*** Official 2014 AL Champion Royals Off-season Repository ***

[Anyong Bluth]

So, I didn't see a thread started, and all the others are pretty maxed out to the point where a fresh thread would be needed soon either way.

Time to share the run up to ST & and another memorable year in the making!

[Nightfyre]

Originally Posted by Prison Bitch

So let's talk flyball distances. Paul Goldschmidt led MLB with an average flyball distance of 315 feet. Distance correlates with HR. As you can imagine our squad rated quite poorly among 300 players:

31. Willingham
80. Morales
108. Country Breakfast
115. Moose
144. Alex
187. Hoz
219. Salvy
243. Rios
274. Cain
288. Infante
290. Escobar
295. Aoki

Alex Rios was 242nd in 2013 when he hit 18 HR. He was 119th when he hit 25 in 2012. His flyball distance was the same in 2013 as in 2014 when he hit 4. So assuming that holds, his HR total should probably end up between 10-20. Morales was 44th so a reversion for him (full season) probably ends up closer to 20.


Net: Replacing Butler & Aoki will probably result in 10-20 more HR for the Royals with almost no drop off in any other category.

Surprisingly cool analysis from PB.

[lewdog]

Originally Posted by Prison Bitch

So let's talk flyball distances. Paul Goldschmidt led MLB with an average flyball distance of 315 feet. Distance correlates with HR. As you can imagine our squad rated quite poorly among 300 players:

31. Willingham
80. Morales
108. Country Breakfast
115. Moose
144. Alex
187. Hoz
219. Salvy
243. Rios
274. Cain
288. Infante
290. Escobar
295. Aoki

Alex Rios was 242nd in 2013 when he hit 18 HR. He was 119th when he hit 25 in 2012. His flyball distance was the same in 2013 as in 2014 when he hit 4. So assuming that holds, his HR total should probably end up between 10-20. Morales was 44th so a reversion for him (full season) probably ends up closer to 20.


Net: Replacing Butler & Aoki will probably result in 10-20 more HR for the Royals with almost no drop off in any other category.

This is the PB I like! Valuable insight. I also agree with you about Gordon. It's a very tough call for the Royals.

I am going to rep PB!!!

[seaofred]

Originally Posted by chiefqueen

This may be nothing but about a half-hour ago Al Wallace on FOX4 announced Bubba Starling is having a press conference later this morning. Of course it may be nothing, but since he has yet to crack .240 in A ball, he may be announcing his intentions to pursue football. (My thinking is why else would he be holder a presser?)

Well?

[lewdog]

Originally Posted by seaofred

Well?

Yea I don't see anything online about it.

He was invited to ST but I hope he's here to announce he is declining the invite because he just isn't very good.

[KChiefs1]

Originally Posted by Nightfyre

Surprisingly cool analysis from PB.

I'm shocked too.

[-King-]

Originally Posted by lewdog

Yea I don't see anything online about it.

He was invited to ST but I hope he's here to announce he is declining the invite because he just isn't very good.

Nope.

Bub still looks like a player. RT @bradfanningshow: Bubba Starling and Gore hanging behind cage on field 2 #royals pic.twitter.com/7B0jlAVYSC

— Jeff Rosen (@jeff_rosen88) February 21, 2015

[lewdog]

Originally Posted by -King-

Nope.

Bub still looks like a player. RT @bradfanningshow: Bubba Starling and Gore hanging behind cage on field 2 #royals pic.twitter.com/7B0jlAVYSC

— Jeff Rosen (@jeff_rosen88) February 21, 2015

****! I must have gotten their too late yesterday to see the hitters. I mostly only saw pitchers and arrived at 10:15. ****!

[Mizzou_8541]

Originally Posted by -King-

I think Butler is what he is at this point. It's too late to be talking about upside.

Originally Posted by Bufkin

Dude throws a killer party. Maybe he's announcing a kegger to celebrate Spring Training coming up?

So what was it about?

[Prison Bitch]

If you look at the distance chart you'll also see launch angle. Generally the higher the launch angle the farther you hit it. In golf, research shows that hitting it higher makes it go farther than hitting it lower. Higher angle leads to more back spin and more carry in the air.

What does this mean? Well look at Hosmer. He has a negative angle relative to avg. he keeps hitting down on the ball rather than hitting level or upwards. He's a guy who is strong with a quick bat and he should be able to generate much more power with a slightly diff plane. I'd love to see his launch angle data from October

[tk13]

Originally Posted by lewdog

****! I must have gotten their too late yesterday to see the hitters. I mostly only saw pitchers and arrived at 10:15. ****!

One playoff appearance and you're already rolling in here like Rick Vaughn in Major League II. Fat and happy with no effort.

[lewdog]

Originally Posted by tk13

One playoff appearance and you're already rolling in here like Rick Vaughn in Major League II. Fat and happy with no effort.

Actually I stand corrected. Still not open to the public until 10 so these chumps must get in there early before dudes like me show up. Chumps.

[ROYC75]

Originally Posted by Prison Bitch

If you look at the distance chart you'll also see launch angle. Generally the higher the launch angle the farther you hit it. In golf, research shows that hitting it higher makes it go farther than hitting it lower. Higher angle leads to more back spin and more carry in the air.

Really ? In reality it depends on the circumstances ....I can draw the ball with top spin and get more roll that a high back spin on windy days. Unless you have a tail wind that can carry it, then you want to play the wind angle, adulation of the fairway. A high trajectory with a head wind will produce less yards than a low line drive with top spin.

[stonedstooge]

Originally Posted by Prison Bitch

If you look at the distance chart you'll also see launch angle. Generally the higher the launch angle the farther you hit it. In golf, research shows that hitting it higher makes it go farther than hitting it lower. Higher angle leads to more back spin and more carry in the air.

What does this mean? Well look at Hosmer. He has a negative angle relative to avg. he keeps hitting down on the ball rather than hitting level or upwards. He's a guy who is strong with a quick bat and he should be able to generate much more power with a slightly diff plane. I'd love to see his launch angle data from October

Dude absolutely has one of the most violent swings in baseball, and the ball goes nowhere. If he could correct that, he could become a great one

[Saul Good]

Originally Posted by ROYC75

Really ? In reality it depends on the circumstances ....I can draw the ball with top spin and get more roll that a high back spin on windy days. Unless you have a tail wind that can carry it, then you want to play the wind angle, adulation of the fairway. A high trajectory with a head wind will produce less yards than a low line drive with top spin.

Roll doesn't really come into play in baseball.

[Prison Bitch]

Originally Posted by ROYC75

Really ? In reality it depends on the circumstances ....I can draw the ball with top spin and get more roll that a high back spin on windy days. Unless you have a tail wind that can carry it, then you want to play the wind angle, adulation of the fairway. A high trajectory with a head wind will produce less yards than a low line drive with top spin.

We don't have head wind or roll in home runs. In golf you have to have a high launch angle to carry it farther and your drives will go farther compared to a "line drive" tee shot even with the roll. If you look at the HR chart you can see the angle clearly factors distance. Hosmer is a real glaring example of a guy who is hitting the top 1/2 of the ball too often.

Only 6.8% of Hosmer's fly balls left the yard (league avg is 9.5%). There's no way an AL first baseman with his frame should do that. Hosmer was 21/23 qualifiers at 1B in HR % and 2/23 in ground ball %.