2017 MLB Facts, Lies, Propaganda, Opinions, & Pictures

[soulpope]

Rhys Hoskins 18 .... Matt Olson 24 .... Cody Bellinger 39 .... Aaron Judge 46 .... a remarkable rookie class for sure ....

[Soulstation1]

L - 1

Tribe lose on a walk off 2 run HR 

My Browns have a shot this week vs Colts 

Neither team has a starting QB

[Patrick]

Last two L's with Bauer on mound, though he pitched fine. Jay Bruce a bit scary in right.

[Soulstation1]

Now I leaning towards Judge breaking

McGwire's rookie mark

[Soulstation1]

http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/20796689/luke-farrell-cincinnati-reds-first-pitch-team-managed-father-mlb-game

pretty damn cool 

[JSngry]

Why were the Reds wearing that green?

[Milestones]

Kluber is pitching today.  I wonder who wins that game?

 

[soulpope]

Aaron Judge delivers number 47 ....

Edited September 24, 2017 by soulpope

[soulpope]

2 hours ago, soulpope said:

Aaron Judge delivers number 47 ....

Followed hot on the heels by number 48  ....

[ghost of miles]

My favorite meme from the season: 

Yankees celebrating Saturday after clinching a wild-card spot. This year's team has been so much fun to follow: 

[soulpope]

1 hour ago, ghost of miles said:

My favorite meme from the season: 

Yankees celebrating Saturday after clinching a wild-card spot. This year's team has been so much fun to follow: 

 .... after years this seems to be a young(er) team with attitude but still really enjoying themselves ....

[paul secor]

I guess that it's good for the young guys to celebrate (especially given the fact that, before the season started, many didn't expect them to do much this year), but it seems to me that the Yanks didn't used to celebrate until they had actually won something - like clinched their division.

[soulpope]

2 hours ago, paul secor said:

I guess that it's good for the young guys to celebrate (especially given the fact that, before the season started, many didn't expect them to do much this year), but it seems to me that the Yanks didn't used to celebrate until they had actually won something - like clinched their division.

Aaron Judge has number 49 in the books ....

[soulpope]

2 hours ago, soulpope said:

Aaron Judge has number 49 in the books ....

Here we go number 50 - congratulations Aaron Judge ....

[ghost of miles]

On 9/15/2017 at 10:33 AM, ghost of miles said:

From the NY Times account of last night's game:

Judge finished 3 for 4 with three runs scored and six R.B.I., a new career high. It extended Judge’s dominance of the Orioles this season — his 11 home runs against them are the most by any player against any opponent in 2017. In 16 games against Baltimore, Judge has hit .472 with 27 runs scored and 24 R.B.I.

Buck Showalter might be better off just issuing Judge an IBB every time up.  Judge also became the first Yankee to pick up 110+ runs and 110+ walks in a single season since Mickey Mantle in 1961.  (Of course, he strikes out as much if not more than the Mick did too.)  Catching McGwire's rookie HR record a long-shot at this point, but I suppose he could still do it with a hot streak here at the end... 16 games left.   

 

Hot streak delivered!  Gawd almighty, dude's having a Ruthian September.

[Soulstation1]

On 9/24/2017 at 8:19 PM, JSngry said:

Why were the Reds wearing that green?

Unfortunately it's not April 20th 

 

[ghost of miles]

Gary Sanchez has been having a fantastic season at the plate as well--hit his 33rd HR today, and that with having missed a month of the season due to an injury. In fact, his combined stats for this year and last are quite similar to Judge's:

Sanchez: 171 games/737 PA/53 HR/131 RBI/.284 BA

Judge: 177 games/751 PA/ 54 HR/115 RBI/.268 BA

Also saw a comment today that Sanchez/Judge's 83 HR so far this season is the most by a duo of Yankee teammates since Maris and Mantle in 1961.

Edited September 26, 2017 by ghost of miles

[soulpope]

8 hours ago, ghost of miles said:

Gary Sanchez has been having a fantastic season at the plate as well--hit his 33rd HR today, and that with having missed a month of the season due to an injury. In fact, his combined stats for this year and last are quite similar to Judge's:

Sanchez: 171 games/737 PA/53 HR/131 RBI/.284 BA

Judge: 177 games/751 PA/ 54 HR/115 RBI/.268 BA

Also saw a comment today that Sanchez/Judge's 83 HR so far this season is the most by a duo of Yankee teammates since Maris and Mantle in 1961.

Most by an MLB catcher in 2017 - and his other stats aint too shabby either ....

[ghost of miles]

Well, his passed-ball defense could certainly use some work! But yeah, SO glad we didn't give him up for Chris Sale (outstanding as Sale is) or anybody else.

Another rundown on Judge's record-breaking rookie season:

Aaron Judge's record-breaking year 

This passage in particular jumped out at me: 

• At the completion of Monday's game, Judge owns a .620 slugging percentage and a .418 on-base percentage with 124 runs scored and 120 walks to go along with his 50 round-trippers. The only players to hit all those numbers over a full season in the history of modern baseball are Ruth (four times), Foxx and Hank Greenberg in 1938, Mantle in 1961, McGwire in 1998 and Barry Bonds in 2001.

That's some damned impressive company!

Edited September 26, 2017 by ghost of miles

[soulpope]

1 hour ago, ghost of miles said:

Well, his passed-ball defense could certainly use some work! But yeah, SO glad we didn't give him up for Chris Sale (outstanding as Sale is) or anybody else.

Another rundown on Judge's record-breaking rookie season:

Aaron Judge's record-breaking year 

This passage in particular jumped out at me: 

• At the completion of Monday's game, Judge owns a .620 slugging percentage and a .418 on-base percentage with 124 runs scored and 120 walks to go along with his 50 round-trippers. The only players to hit all those numbers over a full season in the history of modern baseball are Ruth (four times), Foxx and Hank Greenberg in 1938, Mantle in 1961, McGwire in 1998 and Barry Bonds in 2001.

That's some damned impressive company!

Right,there`s always room to improve .... but still :

http://www.foxsports.com/mlb/stats?season=2017&category=FIELDING+II&group=1&time=0

[T.D.]

I know I'm old/old-fashioned and baseball analysts don't care about whiffing any more, but striking out 40% of the time suggests an area for improvement.

Still, many kudos for the HR, OPS, etc.

[paul secor]

2 hours ago, ghost of miles said:

Well, his passed-ball defense could certainly use some work! But yeah, SO glad we didn't give him up for Chris Sale (outstanding as Sale is) or anybody else.

Another rundown on Judge's record-breaking rookie season:

Aaron Judge's record-breaking year 

This passage in particular jumped out at me: 

• At the completion of Monday's game, Judge owns a .620 slugging percentage and a .418 on-base percentage with 124 runs scored and 120 walks to go along with his 50 round-trippers. The only players to hit all those numbers over a full season in the history of modern baseball are Ruth (four times), Foxx and Hank Greenberg in 1938, Mantle in 1961, McGwire in 1998 and Barry Bonds in 2001.

That's some damned impressive company!

I don't know about the company of the last two. (Actually, I do know).

I like Judge, but over 200 strikeouts doesn't impress me. Baseball is becoming a game of HRs or strikeouts - though  Judge's BA is somewhat better than a lot of sluggers. When you strike out over 200 times, that's over 200 ABs where you didn't even put the ball in play and have a chance to do anything.

This is from a report last week:

In 2017, teams are averaging 1.26 home runs per game, surpassing the 2000 season's 1.17 per game for the all time high. On a per-game basis, this year's rate represents a 9.1% increase over last year (1.16 per game), a 24.8% increase over 2015 (1.01 per game) and a 46.5% increase over 2014 (0.86 per game, the lowest it had been since 1992). By season's end, the 30 teams will combine to surpass 6,000 home runs for the first time.

I don't know if more players are using or not, but something smells bad to me.

[ghost of miles]

Some good potential reasons for the power surge delineated here:

Why MLB players are hitting home runs at a record pace

Here are couple of them--the emergence of Statcast is particularly interesting to me:

Ready for launch: The emergence of MLB’s Statcast system has provided players a tool to assess what kind of drives are less likely to get caught, and as a result hitters have increasingly tailored their swings to get more loft and beat defensive shifts. Knowledge of exit velocity and launch angle has become an element of many hitters’ approach at the plate.

The Los Angeles Dodgers’ Chris Taylor, for example, added a leg kick in the offseason and focused on driving the ball instead of hitting it on the ground. After producing a total of one home run in 120 games over parts of three seasons before 2017, Taylor has banged out 20 this year, although it’s worth noting he has played more regularly (130 games) than ever before.

Taylor is one of 108 players who went into Tuesday’s action with at least 20 homers, three shy of the big-league record set in 2016. The previous year there were only 64.

Strikeouts, schmrikeouts: A new emphasis on “doing damage’’ at the plate has been facilitated by the virtual disappearance of the stigma once attached to strikeouts, which many hitters now regard as no different than making an out any other way.

That’s partly in response to the proliferation of overpowering pitchers — the average four-seam fastball now tops 93 mph — but also as a way to counter their dominance. In other words, batters will accept more whiffs in exchange for reaching the fences with greater frequency.

The average number of strikeouts per team per game has climbed every season since 2005, from 6.3 to the current 8.25. There are no indications the trend will reverse.

[Soulstation1]

prob $12 for those nachos at the ballpark 

[soulpope]

2 hours ago, ghost of miles said:

Some good potential reasons for the power surge delineated here:

Why MLB players are hitting home runs at a record pace

Here are couple of them--the emergence of Statcast is particularly interesting to me:

Ready for launch: The emergence of MLB’s Statcast system has provided players a tool to assess what kind of drives are less likely to get caught, and as a result hitters have increasingly tailored their swings to get more loft and beat defensive shifts. Knowledge of exit velocity and launch angle has become an element of many hitters’ approach at the plate.

Could well be .... firmly believe that a lot of "math" is done nowadays and this combined with taking a gamble on pitchers results in increase of extra base hits - or K`s (btw I`m baffled how many pitcher - not even speaking about relievers/closers - command a fastball between 95-98 mph) .... agree with Paul that Aaron Judge`s strike outs are not the stuff to write home about, but at the same time I really do appreciate his ability enabling him to make significant adjustments (both toolwise and mentally - the expectations (aka pressure) after the first half season and the Homerun Derby were skyhigh to say the least) after a subpar August 2017 campaign ....