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Sky Kalkman

@skykalkman

Baseball, limes, data nerdery. I ask a lot of questions. https://skykalkman.substack.com/

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Latest posts by Sky Kalkman @skykalkman

Josh Baez spring: 197 wRC+, 69% zone contact.

Milan Tolentino spring: .429 ISO, .111 BABIP

Emmanuel Rodriguez spring: 43% K rate, .421 ISO, .750 BABIP

Charlie Condon: crushing it, 85% zone contact

11.03.2026 20:31 ๐Ÿ‘ 2 ๐Ÿ” 0 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0 ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

It's spring training, but the Astros have struck out in 36% of their ABs. Nationals are the only other team above 30%.

11.03.2026 20:20 ๐Ÿ‘ 3 ๐Ÿ” 0 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1 ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

Unpopular opinion: "Barry Bonds isn't the single season home run champ" is a valid argument. The arguer clearly understands that 73 is the biggest number, but believes that steroid users should be penalized. That's valid. Just like you could adjust for era, season length, HR environment, ballpark.

11.03.2026 19:04 ๐Ÿ‘ 1 ๐Ÿ” 0 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1 ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
Post image

Not something you see every day:

11.03.2026 16:20 ๐Ÿ‘ 9 ๐Ÿ” 1 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 4 ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

While I understand the calculation, I would suggest it's not the definition people think of when they use HR/FB. It's more conditional, like "what percentage of FBs are HRs".

11.03.2026 17:27 ๐Ÿ‘ 0 ๐Ÿ” 0 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0 ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

Republicans in Congress have little interest in fighting Trump for the power of Congress, but they will fight Trump over telling their job in a power-yielding Congress. What courage.

11.03.2026 17:24 ๐Ÿ‘ 0 ๐Ÿ” 0 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0 ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

43 free throws?!

11.03.2026 15:41 ๐Ÿ‘ 4 ๐Ÿ” 0 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0 ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

Any hitters you like for more PAs?

11.03.2026 15:33 ๐Ÿ‘ 3 ๐Ÿ” 0 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1 ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

Me: Ok, I'll exclude those people from the list you gave me. But to be clear, everyone else should be included, right?

Them: Correct.

Me: Ok, here's your data.

Them: Why didn't you remove these other people? I thought was obvious?

Me: Ok, I'm calling it for the day.

11.03.2026 15:29 ๐Ÿ‘ 2 ๐Ÿ” 0 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0 ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

We had a super cheap one that was fine for two years but couldn't be fully cleaned and plastic parts eventually went. This one feels like it will last forever AND do a better job.

(Not claiming it's better than similar products from other brands.)

11.03.2026 15:20 ๐Ÿ‘ 1 ๐Ÿ” 0 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0 ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

In case you've been wondering for a while like I was -- yes, the Breville espresso makers are so worth it. Very well designed and built. Easy and obvious how to do things, including clean it. We have the Touch Impression (bought on huge sale). Grinder, brewer and frother are great.

11.03.2026 15:19 ๐Ÿ‘ 1 ๐Ÿ” 0 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 2 ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
Preview
RotoGraphs Is Hiring Contributors! RotoGraphs is looking for contributors!

RotoGraphs Is Hiring Contributors! blogs.fangraphs.com/rotographs-i...

11.03.2026 15:01 ๐Ÿ‘ 3 ๐Ÿ” 2 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0 ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
Preview
U.S. at Fault in Strike on School in Iran, Preliminary Inquiry Says

BREAKING NYT:

An ongoing military investigation has determined that the United States is responsible for a deadly Tomahawk missile strike on an Iranian elementary school, according to U.S. officials and others familiar with the preliminary findings. www.nytimes.com/2026/03/11/u...

11.03.2026 15:05 ๐Ÿ‘ 3348 ๐Ÿ” 1542 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 240 ๐Ÿ“Œ 197

Pro tip in a data or tech role: don't use your lingo with people outside your specialty. Use words they understand, even if it seems less precise to you. It's probably fine for others and comprehension way outweighs precision.

11.03.2026 14:28 ๐Ÿ‘ 4 ๐Ÿ” 0 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1 ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

Admitted he was wrong, though, that's un-American.

11.03.2026 10:49 ๐Ÿ‘ 22 ๐Ÿ” 0 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1 ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

Almost posted this exact same thing.

10.03.2026 22:15 ๐Ÿ‘ 0 ๐Ÿ” 0 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0 ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

I still wanna know why Lopez hasn't hit lefties very well in his career. Weird.

10.03.2026 21:31 ๐Ÿ‘ 1 ๐Ÿ” 0 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1 ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

Glasnow doesn't have much of a platoon split, but this still seems like the Diamondbacks are punishing their right-handed hitters for something.

10.03.2026 21:30 ๐Ÿ‘ 0 ๐Ÿ” 0 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0 ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

It's weird to think that we pay SO MUCH for the military and that amount doesn't include costs associated with an actual war that's only a couple weeks old.

10.03.2026 16:43 ๐Ÿ‘ 6 ๐Ÿ” 0 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1 ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
Preview
Depleted oil reserve leaves US exposed as Iran war pushes up prices Donald Trump has not fulfilled a vow to refill the Strategic Petroleum Reserve that was drained by Joe Biden

TIL Trump didn't bother to refill the strategic petroleum reserve last year when oil was dirt cheap. what can you even say www.ft.com/content/d546...

10.03.2026 13:42 ๐Ÿ‘ 1982 ๐Ÿ” 672 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 90 ๐Ÿ“Œ 72

TEN MORE YEARS! TEN MORE YEARS!

10.03.2026 16:02 ๐Ÿ‘ 1 ๐Ÿ” 0 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0 ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

Certainly not lost on me that Republicans are now focused on national leader and strength of Dems is more local leaders. Skip from what Republicans claimed was a difference up until recently.

10.03.2026 16:01 ๐Ÿ‘ 2 ๐Ÿ” 0 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0 ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

Yes. See a later tweet thread. The more that comparisons can be directly compared, the better.

10.03.2026 15:16 ๐Ÿ‘ 0 ๐Ÿ” 0 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0 ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

Comparison is common. Make it as easy as possible to do it. Or have the tool do it already. Or have the tool do it and highlight the meaningful takeaways.

Think about how about user will use your tool, then re-design new tools to DO that use case for them.

10.03.2026 14:35 ๐Ÿ‘ 0 ๐Ÿ” 0 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0 ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

Some examples;

Flag new pitches, allow filtering by that.

Don't just put two movement charts/tables side by side, put the before/after metrics side by side, or calculate the change. Flag meaningful changes.

Or overlay one chart on the other.

10.03.2026 14:33 ๐Ÿ‘ 0 ๐Ÿ” 0 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 2 ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

There's a lot of great days and tools available these days. Web apps, auto-generated images, etc.

I would encourage those creators to do more of the analysis work and not always have it up to the user. I.e. prescriptive instead of descriptive.

10.03.2026 14:31 ๐Ÿ‘ 0 ๐Ÿ” 0 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1 ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

Great idea for a single image comparing two players or same player over different time frames.

/Cc @blandalytics.pitcherlist.com @tjstats.ca @srbrown70.bsky.social @mlbpitchprofiler.com

10.03.2026 14:25 ๐Ÿ‘ 3 ๐Ÿ” 0 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 2 ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

Ahh, manual. It's a great idea.

10.03.2026 14:23 ๐Ÿ‘ 0 ๐Ÿ” 0 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0 ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

Where do you get those visuals?

10.03.2026 10:58 ๐Ÿ‘ 0 ๐Ÿ” 0 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1 ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
2025 Fouls Above Average leaders

2025 Fouls Above Average leaders

Been working on updating my contact model and decided to take a look fouls above average with and without two strikes. Here are the batters who managed to foul off more pitches than expected with 2 strikes compared to earlier counts.

10.03.2026 03:31 ๐Ÿ‘ 3 ๐Ÿ” 1 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1 ๐Ÿ“Œ 0