Tuesday
Aug232011

ESPN: Alex Rodriguez looks to regain power

Rodriguez has had big pushes to the finish before. Two seasons ago, he had a two-homer, seven-RBI game in his final game of the season, against the Rays, to finish with exactly 30 home runs and 100 RBI. Last season, he finished with 30 home runs, thanks to five dingers in his final nine contests. 

What’s to watch with Rodriguez’s return? 

Source: ESPN.com

Wednesday
Aug102011

ESPN: What's wrong with Mariano Rivera's cutter?

ESPN's Stats & Information team examines the recent struggles of Mariano Rivera.

Yankees closer Mariano Rivera has had some significant issues in his last two appearances for the Yankees and one of the reasons for this is an issue he’s having with his trademark pitch. 

As Bill Chuck noted a few weeks ago, in a piece on BaseballAnalytics.org, that Rivera’s cutter was not as sharp as it had been in previous seasons. 

Source: ESPN.com (Mark Simon)

Tuesday
Aug092011

ESPN: A Tale of Two Seasons for Dan Uggla

ESPN takes a close look at Dan Uggla's performance along with supporting heat maps:

When Uggla was going bad, he couldn’t make contact with sliders from right-handed pitchers. He only was putting about one-third of his swings in play. Now, he’s putting half of his swings against sliders from righties into play and doing major damage. When making contact with a slider from a right-handed pitcher during the streak, he’s 11-for-22 with five home runs. And to tie back to the previous note, four of those have come on sliders on the outer-third. 

Source: ESPN.com (Mark Simon & Katie Sharp)

Tuesday
Jun072011

TruMedia Networks in Sports Illustrated

This week's issue of Sports Illustrated features analysis and heat maps generated by TruMedia's MLB analytics platform. Click here to read the story online

Click Image for a Full Size Version

Wednesday
May252011

ESPN: A Close Look at James Shields

Shields, 3-8 with a 4.91 ERA for his career against the Yankees, has been among the very best pitchers in baseball in 2011. He allowed three runs in 19 innings against the Yankees at home last season and has been nearly duplicating that effort against everyone in 2011. 

Source: ESPN (Mark Simon)