2017 MLB Thread - PLAY BALL!

[Airbornelawyer]

Originally Posted by bblhead672

Lots of action the past couple of games. It appears all of the pitchers on both teams are tired, turning the Series into a home run derby.

Can Houston pull out one more on the road to bring home a World Series title to their waterlogged area?

Hasn't the entire season been a long home run derby?

[Ret10Echo]

Originally Posted by Airbornelawyer

Hasn't the entire season been a long home run derby?

The "juiced" ball debate has been ongoing. Hurts the small park teams where pitchers don't want to go there and hurt their necks watching moon-shots scream over the wall (or out of the park)

[Badger52]

I think your assessment of tired bullpen on both sides is valid. Last night's game was a brawl; no one in that park who paid presumably obscene money to be there can say they didn't get their dime's worth.

Prediction: If Verlander pitches game 6 anything near like he did Game 2, the title will come back to Houston. Any takers? I can probably cover it in Venezuelan Bolivars, but I need to round up a few pallets first.

[Badger52]

Originally Posted by Ret10Echo

The "juiced" ball debate has been ongoing.

Someone asked the Cubs' first baseman about that earlier this year & he replied in his typical guileless fashion that, yeah, the ball is different. The stitches aren't as high (which has caused a 4x increase in pitchers on the DL with blisters) and also reduces drag which a) maintains velocity closer to the plate and b) gets you about 20-30' more distance, given identical launch angles. Which is like getting caught on the warning track for an out versus into a fan's glove for a dinger. Fan$ love dinger$.

[Old Dog New Trick]

You don’t play with the balls you want, you play with the balls you have. Anything else is ghey.

Stroke the shaft cradle the balls!

Unlike the Patriots both teams have the same balls.

[Ret10Echo]

Old Dog New Trick; You don’t play with the balls you want, you play with the balls you have. Anything else is ghey

.



Numbers of HR are climbing.... over 6,000 this year (500 more than '16 and 1,100 more than '15). By the same token, the number of strikeouts was up in '17 as well so the all-or-nothing factor may apply.

I think what we're seeing has more of an effect on how pitching staff are utilized and how many specialties there are in the bullpens to support a "starter" that may only go 4 or 5 innings. Heck 6 innings and >3 runs gives you a "quality start".

[Badger52]

Originally Posted by Ret10Echo

Heck 6 innings and >3 runs gives you a "quality start".

LOL. Thanks, now I really feel old from when that meant something like a complete game shut-out, or a no-hitter.

[Airbornelawyer]

Originally Posted by Ret10Echo

Numbers of HR are climbing.... over 6,000 this year (500 more than '16 and 1,100 more than '15). By the same token, the number of strikeouts was up in '17 as well so the all-or-nothing factor may apply.

I think what we're seeing has more of an effect on how pitching staff are utilized and how many specialties there are in the bullpens to support a "starter" that may only go 4 or 5 innings. Heck 6 innings and >3 runs gives you a "quality start".

I agree with this assessment more than with a change to the balls themselves, though that may also be a factor.

Average fastball velocity has been climbing practically every season, while the percentages of fastballs thrown has been falling. Starting pitchers are wearing themselves out more quickly and making it into the 7th inning apparently makes you a superstar. Since 2000, only one pitcher has reached double digits in complete games - James Shields with 11 in 2011 - and that was a one-off, since his highest number in any other season was 3. So the starters throw their arms out for 5-6 innings, and then a bunch of fresh relievers come in and throw all they have.

And hitters seem to be all about the "three true outcomes" - HR, walk or strikeout - taking all those breaking pitches and hunting the fastball. It's become a cliche that hardly anyone plays small-ball or hits situationally. You would think that professional hitters like Chris Davis of the Orioles, who get exaggerated shifts every time they come to the plate, would learn how to adjust and slap the ball opposite the shift, but they don't. Davis ought to be able to hit a bunt single down the third-base line every time he comes to the plate, but I think I saw him try that maybe once or twice last season. Nope, 195 strikeouts in 524 plate appearances.

The hitters are also into newer metrics like launch angle. In an interview/hitting clinic I saw last year on MLBNetwork, Josh Donaldson talked about how from little league through the minors, he was taught to try to get on top of the ball, but now all he tries to do is get under it. I suppose the high pop-up should be the fourth "true outcome."

Exit velocity is the other trendy metric, although hitters are only partly in control of this one. But this is a function of hitters hunting for fastballs which are themselves on average of a higher velocity, so simple physics says if you connect at the right spot, the ball will go farther faster.

Another factor is that while even if the balls coming from the factory are the same as in seasons past, the balls in use over the course of a game are not. Dave Johnson, a MASN commentator who was an Orioles starter from 1989-91, recently noted that he would often use the same baseball over multiple innings, noting the same scuff mark when he got to the mound and picked up the ball each inning. Former reliever Dan Plesac on MLBNetwork a few months ago also noted a preference for using the same ball as long as possible, since any nick or scuff would give him repeatable performance, and he would get annoyed when a player tossed a ball he liked into the stands at the end of an inning. These days, I think the average life of a baseball is only a handful of pitches. As a result, then, on average, hitters are swinging at smoother balls, another factor accounting for reduced drag and more distance. Even small incremental factors like this add up over the thousands of pitches an everyday players faces over the course of a season.

[Badger52]

Originally Posted by Airbornelawyer

And hitters seem to be all about the "three true outcomes" - HR, walk or strikeout - taking all those breaking pitches and hunting the fastball. It's become a cliche that hardly anyone plays small-ball or hits situationally. You would think that professional hitters like Chris Davis of the Orioles, who get exaggerated shifts every time they come to the plate, would learn how to adjust and slap the ball opposite the shift, but they don't.

Your whole post, along with this, is a good overview; many factors, true.

I recall last year when Cleveland practically shutdown the Cubs' Bryant & Rizzo (the old "enemy gets a vote" thing) when opponents adjusted to defeat their strengths. Even though they didn't repeat this year, Rizzo kept his productivity up (for the team) taking extra practice on outside pitches that he could burn the other team's shift on. As you intimate (I think) it comes down to what goal a player is looking for - individual stats... or team winning.

[Old Dog New Trick]

The fat lady sang!

Great job Houston Astros! Well done!

[Badger52]

First ever for them. They had it going on tonight when they needed it most, and can say they beat the biggest payroll in baseball. Well done gents.

[Ret10Echo]

Well done Houston.

A great series. Getting to Darvish early paid off. (I think I saw that his W.S. ERA is 21.60 )

Always interesting to see how the Managers roll when there is no tomorrow. Bringing out starters in relief or to close things out is trendy



Now "Next Year" begins.

May your trades be productive and farm system filled.

[bblhead672]

Good Series. Congrats to Astros on their first World Series Championship, and to the Houston area which needed a morale boost after the hurricane flooding.

Yu Darvish's WS meltdown in two starts will go down as epic failures to perform on the big stage. I was saying the manager should pull him after the first two runs scored in the 1st Inning as he was exhibiting the same lackluster performance. He never should have pitched the second, although at that point the Astros had scored all the runs they would need.

103 days until spring training begins!

[Box]

I have been a Houston fan ever since they decided to put a minor league team in Fayetteville earlier this year...

[Badger52]

Originally Posted by Box

I have been a Houston fan ever since they decided to put a minor league team in Fayetteville earlier this year...

Neat. Those can be really fun. Wish we had someone's (well, not anyone's) minor-league outfit around here.
Plus it's a much cheaper day or night out than I imagine some parks hook you for. (At least it was when I lived down in the Quad Cities in a galaxy far away.)