Current Events > Started actually watching MLB. Wtf is up with how they swing the bats?

(+) Yeah! (+)

Like half are nornal swings

And then the other half are fucking golf swings trying to hit a sinker. With the tip of the bat almost hitting the ground. And they connect for runs somehow

Were these golfswings always a common/popular way pros would bat?

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launch angle

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Youre mostly describing power swings, its a plague on the game as guys go for the fences all the time and end up striking out 200 times a year.

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mlb juiced the balls since they can't juice the players. Not swinging for dingers these days is a sure way to get sent to AAA.

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KiwiTerraRizing posted...

Youre mostly describing power swings, its a plague on the game as guys go for the fences all the time and end up striking out 200 times a year.

Are a handful of homeruns really worth that many strike outs though? (Career wise)

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CasualGuy posted...

Are a handful of homeruns really worth that many strike outs though? (Career wise)

apparently

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https://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/MLB/bat.shtml

Home runs have increased roughly 20% or so since the 90s (with an odd dip in the early 10's), BA has seen a steady decline from 270 down to 255 (yikes!), and K's are through the absolute roof, having doubled since the early 80s and +50% since the early 00's.

oddly enough, runs scored is pretty flat.


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the bigger problem is how fast and how hard to hit the pitches are today. they've clearly outpaced hitters in terms of getting an edge, so basically when you make contact these days it's best to swing to get a homer or at least a double out of it

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Having more strikeouts for a greater chance at the best outcome at the plate is a tradeoff teams want them to make.

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Are you talking about a regular swing, or a batter taking an awkward swing at a curveball that they got fooled by?

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Statisticians have discovered that two of the biggest predictors of offensive production is launch angle (how vertical you're hitting the ball) and exit velocity (how hard you're hitting it.) Ground balls end up as ground outs most of the time (especially as teams are increasingly shifting to ensure infielders are where the ball is most often hit), but hard hit balls in the air have better success. So players are increasingly being coached to prioritize these things in their swings, resulting in the uppercut approach you're seeing so much of.

This has coincided with trends in the pitching game to maximize velocity, and (relatedly) to give shorter outings to starting pitchers, which has tended to make it harder for hitters than before.

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Antifar posted...

Statisticians have discovered that two of the biggest predictors of offensive production is launch angle (how vertical you're hitting the ball) and exit velocity (how hard you're hitting it.) Ground balls end up as ground outs most of the time (especially as teams are increasingly shifting to ensure infielders are where the ball is most often hit), but hard hit balls in the air have better success. So players are increasingly being coached to prioritize these things in their swings, resulting in the uppercut approach you're seeing so much of.

This has coincided with trends in the pitching game to maximize velocity, and (relatedly) to give shorter outings to starting pitchers, which has tended to make it harder for hitters than before.

But this is not entirely true. Look at the data. Runs scored ("offensive production") has not scaled with the new focus on these things. We've only just gotten back to offensive production we saw in the late 00's, when Ron Washington was hackin darts on the bench. Unless something changed to create less offense, and the launch angle theory is just a reaction to that.

It makes for more fly balls, home runs, flyouts, and doubles....which are more exciting, i guess.

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CasualGuy posted...

Are a handful of homeruns really worth that many strike outs though? (Career wise)

The average person really loves dingers.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bH81s3BtdB4

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Naysaspace posted...

But this is not entirely true. Look at the data. Runs scored ("offensive production") has not scaled with the new focus on these things. We've only just gotten back to offensive production we saw in the late 00's, when Ron Washington was hackin darts on the bench. Unless something changed to create less offense, and the launch angle theory is just a reaction to that.

Something did happen, which is an increase in infield shifts and pitchers throwing 100 mph.

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Naysaspace posted...

https://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/MLB/bat.shtml

Home runs have increased roughly 20% or so since the 90s (with an odd dip in the early 10's), BA has seen a steady decline from 270 down to 255 (yikes!), and K's are through the absolute roof, having doubled since the early 80s and +50% since the early 00's.

oddly enough, runs scored is pretty flat.

offense is in an everlasting arms race with defense and pitching. more athletic defenders+specialized, harder throwing pitchers+steroids regulation dipped power numbers in the early 2010s. then launch angles became en vogue the same time as defensive shifts and mlb juiced the ball to inflate hr numbers.

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Naysaspace posted...

https://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/MLB/bat.shtml

Home runs have increased roughly 20% or so since the 90s (with an odd dip in the early 10's), BA has seen a steady decline from 270 down to 255 (yikes!), and K's are through the absolute roof, having doubled since the early 80s and +50% since the early 00's.

oddly enough, runs scored is pretty flat.

This. The game has gravitated more towards the three true outcomes (homer, walk, strikeout) a lot more than it used to. I call it "Adam Dunn Syndrome". Adam Dunn was a great hitter last decade whose career numbers were abnormally skewed towards the three true outcomes, but he hit so many homers and drove in so many runs that he was worth the strikeouts and the low batting average. The problem is that the league is filled with Adam Dunns now. Smallball is basically dead and everyone is swinging for the fences, even players who don't have power and have no business trying to hit like that are doing it.

Fuck you in particular, Harrison Bader.
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berlyman101 posted...

launch angle

Yep, a good golf swing on a sinker or slurve pitch can easily turn into a homer.

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Naysaspace posted...

But this is not entirely true. Look at the data. Runs scored ("offensive production") has not scaled with the new focus on these things. We've only just gotten back to offensive production we saw in the late 00's, when Ron Washington was hackin darts on the bench. Unless something changed to create less offense, and the launch angle theory is just a reaction to that.

It makes for more fly balls, home runs, flyouts, and doubles....which are more exciting, i guess.

Average pitcher velocity increased substantially...

2000: about 88 MPH
2020: about 93 MPH

Percentage of pitches over 95 MPH went from about 10% to 22%.

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it's not just velo, either. pitchers have maximized spin efficiency to never-before seen levels to arm themselves with absurd breaking balls and vertical/horizontal movement on their heaters.

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