Daily Briefing: Welcome to the Second Half

The FanGraphs Newsletter, July 16, 2021 [READ IN BROWSER]( By Jeffrey Bellone - July 16, 2021 🟢 WELCOME TO THE SECOND HALF After a week of celebrating baseball's brightest stars, teams return to regular scheduling on Friday, as the second half of the season officially kicks off. The Yankees and Red Sox were supposed to mark the end of the All-Star break on Thursday, but six Yankees tested positive for COVID-19, including All-Star outfielder Aaron Judge, forcing the game between the two division rivals to be postponed. Judge's positive test complicates efforts to contain the spread of the virus since he was recently in contact with fellow All-Stars from around the league. Players who might have been impacted continue to undergo further testing. Meanwhile, with the Yankees and Red Sox [expected to play]( Major League Baseball will resume play with a full slate of games on Friday. The White Sox enter the second half with the [largest division lead]( at eight games, while the Red Sox cling to a tight 1.5 game lead over the Rays. You can find the latest division and playoff odds [here](. ⚫️ WHAT ELSE HAPPENED? ▫️Still smarting from the loss of superstar outfielder Ronald Acuña Jr., the Atlanta Braves [acquired]( outfielder Joc Pederson from the Chicago Cubs in exchange for minor league first baseman Bryce Ball. ▫️Seattle Mariners left-hander Hector Santiago's 10-game suspension for being caught with a sticky substance during a relief appearance in June was upheld after an appeal, according to ESPN. This newsletter is made possible due to the generous support of our members. If you are reading this email or use FanGraphs in your daily baseball routine, please consider supporting us. [BECOME A FANGRAPHS MEMBER]( [The ZiPS Projections Midpoint Roundup of Triumph and Shame: The Players]( By Dan Szymborski Let’s start with the hitters. Given the volatility of defensive measures, this is a comparison of the offensive numbers, not WAR as a whole. I’m setting 200 plate appearances as the minimum. Here are the position players ZiPS most underrated: A few of the names on the list don’t really surprise me. It was difficult to get a read on what Shohei Ohtani was going to do coming into the season, both because his professional career in the United States has been so short and because recovering from a pitching-related injury introduced an additional complication. I’m actually quite happy that ZiPS missed on this one; Ohtani is having the kind of year I’ve wanted to see since the moment it was clear that he was going to come over to the US. [READ MORE ]( 📝 RECENTLY PUBLISHED [Yoán Moncada Is a Big Reason the White Sox Are a Juggernaut Despite Injuries]( by Sara Sanchez [Vladimir Guerrero Jr. Is Soaring to New Heights]( by Jay Jaffe [The Angels and Braves Bring in Outfield Reinforcements]( by Jake Mailhot [Daily Prospect Notes: 7/16/21]( by Brendan Gawlowski [Matt Wisler on Learning and Developing His Signature Slider]( by David Laurila [The Value of Maximum Ohtani]( by Devan Fink 🎧 FANGRAPHS PODCASTS 🎧 [EFFECTIVELY WILD EPISODE 1720: Fun Differential]( Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about Meg’s airport problems, discuss the All-Star Game (touching on mic’d up and profane players, unsightly uniforms, All-Stars being friendly on the field, and MLB embracing the game’s lack of stakes), lament that the zombie-runner rule may not be (un)dead after all, follow up on more players with high highlight-to-value ratios, reflect on [Will Craig]( seeking solace in the KBO, celebrate [David Fletcher]( 24-game hitting streak and unique offensive profile, examine some entertaining pettiness between [Aaron Judge]( and [Jose Altuve]( and assess the state of the standings, focusing on teams that may make a late-season charge. Then they wrap up with a Stat Blast about the underperforming (but opponent-outscoring) Marlins and note some news about [Roy Campanella](. 🎧 [FANGRAPHS AUDIO: Emily Messina and Emma Tiedemann Call From Double-A]( 🎧 [CHIN MUSIC, EPISODE 22: This Cat Cornbread]( 🎧 [BEAT THE SHIFT PODCAST - Episode w/ Jerry Blevins (Former MLB Pitcher)]( ⚾️ ROSTER REPORT For the latest roster information, please visit our [RosterResource]( pages. 📚 [How do we make the All-Star Game as exciting as baseball’s newest stars? Here are a few ideas]( by Joe Posnanski, The Athletic ($): I will admit feeling a whole lot of confusion watching the Home Run Derby this year. On the one hand, the format felt like a complete mess to me. Half the time, I didn’t even know what was going on. The rules seemed ridiculous and entirely unfair. At least 20 times during the evening, I thought to myself (or actually said out loud): “Did anyone actually think this through?” And on the other hand, watching the Mets’ Pete Alonso (and his coach and pitcher Dave Jauss) take this mess and make it art was utterly joyful. 📚 [The Best Pitchers Can Boost Attendance By 3,000 Fans Per Game]( by Robert Arthur, Baseball Prospectus ($): There’s no evidence to support the notion that the sport ever has–or needs–a singular player to represent it. Instead, economic evidence and attendance numbers show that dozens of individual players drive fan interest, particularly among their home fanbases. The best starting pitchers, for example, push thousands of extra tickets sold per start, representing a significant boost in revenue when they step onto the mound. 📚 MORE READS: [Comparing Analytics vs. Old-Time Stats]( by Russ Walsh, Here's the Pitch: The IBWAA Newsletter [It’s Time to Stop Comparing Chicago Shortstops]( by Randy Holt, Beyond the Box Score [60 for Ohtani? A comeback for the Yankees? Predictions and storylines for second half of MLB season]( by David Schoenfield, ESPN [@fangraphs]( [FanGraphs]( [FanGraphs]( [RSS]( [FORWARD]( [SUBSCRIBE]( Copyright © 2021 FanGraphs Inc, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you subscribed to the FanGraphs Newsletter. Our mailing address is: FanGraphs Inc 1200 N Hartford St. Apt 312Arlington, Va 22201 [Add us to your address book]( Want to change how you receive these emails? You can [update your preferences]( or [unsubscribe from this list](