Welcome to Rates and Barrels episode number 63. It is January 23, 2020. Derek Van R Derek Van Riper here with Enoseres. On this episode,

we'll discuss Marcelo Zuna's one-year deal with the Braves, the rise of Fernando Tatis Jr. to first-round

status and several other topics, including questions about how to handle a half-season splits.

We are available on iTunes, Spotify, so that you're pretty much anywhere you want to listen to podcasts. So if you're enjoying this show on a platform that allows you to rate and review it, please take the time to do that. We really appreciate it. Tell your friends about the show as well. And if you're listening to this show for the first time and you're not already a subscriber to The Athletic, you can get 40% off a subscription at theathletic.com slash rates and barrels. Eno, we're going to get right at it. Marcel O'Zuna goes to the Braves, and I think one of us or both of us thought that it wasn't going to happen. We thought they were going to maybe go the third base upgrade route, but one-year deal, 18 million. It kind of looks like Ozuna is doing the asmani grandal bet on himself thing and

i think he has the skills to actually pull it off yeah we'll see it this is going to definitely be

the best or uh most hitter friendly home park that he's played in um and it's not saying that he's

going to coors or anything, but Atlanta

is like about 18th when it comes to high drives to right field turning into left field. He's a

righty. Left field turning into home runs. And before he used to be at sort of 28 and 29 and 30s.

So there's a chance there that he kind of pulls a Mike Mastakis, I think,

and has a good year and a good park,

and then gets the basically the three-year,

at least the three-year deals he was looking at,

if not more, plus the 18 he gets, you know?

So if he's looking at 330, 345, that sort of stuff, maybe he says, I take 18 and I get that same deal or better next year.

Yeah, maybe he pushes it up to 18 per year over three more years, and that's not on the table right now.

I can see that playing out that way.

It is funny that all the parks he's played in are more pitcher-friendly, and this is the least picture-friendly environment so far, but still kind of closer to the middle of the pack. And he's had a ton of success on the power front. I mean, last year was a low point for him in terms of batting average at 243, but he drew more walks than ever, which I think is a

really encouraging sign for the long-term profile. He's one of those guys with big time power,

who's never really struck out that much as a big league player outside of his first full

season way back in 2014, even 26.8% by today's standards really isn't that bad, but I like

him quite a bit. And he's right in the same

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