Lack of action due to all or nothing approach
Perhaps you’ve noticed. Baseball’s home run rate is way up. Baseball’s walk and strike out rates are way up. Baseball’s on-field action is way down.
When a major league batter steps to the plate in 2017 there is more than one-third chance that the result of his plate appearance will be a walk, hit by pitch, strike out or home run. Three outfielders and four infielders might as well be wearing leg irons.
Why is this happening?
No one knows for sure, but that hasn’t prevented a number of people from advancing theories.
The most common assertion is that the ball has been juiced — that the baseballs in use today are manufactured with more bounce in them. Many major league pitchers seem to be convinced this has happened. Commissioner Rob Manfred vehemently denies it. He insists that laboratory tests prove conclusively that there is no additional spring in the ball.
For what it’s worth, I believe Manfred. If there was more juice in the ball it would increase the number of hits of all sorts — not just home runs. Moreover, that would not explain the increases in walks and strike outs.
Another prevalent suggestion is that the seams of the ball are sewn differently and are slightly lower than they used to be. If true this would allow the ball to travel through the air with less resistance and increase the distance a fly ball would travel. It would also add a little velocity to a pitcher’s fastball. But it would also make it more difficult for the pitcher to put “stuff” on the ball and decrease the movement on breaking pitches. If so, one would expect that to diminish the number of strikeouts.
Another theory — honest, I read this one somewhere — is that the bats are being manufactured with better wood.
I wasn’t a Forestry major so I don’t know how a bat could be made with better wood, but I am sure of this much. The quality of the bat isn’t likely to have much to do with walks and strike outs.
My theory — and let me emphasize that this too is merely a theory — is that the ball and the bat have little or nothing to do with what is happening in baseball. The changes involve the players who play the game and the priorities of people in the front offices. Pitchers are throwing harder than ever. Batters are swinging harder than ever and, at the same time, running deep counts more than ever.
Last Friday Luis Severino of the Yankees pitched seven solid innings, allowing one run. His final pitch — number 101 — was clocked at 100 miles per hour. That’s a great illustration of what’s happened to baseball in a very short time.
Ten years ago a pitch speed measured in triple digits was a remarkable rarity. Today it is commonplace. There are a number of pitchers capable of reaching that speed, even late in the game. Power pitching is the name of the game, almost to the exclusion of everything else. The “junkballer” and the “crafty lefty” are no longer part of the landscape. If there were a young Greg Maddux or Tom Glavine out there now he might have trouble breaking into the big leagues.
Of course pitches that come in at great velocity will leave with great velocity if they’re struck solidly. Obviously, some of them will be struck solidly, often by strong batter taking a long looping swing at the ball. A batter taking a long looping swing will drive the ball a long way when he makes solid contact. He will also swing and miss quite frequently. If enough batters take that approach, the number of home runs and strike outs will rise.
Enough batters are hitting that way and they seem to be drowning out the finesse game. Base stealing is down. Very few players seem to know how to bunt. The hit-and-run has become a relic. Seriously, I wonder if every third-base coach even has a hitand-run sign.
Players who can play “smallball” are less important than they used to be. Players with outstanding fielding skills are less important than they used to be. Managerial strategy is less important than it used to be.
What’s most important is the batter who can drive the ball out of the yard and the pitcher who can strike him out. This approach is stifling the game by removing action and intrigue. I don’t have any idea how to reverse this trend, but I sure hope somebody thinks of something.
The are 11-25 in one-run games. The next worse team is the who are 9-18…The have faced only 15 left-handed starters this year. No one seems to have benefitted from that more than lefties and who are second and third, respectively, among NL hitters…Pitcher of the Red Sox led the majors in victories last year with 22. So far this year he has 12 losses, which also leads the majors…In his first five games after the All-Star break the Yankees’
had one single and four walks in 25 plate appearances. Despite that slump he leads the AL is slugging percentage, on base percentage and home runs…The are 25-25 in games started by They’re 23-25 when he hasn’t started…The Twins’ has pitched three shutouts this season. On three other occasions he threw nothing but zeroes but was removed from the game after six innings…The Dodgers’
is batting .440 against left-handed pitching…The are 4-12 in interleague play but 44-32 against their own league…Charlie
of the Rockies leads the majors in triples with 12. Four of them have come in home games against the Giants…Astros pitchers have thrown 50 wild pitches, which ties them with the Padres for the most in the majors.
Yankees, Nationals Bryce Harper, Judge Rick Porcello Angels Mike Trout. Erwin Santana Justin Turner Blackmon Phillies Daniel Murphy Aaron Indians
Hall of Fame voter Jay Dunn has written baseball for The Trentonian for 49 years. Contact him at jaydunn8@aol.com