Hot Stove Thread 2014-15

Missing bats is better than hitting bats.

 

I would lean toward bad. Very bad.

 

The goal is to get people out and prevent the other team from scoring runs. Hernandez did that better than Kluber this year, but some folks are vastly overrating strikeouts and that is one reason Kluber got the award.

 

Your MVPs ...

AL: Mike Trout (unanimous)

NL: Clayton Kershaw (first NL pitcher since Bob Gibson to be MVP)

 

They play a small role, but most of what they do in that regard also shows up in more strikeouts.

The difference between a line drive and a pop-up/groundout is mostly hitter's skill and luck.

 

funny aside:

Corey Kluber induced pop-ups (infield fly balls) on 11.1% of the balls in play against him. Felix Hernandez induced pop-ups at a 5.7% rate.

 

Dead wrong. The difference between a line drive and a pop-up/groundout is usually whether a pitcher puts the ball where he's supposed to or not. An inch of break can be the difference between a double in the gap and a broken bat grounder to the second baseman. Every fastball that gets left over the plate instead of being on the corner like it was supposed to be is testament to that. Hell, Mariano Rivera made a hall of fame career by busting people in on the hands for 20 years. Was every broken bat he created the hitter not doing his job, or was it Rivera doing his extremely well? If Rivera threw you a cut fastball the right way, there was absolutely no physical way possible to do anything more than get a weak single out of it.
Every outcome at the plate is a combination of a hitter (knowing the count and what pitch to look for, and then doing something with it), the catcher (calling the right pitch in the right situation), and the pitcher (executing the pitch) doing or not doing their jobs.

 

Sorry Rick, I agree with Batman. The list of pitchers who lived by making batter missed by JUST THAT MUCH is a long one, and too long to be ascribed to statistical flukes.

 

I'm OK with most people disagreeing. It goes against pretty much everything people learn about baseball from a young age. It's never going to be a popular notion.

Most of those pitchers who made a living on getting batters to "just miss" actually made their living on avoiding walks and keeping the ball low.

 

You mean control is an asset in pitching? Well, I swan!!

 

Line drives as a percentage of balls in play against:

League average: 20.8%
Felix Hernandez career: 18.2%

A small difference, but not exactly the reason he's a successful pitcher

 

Funny thing how being incorrect makes a notion unpopular.

You dismiss the stats that don't fit your story (such as Hernadez's lower line drive percentage). Your idea that pitchers who get guys to "just miss" simply keep the ball low and limit walks, but you completely ignore that Hernandez had a much lower batting average against than Kluber despite the lower strikeout rate.

That you can't see the superior skill involved in what Hernandez does speaks to your failure to understand baseball, not anybody else refusing to consider unpopular notions.