Every week, the Pitcher List team will publish an update to our power rankings, reviewing the biggest risers and fallers of the past seven days. This time, we are previewing each team’s outlook for the upcoming season. As always, the full rankings can be found at the bottom of this article … but where’s the fun in that?
Movin’ On Up
Record: 29-31
Rank change: +4
Only four teams in the National League own a winning record. You read that correctly. When you look at the standings and see that St. Louis currently has a 29-31 record, it doesn’t look that bad.
The Cardinals have been playing better ball lately, but are still just slightly below league-average across the board. When it comes to pitching they have the oldest starting rotation in the majors. The average age of their five-man rotation of Lance Lynn, Miles Mikolas, Kyle Gibson, Sonny Gray, and Steven Matz is 35. In terms of talent, Gray is the only one that stands out.
Gray is currently 7-3 with a 12.16 K/9 and 2.49 xFIP. Those are some of the best numbers for any starter this season. The strikeout rate is the highest for any pitcher with at least 50 innings pitched, and the xFIP is tied with Garrett Crochet for fourth in baseball. Only Paul Skenes, Jack Flaherty, and Chris Sale are above him. The rest of the St. Louis pitching core have xFIPs of 4.00 or higher and Lynn has the second-best K/9 with an 8.36.
When it comes to their offense, the Cards are tied for 16th in wRC+ (98), 22nd in wOBA (.302), and 20th in ISO (.141). The 36-year-old Paul Goldschmidt has seen his numbers fall off this season. He currently has a .293 wOBA which is significantly lower than his career average of .382. 33-year-old Nolan Arenado is batting just a tick above .300 in the wOBA department but this is still a decrease from what we have been used to seeing from him for the past decade.
The Nolan you should be looking at on this team is Nolan Gorman, who is one of the hottest players in baseball over the past couple of weeks. Over the last month, Gorman is third in ISO (.429) and ninth in wOBA (.470). Willson Contreras was having a great season before he broke his arm being hit by a swing. I don’t suggest watching the replay.
This team has a lot of talent, however, that talent might be fading alongside the youth of this team’s core of players. The NL Central is one of the weakest in baseball however, so if there was ever a team to make a run and squeak into the playoffs, it could be the Red Birds.
Hittin’ the Skids
Record: 30-33
Rank change: -4
The Giants are 3-7 over their last ten games and can’t seem to catch a break with injuries. Blake Snell, who the Giants signed for two years and 62 million, was just placed back on the Injured List with a left groin strain. The two-time Cy Young award winner has only started six games this year and is 0-3 with a 9.51 ERA. His xFIP sits at 4.09 so he is due for some positive regression, however, it is tough to regress positively when you can’t stay on the field.
The rest of this rotation is the bright spot for the Giants, who have had an underwhelming offense all season. Nobody will blow you away with strikeouts, but Logan Webb and Jordan Hicks have both been impressive this year. Webb has continued his ability to keep the ball on the ground this season with just a 0.34 HR/9. His 2.16 xFIP ranks 19th in the league, while his ground ball percentage of 56.7% ranks 6th. Hicks has an xFIP of 3.79.
As far as their offense goes, San Fran is ranked 10th in wRC+ (105), 24th in ISO (.136), and 14th in wOBA (.310). The power department is where they have been struggling the most. Matt Chapman had a mini-power surge but overall he has just a .172 ISO with eight homers on the year. The best hitter on this team has been rookie Heliot Ramos, who leads this team in ISO (.207) and is third in wOBA (.400).
LaMonte Wade Jr. has been an on-base machine but injuries have forced him on and off the field. He currently has a highly impressive 20% walk rate and just a 21.1% strikeout rate. He is a big factor in why the Giants are ranked 10th in wRC+ as a whole this year. Furthermore, Michael Conforto has played just 41 games this year and Jorge Soler’s power is not what we typically associate with the 32-year-old.
This team may have boosted their squad with Bob Melvin and Snell in the offseason, but injuries and underperformance are going to make it tough to compete in the tough NL West division.
Week 10 Power Rankings
The Giants are injured and not playing well for one major reason. They are the slowest, stiffest team in MLB. Statcast has them ranked as slowest. Photos show they are the stiffest. They sign stiff players and have been making them stiffer year by year by overdoing weights. Lifting weights tears thousands of tiny muscle fibers of the 20-50,000 individual fibers that make up each muscle. As the body repairs the torn fibers, they become bigger and stronger. But the body also creates scar tissue to aid in the repair and autopsies of weight lifters have found that 30% of their ‘muscle mass’ is scar tissue.
But the body also creates scar tissue (microfibers) between the muscles to reduce movements of stretching and contraction, just as we put a sling or cast on the outside. These microfibers do not go away and cannot be released by stretching. It takes 1-4 years of lifting for the microfibers to accumulate to the point of slowing down and stiffening the players. 8 research studies have found that stiff ball players incur more injuries than flexible ball players and the Giants led the league last year in number of injured players and this year they are tied for the lead.
Somax Microfiber Reduction does release microfibers and will improve the performance of all the Giants pitchers and position players, but the Giants are not interested. 18 Somax athletes have won 44 Gold Medals and set 11 World Records. Google Somax Microfiber Reduction for videos and before and after photos.