta here

Birmingham with....Johnny Giavotella at 2B today.

I don't see how to adjust the number of posts shown per page. Is that still possible?

Hard to understand how the mechanics could be playing such a big role, but it's not impossible. Lucas is clearly a guy who spends most of his downtime thinking about what he needs to do and it wouldn't shock me if he's analyzed and tweaked himself out of the big leagues by now.

Giolito threw some four seamers at 89 that inning. Had to go check Statcast to see if maybe they were cutters but if they were they weren't distinguishable from his four-seamer.

He's a guy that passes the eye test in that he's athletic looking, has a swing that looks powerful, but he just isn't hitting. His defense has been a pleasant surprise, but that's because it has been adequate when we feared it would be very bad. I'm not sure when we'll pull the plug but in retrospect his hot start last year seems based on equal parts luck and a lack of scouting by opponents.

Davidson has learned to make contact on the high pitch, which he's never been able to lay off of. And his ability to draw a walk is basically his saving grace, because last year he was showing Anderson-esque patience at the plate (though Timmy is no Timmy of old either this year). Davidson can afford to hit less good than he has as long as he continues to draw walks so well.

I'm happy he's at least throwing pitches in the zone but he has to miss some bats. All of his decent starts have tended to go this way where you look later on and he basically never strikes anyone out

Talking about the eye test, I love Abreu. His numbers this year don't jump off the page, but he's come so far from when he first came over. He's really on another level than anyone else on our team in terms of his overall competence at the plate.

Yolmer swings a magic wand just about 100% of the time. He's really become pretty much the guy we hoped he'd be when he was down in W-S and Birmingham.

He's been surprisingly bad this year. I thought it was a no-brainer to keep him over Smith but he's had some issues catching the ball and has had his strikeout rate mysteriously shoot way up.

lol, the burden is on Daniel to show he can square it up consistently with that swing of his. He has stopped topping everything like he did in his first 15 or 20 ABs, which is a positive in that all the hand movement looks nice when it ends up turning into contact. I'm still not sure where to put him in the field, though.

And it's fair to try to make the argument that Cooper has nothing to do with it and in fact it's our front office/scouts who have been able to identify pitching talent. It's a tricky thing to identify without being there and witnessing the coaching and knowing what the people involved were thinking. We have also heard at times that Coop is involved in some of our personnel decisions about pitchers, which blurs the lines even further.

FWIW, Davidson's homer was 109mph off the bat. Palka's subsequent lineout was smashed also: 115.5mph exit velo

Well I think as a general rule pitching coaches don't look good if the pitchers are bad. Of course, it's hard to know how much the success of some of the pitchers — especially the ones who came up through our system — was because of the coaching they received. I think in general the Sox rarely ran out there with the pure pitching talent to justify such excellent output, but that's of course debatable.