23 replies to this topic

[Nigel Tufnel]

Limiting shifts basically just means going back to how teams played defense like 8 years ago.  I'm pretty sure I can live with that.  The pitch clock is going to be great once the adjustment period is over.  And if you're worried about the bases being like 2 inches bigger, I think you may need more outside interests.

 

Both the defensive shift limits and larger bases would seem to make a guy like Mateo - a basestealer with lots of range - more valuable.

[bmore_ken]

I don't care about the shift either way, but this rule shows imo how it used to be a better game.

[PrimeTime]

BABIP has gone down a small amount in the past few years.  It used to hover very close to 300 (296-300 from '13-'19), but its dropped to between 290-292 since 2020. Not a big drop.

 

What has dropped moreso is the percentage of balls in play, from about 68% down to 63% or so.  Ticked back up to 65.4% this past year.  This is mainly driven by a huge increase in strikeouts, though HR and BB have risen slightly as well.  

 

I wonder how much the increases in K rates is as a result of batters trying to "beat" the shift through launch angle and trying to lift the baseball, thus creating more swings and misses vs evolving use of relief pitchers and what seems to be a general uptick in pitchers' velocity. Or is it a little from column A, a little from column B?

[BSLRoseKatz]

I wonder how much the increases in K rates is as a result of batters trying to "beat" the shift through launch angle and trying to lift the baseball, thus creating more swings and misses vs evolving use of relief pitchers and what seems to be a general uptick in pitchers' velocity. Or is it a little from column A, a little from column B?

Definitely a bit of both