New MLB Rule
- Thread starter isucy86
- Start date
The only thing I'd vote for is a pitch clock. It's doing good things in the minors with pace, length of games, etc.
I know they can play zone. I'm asking if there are any restrictions on how they can play zone.
Agree...I have never been a Cardinal fan but have always enjoyed watching them play and have a lot of respect for the organization. I know there isn't the astroturf of the 70s/80s...but I am surprised no one has tried to use the speed model of the Cards of that era! At least with a few hitters. I know HRs get viewers but there aren't that many catchers who can throw people out consistently and no one runs! It should be about winning...and putting a leadoff man and a two-spot hitter that can run these days would be like turning a walk into a triple! I know...I am sure analytics would disprove me that getting on base and stealing bases in the likes of Vince Coleman and Willie McGee isn't as productive as filling the lineup with guys that might hit 20 HRs in a season. Oh well...
I love baseball, but it freaking sucks right now. The approach to hitting is horrid to watch
The good thing is that once you get into the playoffs the approach that wins you 90 games by having a bunch of guys that can't do anything except pull mistake pitches for home runs fails. The problem is the small ball teams have a hell of a time getting into the playoffs. But with a limited playoff participation and 162 games, there's enough subpar pitching where going 1-5 with a 2 R homer and 4 backwards Ks works and wins you a ton of games.
In the playoffs you are facing good pitching almost every inning, and teams with high contact rates dominate the playoffs.
So the problem is small ball works in the playoffs, but it's tough to make the playoffs with that approach. Let more teams in the playoffs, shrink the reg season or both and we'll see more teams constructed with contact, and small ball in mind.
The good thing is that once you get into the playoffs the approach that wins you 90 games by having a bunch of guys that can't do anything except pull mistake pitches for home runs fails. The problem is the small ball teams have a hell of a time getting into the playoffs. But with a limited playoff participation and 162 games, there's enough subpar pitching where going 1-5 with a 2 R homer and 4 backwards Ks works and wins you a ton of games.
In the playoffs you are facing good pitching almost every inning, and teams with high contact rates dominate the playoffs.
So the problem is small ball works in the playoffs, but it's tough to make the playoffs with that approach. Let more teams in the playoffs, shrink the reg season or both and we'll see more teams constructed with contact, and small ball in mind.
HRs get/got viewers when someone is doing something historic and when it was not so common. Home runs are still pretty exciting, but a game with 7 solo home runs that lasts 4 hours when those 7 moments of excitement are surrounded by 3 hours and 52 minutes of guys watching pitches is probably a big reason why baseball has a huge drop in interest.
Disagree. Should we force defenses in football to play a standard defense instead of defending against the run or pass in specific scenarios?
One baseball team shouldn't be punished because a batter always hits the ball to one side of the field. It should be up to the batter to make the defense pay for playing that way.
I am going to zig where everyone else wants to zag on the extra innings thing. I say at some point just let the games end in a tie. We have a 162 game season. There is plenty of time for teams to separate themselves even with a tie. For a more middle of the road approach maybe cap extra innings at 11-12. That gives teams an additional round of at bats in extra innings to find a W, but still caps things off before bullpens and rosters get too exerted.
Defensive 3-seconds. Not zone specific, per se, but it is a defensive positioning rule.
That's the only one I could think of too, and it's loosely enforces. Basically it is just keeping the Shawn Bradley's of the world from standing in the lane with his arms straight up for 20 seconds at a time
MLB would not be thinking about banning it if everyone could hit like Ichiro, which is like saying every QB in the NFL should play to the level of Mahomes.
If you look at the hitting stats over the past 3 to 5 years, overall, they have dropped, that is the time period when basically every team started using the data to determine where a hitter is hitting the ball, and they position accordingly.
There was a great article about Matt Carpenter a couple days ago in the Athletic, and they talked about how his average dived after teams started the shifting on him, basically the SS is where the 2nd basemen generally lined up and the 2nd baseman is playing in short right field. Carpenter said everyone thinks its easy to just hit it the other way, but its a lot more difficult and Votto of the Reds agreed with him.
This is an easy fix and will improve the game, so do it.
Yeah it's a dumb argument to make that people should just hit like Tony Gwynn to beat the shift. I was a left handed hitter who could have played naia or d3 and trying to push a ball the other way against 80-85 is a tall task let alone trying to hit 95 with break.
KidSilverhair
Well-Known Member
The analytics show that the expected value of a stolen base isn’t worth the outs you lose caught stealing. That’s why hardly anybody does it anymore … the data collectors tell managers it’s not worth it.
Again, the era of nearly unlimited availability of data on every player is here to stay. I miss managers who played by their gut feeling, teams that stole bases because they thought more runners in scoring position was good, hitters that were good at manufacturing runs instead of just finding that perfect launch angle … until some rogue manager comes along and wins games by going against the data, those days are gone.
It might not be easy to hit the other way, but it's made harder by the swing for the fences approach a lot of batters take on EVERY swing.
With the availability of analytics software below MLB level, in the future guys like Carpenter and Votto will adjust their hitting at college or minor league level or they won't make it to Majors.
IMO the situation with shift is scouting is ahead of hitters. Give it 3-5 years and batters will adjust to shift.
I would like to see that analytics logic. The stolen base success rate is something like 70%. Whereas, MLB batting average is around .230 and strike out rates around 25%.
Seems to me analytics would favor advancing runners via stolen base vs. extra base hit or stringing together hits. It's all about the big inning.
IMO baseball guys are afraid of the visibility of making outs on base paths- steals or stretching to take extra base
KidSilverhair
Well-Known Member
I’m not saying I necessarily agree that its good for the game, but here’s a good article on the impact of data analytics on baseball.
As for stolen bases, here‘s two quotes from the article. I think I saw elsewhere only 405 players in major league history had a career stolen base percentage of 70 percent or better.
In 1969 MLB lowered the height of the mound after the 1968 year of the pitcher, when one side or the other starts to dominate at too high a level on a nightly basis, its bad for the game.
A pitching battle 1-0 is great every now and then, but not every night. MLB is looking to improve the game by speeding it up and bringing more offense in the game, which means higher scoring games.
We have reached the point, where some pitchers are even saying that the imbalance is hurting the game.
www.espn.com
www.pitcherlist.com
A pitching battle 1-0 is great every now and then, but not every night. MLB is looking to improve the game by speeding it up and bringing more offense in the game, which means higher scoring games.
We have reached the point, where some pitchers are even saying that the imbalance is hurting the game.
MLB hitters explain why they can't just beat the shift
"Why don't guys just hit ground balls to short?" Three veteran batters tell us what makes adjusting to the shift so difficult.
No More Shifts Could Mean A Lot More Hits
Who stands to gain value if MLB bans the shift under the new CBA?
www.pitcherlist.com
