On Domonic Brown's Power Outburst

Domonic Brown just had himself one incredible month of May. What's truly crazy about the month Domonic Brown just had, however, is the complete lack of walks.

As in, Domonic Brown walked zero times in May.

12 HRs, 0 BBs.

In fact, he's the only hitter in major league history with nine or more home runs in a single month while failing to draw a walk. As the calendar has flipped to June, the story has continued to gain steam. He's locked in at the plate right now in an almost unthinkable manner. Currently, Brown leads the NL and is second in the major leagues with 19 home runs, one behind league leader Chris "Crush" Davis of the Orioles. Coming into this season, Brown had hit a grand total of twelve home runs in roughly one full season's worth of games between 2010 and 2012.

His ISO (isolated power) stands at a remarkable .299, while his slugging percentage is a powerful .588 in 2013. Only six players in the major leagues have slugging percentages higher than the number Domonic Brown currently possesses, and three of them (Troy Tulowitzki, Carlos Gonzalez, and Michael Cuddyer) play half their games in the forgiving power-hitting confines of Coors Field. The other three are the pre-eminent hitter in the game (Miguel Cabrera), the game's best current pure power hitter (Chris Davis), and the breakout first baseman for Arizona, Paul Goldschmidt. When relegated to just ISO, only Chris Davis (.369) and Carlos Gonzalez (.318) sport a higher rate of isolated power in 2013 than Domonic Brown (.299).

That is certainly some welcoming company to have alongside one's name. Yet this explosion of a former top prospect came almost out of nowhere. Phillies fans anticipated Domonic Brown playing, but few would have imagined a breakout season like the one he's having thus far. All of this begs the question: what lies behind Brown's new-found power?

The League-Wide Rise in Strikeouts: Aberration, or the New Norm?

As pointed out by HardBallTalk through Buster Olney (in turn through the Elias Sports Bureau), April 2013 saw the highest number of strikeouts by batters in any month in baseball history. Moreover, as pointed out by Jason Linden of HardBallTimes, baseball is currently on pace to sport as many as 10 to 13 batters with 200 or more strikeouts. There has never been a season in Major League Baseball history which has seen more than one batter eclipse the once-dreaded 200-strikeout barrier. What does this mean for the game?

Brothers in Arms: The Rise and Fall of Four Starters

This season, while still early, is writing the final chapters in the careers of four starters to have thrown no-hitters.

Buster's Big Break: Thoughts on last week's Posey extension

Shortly after Justin Verlander was awarded a massive contract extension from the Detroit Tigers, the Giants and their MVP catcher, Buster Posey, agreed to a new nine-year, $167,000,000 contract that will see him get paid between twenty and twenty-two million dollars annually between 2016 and 2022. My take on the signing and what this may portend for Los Gigantes, after the jump.

Elvis Lives! The Andrus Contract Extension and Implications for Texas

Early Monday, the Texas Rangers chose to lock up their starting shortstop Elvis Andrus with an eight-year, $120,000,000 extension that will take him through his prime seasons.

Johan Santana's Series of Unfortunate Events: An Analysis and Career Retrospective

The news broke yesterday that Johan Santana of the Mets had "probably" re-torn his shoulder capsule and will likely miss all of the 2013 season. It likely also signals the end of the 33-year-old's career as a starting pitcher in the major leagues.

On Mike Trout's weight gain and expected 2013 performance

There has been much ado made of the recent revelation that Mike Trout packed an additional ten to fifteen pounds of muscle onto his frame over the course of the off-season. One reporter stated that he now looked more like an NFL fullback, whereas last season he looked more like an NFL running back. Others have nicknamed him "Fat Mike" (ostensibly based upon the lead singer/bassist for the band NOFX) and "Beefy Trout".

This size change understandably has people concerned; a common adage in a non-contact sport like baseball is that one can get "too bulky" to be an impact player. Here is where I must disagree, and I elaborate after the jump.

Info Dump: Research on the Performance of MLB Pitchers Arriving From Asia

My question in undertaking this research was a simple one: has there ever been a true #1 starting pitcher in the MLB from Asia? Based purely on stuff, there certainly can be an argument made for players such as Hideo Nomo or Yu Darvish. However, I chose to look at this from a production-only standpoint. Many players have had great stuff but been unable to translate that stuff into quality major-league production (hello, Daniel Cabrera).

I was inclined to say no, but I wanted to see from a historical standpoint. So, I looked at the best seasons of every Asian pitcher (born in an Asian country, which eliminates players such as Bruce Chen, of Chinese descent but born in Panama) to have pitched at least one year in the major leagues. You will find this lengthy amount of information below, after the jump.

My sense of this is that some part of the problem is the astronomic expectations that get placed on many of these pitchers when they are brought from overseas. Hideo Nomo, Hideki Irabu, Chan Ho Park, Daisuke Matsuzaka, Kei Igawa, etc.; the pressure placed on each was enormous upon arrival.

Felix Hernandez, Clayton Kershaw, David Price, and the lost logic of pitcher contracts

This past Thursday, the Seattle Mariners struck a deal on an extension with their star pitcher, "King" Felix Hernandez. The new deal, which adds another five years to the previous two years left on his prior contract, will keep him in a Seattle uniform through 2019.

The total value of the contract set a new record for the largest contract ever given to a pitcher, at $175,000,000. Additionally, it takes the average salary of Felix Hernandez to a semi-record $27,100,000 per season. This is the highest AAV of any pitcher signed to a full season; however, the contract Roger Clemens signed with the Yankees in 2007, a deal signed mid-way through the season, was worth a pro-rated rate of $28,000,000.

Hernandez is happy, the Mariners are happy, Seattle fans are happy. The other franchises possessing elite young starting pitchers coming up on extensions, however, may not be so pleased. King Felix's new deal sets the bar sky-high for the next crop of outstanding pitchers primed to hit free agency barring extensions: Clayton Kershaw, David Price, and Justin Verlander. Kershaw and Verlander are set to be free agents after 2014, while Price will be a free agent after 2015.

For the Rays, it seems a forgone conclusion that David Price will find a new home after 2015. However, much the same was said in regards to Evan Longoria's tenure in Tampa, and the Rays managed to find the money to retain his services with a nine-figure deal. The door isn't shut completely on Price as a long-term Ray, but it's only open a crack and we are two years away from his time as a free agent.

The same cannot be said in regards to Verlander and the Tigers, and especially not to Kershaw and the Dodgers in light of their hedonistic spending in the past eight-to-twelve months. I am not a betting man, but to bet against Kershaw being the first pitcher to sign a $200,000,000 contract would appear to be easy money. I think it's fairly likely that Verlander gets a large new deal with the Tigers, regardless of whether or not Dave Dombrowski retains his GM job and regardless of whether or not they win the World Series. Mike Ilitch is likely to realize the value (and not just on the field) that a player of Verlander's caliber brings to his ball club, and consequently his revenues/profitability. He may not crack the two hundred million dollar barrier, but he will be very close against it either way (it is plausible he asks for $28,000,000 annually over seven seasons, which would be a $196,000,000 contract).

Perhaps the more pressing question of all is this one: at what point did the general managers and upper management staff of the largest clubs decide to forgo the notion that long-term pitcher contracts are anathema to the team and the game more generally? It was not all that long ago that such long-term deals, even in free agency, were unheard of. Today, it becomes more and more commonplace.

More on this concern, after the jump.

The off-season's biggest winners, 2012-13: #s 5-1

Continuing with my list of the off-season's biggest winners, we have the top five, after the jump.