Welcome to The Pregame Lineup, a weekday newsletter that gets you up to speed on everything you need to know for today's games, while catching you up on fun and interesting stories you might have missed. Today's edition is brought to you by David Adler.
First base defense is always underappreciated. Heck, even Joey Votto says so, and we tend to trust Joey Votto's opinions about baseball … even if he's a little biased this time, since he was a first baseman, after all.
Well, we're here to help, Joey.
We've got a cool new leaderboard up on Baseball Savant today that should bring us one step closer to properly appreciating first basemen for all the value they bring to the table.
Introducing: first base receiving (and scoops!).
Mike Petriello has a great explainer of all the new stats, but we'll hit on a few of the highlights here.
What's on the leaderboard?
We're measuring every first baseman's skill at receiving throws. Your first thought is probably: Who's the best at scoops? And that's absolutely on there. But so are all the other types of throws a first baseman has to catch: high throws, low throws, wide throws, throws that bounce far in front of the bag and, last but not least, throws that are on target.
The big new stat here is "Receiving Outs Above Average" -- which tells you how many outs a first baseman saves for his team with his receiving skill. We also keep track of the total number of plays first basemen successfully make in each category of throw -- total scoops, total high throws handled and so on.
Why does it matter?
Catching the throw is the one thing a first baseman has to do the most often. The majority of their plays are about receiving throws from their fellow infielders and turning them into putouts.
As Votto puts it, "The first baseman can make or break a good infield with their receiving skills." But we never had a good way to account for that skill. Now, our fielding stats finally include the impact of a first baseman's No. 1 duty. That's big for painting a complete picture of Major League fielding.
Who's the best receiving first baseman?
But let's get to the good stuff: Which first basemen rank at the top of the receiving leaderboard?
This season, you might be interested to know that the No. 1 first baseman is Alec Burleson, who's saved the Cardinals +7 runs with his great receiving.
And for the full five-plus seasons we have first base receiving data, the best of the best are the two names you might expect: Freddie Freeman and Matt Olson.
We always want a new stat to match up with the eye test, and that's exactly what we've got here. Both Olson and Freeman are Gold Glove-winning first basemen with sterling defensive reputations.
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Which first basemen have a tough time?
The guys at the bottom of the leaderboard also make sense. Since the start of last season, for example, the bottom three receiving first basemen are Bryce Harper, Luis Arraez and Rafael Devers -- all players who moved to first base from other positions.
What about scoops?
Everyone loves a good scoop. It's the flashiest play a first baseman makes, for sure, and we've got some good names on the scoops leaderboard.
The top five scoopers since 2021 are led by Olson (76 scoops), and also include Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (67) and Pete Alonso (57) -- all first basemen who have a reputation for their scooping ability.
Play around with the scoops leaderboard yourself here >>
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HOW OLSON BECAME A SCOOP KING |
We also got the chance to talk to Matt Olson himself before we launched the first base receiving leaderboard, and ask him about how he got so good at what he does.
One of the best tidbits is how the Braves star approaches catching a throw. Olson hates when first basemen do the splits.
"The biggest thing for me is just to go get the ball," Olson told us. "Especially with how many challenges there are and how close the challenges are. See, a lot of guys, they do splits out to catch the ball. But if you do a split, you can't reach with your upper body. So for me, not getting as far with the front leg, and reaching with my upper half instead, you catch the ball further out. And hopefully, doing that, you're able to get more bang-bang plays."
We think the proof is in the pudding. Olson's receiving numbers are great, and he is phenomenal at stretching. Watch him go out and get this throw from Dansby Swanson at short a few years ago. It's a thing of beauty:
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We also liked this quote from Olson about how catching throws can be an unsung skill for a first baseman, even though it's a huge part of the game -- echoing Votto's thoughts on how the first base position is underrated.
"If I get five ground balls in a day, that's a lot. I'm catching way more balls than that first," Olson said. "I think it's, like, people just assume we're gonna do it. We're kind of like the offensive linemen of baseball -- it's a 'You don't notice them unless you give up a sack' kind of deal."
Read our whole story with more quotes from Olson here >>
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Here are three games to keep an eye on tonight.
Giants at Guardians (6:40 p.m. ET, MLB.TV)
The Giants pitcher making his MLB debut today has one of the best names in the game. That's Matt "Tugboat" Wilkinson -- a 6-foot-1, 250-pound lefty who was one of the top names in our Minor League nickname bracket earlier this year and is looking to tow San Francisco to victory in his first career start. As if the name "Tugboat Wilkinson" wasn't enough, he also throws an "Invisiball" -- aka, a fastball that's not super fast but disappears on hitters thanks to a deceptive delivery.
Blue Jays at Rays (6:40 p.m. ET, MLB.TV)
Max Scherzer (3,520 career strikeouts) is just 14 K's behind Gaylord Perry for ninth place all-time. We'd certainly like to see him get there this season, so we'll be watching how the 42-year-old fares against the American League-best Rays. Plus, the Jays are only a half-game out of a Wild Card spot now. They have a real shot, so these games matter.
Mariners at Brewers (7:40 p.m. ET, MLB.TV)
After the Brewers' historic 22-0 win over the Mariners last night -- tied for the most lopsided shutout win in MLB since 1887 -- we have to see what's going to happen tonight. We assume it won't be another one of the biggest blowouts in history, but hey, you can't predict baseball.
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A HISTORIC YEAR FOR JAPANESE SLUGGERS |
Shohei Ohtani, Munetaka Murakami and Kazuma Okamoto all hit big home runs yesterday, and that got us thinking: Wow, it's a great year for Japanese sluggers in MLB, isn't it?
Turns out, that's underselling it. This is probably the greatest year for Japanese sluggers in MLB ever, at least when you look at the number of stars who are shining in the Majors.
This is already the first season in MLB history where four Japanese-born players have hit 20 home runs. And if even three of the four get to 30, that would also be a record. (Last year is the only time multiple Japanese sluggers have reached the 30-homer mark in the same season, with Ohtani and Suzuki doing it.)
And there could be more Japanese stars on the way, if players like Teruaki Sato come from Nippon Professional Baseball to MLB. It's a golden age for international baseball talent.
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NEW DOC ON BASEBALL'S ROLE POST-9/11 |
When America Took the Field, a new two-hour original documentary commemorating the 25th anniversary of the tragic events of Sept. 11th, 2001, will premiere on MLB Network on Thursday, Sept. 10 at 10 p.m. ET.
The documentary examines how baseball brought Americans together and provided a sense of hope, healing and normalcy in the aftermath of one of the darkest days in the nation’s history.
When America Took the Field highlights the unforgettable baseball moments in the aftermath of 9/11, such as Mike Piazza's emotional home run at Shea Stadium on Sept. 21, 2001, President George W. Bush's ceremonial first pitch before Game 3 of the 2001 World Series at Yankee Stadium and Jack Buck's moving message to a grieving nation at Busch Stadium in St. Louis.
A clip from the film, which will re-air on Sept. 11, 12 and 13 on MLB Network, can be viewed here.
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