FanGraphs Power Rankings: April 15 – 21

The FanGraphs Newsletter, April 23, 2024 [READ IN BROWSER]( April 23, 2024 We’re a little more than 10% of the way through the regular season and some of the hottest teams to start the year have cooled off. It’s far too early to pass any judgment on any of the starts just yet; there’s still plenty of games to play. This season, we’ve revamped our power rankings. The old model wasn’t very reactive to the ups and downs of any given team’s performance throughout the season, and by September, it was giving far too much weight to a team’s full body of work without taking into account how the club had changed, improved, or declined since March. That’s why we’ve decided to build our power rankings model using a modified [Elo rating system](. If you’re familiar with chess rankings or FiveThirtyEight’s [defunct sports section]( you’ll know that Elo is an elegant solution that measures teams’ relative strength and is very reactive to recent performance. The Braves torched the two most recent World Series winners last week, sweeping the Astros and taking two of three from the Rangers. Marcell Ozuna hit another pair of home runs, and now leads the majors in that category, and Ronald Acuña Jr. finally hit his first of the season. Their depth is being tested with Spencer Strider out for the season and now Ozzie Albies hitting the IL with a fractured toe, but they seem to have weathered that storm for now. [FULL RANKINGS]( [Allow Me To Convince You To Believe in Reed Garrett]( It’s pop-up reliever season, but sometimes something that glitters IS gold. | by Ben Clemens [Huntering the Most Dangerous Game]( He's doing everything you could ask from a pitcher. | by Michael Baumann [The Deconstructed Hitter]( This is the story of the batter-shaped pitching aid that’s seemingly in every bullpen in America. | by Davy Andrews [An Early Look at Jordan Montgomery and Blake Snell]( Montgomery’s first start of 2024 came opposite Snell. Here’s what that matchup revealed about where they stand after signing late. | by Kyle Kishimoto [The Astros Are Rapidly Digging Their Hole Deeper and Deeper]( Houston is still a potentially dangerous team, but the calendar gets shorter every day. | by Dan Szymborski 🎧 [Effectively Wild Episode 2154: Sliding Doors and Sliding Home]( [DOWNLOAD THE FANGRAPHS APP]( [FanGraphs & Effectively Wild Merch Is Now Available at BreakingT!]( [ORDER HERE]( [Do Sophomores Still Slump?]( by Patrick Dubuque, Baseball Prospectus ($) [The 5 stats that show the White Sox could lose 120 games]( by David Schoenfield, ESPN [Is Keaton Winn Too Unconventional?]( by Jack Foley, Pitcher List [@fangraphs]( [FanGraphs]( [FanGraphs]( [RSS]( [FORWARD]( [SUBSCRIBE]( Copyright © 2024 FanGraphs Inc, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you subscribed to the FanGraphs Newsletter. Our mailing address is: FanGraphs Inc 3017 N Underwood StArlington, VA 22213 [Add us to your address book]( Want to change how you receive these emails? You can [update your preferences]( or [unsubscribe from this list](