Foolish Baseball

Punching an object. Breaking their hand. Pitchers need their hands to, well, you know, pitch a baseball. But this video is about the throwers brave enough to punch a wall, punch a locker, or punch a door and break their hand. The most common fracture for a pitcher breaking hand? The fifth metacarpal fracture AKA the boxer's fracture.

Bryan Woo's career at Cal Poly of the Big West Conference baseball didn't exactly go to plan. He struggled with a 6.49 ERA, and never established himself as a starter. Despite this, the Mariners draft Bryan Woo decision has been huge for the franchise. The 2021 MLB Draft featured a lot of early "busts," but a 6th round pick like Bryan Woo has been great. And that's because Mariners Trent Blank, director of pitching strategy, advocated for his selection.

Joba Chamberlain. Poor guy. What did he do to deserve the Cleveland Midges? The Midge Game aka the Bug Game was 2007 ALDS Game 2. And those 2007 ALDS Game 2 bugs went to town on poor Joba Chamberlain, causing a midge meltdown that led to a Yankees loss.

Hank Aaron is one of the all time great players in baseball history, but it's almost difficult to describe just how great he was. This video essay, part of the Baseball Bits series on Foolish Baseball, will attempt to alleviate that. Because Henry Aaron shouldn't be remembered for his peak season, rather his incredible consistency with the Hammerin Hank Aaron Braves.

Where did our olds go? I'll do my best to explain. In MLB, there is a decline in old hitters. The oldest players in MLB simply aren't as old as they used to be, at least among position players. And those that remain receive less playing time and are generally less effective.

Corey Seager is good at baseball. That is essentially the message of this video. Of course, we'll look at it through an analytical lens that includes Corey Seager Rangers highlights and Corey Seager Dodgers highlights, which include his two Corey Seager World Series MVP awards. But this is also a study of MLB plate discipline metrics, and how aggressive hitters like Corey Seager have approaches that can be quantified.

This is a video about sports gambling, two worlds that have always existed parallel to one another, but only recently had their relationship recognized and legalized in the United States. While some might say that gambling is ruining sports or gambling is ruining baseball, in this episode of Baseball Bits, a Foolish Baseball production, I satirically argue that baseball is ruining gambling. Reversing the roles as I suggest regulating or banning Major League Baseball, so as not to sully the good names of DraftKings or FanDuel.

Steve Dalkowski. That is the name of the hardest thrower that never was. Turns out that baseball's hardest thrower never played in MLB. It's a cautionary tale to same degree. Dalkowski's struggles on and off the field were well-documented, most recently in the biography "Dalko" from Dembski, Thomas, and Vikander. But they were also documented in fiction. Steve Dalkowski was the inspiration for the character Nuke LaLoosh in Bull Durham. In this episode of Baseball Bits, a Foolish Baseball production, we'll tell the story of Steve Dalkowski chronologically while also doing our own baseball stat analysis of why never reached the big leagues.

Paul Skenes is a finesse pitcher, and you're wrong about Paul Skenes. On his way to a Cy Young Award in 2025, Paul Skenes' 2025 season continued to defy the narrative placed upon him. The former 2023 MLB Draft #1 overall pick, a product of LSU baseball, is a command pitcher. Power pitcher simply sells his finesse and craftiness short. This episode of Baseball Bits, a Foolish Baseball production, is a study in control and especially pitcher command. We'll use data from Inside Edge to compare Paul Skenes to Greg Maddux, a more commonly accepted example of a control pitcher.