I like baseball highlight and history show on the MLB network from when baseball baseball. Can't watch a game anymore
When they fucked Barry Bonds and ruined the sport I was out
Chicks dig the longball. Nerds and dorks dig analytics
Someone tell Grandpa that they hit more dingers now than they ever have.
Started with prioritizing gorilla ball in LL and travel teams. Late 80s mid 90s.
They don't teach a 2 strike approach anymore. Especially with aluminum bats.
Today’s analytics defy my concept of logic. Strikeouts are OK as long as you can park it 1/15 AB’s. OBP is king and RBIs and Batting average don’t mean shit.
All these things are essentially true. Parking it 1/15 of the time means you're hitting 40 home runs which is enough to justify a high strike out rate, as long as you're also getting on base at a decent clip. If all you're doing is leaving the yard 40 times with high K's and low OBP it's probably not enough (possibly depending on the position you play).
RBIs don't mean much because they're a function of team play not individual play, kind of like runs scored. There are much better ways to measure production. There is very little evidence that some hitters hit better with RISP than others. The best way to predict who will have the most RBIs is to identify the players who hit the most often with runners on base, not try and guess which hitters are more or less clutch.
Batting average doesn't mean much because there's little functional difference between a single and a walk so OBP is a much more useful tool. Obviously a single is more valuable than a walk but the difference isn't as large as you would think. One guy can hit .320 and almost never walk and have an OBP of .350. Another guy can hit .270 but walk regularly and have a .370 OPB. Assuming slugging percentages and defense are equal you want the .270 hitter more than the .320 hitter.
The most important thing in baseball is getting outs (if you're pitching/defense) or avoiding outs (when you're at bat). It's an untimed game, outs are the thing that advance the game and reduce opportunities to score. The more outs you avoid the more runs you will score.
