Strike Outs...OH NO!!!

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DOUGHBOYS
Posts: 13088
Joined: Sat Feb 05, 2005 6:00 pm

Strike Outs...OH NO!!!

Post by DOUGHBOYS » Wed Jul 18, 2018 9:52 am

It disturbs...no, it pisses me right off when RotoWorld has a blurb like this....(made up)

'Joey Gallo hit two home runs last night. Gallo helps fantasy teams with power, but strikes out way too much to be of any help in batting average'

First of all, NO SHIT?
We all know that, Captain Obvious!
Gallo has a power skill that we drafted. We know he'll strike out once, twice or three times a game. We only ask for a peppering of home runs to be sprinkled in with those strike outs.
RotoWorld and other sites continue to be fixated on strike outs. The game has changed. Strike outs have become a necessary evil to obtain high marks in our categories.
Batting average, last I saw, is still only one category. A home run helps three categories, four if caring to add batting average for the one hit.
Fantasy baseball is following real baseball in this manner.

Look at this list of player names....

Andrelton Simmons
Michael Brantley
Victor Martinez
Ian Kinsler
Jason Heyward
Jose Iglesias
Yuli Gurriel
Ben Zobrist
Buster Posey
Maikel Franco

Fantasy-wise, there is little to see here, right?

Now, look at this list of names.....

Joey Gallo
Aaron Judge
Giancarlo Stanton
Yoan Moncada
Chris Davis
Justin Upton
Paul Goldschmidt
Matt Davidson
Chris Taylor
Bryce Harper
Trevor Story

In this list, a few clinkers but mostly highly thought of and highly drafted fantasy players.

The first list is comprised of the players who have struck out the least in baseball this year.
These hitters ARE making contact. It is nuisance contact.
Only three of these players have more than six homers.
Only Brantley and Gurriel with 50 rbi. Only Brantley with 50 runs.
More contact, less filling!

The second list is all players who have struck out over 100 times already.

The power numbers are evident with these players.
It is no more easier watching my player pop out on weak contact than strike out on three pitches.
For these hitters,, the counter goes off in our categories when a ball is struck well.
We are like 'Tommy' playing pinball, the digit counters racing.
For the list above with contact hitters, a well struck ball, is just that, a well struck ball. Most likely, it will be in the field of play.
Field of play balls are not a category. We must hope for them to be struck in the correct place on the field.
Home runs don't care. Just land over a fence, any fence, any field, good to go.

Baseball is ever-evolving. Fantasy baseball should be the same way.
Back in the day, when it was thought that Babe Ruth was striking out too much, he would tell the press and other players, "A player should have no fear of striking out".
The Babe struck out twice as much as most players. But you know what?
The Babe never struck out even 100 times during any season of his career.
Sometimes, the end product of home runs is sullied by the criticizing of the by-product, the strike out.

In our game, we are not penalized for a player striking out. An out is an out is an out.
Where that player IS penalized in our community is when RotoWorld mentions the volume of strike outs, or when 'The Forecaster' quotes contact rate in the criticizing of a power hitter, or when a sabermetrician says, "He does hit a lot of home runs, but he is a true three-outcome player'"
As if that is a bad thing.
If they like walks so much, two out of three ain't bad (Love ya, Meat!)

There are few Mookie Betts, Mike Trout, and JD Martinez to go around.
Few hitters that can hit many homers and maintain a high batting average.
There were more of those hitters back in the day bs (before shifts)
In this day and time, most players have 'sold out' to power.
They prefer to beat shifts by going over them, not around them.

Our fantasy 'experts' are sometimes slow to react to changes on the field. They recite contact rates and criticize the strike out almost as much as they ballyhoo the base on balls.
Which I still don't get from a fantasy sense.
How does a base on balls help us when we own JD Martinez?
A walk takes the bat out of his hands.
And, I could care less if Martinez makes his out by striking out.
Experts overanalyze.
And most of this overanalyzation comes from a game that was three to five years ago.
The game has changed, darn it, contact means less when hitting into a shift.

134 players in baseball have 10 or more home runs.
134!
Only four qualifying hitters have less than three homers.
Mallex Smith- 1
Dee Gordon- 1
Delino DeShields- 2
Jose Iglesias- 2
These players have a purpose because of their double digit steals and fielding capabilities.
The point is that almost everybody in baseball is capable of hitting a home run.
Without the speed skill, we might say, you better hit home runs!
Power is King.
And part of that power is the strike out.

Contact, for contacts sake is over rated now.
In a fantasy sense, would I want Andrelton Simmons or Joey Gallo up with less than two outs and a man on third?
The answer is obvious.
I would want Simmons up at the bat and it would be because of his contact.
The chance of an rbi is heightened in this case by a batter who puts his bat on the ball.
I get that.
The problem being is how few times that situation presents itself in baseball. If it happened often, contact hitters would be among rbi leaders.
But, they don't and they aren't.
Most hitters are batting with nobody on or with a man on first base.
In those cases, I would much rather have Gallo at the plate.
He gives us the chance to fill three categories with one swing. With Simmons, only occasional.
If Simmons pops out or grounds out in those situations, it's of no help.
If Gallo strikes out twice during those situations, that is also of no help.
No difference to us.
The next day though, Simmons will not be mentioned in a blurb.
While Gallo is Chastised for striking out twice.
Mundane and unnecessary from a writer who hasn't gotten with the times.
On my tombstone-
Wait! I never had the perfect draft!

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