MLB 2018 regular season thread

Baseball pundits don't tend to be very strong on their epistemology ...

 

Dick, this is the one I was asking about yesterday.

Is there a history where a guy can just get hot in terms of exit velocity and then it goes away? It doesn't seem to me like that would fluctuate very much. He is third in exit velocity and first in percentage of hard-hit balls (95+ MPH exit velocity).

I can't see that not being there in a month, barring injury.

 

Did you see my answer? I don't know the answer to this. But I know he struck out in Japan a lot. I also know he's walked just once in 19 plate appearances.

 

So what? Everyone strikes out a lot now.

 

But where's he going to rank in first pitch hits and average?

So far he's 1 for 4 with a puny little single.

Jose Altuve thrives with first-pitch swinging

Most swings at first pitches of at-bats, 2017

1. Altuve: 279
2. Garcia: 272
3. Marcell Ozuna: 271
4. Corey Seager: 265
5. Corey Dickerson: 264

Garcia swung at 48.5 percent of the first pitches he saw in 2017, which was actually more aggressive than Altuve (fourth-highest at 42 percent) and the 145 other hitters who logged at least 500 plate appearances. So, which hitter was better at attacking? Altuve led the Majors with 62 hits off first pitches, while Garcia was third with 45. But Garcia's .506 average when putting the first pitch in play ranked third among 153 qualified hitters, while Altuve's .449 mark was 14th-best.

Highest batting average on first-pitch balls in play, 2017 (min. 50 at-bats)

1. Cesar Hernandez: .519
2. Byron Buxton: .517
3. Garcia: .506
4. Yonder Alonso: .500
5. Starlin Castro: .491
14. Altuve: .449

 

White Sox start 0-5 at home for first time since '75 in Chuck Tanner's final year.

 

C'mon, now. Jelly doughnuts are your friends.

 

Dickie stands strongly behind scouts making a determination after 14 spring training plate appearances.

Dickie insists anybody making a determination after 19 regular-season plate appearances is wrong.

Translation: Small sample sizes are only a problem if Dickie is on the other side of the argument from the person using them.

 

Meanwhile, God Bless America. And offshore holding companies ...

To avoid Miami courtroom, Marlins claim citizenship in the British Virgin Islands

The Miami Marlins are claiming corporate citizenship in the British Virgin Islands in an effort to have a federally appointed arbitrator take over the lawsuit by Miami and Miami-Dade Countyto recover a share of the profits from Jeffrey Loria's $1.2 billion sale of the team to Derek Jeter and partners last fall.

Lawyers representing the Marlins told a federal judge that at least one corporation that owns part of Marlins Teamco — the company Jeter and majority owner Bruce Sherman formed last year to buy the franchise — is based in the Caribbean. As a result, team lawyers argued, the dispute with Miami-Dade should be governed by jurisdictional rules that apply to international disputes.

 

Not ready for the start of the season -- Giancarlo Stanton. 21Ks in 43 ABs.

 

I can't prove it and I haven't thoroughly researched it or anything, but I've always suspected that using exit velocity to explain short-term hot streaks is double counting the hot streak. Sometimes you barrel a bunch of balls in a short period of time, then you go the next month missing them by 1/8th of an inch doing the exact same thing.

 

Judge's average exit velocity last year was 95.0.

Were there weeks when he was down in the 80s and other weeks where he was in the 100s? Or were his slumps just weeks where he struck out a lot more and hit balls right at people?

That's what I'm asking. I wouldn't know where to find that. But it seems like that would remain a constant and that's why it's so valued.