The Inside Edge on Papi

My first assigned article for Inside Edge made headlines… literally. Check out ESPN.com’s baseball page today and there, right at the top, is a photo of David Ortiz with the headline “A Simple Plan”. It links to today’s “Three Things to Watch” article from Inside Edge—a Twin Cities-based baseball scouting service that I have begun writing for this season. I wrote the section on David Ortiz entitled “Papi, Don’t Preach.” Yes, I know, the headline was easily the best part, and the actual article would have been a little more compelling had the editors not hacked out a chunk of it (including most of my conclusion) because, unbeknownst to me, it was too long.

You can check out the whole article here.

ESPN.com has an exclusive deal with Inside Edge to provide insight for their ESPN Insider section, however, today’s article was made available as part of a free sneak preview behind the curtain at the “worldwide leader in sports” web site. They must have thought it was pretty good (despite what the users are saying in the comments area for the article) or they would not have led the baseball site with it. They only lead the baseball page with our Inside Edge stuff about 15 times a year, so it’s kind of a big deal when they do.

And to have them do so when my first article is leading the way, well, that’s pretty cool even for someone like me who has had his writing published for more than 12 years.

Back to the portion that was cut out… this was my original conclusion to the article:

“Watch to see whether Ortiz starts pulling the ball, like he usually does, during their series in Oakland. His lack of pull in Japan, as evidenced in the table above, might have simply been a function of a slow bat caused by fatigue; Ortiz spent two sleepless nights in Tokyo because of the time change and he was admittedly quite tired. Also keep an eye on whether Papi gets frustrated and starts reaching for those outside pitches he keeps getting offered. That will be a bad sign because Ortiz had a low 20% chase percentage last year, compared to the league average of 25%. The good news is that of those 13 pitches he was thrown in Japan that were off the plate outside, he didn’t swing at a single one.

Even more promising is that, with a red-hot Manny Ramirez hitting immediately behind him, A’s pitchers are going to want to limit the number of times they pitch around and/or walk Ortiz. If Papi resists any urge to reach for outside pitches (and gets enough sleep) there is a good chance we’ll see him pulling the ball through or over Oakland’s shift for his first hits of the season.”

They also left out the part where I explained that Ortiz is a pull hitter even though he always gets pitched outside… which kind of waters down my whole point when it’s not there. Oh well, it’s still pretty cool and the analysis is still rock solid if I may say so myself.

Anyways, I just wanted to be on record stating my point more thoroughly, again with the help of the exclusive data provided by Inside Edge. It was important to point out that Papi is usually a patient hitter and doesn’t chase a lot of pitches. It was also important to note that Manny Ramirez, who is usually a slow starter, got off to a red hot start in Japan. I really expect big things from Manny this year… a bounce-back season of sorts following his disappointing 2007 campaign. Ramirez is in better shape than he has been in a long time—I’d say the “best shape of his career,” but that’s always a sure-fire jinx. He’s also attributing his overall well-being to positive thinking after reading the popular book, “The Secret.” By the way, don’t dismiss “The Secret” until you’ve actually read the book or seen the movie.

I fully expect Ortiz and Ramirez to have another Ruth-Gehrig-esque season, now that Papi, presumably, has had enough rest.

For more information about Inside Edge and their incredible baseball scouting services, including the revolutionary Palm Scout technology, visit their web site at www.inside-edge.com.