Podcast: Blue Jays Need Patience, xStats Provides Baseball Stats Needed Objectivity
Max and I had the pleasure of hosting the Baseball Bloggers Alliance Podcast last night. We had Shaun Doyle from jaysfromthecouch.com and Andrew Perpetua from xstats.org. These guys are very knowledgeable about their topics: Shaun on the Jays and Andrew on all things baseball stats.
Much of the Shaun and Jays conversation centered on the fact that the Jays currently sit at 2-10 and 5.5 games out in the AL East just two weeks into the 6 month season. Shaun preached patience as much of the Jays core unit of position players (consisting of Jose Bautista, Russell Martin, and Troy Tulowitzki) are veterans with a proven track record who will reach their numbers. Shaun does admit that the rotation is thin and that the injury yesterday to J.A. Happ (combined with the ineffectiveness of Francisco Liriano) may prove to be the Jays’ Achilles heel. It’s a fun conversation, as Shaun talks Jays fans off the cliff that they are beginning to see as an option.
Andrew joined us late after he enjoyed a lovely dinner with his mom, in what might be the only legitimate excuse for joining the podcast late. He quickly declared himself a maker of stats, which also might sound illegitimate until you check out his xstats.org webpage. Andrew has a set of stats derived from the most advanced of baseball metrics; exit velocity, launch angle and spin rate. Perpetua turns those new baseball figures into stats that we can relate to. It’s worth checking out.
If you’re a baseball blogger or have a good lead for Podcast guests, please reach out on twitter.
-Sean Morash
