2017 MLB Regular Season Thread

[biggentleben]

 

I don't feel like Cleveland's 16 (leading in Game 17) winning streak is getting much national media attention. Maybe it's because I no longer watch ESPN but it certainly feels like the 2002 A's streak or any streak of over 3 games by the Cubs, Yankees, or Red Sox got way more pub than this team.

 

I want to hate the Indians because they are in our division but I can't do it. They have been quite impressive the past two seasons.

 

It's certainly all over Twitter all day every day.

[notoriousgod71]

 

It's certainly all over Twitter all day every day.

 

Thankfully I am also not on Twitter.

[Vanimal46]

Another thing that's not getting enough national attention IMO is Giancarlo Stanton closing in on 60 HRs. A feat that hasn't happened since 2001. If he hit 62 HRs, would you consider him the HR king? Or do you still go with Barry Bonds' 73 HRs?

[gunnarthor]

 

Another thing that's not getting enough national attention IMO is Giancarlo Stanton closing in on 60 HRs. A feat that hasn't happened since 2001. If he hit 62 HRs, would you consider him the HR king? Or do you still go with Barry Bonds' 73 HRs?

Well, Bonds will hold the record but it always comes with an * of its own. Stanton's run is a lot more joyful to watch, if nothing else.

[Mike Sixel]

 

Another thing that's not getting enough national attention IMO is Giancarlo Stanton closing in on 60 HRs. A feat that hasn't happened since 2001. If he hit 62 HRs, would you consider him the HR king? Or do you still go with Barry Bonds' 73 HRs?

 

bonds. we don't know squat about the drugs they used back in teh days, because it's hidden. We don't squat about a lot of stuff. Bonds hit 73. It's a historical fact.

[Vanimal46]

Cleveland breaks the record, 21 games in a row. 

[Mike Sixel]

 

Cleveland breaks the record, 21 games in a row. 

 

crazy.

[gunnarthor]

Remember when the Astros were world beaters? And then it was the Dodgers? Now Cleveland.

 

They're all going to look so silly when the Twins win the World Series.

[Vanimal46]

 

Remember when the Astros were world beaters? And then it was the Dodgers? Now Cleveland.

 

They're all going to look so silly when the Twins win the World Series.

 

Speaking of the Dodgers, they finally won a game today, snapping their 10 game losing streak. After going on a record tear themselves earlier this season, they've gone 2-16 in their last 18 games. 

Baseball is weird. 

[Otto von Ballpark]

Orioles called up prospect Tanner Scott, who had a 2.22 ERA in 24 starts at AA this year -- but only 69 IP.

 

https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.fcgi?id=scott-000tan

 

They basically capped him to a max of 3 IP per start, for a whole season. His W-L record was 0-2, across 24 starts.

[Vanimal46]

Phillies P Nick Pivetta had a heck of a catch yesterday.... And he didn't even need a glove! Dude just used his jersey to snag this liner off of Austin Barnes' bat. 

[Vanimal46]

Another MLB record was broken last night. Alex Gordon of the Royals hit his 17th HR of the season, which turned out to be the 5,694th HR in the major leagues... The previous number was set in 2000 during the height of the steroids era. There's still 10 odd games left in the season, so there will be some breathing room between the old and new record. 

17 years later, some view the steroid era as a very bad thing. I wonder what we're going to find out about this season 10-15 years down the road... 

[gunnarthor]

 

Another MLB record was broken last night. Alex Gordon of the Royals hit his 17th HR of the season, which turned out to be the 5,694th HR in the major leagues... The previous number was set in 2000 during the height of the steroids era. There's still 10 odd games left in the season, so there will be some breathing room between the old and new record. 

17 years later, some view the steroid era as a very bad thing. I wonder what we're going to find out about this season 10-15 years down the road... 

I know some players are roiding up but it doesn't feel like the roid era, in part, I would guess, is that I think the roid use is more uniform through out the league now. And it seems that (again, a guess on my part) the PED use is mostly aimed at keeping players healthy/on the field as opposed to turning them into Hulk Hogans.

 

I think the change in philosophy of hitters - walk, k, HR - has changed things dramatically. Hitters are swinging for the fences all the time now. Kepler, for instance, has a HR swing against lefties even though he can't hit them at all. (I wonder if he should change his approach). Teams are focusing on improving launch angles and back spin to get the ball to travel further. New parks added in the last few years are even smaller. And pitchers are throwing harder so that might help add a little distance. And it's been a long hot summer so the ball is maybe carrying a bit more as well.

[Vanimal46]

It'll be interesting to find out if the players are juicing, the ball is juiced, or both. 

 

EDIT: For the record, I never had an issue with the PED/steroid era. I think they needed something like that to get fans excited about baseball again. This season, I'm enjoying the uptick in HRs.... Though going forward, they'll need to figure out a way to reduce the 3 true outcomes we've been seeing. More balls in play is always a good thing. 

[Mike Sixel]

This is a great article about predicting the future, and trying to build a team:

 

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/planning-for-the-future-in-todays-record-home-run-environment/

 

This exact problem is why so many old school IT organizations fail....trying to build stuff that won't be in production for years....

[gunnarthor]

 

This is a great article about predicting the future, and trying to build a team:

 

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/planning-for-the-future-in-todays-record-home-run-environment/

 

This exact problem is why so many old school IT organizations fail....trying to build stuff that won't be in production for years....

It's a good article but I'm not sure how much it affects player acquisition. Twins, for instance, tend to favor HS athletes. That seems like a good long term bet. Guys like Baddoo and Lewis and Miranda and Kiriloff are going to develop into hitters. Trying to focus on one type of hitter (Harrison was the other big HS power bat of the Harper draft) might not be a good idea. Go all around talent.

[Mike Sixel]

 

It's a good article but I'm not sure how much it affects player acquisition. Twins, for instance, tend to favor HS athletes. That seems like a good long term bet. Guys like Baddoo and Lewis and Miranda and Kiriloff are going to develop into hitters. Trying to focus on one type of hitter (Harrison was the other big HS power bat of the Harper draft) might not be a good idea. Go all around talent.

 

let's say you teach all your players to change the launch angle....and MLB changes the ball back to the low end of acceptable in terms of power/distance...you get a lot of fly outs instead of HRs. And, it also impacts the value of AA or AAA or MLB hitters, and who you trade for. If they "weaken" the ball, defense becomes more valuable, because more balls are in play. LOTS of changes to who/what is valued and how much.

[biggentleben]

 

Another MLB record was broken last night. Alex Gordon of the Royals hit his 17th HR of the season, which turned out to be the 5,694th HR in the major leagues... The previous number was set in 2000 during the height of the steroids era. There's still 10 odd games left in the season, so there will be some breathing room between the old and new record. 

17 years later, some view the steroid era as a very bad thing. I wonder what we're going to find out about this season 10-15 years down the road... 

 

Gordon hit his 8th home run, not 17th. In fact, the ironic part of the whole thing was that the qualified batter with the lowest slugging percentage in baseball is the guy who hit the home run that broke the record. He's really had a terrible year, but this was one solid moment for him.

[biggentleben]

 

I know some players are roiding up but it doesn't feel like the roid era, in part, I would guess, is that I think the roid use is more uniform through out the league now. And it seems that (again, a guess on my part) the PED use is mostly aimed at keeping players healthy/on the field as opposed to turning them into Hulk Hogans.

 

I think the change in philosophy of hitters - walk, k, HR - has changed things dramatically. Hitters are swinging for the fences all the time now. Kepler, for instance, has a HR swing against lefties even though he can't hit them at all. (I wonder if he should change his approach). Teams are focusing on improving launch angles and back spin to get the ball to travel further. New parks added in the last few years are even smaller. And pitchers are throwing harder so that might help add a little distance. And it's been a long hot summer so the ball is maybe carrying a bit more as well.

 

Based on current suspensions, this is more accurately a steroid era as actual steroids are being caught, not performance enhancing substances.

 

I do think that much like the late 90s and early 2000s, there are many factors coming into play all at once to do what's going on.

[biggentleben]

 

let's say you teach all your players to change the launch angle....and MLB changes the ball back to the low end of acceptable in terms of power/distance...you get a lot of fly outs instead of HRs. And, it also impacts the value of AA or AAA or MLB hitters, and who you trade for. If they "weaken" the ball, defense becomes more valuable, because more balls are in play. LOTS of changes to who/what is valued and how much.

 

That's the whole point that's been lost on a lot of the coverage of launch angle. In talking with the Driveline guys, most of the mainstream media coverage of launch angle flat out sucks. No one wants to hit more fly balls, at least not fly balls without significant velocity added. The point of launch angle, and what hitters are striving for, is a perfect sting at the upper scale of a line drive swing. Line drive swings have significantly better BABIP and general results, and that's what launch angle is finding. You don't want to hit fly balls as much more of them turn into outs.

[Vanimal46]

Congratulations to Chris Sale for joining the 300k club last night! The first to do so since Clayton Kershaw in 2015. 

IMO the Red Sox are the clear winners of the blockbuster trade last winter. Time will tell if Moancada and others the Sox sent over will be good for Chicago.  

[Mike Sixel]

 

Congratulations to Chris Sale for joining the 300k club last night! The first to do so since Clayton Kershaw in 2015. 

IMO the Red Sox are the clear winners of the blockbuster trade last winter. Time will tell if Moancada and others the Sox sent over will be good for Chicago.  

 

but, but, they gave up the future!

[drjim]

 

That's the whole point that's been lost on a lot of the coverage of launch angle. In talking with the Driveline guys, most of the mainstream media coverage of launch angle flat out sucks. No one wants to hit more fly balls, at least not fly balls without significant velocity added. The point of launch angle, and what hitters are striving for, is a perfect sting at the upper scale of a line drive swing. Line drive swings have significantly better BABIP and general results, and that's what launch angle is finding. You don't want to hit fly balls as much more of them turn into outs.

 

Just as Ted Williams said so many years ago.

 

My general opinion of much of the recent advancements are that they are starting to quantify the intuitive - providing clear data points to present to players to back up coaching.

[SwainZag]

 

Congratulations to Chris Sale for joining the 300k club last night! The first to do so since Clayton Kershaw in 2015. 

IMO the Red Sox are the clear winners of the blockbuster trade last winter. Time will tell if Moancada and others the Sox sent over will be good for Chicago.  

 

Little early to be declaring them winners.  Sale is having a phenomenal year, but both teams knew he was an elite starter, so it shouldn't be surprising,  he has had 5 straight years of Top 5 Cy Young voting. Kopech had a great year in AA and is only 21 and Moncada after a super slow start is starting to show why he was a top prospect over the past month.  The other two pieces haven't advanced past A+ ball yet.  A lot of time left to decide this one.

[Mike Sixel]

 

Just as Ted Williams said so many years ago.

 

My general opinion of much of the recent advancements are that they are starting to quantify the intuitive - providing clear data points to present to players to back up coaching.

 

and yet for years, people ignored him, so it wasn't all that intuitive apparently. Which in hindsight is weird....

[biggentleben]

 

and yet for years, people ignored him, so it wasn't all that intuitive apparently. Which in hindsight is weird....

 

Exactly. I remember being told so many times as a young player to hit the ball on the ground to move over a runner. I was a farm kid that could exceed 80 MPH off the mound when I was barely a teen. My swing was not going to be best suited for ground balls. My final year, I had a coach who didn't care if I went 1-4 or 4-4 but wanted me swinging with my strength behind it, and the results were so much better. No one told me a proper launch angle or anything of the sort, but being allowed to pull the ball and hit it in the air, even if that could mean a fly out or line out, is a thing suddenly baseball is realizing there is data to back up as a better way to do things.

[drjim]

Heck, when I played I thought walks were for suckers, I was going to hit my way on like a man. At least I didn't have to bunt.

[drjim]

and yet for years, people ignored him, so it wasn't all that intuitive apparently. Which in hindsight is weird....

Shows that tradition and narratives are hard to crack, even in the face of excellence.

 

By "intuitive" I certainly wouldn't be referring to the masses. I think things are intuitive to athletes that are not as apparent to the general public, but they are generally really bad at communicating/coaching it. Joe Morgan is my favorite example, an awesome player who played a style very ahead of his time, but listening to him he sounds like a stubborn, blithering neanderthal.

 

Even Ted Williams, when listening to him try and teach, was not exactly enlightening.

[Vanimal46]

 

Heck, when I played I thought walks were for suckers, I was going to hit my way on like a man. At least I didn't have to bunt.

 

I was certainly one of those suckers that hoped for a walk or get hit with a pitch in order to get on base..... Especially in high school when I learned very quickly that hitting a curve ball is very hard. 

[John Kelsey]

 

Little early to be declaring them winners.  Sale is having a phenomenal year, but both teams knew he was an elite starter, so it shouldn't be surprising,  he has had 5 straight years of Top 5 Cy Young voting. Kopech had a great year in AA and is only 21 and Moncada after a super slow start is starting to show why he was a top prospect over the past month.  The other two pieces haven't advanced past A+ ball yet.  A lot of time left to decide this one.

 

I think Kopech is going to be really, really good unfortunately.