Stuff
Posted: Mon Sep 10, 2018 9:32 am
A down hitting year for Major League Baseball?......
It looks like no player will get 200 hits...
Jose Altuve had 200 hits the previous four seasons
(JD Martinez, Mookie Betts have 172 hits this season)
...................................................................
It looks like no player will hit 50 home runs...
Giancarlo Stanton had 59 last year, Aaron Judge had 52
(Khris Davis 41, Martinez 40 this season)
..................................................................
It looks like nobody will steal 50 bases
Last year, Dee Gordon stole 60 with Billy Hamilton one behind at 59
(Trea Turner has 37 this season)
.....................................................................
Two players are hitting above .317 this season
Last year, seven players hit .320 or more
(Only Betts and Martinez this year)
.....................................................................
Other things that are interesting.......
Blake Snell has won 18 games.
While it is true that Snell has pitched exceptionally well this season, the Wins, themselves can be considered lucky.
Snell averages less than six innings per start. Leaving almost 40 percent of the fate of his leads in ball games in the hands of the Rays bullpen....
Chris Sale AVERAGES three strike outs every two innings (146 inn, 219 K's).
More amazing, in Sale's 44 innings leading up to his injury, he gave up one run....and struck out 79 hitters.
Sale has allowed more than six hits just one time this season. Only one run was allowed in that game and Sale won the game.
Sale has also gone almost 70 innings since allowing his last home run.
I know that sabrs love digging into Jake deGrom's feats to disspell the Wins category, but Sale has had a truly terrific year( and only 12 Wins).
Ben Zobrist is third in batting average in the National League.
Zobrist's line is .313/60/9/55/2
Zobrist has to hustle to get the the required plate appearances to qualify for the batting title.
If Zobrist does indded when the crown, he will become the most irrelevant batting Champion during the fantasy era.
Fantasy era, I like that.
In more at bats, last year, Zobrist hit .232
Batting average has become the hardest roto category to predict.
Only three National League pitchers have more than 14 Wins (Scherzer, 17, Nola,16 Lester, 15).
Wins are shriveling up.
Last year, Corey Kluber was the only pitcher to average seven innings a start.
He have become the last pitcher who will ever do that.
Most starters this year, are averaging less than six innings per start.
(Remember when we laughed at the 'Quality Start' statistic? I know I did.)
'Openers' have even become a thing.
Ryan Yarbrough, who does not even average five innings an appearance, has embraced the role of 'Opener follower'.
Yarbrough has 14 Wins.
Even with Chris Sale's injury, Yarbrough has thrown 13 less innings than Sale, but has two more Wins.
Here are their lines...
Chris Sale- 1.97/12/219/0.85
Yarbrough- 3.78/14/115/1.26
Openers have a chance to change fantasy baseball significantly.
It takes starts away from traditional starters.
It also makes the 'Opener follower' dependent on the Opener.
If a pitcher like Yarbrough comes into a game already three runs behind, he will be hard-presses to get a Win.
This year, he has had a lead when coming into a game and without the five inning requirement that is levied against Starters, 'Opener followers' have an easier road when following a good 'Opener'.
Just my opinion here, I believe that 'Openers' are here to stay.
Further, I do not believe they will be followed by the likes of Ryan Yarbrough in the future.
I believe that 'Openers' will be expanded to two-three Openers tossing the first two or three innings, then be followed with 'Starters'
This would allow a pitcher like Max Scherzer or Chris Sale to throw a 'complete game' from the third or fourth inning on.
It would allow teams to have a choice between their best Starter or their Closer pitching in the ninth inning.
It would also allow a Manager to 'bench' a Starter should a game get out of hand early.
If the Openers give up at 6-0 or 7-0 lead in the first few innings. Sale or Scherzer types could be 'saved' for the game the next day.
There are a lot of benefits to the 'Opener' for Major League Managers.
I don't think it is going away.
It looks like no player will get 200 hits...
Jose Altuve had 200 hits the previous four seasons
(JD Martinez, Mookie Betts have 172 hits this season)
...................................................................
It looks like no player will hit 50 home runs...
Giancarlo Stanton had 59 last year, Aaron Judge had 52
(Khris Davis 41, Martinez 40 this season)
..................................................................
It looks like nobody will steal 50 bases
Last year, Dee Gordon stole 60 with Billy Hamilton one behind at 59
(Trea Turner has 37 this season)
.....................................................................
Two players are hitting above .317 this season
Last year, seven players hit .320 or more
(Only Betts and Martinez this year)
.....................................................................
Other things that are interesting.......
Blake Snell has won 18 games.
While it is true that Snell has pitched exceptionally well this season, the Wins, themselves can be considered lucky.
Snell averages less than six innings per start. Leaving almost 40 percent of the fate of his leads in ball games in the hands of the Rays bullpen....
Chris Sale AVERAGES three strike outs every two innings (146 inn, 219 K's).
More amazing, in Sale's 44 innings leading up to his injury, he gave up one run....and struck out 79 hitters.
Sale has allowed more than six hits just one time this season. Only one run was allowed in that game and Sale won the game.
Sale has also gone almost 70 innings since allowing his last home run.
I know that sabrs love digging into Jake deGrom's feats to disspell the Wins category, but Sale has had a truly terrific year( and only 12 Wins).
Ben Zobrist is third in batting average in the National League.
Zobrist's line is .313/60/9/55/2
Zobrist has to hustle to get the the required plate appearances to qualify for the batting title.
If Zobrist does indded when the crown, he will become the most irrelevant batting Champion during the fantasy era.
Fantasy era, I like that.
In more at bats, last year, Zobrist hit .232
Batting average has become the hardest roto category to predict.
Only three National League pitchers have more than 14 Wins (Scherzer, 17, Nola,16 Lester, 15).
Wins are shriveling up.
Last year, Corey Kluber was the only pitcher to average seven innings a start.
He have become the last pitcher who will ever do that.
Most starters this year, are averaging less than six innings per start.
(Remember when we laughed at the 'Quality Start' statistic? I know I did.)
'Openers' have even become a thing.
Ryan Yarbrough, who does not even average five innings an appearance, has embraced the role of 'Opener follower'.
Yarbrough has 14 Wins.
Even with Chris Sale's injury, Yarbrough has thrown 13 less innings than Sale, but has two more Wins.
Here are their lines...
Chris Sale- 1.97/12/219/0.85
Yarbrough- 3.78/14/115/1.26
Openers have a chance to change fantasy baseball significantly.
It takes starts away from traditional starters.
It also makes the 'Opener follower' dependent on the Opener.
If a pitcher like Yarbrough comes into a game already three runs behind, he will be hard-presses to get a Win.
This year, he has had a lead when coming into a game and without the five inning requirement that is levied against Starters, 'Opener followers' have an easier road when following a good 'Opener'.
Just my opinion here, I believe that 'Openers' are here to stay.
Further, I do not believe they will be followed by the likes of Ryan Yarbrough in the future.
I believe that 'Openers' will be expanded to two-three Openers tossing the first two or three innings, then be followed with 'Starters'
This would allow a pitcher like Max Scherzer or Chris Sale to throw a 'complete game' from the third or fourth inning on.
It would allow teams to have a choice between their best Starter or their Closer pitching in the ninth inning.
It would also allow a Manager to 'bench' a Starter should a game get out of hand early.
If the Openers give up at 6-0 or 7-0 lead in the first few innings. Sale or Scherzer types could be 'saved' for the game the next day.
There are a lot of benefits to the 'Opener' for Major League Managers.
I don't think it is going away.