Bradenton Statcast: Who Is Hitting The Ball Well? – Pirates Prospects - Pirates Prospects

The Bradenton Marauders are one of the few minor league teams that have advanced metrics available for their players. This allows you to get a really good idea of how players are doing beyond the base numbers we usually follow.

For hitters, that includes exit velocity and launch angle, as finding the right medium in both only increases your chances of getting on base. On the pitching side, average velocity, spin rate, and break are among the things available through Baseball Savant for Bradenton.

No one is expecting players at the Single-A level to put up the same exit velocity as major leaguers, but gauging how they are doing in Bradenton can potentially project who may be able to develop major league power.

Here are three position players that are putting up numbers worth following at Bradenton right now.

Sergio Campana

A name that you probably didn’t expect to make it on a list about the offensive side of things, Campana (pictured) has been hitting the ball a lot better as of late and the metrics show. While his slash numbers aren’t great (.217/.316/.278), Campana is hitting the ball harder and squaring up, which has led to a better offensive output this month.

Campana’s average is over 100 points higher in May than it was in April, so too is his slugging percentage.

Part of that is due to his Hard Hit%, which is slightly below what is average at the major league level (35.6% in the majors, Campana’s is 35%). A ball is considered ‘hard hit’ if it has an exit velocity of 95 mph or higher. Of the 57 batted balls Campana has had this year, 20 of them have been at 95 mph or higher.

On the Bradenton roster, no other batter has ‘barreled’ more balls at a better rate than Campana, with a 5.26% mark. The major league average currently is 6.7%. A ‘barreled’ ball must have an exit velocity of at least 98 mph, with the degree of the launch angle expanding depending on how the ball is hit.

Having the perfect blend of exit velocity and launch angle increases your opportunity of getting on base and hitting for power. So Campana’s strong May shouldn’t be too much of a surprise as nobody on Bradenton has a better blend currently than him.

Brenden Dixon

Maybe a more traditional pick, Dixon has performed above major league average in a couple of categories in the early goings of the season.

No player has a higher average exit velocity than Dixon (88.62-mph) and he is the only one that is above the major league average in the metric (88.4-mph).

A batted ball that has a launch angle between eight and 32 degrees is in the ‘sweet spot’. A line drive is looked at anything in between 10 and 25 degrees, just at the right angle that will avoid the infield and get down before anyone in the outfield can get there. Dixon has an average launch angle of 16.88.

With an above average exit velocity and launch angle right in the middle of the line drive mark, there isn’t much surprise that Dixon is second on the team in average and first in slugging percentage among qualified Bradenton hitters.

Brenden Dixon: Approach Leading To Success As Bradenton’s Table Setter

Rodolfo Nolasco

Another name that shouldn’t be a surprise, as Nolasco’s raw power was one of his most talked about tools. He joined Dixon has the only two players on Bradenton with an exit velocity at or above major league average.

When it comes to hitting the ball hard, no one does it at a higher rate than Nolasco. Of the 77 batted balls Nolasco has this year, 33 of hit the 95-mph threshold to be considered a ‘hard hit’. His 42.6 hard hit% is seven points higher than the major league average, and he’s also just over the ‘SweetSpot%’ medium as well at 33.7%.

He’s also hit the hardest ball on record this year for Bradenton, a 110.3-mph double, that also had a 13-degree launch angle.

Nolasco has been one of the many hitters struggling this year, as he is currently only hitting .210 on the season. He is hitting the ball hard, and if he can continue to do so, he should eventually start to see the ball drop in for hits.

Bonus Prospects

There are other players with notable Statcast numbers. Jase Bowen is among the team leaders in barrel rate (4.76%), but hasn’t quite figured out the launch angle side of things. Tsung-Che Cheng and Luke Brown are among the team leaders in SweetSpot%, and are both above major league average, but they lack the exit velocity at the time to get enough solid contact on the ball.

When used properly, these numbers can help you see the kind of contact you are making and compare it to those who are succeeding at the highest level, and make the small adjustments to put you on that right path.

THIS WEEK ON PIRATES PROSPECTS

Williams: The Growing Pains of Single-A

Carlos Jimenez Has Emerged As One of the Pirates’ Best Lower Level Pitching Prospects

Anthony Solometo: High Changeup Usage Highlights Debut

Bradenton Statcast: Who Is Hitting The Ball Well?

Tsung-Che Cheng: “He’s the type of guy who has an elite level of focus, an elite level of drive”

Joelvis Del Rosario is Starting to Make a Name For Himself

Brenden Dixon: Approach Leading To Success As Bradenton’s Table Setter

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Ball, investor partner on new plant in effort to relieve can supply chain woes - Broomfield Enterprise

Ball Corp. (NYSE: BLL) and private equity investment firm Manna Capital Partners are joining forces to build an aluminum can sheet rolling mill and recycling center in Los Lunas, N.M.

The hope is the facility, in which Ball will have a minority stake, will help create a “more robust and sustainable domestic supply chain for the growing beverage packaging market,” Ball said in a news release.

Can users — craft beer brewers, for example — have been heavily impacted by supply-chain disruptions since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We look forward to partnering with Ball, a leader in the beverage packaging industry, to improve supply chain efficiencies through domestic production of more sustainable aluminum,” Manna managing partner Ulysses “Junior” Bridgeman said in the release.

Ball’s focus on increasing the domestic supply of cans comes as the company is backing away from certain foreign markets, namely Russia.

The company decided in March to sell off its Russian assets as a result of that country’s ongoing war against Ukraine.

“Further increasing recycled content in our products is key to boosting our sustainability and securing domestic supply of our key raw material,” Ball CEO Dan Fisher said in the release. “This alliance complements the significant manufacturing investments Ball has made across the Southwest U.S. since 2020 to meet growing demand for sustainable beverage packaging, and we look forward to teaming up with Manna and its management team to help create a truly circular economy for aluminum can sheet, bring skilled jobs to the region, and help our customers meet their sustainability commitments.”

This article was first published by BizWest, an independent news organization, and is published under a license agreement. © 2022 BizWest Media LLC.

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The best golf balls of 2022: How to choose the right ball for your game - GolfDigest.com

As much as it might feel like it, the search for the best golf ball for you is not quite like Tinder or Bumble or even Hinge. Yes, there are dozens of options to sift through—for our Hot List this year, we tested 89 balls to narrow our selections to the 26 winners and 40 models that earned our highest recommendations. Like any number of dating apps, you can plug in some of your characteristics or desired attributes and get an online “match.” However, as with the search for a soul mate, finding the perfect ball is very much a personal choice based on direct experience.

We pride ourselves on helping golfers winnow the universe of golf-ball choices, but you still need to carry the ball (literally) the rest of the way. Part of that process is learning about what individual ball models offer (their “profiles,” if you will). How do you do that? Well, a clubfitter is a great place to start. A quality fitter can provide you with launch-monitor numbers that might indicate differences in launch, trajectory and spin rate on long shots and short ones. In our research with the team at the premium clubfitting firm Cool Clubs and its swing robot, we again saw significant differences in how balls performed in the short game.

This is why we divide our list into two categories: Urethane Cover and Non-Urethane Cover. In simple terms, balls that have urethane covers (with a few notable exceptions) are generally the balls played on the professional tours. Non-urethane balls are all the rest, ranging from the softest two-piece balls designed for golfers with slower swing speeds to the pre-packaged 15-ball distance rocks to the latest experimental middle-ground offerings that feature a new, cheaper cover compound that is meant to grab and spin like urethane. (In our assessment, they haven’t quite found it yet.)

Our star ratings reflect three scores that comprise the total evaluation of each entry. Performance accounts for 65 percent of the score and is based on our panel of player evaluations. We judge Innovation (30 percent) based on technical documents submitted by manufacturers and our review with our Hot List technical panel of Ph.D. scientists. Finally, Demand (5 percent) reflects our review of the marketplace, tour use and general buzz. Feel is not a score but a rating based on our players’ input on the relative softness of each ball.

How you assess which dimpled sphere is right for you goes back to the qualities that you’re looking for. We’ve provided a baseline of what to expect with each of our selections on this year’s Hot List. Just like the perfect first date, though, ask enough questions. The right one will have all the answers.

Our robot testing by clubfitter Cool Clubs reveals that urethane-cover balls spin more than non-urethane-cover balls on shots around the green, sometimes twice as much. Using Foresight Sports FSX software, the difference between the lower-spinning balls and the urethane-cover balls essentially is the difference between a 10-foot putt and a 22-foot putt on a flat green (more than double that on a sloping green). The balls in the middle of our group still meant a six-foot longer putt. What’s five or 10 feet difference mean? On the PGA Tour, they make 10-footers about 41 percent of the time, 15-to 20-footers 18 percent of the time and 20-to 25-footers 12 percent of the time. If your chance of getting up and down more than tripled just by changing to a multilayer, urethane-cover ball, would you do it? If you wouldn’t, maybe you’re playing a different game than we are. —M.S.

Short game shots are the key.

Although the Golf Digest Hot List and Golf Digest Golf Ball Hot List share similar names, they are anything but in terms of player testing. In many ways, testing golf balls is far more difficult. For clubs, testing is done on a range setting with a variety of player types. Between adjustability and different shaft options, fitting plays an important role. The number of variables that can be discerned are plentiful. Distance, trajectory, turf interaction, spin, look, sound and feel all contribute to the impression of a club. However, golf balls are all round and primarily white and dimpled, so the “look” isn’t a significant factor. There are no fitting levers to work with, either. Sound? Probably not. Meaningful player testing, however, can be done. Unlike clubs, all markings are blacked out. Club testing is conducted with handicaps that go into the 20s, but ball testing entails better players exclusively, with the highest handicap a 5 and most scratch or better. That’s because the vast majority of ball testing is done inside 100 yards and around the green on a golf course. As such, a reliable short-iron game and significant short-game skills are needed because it is these shots where differences appear and can be felt and seen.

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Ball State and Rahal Letterman Lanigan Announce First Recipients of Esports Scholarship - Ball State University News

Ball State University and Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing (RLL) have selected the first two recipients of a first-of-its-kind scholarship program for esports student-athletes. 

The Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Scholarship provides $5,000 annually to two members of Ball State’s varsity esports team each year from the 2022-23 through 2025-26 academic years. The scholarship program, which advances the University’s mission of recruiting and retaining the top esports talent in the world, is a key aspect of the recently formed partnership between Ball State and RLL, which is co-owned by television legend David Letterman, a 1969 Ball State graduate, 1986 Indianapolis 500 winner Bobby Rahal and businessman Mike Lanigan. 

The first recipients of the Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Scholarship are: 

• Ar Muhammad Aleef, a 23-year-old pro-level esports driver from Singapore. Mr. Aleef earned his diploma in Mechatronics, with a specialty in Robotics, from Temasek Polytechnic Singapore. At Ball State, he plans on majoring in Business Analytics. 

• Rhett Crain, 18, from Noblesville, Ind. Mr. Crain, who specializes in the games iRacing and F1 2021, plans on majoring in Computer Science at Ball State. 

In addition to being the first recipients of this scholarship, these esports student-athletes will drive a Ball State/RLL-branded car in the upcoming INDYCAR video game upon its release in 2023. 

“When considering the applicants for the Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Scholarship, what made both Ar Muhammad Aleef and Rhett Crain stand out was their passion and experience in both sim racing and live racing,” said Dan Marino, director of Ball State’s esports program and head coach of the University’s varsity esports team. “After getting to know both students better, it was clear that they didn’t just see the RLL scholarship as a pathway for competition, but to be a part of something larger within our esports program and through opportunities with RLL.” 

The partnership between Ball State and RLL—established in February—has provided other special opportunities for students engaged in Ball State’s esports program. This month, for example, several Ball State Esports students took advantage of an exclusive opportunity to visit with and observe members of the RLL racing team in action at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway as they prepared for the 106^th running of the Indianapolis 500. 

“We share in Ball State’s excitement and pride in welcoming the first two recipients of the Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Scholarship,” said Tom Knox, senior vice president of sales and marketing for RLL. “When we announced the formation of RLL Esport in 2021, we knew the esports industry would be an exciting new way for us to stay engaged to our partners, our fans, and the entire racing community. Since that time, in partnering with Ball State and its esports program, we continue to find new and innovative ways to tap into the young, bright minds of the future, while also giving back to our community, our state, and our sport.” 

Innovation in Esports
Ball State’s unique partnership with RLL Racing—joining traditional racing with simulated racing—puts the University at the forefront of the collegiate esports industry. 

Additionally, these high-profile educational-corporate partnerships can be valuable to the economic vitality of Indiana, according to Rollie Helmling, a motorsports advisor at the Indiana Economic Development Corporation (IEDC). 

“As Indiana continues to grow, it expands educational opportunities and partnerships that allow for great advancements in racing and esports,” Mr. Helmling said. “A racing team like Rahal Letterman Lanigan teaming up with Ball State University is a prime example of how our state is working diligently to attract and retain innovative talent, and illustrates that Hoosier partnerships are leading the way with evolutionary thinking.” 

For Dr. Paaige Turner, dean of Ball State’s College of Communication, Information, and Media (CCIM), which houses the University’s esports program, having one of the few varsity esports sim racing programs in the country, backed by a unique partnership with a professional racing team, allows the college to attract top talent not only in gaming, but in other areas such as media, film, entertainment production, news and more. 

“Sim racing as a genre in esports is gaining a tremendous amount of popularity each year, and we see it as an incredible opportunity for our University to be on the cutting edge of the collegiate esports industry,” Dean Turner said. “Adding the layer of the Rahal Letterman Lanigan partnership on top of this, students with a passion for racing can have the curtain pulled back to see how an incredible organization like RLL works behind the scenes, while also making connections and gaining experience to propel them into fulfilling careers and meaningful lives.” 

Ball State began its varsity esports program in January 2021, becoming a founding member of the Esports Collegiate Conference. The University’s Esports Production concentration, under CCIM’s Department of Media, delivers hands-on instruction for students to develop their skills in the field of esports media. Students in the program learn the history of esports, video production, streaming, and live event broadcasting. 

Ball State has more than 800 students who participate in its student-run Esports Club, including more than 50 student-athletes on its varsity esports team. For more information about Ball State’s esports program, email esports@bsu.edu or call 765-285-6025.

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WATCH: Gator snatches ball on green at Florida course - Golf Channel

If you're playing golf in Florida, beware. 

A group of golfers were enjoying a day on the course at Ormond Beach golf club. Then a shot that landed on the green didn't fall in the hole, but was snatched up by a gator instead. 

That didn't scare the golfers, though. Rather than running in the other direction, they headed towards the green and videoed the gator up close as the gator wandered around with the ball in its mouth. The cameraman jokingly asked the gator to drop the ball in the cup.  

The gator apparently dropped the ball before crawling back into the water. But the owner might have switched it out for one with less teeth marks.

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WATCH: Gator takes Florida golfer’s ball from course - WFLA

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WATCH: Gator takes Florida golfer’s ball from course  WFLA

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Little Princess Ball makes triumphant return to Moose Jaw - Moose Jaw Today

For the last two years, princes and princesses from far away realms have been keeping a close eye on the pandemic, just waiting for a chance to get back in public and have a chance to mingle with their admirers.

This past weekend at the Heritage Inn ballroom in Moose Jaw, it was their chance to do so once again.
And they came out in force.

From Cinderella to Elsa, Jasmine to Ariel, and even Gaston and The Beast, all made the journey to Moose Jaw for the return of the Little Princess Ball on Saturday and Sunday evenings at the Heritage Inn.

To say it led to many a magical moment for the hundreds of youngsters and their parents who took part in the festivities would be a bit of an understatement -- the wide eyes and expressions of amazement from the little ones said everything that needed to be said.
That’s what it’s all about according to The Fairy Godmother, who once again took on the guise of Princess Ball organizer Elaine Crocker for the event.

“We’re so relieved that we finally get to come back, we’ve missed this just as much as little princesses have and it’s just amazing,” Crocker said during a brief break from signing hundreds of autographs for the princesses.

“I’m more shocked at the mommy’s faces this year,” she added with a laugh. “With Beauty and the Beast being here, when they found out they were as excited as the little ones, it was ‘oh my gosh Belle’s here’. And the little kids always amaze us with their look of awe on their faces, it’s always ‘oh my, OH MY!’”

Folks walking into the ballroom were immediately greeted by a receiving line of Disney princesses, who were more than happy to pose for photos with the little ones. Then it was on to the wide range of activities throughout the evening, offering an amazing experience for everyone involved.

It’s all the result of a remarkable effort that begins months before the doors first open -- planning begins in September, January is when fabrication starts and then the real work begins.

“Then three days before the ball, we usually come in on Wednesday night and we start,” Crocker explained. “This year, we finished at two o’clock on Friday morning, so it took us that long to get everything ready. But we were able to get a couple of hours of sleep and we’re good!”

Tickets for both nights were sold out, something that didn’t come as much of a surprise given the long wait for the return of the Ball.

“Everybody is so happy to be out of their house that it took no time to sell out the second night and the community support has been amazing as usual,” Crocker said. “We put a cry out for help and we get a response immediately.  The community has been so helpful for us and it’s amazing.”

The whole project acts as a fundraiser for the Moose Jaw Health Foundation, which puts the funds towards neo-natal care on an annual basis. This time around, proceeds will go towards purchasing a new incubator to help the 500-plus babies born at the Wigmore Hospital every year.

“The wonderful thing is each and every year, the Little Princess Ball funds go to help new moms and their babies in this community, and we can’t begin to say how much this has impacted [neo-natal care],” said Kelly McElree, executive director with the Moose Jaw Health Foundation.

“I would say on behalf of all the doctors and nurses and everyone who works at the hospital and all those moms and babies, just a big thank you to the Princess Ball and for the tremendous support of everyone in the community… it just means so much and it’s such a wonderful feeling to see all these amazing faces having such an incredible time.”

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Report: Rare basketball signed by LeBron James and his high school teammates hits action, could sell for hu... - Cavaliers Nation

Before the Cleveland Cavaliers drafted him in 2003, LeBron James had become one of the biggest high school basketball players across the country.

Many fans and pundits started following his basketball career even when he was still playing for St. Vincent-St. Mary High School.

According to a recent report, a basketball he autographed with his high school teammates will soon be put up for auction.

“A super-rare item from LeBron James’ legendary high school career is about to hit auction — a basketball signed by the King and his teammates from St. Vincent-St. Mary … and it could come with a big price tag!!” reported TMZ.

The ball is signed by some notable people.

“Besides LBJ’s autograph — which received an 8/10 grade — you can see his teammates Dru Joyce, Sian Cotton and others inscribed on the ball,” TMZ wrote.

“In fact, right next to James’ signature is Maverick Carter … who is currently business partners with the [Los Angeles] Lakers superstar and one of the founders of LRMR Ventures.

“The ball — that hits Heritage Auctions on June 4 — has 11 overall signatures and is expected to sell for over $5k!!”

Early in his life, James became recognized by the media as a future NBA superstar. He racked up a lot of basketball awards as a high school player, including winning the Gatorade National Player of the Year award twice and earning three selections to the USA Today All-USA First Team.

The Ohio native entered the NBA draft straight out of high school. He was selected by his hometown team, the Cavs, with the first overall pick of the 2003 NBA Draft. James immediately took the league by storm, becoming the first Cavs player to win the NBA Rookie of the Year award.

James became a superstar very quickly and helped the franchise transform into one of the best teams in the league. He led Cleveland to multiple appearances in the playoffs and a trip to the NBA Finals in the 2006-07 season.

Failing to win a title in his first seven seasons in the NBA, James decided to sign with the Miami Heat in the 2010 offseason. Four years and two championships later, the four-time MVP returned to his hometown team and delivered the city its first NBA title ever in the 2015-16 season.

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TaylorMade Kalea Golf Ball Review - Golf Monthly

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The TaylorMade Kalea golf ball is part of the complete Kalea range of hardware and is essentially designed to give a helping hand to women with a slow to moderate swing speed, generating higher launch and greater distance. We tested this ball over multiple rounds, so read this review to see how it compares with the best women’s golf balls on the market.

The slower you swing a club, the more compression you need and the Kalea ball has a soft 60 compression, like the Srixon Soft Feel Lady and Callaway ERC Soft ball. The secret of Kalea is TaylorMade’s REACT technology that is incorporated in the centre of the core, engineered to allow the ball to compress off the clubface faster and higher to maximise distance.

(Image credit: TaylorMade)

As someone with a moderate swing speed, off the tee there was distinct energy off the clubface with a pleasant sound and the result was and a high-launching and penetrating ball flight. Distance was good, although there were no significant yardage gains.

The color of this ball is a talking point, as aside from traditional white, it’s also available in matte peach or purple. If you are a creature of habit and generally use a white ball, it will take a while to feel comfortable looking down at these unique colours, plus excluding the white option, the feel of a matte finish won’t be to everyone’s taste. 

Off the tee and fairway, when using the peach or purple colored ball, it was really noticeable how easy it was to trace the ball flight against bright sky. However, the downside is that if you miss the fairway, these colours make it tricky to spot the ball in the rough, especially amongst fallen leaves.

(Image credit: Golf Monthly)

The soft ionomer cover does allow you to feel in control of short game shots, it caught the ball nicely on the greens, and it had a satisfying sound and roll off the putter head.

It’s fair to say that beginners through to more experienced players with a slow to moderate swing speed will benefit from using this great value ball, as it performs well on all shots and at the same time builds confidence.

Prices - TaylorMade Kalea Golf Ball:▼

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Snell Get Sum Golf Ball Review - Golf Monthly

Snell Get Sum Golf Ball Review

When it comes to selecting a golf ball you are spoilt for choice. Some individuals are looking for a premium performer, whereas some aren’t too bothered. If they can hit it and it is sold at a good price, then there will be no complaints.

So, how does this offering from Snell stack up? Well, firstly, Snell may be a new name to most, but the brand was actually founded in 2015 by Dean Snell, an individual who has 30 years of experience and worked with the likes of Titleist and TaylorMade, companies who produce arguably the best golf balls on the market.

The model that we are focusing on is the ‘Get Sum’ and, I know what you’re thinking, the name is not the most appealing, at least that is what I thought. Aside from the name, it is a very good, cheap golf ball, something that Dean Snell excels at; it is stated on the companies website that he is the inventor of several popular balls including the TaylorMade Burner, Rocketballz Urethane and Project (a) (opens in new tab).

The Get Sum is also available in 'white' and 'optic yellow' (pictured)

(Image credit: Future)

Made from a thin, soft Surlyn, the Get Sum is designed to help golfers get the ball in the air more easily, as well as reduce spin for straighter shots from tee to green. In my opinion, it does what it says on the tin, with the performance, off the tee specifically, being fantastic.

With a driver or fairway wood in hand, the flight and impact was very consistent and controllable, ideal for those who are looking for distance off the tee, or those who are to wanting to get the ball airborne on clean and off-centre strikes.

The Get Sum performed superbly off the tee and with the higher end of the bag

(Image credit: Future)

However, it was around the greens where the Get Sum was slightly let down. When hitting a full shot, it had some receptiveness and grab, but, when chipping or pitching, it would not really react, rolling out once it made impact with the turf.

Not only was the receptiveness not there, but it scuffed relatively easily, especially from bunkers. It was also a bit clicky and almost hollow at impact. Although this is not likely to be a huge issue for the type of player that it is likely to attract, it still doesn’t feel the cleanest off the face when you get down to the lower end of your bag.

Overall, it may not perform as well as the best premium golf balls (opens in new tab) on the market, such as the Titleist Pro V1 (opens in new tab) and the TaylorMade TP5 (opens in new tab) but, for £18 a box, these Get Sum golf balls are very, very good value for money. For their target market, they are especially good, as they are aimed to help aid those who want to launch it off the tee which, I feel, is the important factor for individuals who are new to the game.

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Underdog Best Ball Mania Bible: Stacking Strategy - 4for4

Anyone that has played in large-field fantasy football tournaments—whether best ball, redraft, or DFS—has some understanding of stacking, the strategy of rostering multiple teammates from the same team. The basic premise of stacking is that by getting multiple pieces of a single offense, the likelihood of ceiling weeks and outlier seasons increases for a roster.

While this intuitively makes sense, it’s that intuition that most fantasy managers have been using to build their stacks, rather than relying on data. With two years of data from Underdog’s Best Ball Mania, we can now use the 4for4 Best Ball Stacking Tool to quantify how to optimize our approach to stacking, rather than just relying on feel.

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Underdog Fantasy Resources: Get a Free 4for4 Pro Subscription | Half-PPR Rankings | Underdog ADP | Roster Construction Tool | Advance Rate Explorer | Best Ball Stacking Tool

Best Ball Mania Research: Positional Allocation Guide | Roster Construction Guide | Positional Draft Strategies | Anatomy of a Final-Round Roster | Building a Unique Roster

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The Most Succesful Best Ball Mania Stacks

There are thousands of possible stacking combinations but the 4for4 Best Ball Stacking Tool has isolated 100 of the most frequently used two-man and three-man stacks from the last two Best Ball Mania tournaments. Of that sample, 18 stacks have returned a playoff advance rate at least one percentage point over expectation in each season with eight of those stacks including a quarterback.

See footnotes for an explanation of how to read each stack table.

Successful Quarterback Stacks

Stack	Count - 2020	Advance Rate Over Expectation - 2020	Count - 2021	Advance Rate Over Expectation - 2021
QB1+RB2+WR4	304	+8.15%	1793	+11.47%
QB1+WR3+WR4	662	+2.61%	3779	+1.74%
QB1+TE1+WR4	743	+4.37%	4026	+5.03%
QB1+WR2+WR4	923	+4.23%	4937	+8.09%
QB1+WR1+WR4	903	+4.34%	5473	+4.60%
QB1+RB3+WR3	495	+1.42%	1256	+3.84%
QB1+RB2+WR3	1273	+1.27%	5010	+1.72%
QB1+WR4	3186	+4.06%	19391	+4.27%

Two things jump off the page when looking at the most successful quarterback stacks: most of the stacks are three-man stacks and almost all of them include a WR4. At first, it comes as a surprise that WR4s are so prominent here but this is actually quite predictable with an understanding of player advance rates.

The 4for4 Advance Rate Explorer shows 242 players with an ADP in Round 11 or later over the last two seasons. Among those late-round picks, pass-catchers have shown the best success rates in terms of advance rates over expectation—40% of wide receivers and 42% of tight ends in that sample have finished with above-average advance rates compared to 34% for running backs and 28% for quarterbacks.

When you consider how many more viable wide receivers there are than tight ends, it makes sense that they would show up here, especially when they can be brought along in a positive correlation with their quarterback. Targeting a team’s WR4s also capitalizes on the uncertainty in preseason projections—while we’re pretty good at projecting the top of depth charts, it gets tricky as we move further down a team’s roster to decipher battles such as WR3 vs WR4 or RB2 vs RB3. Later-round receivers are also the players that figure to break out late in the season—this includes rookies, players on new teams, or dart throws that benefit from a teammate’s injury.

Knowing that QB/WR4 has typically been a beneficiary, stack, the 4for4 Best Ball Stacking Tool can lend some insight on how to approach implementing these stacks into your draft strategy.

Detailed Stack	Advance Rate Over Expectation - 2020	Advance Rate Over Expectation - 2021
QB1 as QB1 + WR4	+3.1%	+5.0%
QB1 as QB2 + WR4	+4.7%	+4.2%
QB1 as QB3 + WR4	+2.9%	+0.5%

Stacking a quarterback with his WR4 has routinely shown positive results but waiting to stack a late-round QB—or the third quarterback on your roster—with one of his late-round receivers has had its shortcomings in both Best Ball Mania tournaments. In 2020, no QB drafted as a team’s QB1 as QB3 + WR4 advanced to the finals, and in 2021 that combo barely had a playoff advance rate above the baseline.

Successful Non-Quarterback Stacks

Stack	Count - 2020	Advance Rate Over Expectation - 2020	Count - 2021	Advance Rate Over Expectation - 2021
RB2+WR4	960	+3.99%	7185	+8.37%
TE1+WR2+WR4	282	+5.09%	1634	+7.29%
TE1+WR1+WR4	259	+4.30%	1583	+5.92%
WR2+WR4	1489	+3.98%	10338	+5.64%
RB3+TE1	2423	+1.32%	5268	+4.86%
TE1+WR4	1156	+4.37%	9456	+3.50%
WR1+WR4	1393	+4.25%	10609	+3.05%
RB2+TE2	948	+3.36%	2097	+2.76%
RB2+WR1+WR3	596	+2.52%	2786	+1.21%
WR3+WR4	1124	+1.53%	9074	+1.18%

Once again, WR4 is prevalent as a position to target in non-quarterback stacks but the other two positions that stand out here are a team’s RB2 and TE1. With a vast majority of tight ends and RB2s drafted in the middle and late rounds, this collection of stacks highlights the advantage of waiting on values to complete a stack rather than forcing stacks with early-round draft picks.

Detailed Stack	Advance Rate Over Expectation - 2020	Advance Rate Over Expectation - 2021
RB2 as RB3 + WR4	+0.1%	+12.5%
RB2 as RB4 + WR4	+4.1%	+8.9%
RB2 as RB5 + WR4	+0.7%	+5.3%
RB2 as RB5 + WR4	+13.5%	+1.0%
TE1 as TE1 + WR4	-3.4%	+0.5%
TE1 as TE2 + WR4	+12.1%	+4.6%
TE1 as TE3 + WR4	+14.4%	+9.9%

There hasn’t been a noticeable trend for when it’s ideal to draft an RB2 in these stacks—the second running back on a team is often used as a pass-catching role and usually presents decent ADP value. However, there has been strong evidence that stacking a tight end from the middle or late rounds with a late-round receiver has shown better returns than similar stacks with a tight end from the earlier rounds.

A Note on Other WR4 Stacks

There were eight stacks used in 2021 Best Ball Mania leagues with an advance rate of at least two percentage points over expectation that had little to no sample size in 2020. All eight of those stacks included a WR4 but half of them also included a team’s RB1. Each stack also happened to be a 3-man stack.

Stack	Count - 2021	Advance Rate Over Expectation - 2021
WR1+WR2+WR4	1453	+6.08%
RB1+TE1+WR4	1439	+5.33%
RB1+WR1+WR4	1788	+5.17%
RB1+WR2+WR4	2786	+3.47%
WR2+WR3+WR4	1700	+3.01%
WR1+WR3+WR4	1259	+3.00%
TE1+WR3+WR4	1151	+2.76%
RB1+WR3+WR4	1439	+2.27%

Underperforming Best Ball Mania Stacks

Over the course of two seasons, there have been eight two-man or three-man stacks that have a playoff advance rate a full percentage point below expectation in both Best Ball Mania tournaments—all eight of those stacks included a team's RB1.

Stack	Count - 2020	Advance Rate Over Expectation - 2020	Count - 2021	Advance Rate Over Expectation - 2021
QB1+RB1+WR3	2050	-3.68%	7872	-2.21%
RB1+TE1+WR3	892	-4.88%	3320	-1.97%
RB1+WR1+WR3	893	-4.79%	3667	-1.62%
RB1+WR2+WR3	799	-6.16%	3449	-1.25%
RB1+TE1+WR1	1454	-4.64%	5183	-1.59%
QB1+RB1+TE1	2743	-1.84%	9079	-2.07%
RB1+WR3	5690	-3.54%	28547	-1.66%
RB1+RB3	1940	-2.81%	4532	-1.25%

By looking at these stacks on a more granular level, you can see when to typically avoid these stacks and when RB1 stacks might actually be feasible.

Detailed Stack	Advance Rate Over Expectation - 2020	Advance Rate Over Expectation - 2021
QB1 as QB1 + RB1 as RB1	-4.8%	-0.7%
QB1 as QB2 + RB1 as RB1	-0.4%	+0.8%
QB1 as QB3 + RB1 as RB1	+7.4%	+0.4%
QB1 as QB1 + RB1 as RB2	-1.2%	-3.1%
QB1 as QB2 + RB1 as RB2	+0.4%	-0.7%
QB1 as QB3 + RB1 as RB2	-1.6%	+2.8%
QB1 as QB1 + RB1 as RB3	+0.8%	-4.0%
QB1 as QB2 + RB1 as RB3	-1.9%	-2.4%
QB1 as QB3 + RB1 as RB3	+1.6%	+0.2%
RB1 as RB1 + WR3	-6.1%	-2.1%
RB1 as RB2 + WR3	-0.1%	-0.5%
RB1 as RB3 + WR3	-0.3%	-2.2%

When pairing a quarterback with his primary running back, the biggest disadvantages have come from pairing the first quarterback you draft with your first or second running back drafted. As is the case with most stacks, QB + RB1 can be useful when the stack falls to you rather than forcing it, highlighted by the relatively high advanced rates of the QB1 as QB3 + RB1 as RB3 stacks.

When stacking a team’s RB1 with any other teammate besides the QB or WR4, there have been almost no consistently positive outcomes in terms of advance rates. It should also be noted how frequently these unsuccessful stacks have been used relative to the successful stacks, furthering the advantage of those listed in the first section.

Final-Round Roster Trends

Using playoff advance rates as the groundwork for stacking strategy helps to build a safe draft plan but dissecting final-round Best Ball Mania stacking trends can inform Underdog managers on how to build tournament-winning upside with stacks as well. There have been 758 stacks used across 210 final-round teams from the last two Best Ball Mania tournaments. Stacks with the highest final-round advance rates over the last two seasons share many similarities with stacks that advanced past the first round at the highest rates.

Stack Summary	Finals Adv. Rate, 2020–2021
RB2 + WR2 + WR4	0.48%
RB2 + TE1 + WR4	0.42%
TE1 + WR3 + WR4	0.41%
RB2 + WR3 + WR4	0.38%
QB1 + RB2 + WR5	0.38%
RB2 + WR1 + WR4	0.37%
RB3 + WR1 + WR2	0.37%
QB1 + WR3 + WR5	0.35%
RB2 + TE1 + WR3	0.34%
WR2 + WR3 + WR4	0.33%

Here are some highlights from those stacks.

When Did Final-Round Teams Draft Stacks?

It was somewhat unusual for final-round teams to spend a ton of draft capital on a team stack. The first player in a stack was drafted before the sixth round about half of the time but just 207 of the stacks (27%) found on final-round rosters used at least two picks in Round 8 or earlier. However, waiting until the late rounds to complete a stack wasn’t too popular either—just over 20% of all stacks in the final rounds were made up of players only drafted in Round 9 or later. Using the back half of the draft to match up stacks with earlier-round selections is seemingly the ideal approach to stack-building.

How Many Stacks Were on Final-Round Rosters?

If you read the introduction to this section closely, you noticed that the average final-round roster has used between three and four team stacks. (758 stacks used across 210 final-round teams). This suggests that rosters that made it to the final round of the last two tournaments tended to avoid onslaughts or stacks with four or more players from the same team.

Here is the distribution of stack sizes across all final-round rosters from the last two Best Ball Mania tournaments.

Stack Sizes Found on Final-Round Rosters, 2020–20201

Stack Size	Count
2	517
3	177
4	49
5	12
6	0
7	3

Stacking Notes for Your Best Ball Mania 3 Rosters

• Stacks that include a team’s WR4 have typically shown some of the most positive results over the last two years, especially three-man stacks with a quarterback—late-round wide receivers have higher hit rates that running backs or quarterbacks.
• When stacking a quarterback with a WR4, it is typically best to avoid the stack if it is with a late-round quarterback.
• Other than quarterback, stacking ancillary players from a team has been a successful stacking strategy—tight ends and RB2s stacked with a WR4 show up as a winning trend.
• Stacking a team’s RB1 with another highly drafted teammate has been an underwhelming strategy unless that RB1 has been drafted as the RB3 on the BBM roster.
• Final-round Best Ball Mania teams rarely used high draft capital on a single stack. Instead, it was best to use the later rounds of a draft to pair players with teammates that you drafted early in your draft.
• Rather than loading up on an entire offense on one roster, final-round teams tended to use multiple team stacks, usually with no more than three players

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Footnotes

Stack Summary: Player number represents ADP relative to his NFL teammates at the time of the draft. WR4 is read as the WR with the fourth-highest ADP on his team.

Detailed Stack: Player chosen AS represents a player's position based on where he was drafted relative to others drafted on the same BEST BALL team. RB2 as RB3 is read as the RB with the second-highest ADP on his NFL team selected as the third RB on a BEST BALL roster.

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Chicago Bulls Badly Need Lonzo Ball’s Knee To Be Okay - Forbes

Lonzo Ball showed early on in the 2021-22 season why the Chicago Bulls made it a priority to acquire him last offseason after failing to get him ahead of the 2021 trade deadline. The Bulls were even docked a future second-round pick after a tampering investigation, which came about after Ball’s sign-and-trade was reported immediately as free agency opened.

Ball’s playmaking (especially in transition), 3-point shooting (42.3%) and defense all played a key role in Chicago’s rise to become one of the most fun stories of the first half of the season. As one of the few legitimate two-way players on the roster, and perhaps the only one, Ball was the glue who kept the Bulls together on both ends. While he’s not an All-Star-level player, he’s important connective tissue any good team needs.

So, it shouldn’t have been a huge surprise that the Bulls fell off in a big way in the latter half of the season with Ball sidelined due to a nagging knee problem. In addition to needing surgery to repair a torn meniscus, Ball also had a painful bone bruise.

And, unfortunately, that bone bruise is apparently still a problem.

Chicago was hoping Ball would be able to return at the tail end of the regular season so he could participate in the playoffs. But every time he tried to ramp things up for a return, discomfort remained in the knee because of that bone bruise. The Bulls even tried shutting him down for a brief period and then ramping him up again, but to no avail. They ultimately ruled him out for the rest of the season, so he missed the five-game series loss to the Milwaukee Bucks in the first round.

Ball addressed his knee injury at his exit interview about a month ago and said he was still dealing with knee pain. He even acknowledged another surgery was still possible. Then came a recent report from David Kaplan on ESPN 1000 claiming the knee still isn’t getting better and the organization has concerns.

Lonzo’s dad, LaVar Ball, tried to put those concerns to rest during an interview with Kaplan last week, saying the point guard won’t need another surgery and that he will be ready for the start of the 2022-23 season. While this is good to hear, it’s only fair to continue to worry until the Bulls put forth an official optimistic update on the matter.

Even then, Ball’s lengthy injury history is something to sweat about. He underwent meniscus surgery on the same knee back in 2018 and has never played more than 63 games in a season. While some of that is because of shortened NBA seasons in 2019-20 and 2020-21, he has consistently missed time in his career.

Chicago obviously knew this when targeting Ball to be the point guard of the future, ultimately giving him a four-year, $80 million deal as part of the sign-and-trade with the New Orleans Pelicans. Ball’s impact when on the court shows that was a worthwhile gamble.

But it’s going to be something to watch moving forward, especially as Ball continues to deal with this nagging knee problem. This could have an impact on how the Bulls approach roster-building this offseason. While they have players like Alex Caruso, Ayo Dosunmu and Coby White who can play point guard, Chicago might look for a veteran option as a backup plan given Ball’s injury woes.

Ultimately, the Bulls made a major investment in Lonzo Ball last summer and need him to come through in order for them to reach their ceiling in the coming years, assuming he’s not traded. His versatile skill set means so much to the roster, so that knee needs to heal up and be ready for 2022-23.

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Temecula golf ball diver nets $100,000 a year - CBS News 8

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More Fun With Batted Ball Spin Data - Fangraphs

More Fun With Batted Ball Spin Data

by Justin Choi

May 26, 2022

Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports

Last week, I wrote an article about the influence of batted ball spin. The takeaways were simple: For one, even though confounding variables like temperature and wind speed are hard to eliminate, it’s entirely plausible that batted ball spin alone can subtract crucial amounts of expected distance. Also, while hitters may display a penchant for certain types of spin, they seemed to have little control over it on a daily basis. Potential inaccuracies aside, these findings made sense; hitting a baseball is hard, and batted ball spin is just another piece of the puzzle.

After the article ran, I didn’t expect to revisit this topic anytime soon. But two things inspired me to start exploring again. First, a Twitter mutual was kind enough to provide me with Trackman data of college baseball games that include — you guessed it — batted ball spin axis, which opened up multiple avenues of research. Second, Dr. Alan Nathan, a physics professor at UIUC, summarized his own findings on batted ball spin in the comments. Armed with new data and knowledge, it was time to dive back in.

Let’s start with a word from Dr. Nathan. This part of his comment struck me as particularly interesting:

“The increased lift with backspin (which increases distance) gets overwhelmed by the increased drag (which decreases distance) once the spin exceeds 2,500–3,000 rpm.”

As well as this:

“…it is very difficult for a ball hit at 25–30 deg to have topspin.”

In demonstrating the impact of batted ball spin, I’d chosen fly balls with a decent amount of exit velocity (95–100 mph) and an ideal launch angle (25–30 degrees), along with an assumption that topspin was the main culprit in slashing distance. But as clarified by Dr. Nathan, such fly balls are devoid of topspin. Rather, the contributing factors are an increased drag and, as he also mentioned, the existence of sidespin that doesn’t aid in lifting the ball. That certainly defied expectations.

Indeed, when I recreated the initial graph of batted ball spin rate against actual minus expected distance using the new data… well, I wasn’t able to! That’s because after applying a topspin-only filter, all the points on the graph vanished without a trace. Not that he needs it, but the disappearance gave credence to what Dr. Nathan had said. The truth is a bit more complicated, however. Here’s a plot showing the distribution of launch angle for each type of spin. It’s not what you might expect:

Huh. So top-spinning balls are in fact capable of achieving that 25–30-degree range. The distribution for back-spinning balls makes sense, as backspin is what causes lift. And since sidespin mutes distance, it also makes sense that they average the lowest launch angles, but the extremely narrow distribution is puzzling. Still, the mystery of topspin remains — that is, until we take exit velocity into consideration. Here’s the same graph as before, but with average exit velocity instead of launch angle:

There we go. Save for a slight dip at around the 80-mph mark, balls with sidespin closely resemble those with backspin in terms of exit velocity. But balls with topspin are overwhelmingly driven with only a modicum of power. Now, it is possible for top-spinning balls to achieve the 95–100-mph range, but an educated guess is that our specific combination of exit velocity and launch angle is near-impossible.

Beyond that, a lot of what’s displayed here adds to the confusion. For example, I’m not sure what to make of a sudden spike in exit velocity in the distribution for top-spinning balls, or why topspin, unlike its cousins, seems to be distributed equally among various launch angles. Physics can probably tackle some of those questions, but for now, this is just what I found.

It also doesn’t help that the process of categorizing batted ball spin is imperfect. The basic rundown: In Trackman data, a spin axis of 180 degrees represents perfect backspin; therefore, an axis of zero or 360 degrees — which are functionally the same — represent perfect topspin. Everything in between the poles result in a mixture of either backspin or topspin and sidespin. There had to be hard cutoffs, though, which means that one ball put in the “topspin” group and another put in the “sidespin” group may only differ by a couple of degrees.

Maybe we can amend that. What if we tried to capture the ratio of back/topspin to sidespin in a given batted ball? For example, a ball hit at a 235-degree axis, which is right at the midpoint of pure backspin (180) and sidespin (270), would be assigned a ratio of 0.5. The scale is continuous, with each degree escalating the ratio ever so slightly. But after running the calculations, what followed were several trials and even more errors. Did this “spin ratio” do a better job of accounting for the gap between actual and expected distance? Nope — raw spin rate kicked its butt each time, even after controlling for multiple variables. And at first, spin ratio didn’t seem to help at all in explaining why certain back-spinning balls added more distance compared to others.

In the end, it helped to stick to a place that by now had become home: that narrow range of exit velocity and launch angle, the borderline hard-hit fly balls. Here’s how batted ball spin ratio ended up being incorporated:

Remember the graph from the previous article? There’s a whole lot more going on in this upgraded version, both in terms of aesthetics and information. While the shades of blue are all over the place, splattered across the gridlines like a Jackson Pollock painting, there’s a general tendency for balls with higher spin ratios (i.e. more backspin) to outperform their expected distances. They also tend to have lower raw spin rates, which once again echoes Dr. Nathan’s comments: The introduction of sidespin disrupts the upward trajectory of a back-spinning ball. But also, this graph is a result of minor adjustments, such as the removal of balls categorized as sidespin, or ones that the Trackman operator deemed as having low-accuracy readings. We ended up with a much stronger correlation between batted ball spin rate and distance differential, which is awesome to see.

If you’ll recall, the previous article also introduced a FanGraphs community post, which assumed balls with more distance than expected must have been hit with backspin, whereas balls with less distance than expected must have been hit with topspin. But we now know that second part isn’t always true. If our favorite subset is any indication, the home runs hitters miss out on can be blamed on the influence of sidepsin rather than topspin, which doesn’t really appear in hard-hit balls. And though too much of it can hurt, the drawbacks of aiming for higher backspin are quite minimal. When I looked at individual college hitters with at least 50 fly balls, how often they imparted backspin had the strongest correlation (r = 0.70) to how much distance they added. That’s irrespective of how much sidespin was present.

In addition, while a sprinkle of sidespin may not help out in the fly ball department, it can certainly boost a hitter’s production on line drives. That narrow-ish hump from earlier representing hard-hit, side-spinning balls is what we’re after. What’s interesting about them is that they tend to fall on the high end of the backspin-sidespin spectrum, which means two things: These balls are getting enough distance to reach the outfield, and, in moderation, they’re adding the hook or fade that’s characteristic of a representative line drive.

Do you who’s really good at achieving a balance between backspin and sidespin? My goodness, that’s Kyle Manzardo’s music! Before slashing .313/.397/.458 in A-ball so far this season, the first baseman absolutely raked in college. And thanks to granular batted ball spin data, we can better understand why that was the case. Below, I’ve plotted every single Manzardo line drive at my disposal, with all the requisite variables:

What immediately stands out is how many of his line drives are within or near the bottom-left quadrant, as established by the dotted lines. Consider how most of them came off the bat with more backspin than topspin, but not by a lot, and that their total raw spin rates aren’t overwhelming. It’s hard to pinpoint exactly what combination of spin type and amount maximizes results, but Manzardo’s clockwork regularity seems like a darn good approximation. Above all, check out those exit velocities; rarely did he fall short of the 90-mph mark, a feat that’s likely aided by his ability to generate backspin in the first place. Maybe it’s not so strange that the Rays, a model-driven organization, used their second-round pick on a prospect with little positional value and seemingly minimal pop to compensate. Manzardo may never reach 20 home runs in a season, but if he continues to smoke line drive after line drive, he won’t have to.

One final note: Even after accounting for which type of spin a hitter produced, the day-to-day fluctuations in batted ball spin persist. I’ll wrap things up here, though, because there are way more questions worth asking than I could possibly fit into a single article. Batted ball spin isn’t mainstream right now, mostly because the data isn’t public, but it might be within a few years. We already know hitters are generally either groundball or fly ball hitters, and that some of them are better at getting the most out of their batted ball than others. The million dollar question, then, is how. Which hitters’ achievements lie beyond the realm of exit velocity and launch angle, and what processes have led to them? For that, perhaps we’ll need a new spin — a batted ball spin, that is.

Author’s Note: You can read Dr. Nathan’s excellent research on fly ball carry here.

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Dan Szymborski FanGraphs Chat – 5/26/22

Justin is a contributor at FanGraphs. His previous work can be found at Prospects365 and Dodgers Digest. His less serious work can be found on Twitter @justinochoi.

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