Article: Did You Know?

[Parker Hageman]

You can view the page at http://twinsdaily.com/content.php?r=2391-Did-You-Know

[TheLeviathan]

Year of the strikeout? My baseball viewing this year was very misleading then.....

[Richie the Rally Goat]

Year of the strikeout? My baseball viewing this year was very misleading then.....

If you were watching the Twins you saw tons of strikeouts. Just few by the MN Pitcher.

[Teflon]

Unfortunately the Twins low rate for grounding into double plays was a consequence of their ridiculous strikeout rate rather than a mastery with the bats or their speed to first base.

[Parker Hageman]

Unfortunately the Twins low rate for grounding into double plays was a consequence of their ridiculous strikeout rate rather than a mastery with the bats or their speed to first base.

 

Bad, yes, but not as bad as bouncing into a double-play.

[Teflon]

Bad, yes, but not as bad as bouncing into a double-play.

 

Very true. Kudos to the Twins batters for their sensing of when they were going to ground into one and having the good sense to strike out, instead.

[Parker Hageman]

Very true. Kudos to the Twins batters for their sensing of when they were going to ground into one and having the good sense to strike out, instead.

 

And nobody here gives Bruno any credit...

[Joe A. Preusser]

All jokes aside, didn't it seem from day one that Bruno was asking the guys (Mauer expecially) to try to drive the ball more with the goal of raising our team SLG/runs scored and avoiding all those awful double plays from last year, with the unfortunate side effect of striking out a lot more? It's not exactly a strategy I would disdain as it seems likely a more talented group of hitters could execute it much better and have some success with it.

[ThePuck]

GiDP is, perhaps, the most worthless stand alone stat in the game. The league leaders are very often (not always) some of the best hitters in the game who make contact often. Last year, the triple crown winning MVP lead the majors in GiDP. The top two teams in GiDP last year were playoff teams.

 

Even if someone has 25 in a season, we're talking less than 5% of PAs.

[Physics Guy]

All jokes aside, didn't it seem from day one that Bruno was asking the guys (Mauer expecially) to try to drive the ball more with the goal of raising our team SLG/runs scored and avoiding all those awful double plays from last year, with the unfortunate side effect of striking out a lot more? It's not exactly a strategy I would disdain as it seems likely a more talented group of hitters could execute it much better and have some success with it.

 

I could see that as a possible reason, but also highly likely caused by a bunch of young players getting their feet wet and AAAA players getting too many AB.

[Parker Hageman]

GiDP is, perhaps, the most worthless stand alone stat in the game.

 

Disagree. It is two outs - one more than one out - on one play. Think about that.

 

But the point is valid, GIDP is not a predictor for anything nor is it the means to determine if a hitter is successful in a given season too. After all, Billy Butler led the AL with 28 and was still a very productive hitter. A lot of that has to do batting regularly with runners on base.

 

In the end, it is simply statement of fact -- not any sort of analysis behind it -- Twins did not hit into many double-plays.

[ThePuck]

Disagree. It is two outs - one more than one out - on one play. Think about that.

 

But the point is valid, GIDP is not a predictor for anything nor is it the means to determine if a hitter is successful in a given season too. After all, Billy Butler led the AL with 28 and was still a very productive hitter. A lot of that has to do batting regularly with runners on base.

 

In the end, it is simply statement of fact -- not any sort of analysis behind it -- Twins did not hit into many double-plays.

 

I have thought about it, often over the years, and I concluded that double plays often get started by people who regularly put balls in play on a team that gets a lot of people on-base. Detroit, Tampa Bay, LAA and Boston are in the top 4 in the AL in GiDP. They are also the top 4 in OBP. It's not a coincidence, yet it's considered a negative stat when it's mostly just a product of getting a lot of people on base. We were 11th in OBP, that helps a lot in the GiDP category, but then we were 2nd in Ks.

 

Me, personally, I'd rather get a lot of people on base...let the GiDPs happen on their rare occurance. In the end, even the teams with the most GiDP still do so at less than 3% of their PAs. It's a stat people get worked up over for no reason and, again, just a product of having people on base combined with putting a ball in play. Leading the league in Ks is way, way worse than leading in GiDP, both from a team standpoint and a player standpoint.