David Laurila

Cambridge

Columnist at FanGraphs

Baseball Writer, FanGraphs Q&A and Sunday Notes guy, Everton FC, Red Wings, Packers, Upper Peninsula native.

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Articles

Paul Molitor Talks Hitting

1 day ago | blogs.fangraphs.com | David Laurila

Paul Molitor was a maestro with the bat. Over 21 seasons — 15 with the Milwaukee Brewers and three each with the Minnesota Twins and the Toronto Blue Jays — he recorded 3,319 hits, the 11th-highest total in major league history. Moreover, Molitor’s 605 doubles are tied for 15th most, while his 2,366 singles are 12th most. Walking nearly as often as he struck out (1,094 BB, 1,244 K) the sweet-swinging corner infielder/designated hitter put up a .306/.369/.448 slash line and a 122 wRC+.
Sunday Notes: Mike Bacsik’s Unremarkable Career Wasn’t Always Unremarkable

4 days ago | blogs.fangraphs.com | David Laurila

Mike Bacsik is best known for having surrendered Barry Bonds’s 756th home run. The August 7, 2007 bomb at San Francisco’s AT&T Park gave Bonds the most in MLB history, one more than Henry Aaron. Unlike the legendary bashers, Bacsik is but a mere mortal. A left-handed pitcher for four teams over parts of five seasons, the now-Texas Rangers broadcast analyst appeared in 51 big-league games and logged a record of 10-13 with a 5.46 ERA in 216 innings.
Lucas Giolito Addresses His 2015 FanGraphs Scouting Report

6 days ago | blogs.fangraphs.com | David Laurila

Lucas Giolito is looking to return to form following elbow surgery that cost him all of last year. Now 30 years old and in his first season on mound with the Boston Red Sox, Giolito has made a pair of starts — one solid, another squalid — in which he has surrendered 15 hits and nine runs over 9 2/3 innings. At his best, he’s been a top-of-the-rotation pitcher. From 2019-2021, the 6-foot-6 right-hander fashioned a 3.47 ERA and a 3.54 FIP while making a team-high 72 starts for the Chicago White Sox.
Matt Seelinger Is a Long Island-Raised Mud Hen With a Knuckle Drop

1 week ago | blogs.fangraphs.com | David Laurila

Matt Seelinger has taken an atypical path to the doorstep of the big leagues. Drafted in the 28th round by the Pittsburgh Pirates out of Division-III Farmingdale State College in 2017, the 30-year-old right-hander subsequently played in the Tampa Bay Rays, San Francisco Giants, and Philadelphia Phillies organizations before getting released and hooking on with the Atlantic League’s Long Island Ducks before the 2024 season. His fortunes turned last summer.
Bailey Ober Addresses His December 2019 FanGraphs Scouting Report

1 week ago | blogs.fangraphs.com | David Laurila

Bailey Ober wasn’t highly regarded when our Minnesota Twins Top Prospects list was published in December 2019. The towering 6-foot-9 right-hander was ranked no. 40 with a 35+ FV. And our prospect-analyst team at the time wasn’t alone in having relatively low expectations for him. Baseball America’s 2020 Prospect Handbook didn’t include Ober in its 30-deep rankings of the Twins system, nor did MLB Pipeline find room for him in its own top 30.
Executive’s View: How Have Analytics Impacted a General Manager’s Job?

1 week ago | blogs.fangraphs.com | David Laurila

It is well known that analytics have changed the baseball landscape. Moreover, it is widely understood that the evolution is ongoing. Embracing innovation, especially within the technology realm, has increasingly become a must for teams looking to keep up with — and ideally get a step ahead of — the competition. For front offices across the game, it’s adapt or die. What does that mean for the general managers and presidents of baseball operations who lead those front offices?
Sunday Notes: Ty France Is Back To Being The Good Ty France

1 week ago | blogs.fangraphs.com | David Laurila

Ty France went into last season trying to be something he’s not, and the results reflected that. Over 535 plate appearances split between the Seattle Mariners and Cincinnati Reds, he slashed .234/.305/.365 with 13 home runs and a 93 wRC+. Statistically speaking, it was the worst year of his career. Now with the Minnesota Twins after inking a modest $1M free-agent deal in mid-February, France went into yesterday with numbers more in line with what he did from 2019-2023.
Sean Newcomb Addresses His 2015 FanGraphs Scouting Report

2 weeks ago | blogs.fangraphs.com | David Laurila

Sean Newcomb has thus far fallen short of the high expectations he’d set coming out of college and during his first years of pro ball. Drafted 15th overall by the Los Angeles Angels in 2014 out of the University of Hartford, the 31-year-old left-hander has a record of 28-28 to go with a 4.50 ERA and a 4.38 FIP over 454 1/3 career big league innings. He’s currently trying to revive his career.
Sunday Notes: A Poor Man’s Ben Zobrist, Brooks Baldwin Plays Everywhere

2 weeks ago | blogs.fangraphs.com | David Laurila

Brooks Baldwin doesn’t profile as a future star, but that doesn’t mean he won’t have a long and productive major league career. Versatility is a big reason why. A poor man’s Ben Zobrist, the 24-year-old switch-hitter has played every defensive position besides first base, catcher, and pitcher since debuting with the Chicago White Sox last summer. It may be only a matter of time before those three are added to his résumé.
Kyle Freeland Addresses His November 2016 FanGraphs Scouting Report

2 weeks ago | blogs.fangraphs.com | David Laurila

Kyle Freeland is scheduled to make his 206th start for the Colorado Rockies on Friday night, and when he does, he’ll tie Aaron Cook for the most in franchise history. The 31-year-old southpaw began building that number when he made his major league debut in April 2017. Three years earlier, he’d been drafted eighth overall by the NL West club out of the University of Evansville. When our Rockies Top Prospects list was published in November 2016, Freeland was ranked no.