Watched a handful of games this weekend, and I am amazed at how much the "all or nothing" mentality has taken over MLB. Guys are swinging at things in the dirt. It's becoming ridiculous at what these hitters are swinging at.
MLB's problem with long ball or strike out
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I don’t mind it most of the time, but if a hitter is willing to strikeout with a man on third and one out instead of shortening up and making sure that run gets in, I can’t think of a more selfish act in baseball
I believe this is called the “Aaron Judge Effect”....
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It's all mostly self-correcting. Eventually, NL "small ball" tactics will be employed by the more clever managers who want to actually win games. Remember, it was only a few short years ago when analysts predicted that the shift would ruin the game completely, and before that- moneyball-style analytics.
The thing that does piss me off is when MLB juices the balls, de-juices the balls, and lies when it's clear it's happening. When you monkey with equipment, it destroys the integrity of the game itself.
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Baseball's problem is it has been overrun by people who are so consumed with their analytics bullshit that they have taken a game and turned it into a math problem.
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I can’t even watch ESPN’s coverage anymore.
Who are they trying to bring in?
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ESPN games are the worst.
Interview some random dude about shit nobody cares about and not pausing to talk about the 3 run bomb that was just hit, and then get hit with the dreaded "If you have the time, we'd love to have you back for another half inning"
People named Poindexter
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That ESPN still covers baseball is a surprise. The network is nothing but garbage and probably spent more time in the past year talking about George Floyd and transgender athletic rights, than actual sports.
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That may be true. Haven’t watched much of that network aside from game broadcasts in over a decade.
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I got off of there when jemele hill started spouting her daily bullshit.
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lol, this was the dumbest shit about watching games on ESPN back in the day.
Bring on Matthew McConnaughy for 3 innings and talking about the fact he has a brother named Rooster for 15 minutes.
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Players never swung at shitty pitches 30 years ago
In all seriousness though is this in fact happening/does the data support this? Are players actually swinging at more pitches out of the zone these days? Intuitively I would expect the suggested "en vogue" batting strategy to lead to the opposite effect, with players waiting and looking for pitches that they think they can hit 400+ feet rather than taking a poke at anything that they can just put in play.
In a way, I think the current 'all or nothing' approach is a temporary product of defensive shifting. A lot of batters have struggled to adjust to beating shifts... so they just swing for the fences now because even if they make good contact like they used to they're popping it right into an infielder's glove who is standing in shallow pull OF where that hole used to be.
I also read a report a week or two ago that pitchers are currently using some kind of un-banned substance to get a higher spin rate on their fastballs. Given that Corbin Burnes broke the record for consecutive Ks without a walk that was still fresh from Kenley Jansen doing it and only lasted a week before Garrit Cole broke it again, I'd say there's some credence to the suspicion that pitchers have something up their sleeves.
Right now, pitchers and defense have the upper hand; but these things are cyclical. Batters will eventually adjust to beating shifts then defenses will deploy it less. If pitchers are cheating, they'll eventually get caught or called out.
I also read a report a week or two ago that pitchers are currently using some kind of un-banned substance to get a higher spin rate on their fastballs. Given that Corbin Burnes broke the record for consecutive Ks without a walk that was still fresh from Kenley Jansen doing it and only lasted a week before Garrit Cole broke it again, I'd say there's some credence to the suspicion that pitchers have something up their sleeves.
Right now, pitchers and defense have the upper hand; but these things are cyclical. Batters will eventually adjust to beating shifts then defenses will deploy it less. If pitchers are cheating, they'll eventually get caught or called out.
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