There are no links of interest today.
So let's talk about Jake Marisnick.
In 103 games in 2018 Marisnick posted a .211/.275/.399 slash line, with 84K:15BB in 235 PAs. While his OPS+ was 85, FanGraphs put his fWAR at 1.0 - 200th out of 330 MLB players with 230+ PAs. His 35.7 K% was 8th-highest out of those 330 players. These things are known. Even taking into account his breakout 2017 season, his .674 OPS in 2018 was higher than his career .652 OPS.
But there really were two seasons for Jake Marisnick.
Marisnick had six hits in his first 32 PAs (two of them were home runs). He had six hits in his next 55 PAs. When Marisnick was sent down following the July 13 game, he was hitting .192/.236/.359 with 70K:7BB in 166 PAs, a 42.2 K% with a .291 BABIP. The BABIP was fine, he just wasn't BIPing enough.
But when he returned to the Astros on August 1, things were different. He played in 32 games (69 PAs) from Aug 1 through the end of the season (15 starts), and hit .263/.368/.509 - an .876 OPS on a .293 BABIP - with 14K:8BB, a 20.3 K%.
Consider: In 57 starts (204 PAs) Marisnick hit .200/.262/.368. In 31 PAs when he didn't start the game he hit .286/.355/.607.
Marisnick dug himself such a large hole in the first half of the season that it was almost impossible for 2018 to look like a success. But his role going forward is clear: come in to a game late, make a spot start here and there and play exceptional defense.
We didn't come out here to play tiddlywinks, son.
-Hal Smith
