there aren't hitters like that anymore. Now if someone hits .330 (or even .315 in some years), they win the batting title going away. An amazing hitter...
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there aren't hitters like that anymore. Now if someone hits .330 (or even .315 in some years), they win the batting title going away. An amazing hitter...
I wasn't really talking about last year specifically. Look at the trend for the past decade though. .330 is the breaking point and low .320s seem to be in contention. Maybe it was the roids
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I wasn't really talking about last year specifically. Look at the trend for the past decade though. .330 is the breaking point and low .320s seem to be in contention. Maybe it was the roids
yeah definitely trending toward the pitchers
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Web articles saying smokeless tobacco is culprit..
then there's a whole bunch of baseball players need to take heed
then there's a whole bunch of baseball players need to take heed
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Not to take away from paying respects to Tony Gwynn but Ted Williams was the best pure hitter before you go back into the days where you are just taking someones word for it.
For instance, Ted Williams says in his book that all the old timers told him Shoeless Joe Jackson was the best ever.
Gwynn was amazing but I take Williams everyday of the week (pretty short list)
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Looking back to how the game has changes just in the 5 years from this comment - there are still a handful of guys hitting .320 and above and a metric fuckton hitting below .270 but hitting 30+ homers a year. More to the point, strikeouts are at an all time high.
I don't blame the shifts as much as I blame the focus on homers more than getting on base.
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I don't think there is less emphasis on OBP, I do think BA is a dead stat and rightfully so.
IMO the math of the game is now being widely understood by teams and that is what is driving the changes we see. Defenses have always been great at the MLB level but now with shifts there is no reason for hitters to do anything but increase their focus on launch angle and hit it into a gap or over a fence. No positive EV in beating the ball into the ground.
Interestingly enough, launch angle is somehow considered a new thing and it's actually something Ted Williams openly taught in his book. He just didn't call it that.
When you think about it, hitting down on a ball that is approaching at a downward angle (because of the mound) isn't the best way to hit anyway. It creates a very small window for contact. Matching the pitch angle, thereby keeping the barrel in the hitting zone longer, is the way to have physics on your side instead of working against you.
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“If I hit that many singles I’d wear a dress” Mickey Mantle on Pete RoseI don't think there is less emphasis on OBP, I do think BA is a dead stat and rightfully so.
IMO the math of the game is now being widely understood by teams and that is what is driving the changes we see. Defenses have always been great at the MLB level but now with shifts there is no reason for hitters to do anything but increase their focus on launch angle and hit it into a gap or over a fence. No positive EV in beating the ball into the ground.
Interestingly enough, launch angle is somehow considered a new thing and it's actually something Ted Williams openly taught in his book. He just didn't call it that.
When you think about it, hitting down on a ball that is approaching at a downward angle (because of the mound) isn't the best way to hit anyway. It creates a very small window for contact. Matching the pitch angle, thereby keeping the barrel in the hitting zone longer, is the way to have physics on your side instead of working against you.
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Couple of things...I don't think there is less emphasis on OBP, I do think BA is a dead stat and rightfully so.
IMO the math of the game is now being widely understood by teams and that is what is driving the changes we see. Defenses have always been great at the MLB level but now with shifts there is no reason for hitters to do anything but increase their focus on launch angle and hit it into a gap or over a fence. No positive EV in beating the ball into the ground.
Interestingly enough, launch angle is somehow considered a new thing and it's actually something Ted Williams openly taught in his book. He just didn't call it that.
When you think about it, hitting down on a ball that is approaching at a downward angle (because of the mound) isn't the best way to hit anyway. It creates a very small window for contact. Matching the pitch angle, thereby keeping the barrel in the hitting zone longer, is the way to have physics on your side instead of working against you.
One, first and foremost, "level swing" is not supposed to mean level to the ground, but level to the incoming ball. But, when a kid hears level swing, they (understandably) figure it means level to the ground. Anyway, when I've coached youth baseball I've always been very clear "if you hear me saying 'swing level' I mean level to the ball, not level to the ground" I'd tell them to swing with an upstroke (even a "slight upstroke") if doing so wouldn't be understood as creating a golf club type swing which is also a problem in youth baseball. It's got the same impact zone problem as your graphic and encourages "bat drag" (That site, by the way is a wealth of knowledge on mechanics, both pitching and hitting). Worse, a kid who has such a swing usually has success at lower levels and hits the ball a mile. But, it's a slow swing and thus the .600 hitter becomes a .200 hitter once he faces better pitching.
Second, back in the 70s pretty much every team was playing on concrete.. err... astroturf... and batting the ball into the ground made some sense as it created a more difficult ground ball to play, whether being faster than as off grass, or a higher hop. Hell, a speedster like Lou Brock could probably smash a ball into the concre... err.. astroturf, and be at 1st Base before the ball came down of its first hop.
Edit: Having strolled around his site, it looks like he's put much of what used to be great free info behind a login page.
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You'd be amazed at how many self professed "old school" coaches in youth baseball still get on kids to actually swing down at the ball. They say it creates backspin for carry and elevation. Swear to god. I can only assume their logic stops with "my little league coach said it back in '82 so it must be true"
Arm bars/bat drag/ spinning open too soon and a host of other issues can arise based on a specific kids physical ability and mechanical signature but as a general concept, there can be no question, at least in my mind, that the slight uppercut/match the pitch angle approach is best. Forget power, the longer the barrel is in the zone the more it allows you to be a little off on timing (early or late) and still get the good part of the bat on it. That is incredibly handy for the kids as they advance and pitchers start changing speeds.
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Yep. Happens in rec leagues all the time, and it even happens at the travel level (both baseball and softball). Of course, today's "travel level" player is another story... hey, if you wanna spend a grand to go watch your kid and his buddies get their asses handed to them all weekend long, be my guest. He's a "travel player" I guess.
Absolutely. If you really breakdown a swing you'll see a great many of our traditional cues are flat our wrong. My favorite, and I still hear this one and it drive me nuts, is "squish the bug" Yeah? Here's Albert Pujols "squishing the bug"
With his... tippy toe, I guess... (This was a HR)
And, if you REALLY wanna see a bug squish, check out A-Rod, who squishes bugs so well he doesn't even need his foot on the fucking ground...
(also a HR)
Seems there is some "back door" way to get to some of O'Leary's essays rather than the pay wall.
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