J.D.’s deep thoughts
HR upswing matter of approach
CLEVELAND — Major League Baseball is on pace for 6,668 home runs, a number that would shred the record total of 6,105 from 2017, raising the question as to which factor is more responsible: a juiced baseball or juiced hitters?
Most concede the ball being used this season in the majors and Triple A, but not in lower levels of the minors, is harder and carries farther. As always, fewer are willing to talk about the possibility that an increasing number of hitters are using banned substances. Testosterone, virtually undetectable because it leaves the body so rapidly, is the latest rage, according to some in the industry who aren’t interested in going on the record.
Former major leaguer David Segui (1990-2004) told USA Today’s Bob Nightengale: “I would say 60 percent of the guys today, easily, are doing stuff. It reminds me of our era when everybody talked about the balls being juiced. The balls weren’t juiced, the players were juiced. Just like now … the ball is hot, but come on, you think these home runs are just because of the balls?”
At the other end of the spectrum, Red Sox designated hitter J.D. Martinez, hitting fifth on American League manager Alex Cora‘s lineup card for Tuesday’s All-Star Game at Progressive Field and joined on the roster by teammates Mookie Betts and Xander Bogaerts, offered his theory for increased home run totals and it had nothing to do with juiced hitters or baseballs.
“I have my own opinion on it,” Martinez said. “I think hitters are more prepared than they’ve ever been. I think hitters have more of an idea of what they’re going to do, with hitting the ball in the air more.”
And pitchers enter the equation as well, Martinez said.
“It’s a power-arm league,” Martinez said. “It’s either a walk or a strikeout. It’s stuff over command, so I think you see a lot more mistakes over the plate and that, combined with the velocity and trying to hit balls in the air, it’s a recipe for home runs.”
Martinez has been around long enough to remember when the approach of the hitters and pitchers was different from now.
“In years past, it was more of a command and location and movement type stuff and more of a weak-contact league,” he said. “Now it’s everybody wants strikeouts. The Dodgers started doing it. Tampa started doing it. Houston started doing it. Everybody has had success and it’s a monkey-see, monkey-do league. It’s crazy. You look at a bullpen now vs. a bullpen back then and you feel like you face the same pitchers every team you play now. OK, this guy throws a four-seam (fastball) and a breaking ball. OK, great. Go to the next team, same thing, and same thing again.”
Martinez said he thinks the home run pendulum will swing back.
“I think it comes in waves,” he said. “Pitching evolves, hitting catches up. We’re at that point where hitting caught up.”
American League starting pitcher Justin Verlander , an outspoken critic of the harder baseball, said he too thinks such things go in cycles and eventually will come back in the direction of pitchers.
Open, shut case
Sitting next to Verlander, Cora cheekily declared “we’ve got the opener” as he described his pitching plans. Touché! Houston’s ace has been among the players most critical of some teams’ practice of using relief pitchers as ersatz starters for an inning or two.
Verlander will be making his second All-Star start tonight. Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts selected Hyun-Jin Ryu from his own staff to make his first start for the National League.
All-Star starters were openers before the term was coined. No starter has pitched more than two innings since Greg Maddux threw three in 1994, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
Alonso tops Vlad Jr.
Mets rookie Pete Alonso outlasted a worn-down Vladimir Guerrero Jr. in the final round of the All-Star Home Run Derby to win $1 million — nearly double his 2019 salary.
Alonso somehow had enough to edge Guerrero, who hit 91 homers but ran out of gas in the last round following an epic semifinal matchup against Dodgers outfielder Joc Pederson.
Needing 23 homers to beat Guerrero, Alonso connected for a homer to left-center before flipping his bat high into the air and hugging his pitcher, cousin Derek Morgan.
Guerrero beat Pederson 40-39 in the semifinals after they extended to a third tiebreaker. They tied 29-29 in the initial 4-minute round and 8-8 during 60 extra seconds. They each hit one during a three-swing tiebreaker, and Guerrero hit two in a second three-swing tiebreaker, finally winning when Pederson grounded out on his third swing.