Sky Kalkman
@skykalkman.bsky.social
Baseball, limes, data nerdery. I ask a lot of questions.
https://skykalkman.substack.com/
https://skykalkman.substack.com/
Homemade Phony Negroni at 10:30am. Pretty good! Lots of flavor, a touch of tanins. Might try some Concord grape skins in the tea syrup next time.
cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1027...
cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1027...
October 4, 2025 at 2:46 PM
Homemade Phony Negroni at 10:30am. Pretty good! Lots of flavor, a touch of tanins. Might try some Concord grape skins in the tea syrup next time.
cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1027...
cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1027...
Found this on my desk this morning, from a Reds-fan co-worker...
September 30, 2025 at 11:58 AM
Found this on my desk this morning, from a Reds-fan co-worker...
September 25, 2025 at 4:57 PM
It's mostly noise on top of skill, but I don't think it's necessarily wrong to use WPA in MVP arguments.
Ohtani! Polanco!
www.fangraphs.com/leaders/majo...
Ohtani! Polanco!
www.fangraphs.com/leaders/majo...
September 25, 2025 at 12:10 PM
It's mostly noise on top of skill, but I don't think it's necessarily wrong to use WPA in MVP arguments.
Ohtani! Polanco!
www.fangraphs.com/leaders/majo...
Ohtani! Polanco!
www.fangraphs.com/leaders/majo...
Finally carved out some time to dig into these bad boys. Bayesian for fun and hopefully some future work projects, the others since we're switching to PowerBI at work (thank god).
September 9, 2025 at 2:42 PM
Finally carved out some time to dig into these bad boys. Bayesian for fun and hopefully some future work projects, the others since we're switching to PowerBI at work (thank god).
Doctor I trust more than RFK Jr.
September 7, 2025 at 12:48 PM
Doctor I trust more than RFK Jr.
This is where I post from
September 4, 2025 at 5:13 PM
This is where I post from
This is overly simplified for many reasons, including an 81-game smoothing, but Jo Adell starting making a lot more contact in the zone the second half of last year. This year he's started swinging more at strikes, while maintaining those contact gains (and not swinging more at balls.) #real
August 24, 2025 at 11:42 AM
This is overly simplified for many reasons, including an 81-game smoothing, but Jo Adell starting making a lot more contact in the zone the second half of last year. This year he's started swinging more at strikes, while maintaining those contact gains (and not swinging more at balls.) #real
Trivia: name this young starter who has a limited MLB tracker record this year...
August 17, 2025 at 3:21 PM
Trivia: name this young starter who has a limited MLB tracker record this year...
Why make four pizzas with the same toppings when you can do way more work to have four unique pizzas?
August 16, 2025 at 11:32 PM
Why make four pizzas with the same toppings when you can do way more work to have four unique pizzas?
The Life in Pieces kid made the bigs!
August 14, 2025 at 7:41 PM
The Life in Pieces kid made the bigs!
Trying to make a consistent story out of these rolling charts...
Maybe his O-Swing went up initially because he could see the ball better, and then he realized, hey if I can see it better I can lay off it?
Maybe his O-Swing went up initially because he could see the ball better, and then he realized, hey if I can see it better I can lay off it?
August 1, 2025 at 5:29 PM
Trying to make a consistent story out of these rolling charts...
Maybe his O-Swing went up initially because he could see the ball better, and then he realized, hey if I can see it better I can lay off it?
Maybe his O-Swing went up initially because he could see the ball better, and then he realized, hey if I can see it better I can lay off it?
You don't often see projections that keep going up five years straight. Junior Caminero's so young.
July 23, 2025 at 6:10 PM
You don't often see projections that keep going up five years straight. Junior Caminero's so young.
Yeah, that's fun. I'd love to see my full list, and a comparison to the overall rankings. Would love to see where the top FA contracts fall. It's really hard to compare two bad players/contracts.
July 16, 2025 at 5:06 PM
Yeah, that's fun. I'd love to see my full list, and a comparison to the overall rankings. Would love to see where the top FA contracts fall. It's really hard to compare two bad players/contracts.
Now if Caminero could only make better swing decisions...
He swings way too often and is below average in the pitches he takes.
Via dnev-baseball.shinyapps.io/Swing_Decisi...
He swings way too often and is below average in the pitches he takes.
Via dnev-baseball.shinyapps.io/Swing_Decisi...
July 11, 2025 at 4:23 PM
Now if Caminero could only make better swing decisions...
He swings way too often and is below average in the pitches he takes.
Via dnev-baseball.shinyapps.io/Swing_Decisi...
He swings way too often and is below average in the pitches he takes.
Via dnev-baseball.shinyapps.io/Swing_Decisi...
Speaking of Denzel Clarke, he's been improving a LOT.
Swinging at more strikes without chasing more. Making more contact in the zone. Putting more fly balls in the air.
Over the past 10 games he has a 140 wRC+ with "only" a 31% strikeout rate, an 8% walk rate and tons of damage on contact.
Swinging at more strikes without chasing more. Making more contact in the zone. Putting more fly balls in the air.
Over the past 10 games he has a 140 wRC+ with "only" a 31% strikeout rate, an 8% walk rate and tons of damage on contact.
July 11, 2025 at 4:10 PM
Speaking of Denzel Clarke, he's been improving a LOT.
Swinging at more strikes without chasing more. Making more contact in the zone. Putting more fly balls in the air.
Over the past 10 games he has a 140 wRC+ with "only" a 31% strikeout rate, an 8% walk rate and tons of damage on contact.
Swinging at more strikes without chasing more. Making more contact in the zone. Putting more fly balls in the air.
Over the past 10 games he has a 140 wRC+ with "only" a 31% strikeout rate, an 8% walk rate and tons of damage on contact.
Elly de la Cruz is on fire, hitting .333/.435/.718 (205 wRC+) with a sub-20% strikeout rate over his last 92 PAs.
Zone contract rate is near career low (75%), but plate discipline is at a career best, allowing for more OOZ contact (laying off worse pitches) and fewer free strikes.
Zone contract rate is near career low (75%), but plate discipline is at a career best, allowing for more OOZ contact (laying off worse pitches) and fewer free strikes.
June 19, 2025 at 1:28 PM
Elly de la Cruz is on fire, hitting .333/.435/.718 (205 wRC+) with a sub-20% strikeout rate over his last 92 PAs.
Zone contract rate is near career low (75%), but plate discipline is at a career best, allowing for more OOZ contact (laying off worse pitches) and fewer free strikes.
Zone contract rate is near career low (75%), but plate discipline is at a career best, allowing for more OOZ contact (laying off worse pitches) and fewer free strikes.
Just arrived, let's go!!!
June 13, 2025 at 6:53 PM
Just arrived, let's go!!!
Here is a scatter plot of swing aggressiveness vs swing decision-making, using only the in-zone and out-of-zone metrics available at Fangraphs.
Aggressiveness is swing rates adjusted by rate of pitches in the zone.
Decisions is zone-swing relative to avg minus out-of-zone-swing relative to avg.
Aggressiveness is swing rates adjusted by rate of pitches in the zone.
Decisions is zone-swing relative to avg minus out-of-zone-swing relative to avg.
June 13, 2025 at 6:27 PM
Here is a scatter plot of swing aggressiveness vs swing decision-making, using only the in-zone and out-of-zone metrics available at Fangraphs.
Aggressiveness is swing rates adjusted by rate of pitches in the zone.
Decisions is zone-swing relative to avg minus out-of-zone-swing relative to avg.
Aggressiveness is swing rates adjusted by rate of pitches in the zone.
Decisions is zone-swing relative to avg minus out-of-zone-swing relative to avg.