It’s pretty much the consensus is that they changed the manufacturing of the baseball this year and it’s deader than it was last year.
Joe Sheehan has been going on about this, that the “juiced” baseball was the only thing keeping offense up.
Are home runs down?
Yeah, pretty much everything but Ks is down this year.
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Lots of interesting quotes and stuff in here:
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Yes, with a caveat. According to Fangraphs, homers are down about 0.45% when compared to April 2019 (they compared just April production instead of the full-season because home run rate goes up in warmer weather). They’re still roughly on a 6,200-homer pace, which would be behind only 2019’s historically high homer total.
MLB said before the season that it intended to deaden the ball for 2021. The best guess from people who’ve looked into the balls themselves is that MLB made the ball bouncier (so the ball comes off the bat at ever-higher exit velocities) but simultaneously raised the height of the seams (which increased the drag on the ball, probably turning a handful of homers into long fly outs). The net effect is a slight decrease in distance on flyballs.
Some pitchers (Ian Snell, for example) say the raised seam height is noticeable and makes it easier for pitchers to spin their breaking balls and generate more movement. And this is at a time when teams and pitchers are focusing their development and pitch shaping with an eye toward increased spin rate.
On top of all that, the Athletic (Eno Sarris, $) has a story today showing that when bats come from the manufacturer, there’s significant bat-to-bat variation. For example, some will suck up more moisture from the air. Others will have different variations in density so that it’s denser at the end. Picking the right bat can mean a 1-2 mph difference in exit velocity.
So, you know, have fun figuring out all the cause-and-effect and designing baseball policy to achieve some ill-defined aesthetic balance between offense and pitching.
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Kluber no hits the rangers. Both MS and rangers have been no hit this year
Looks like Kluber autocorrected there. In addition to M’s and Rangers, Cleveland has also been no-hit twice. Weird that six no-nos have come against just three teams.
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Yes. On the other hand, SEA is the worst hitting team in the AL while CLE is 3rd worst. Rangers are better but still below league average.
The giveaway item last night in Arlington: Corey Kluber bobbleheads.
Yes. They handed out bobblehead dolls of the opposing pitcher who then no hit them.
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Love it!
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Ahahahahahaha!
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I’m trying to understand the calculus of this. I get that these were intended to be a 2020 giveaway, but Kluber has been Not-A-Ranger since January; it’s not like the giveaway was on 8/1 after he got dealt on 7/31. Moreover, Kluber pitched precisely one inning as a Ranger in a pandemic-shortened season where his team only won a third of their games. Those are hardly the kind of halcyon memories that motivate AIS because of a bobblehead promotion. Could they not just swallow the already-sunk cost (and their pride) and send the bobbleheads back for recycling?
Dumb before Kluber’s no-no; hilarious after.
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Sure, make fun of them.
But those 18 pitches he delivered for Arlington were special.
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It was random bobblehead night. Probably getting rid of old stock. Kluber was just one of the different bobbleheads given out.
“Here, you throw this away.”
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I’m watching the Blue Jays bat against the Red Sox, and the most amazing thing is happening: the Blue Jay hitters are inside-outing pitches and hitting the opposite way against the shift, getting easy singles and scoring runs because of it. It’s almost like that’s a strategy that could work.
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Myles Straw may have stunk so far but so has Jackie Bradley Jr.
.159/.228/.303.
Zero WAR.
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And you know that these had to have been manufactured before covid shut the season down in March. So they just sat on them for at least 14 months. Even without the no hitter, kinda pathetic that they even still had the bobblehead give away. I bet half of Rangers fans didn’t even know Kluber was a Ranger at all.
Myles Straw for the month of May:
17 games/ 66 PA/ BA .271/ OBP .338 /Slg .305. He has 16 hits in May, he had 18 in April’s 25 games.
When you have the first 5 guys in the line up hitting over 300. I will take this from my 8/9 hitter.
That said…the defensive lapses have to stop.
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