[QUOTE=BAHoopla;18191649]Man on 3rd no out and he looks at a great pitch on 3-0. Sometimes it feels like he only swings at perfect strikes.[/QUOTE]

You don't know if he had the take sign or not.

[QUOTE=clocsta2323;18191655]You don't know if he had the take sign or not.[/QUOTE]

No I don’t but it would be odd to not give your best hitter the green light to try to 1) drive in a run and 2) get his bat going. Especially when considering the teams current record

[QUOTE=BAHoopla;18191699]No I don’t but it would be odd to not give your best hitter the green light to try to 1) drive in a run and 2) get his bat going. Especially when considering the teams current record[/QUOTE]

Or maybe he had the green light and it wasn't the pitch he was looking for. Good hitters tend to hunt a specific spin and location, especially 3-0. Maybe the spin wasn't what he was sitting.

[QUOTE=atk825;18191721]Or maybe he had the green light and it wasn't the pitch he was looking for. Good hitters tend to hunt a specific spin and location, especially 3-0. Maybe the spin wasn't what he was sitting.[/QUOTE]

3-0 and looking for something other than a fastball? Maybe I am old school, but I still tend to think with a runner on 3rd and no outs his job is to drive in the run. But apparently he is adverse to driving in runs this year.

[B]STOLEN BASE #4![/B]

[IMG] https://thumbs.gfycat.com/AcademicSardonicCommongonolek-size_restricted.gif[/IMG]

[QUOTE=BAHoopla;18191739]3-0 and looking for something other than a fastball? Maybe I am old school, but I still tend to think with a runner on 3rd and no outs his job is to drive in the run. But apparently he is adverse to driving in runs this year.[/QUOTE]

I mean he’s a 23 year old hitting savant whose closest comps through his age 22 season are Mike Trout, Frank Robinson, Bryce Harper, Mickey Mantle and Miguel Cabrera. I think he’s earned the respect to have the approach he sees fit to attacking 3-0 pitches. Lots of times a pitcher will miss with fastballs and ease in an off speed pitch. Also possible there’s a scouting report on the pitcher. Last thing you want is to swing at something you aren’t sitting on 3-0.

[QUOTE=BAHoopla;18191739]3-0 and looking for something other than a fastball? Maybe I am old school, but I still tend to think with a runner on 3rd and no outs his job is to drive in the run. But apparently he is adverse to driving in runs this year.[/QUOTE]

3-0 count, you can look for 1 specific pitch in 1 specific location and if it's not there, you can afford to take the pitch.

The pitch was a fastball on the lower outside half of the plate. Maybe it wasn't what he was sitting on location wise.

He could take the Nelson Cruz approach and swing at balls, then strike out with a man on third and less than 2 outs.

The only comfort I take in this year is that it seems like everyone sucks at the plate outside of Trout. Juan is definitely on the low end though.

Hope he picks it up.

[QUOTE=KhalDrogo;18192505]The only comfort I take in this year is that it seems like everyone sucks at the plate outside of Trout. Juan is definitely on the low end though.

Hope he picks it up.[/QUOTE]

Averages are abysmal across the league.

[QUOTE=Rabs;18192537]Averages are abysmal across the league.[/QUOTE]

They really are and no one is talking about that!

why worry in 2022?

[QUOTE=ThoseBackPages;18192688]why worry in 2022?[/QUOTE]
I want to watch enjoyable baseball :(

[QUOTE=ThoseBackPages;18192688]why worry in 2022?[/QUOTE]

Cause the baseball being played looks like 1968

[QUOTE=Rabs;18192537]Averages are abysmal across the league.[/QUOTE]

Advanced analytics has truly changed the game (for the bad, imo). This homerun or bust mentality is awful. It's just bad baseball. It's stripped some of the beauty away from the game.

[QUOTE=KhalDrogo;18192736]I want to watch enjoyable baseball :([/QUOTE]

then the Nats are not for you! LOL

[QUOTE=BAHoopla;18192759]Cause the baseball being played looks like 1968[/QUOTE]

hahaha i hear ya

[QUOTE=KhalDrogo;18192736]I want to watch enjoyable baseball :([/QUOTE]

[QUOTE=SupermanBrandon;18192764]Advanced analytics has truly changed the game (for the bad, imo). This homerun or bust mentality is awful. It's just bad baseball. It's stripped some of the beauty away from the game.[/QUOTE]

I'm optimistic that the changing of the shift next year will bring out a much better product. All depends on what changes are actually made though. No more than 2 players on a side of 2B and no IFs playing shallow OF would make a large difference IMO.

[QUOTE=Rabs;18192797]I'm optimistic that the changing of the shift next year will bring out a much better product. All depends on what changes are actually made though. [B]No more than 2 players on a side of 2B and no IFs playing shallow OF [/B]would make a large difference IMO.[/QUOTE]

thats true. this is how it is in AA and under now

[QUOTE=ThoseBackPages;18192776]then the Nats are not for you! LOL[/QUOTE]
I’d tolerate it if Soto was playing well. But it’s a waste of time to watch them when they suck and he’s bad.

[QUOTE=KhalDrogo;18192816]I’d tolerate it if Soto was playing well. But it’s a waste of time to watch them when they suck and he’s bad.[/QUOTE]

Still more BBs than Ks!

Boring.

As bad as he’s been, his OPS+ is 157. That’s 15 points better than what he did in 2018 and 2019. That’s how awful offense has been across the league.

I think the MLB colluded with the owners to deflate the balls and screw with the strike zone in order to depress offense and subsequently, salaries.

[QUOTE=KhalDrogo;18192959]As bad as he’s been, his OPS+ is 157. That’s 15 points better than what he did in 2018 and 2019. That’s how awful offense has been across the league.



I think the MLB colluded with the owners to deflate the balls and screw with the strike zone in order to depress offense and subsequently, salaries.[/QUOTE]Possibly. I am still leaning more towards this being weather related and will see how things are playing out by the end of June. There was a lot of really nasty weather so far and avg game Temps in the 50s is going to hurt offense. Hitters may also have been spoiled over the past 2 seasons with pitchers inability to prepare and stretch out for the season due to covid. This is sort of the first normal year for pitchers in a while. All of that said, I have zero concerns about Soto other than if my Mets can get him.

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[QUOTE=Biohazarddfl;18192974]Possibly. I am still leaning more towards this being weather related and will see how things are playing out by the end of June. There was a lot of really nasty weather so far and avg game Temps in the 50s is going to hurt offense. Hitters may also have been spoiled over the past 2 seasons with pitchers inability to prepare and stretch out for the season due to covid. This is sort of the first normal year for pitchers in a while. All of that said, I have zero concerns about Soto other than if my Mets can get him.

Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk[/QUOTE]
Good thoughts. The strike zone seems more likely to be intentional (either by the league or by the umpires). If you’ve watched enough baseball in your life, you notice a difference this year. These guys didn’t just become terrible judges of balls and strikes overnight.

[QUOTE=NYBBFAN;18192567]They really are and no one is talking about that![/QUOTE]

[QUOTE=Rabs;18192537]Averages are abysmal across the league.[/QUOTE]

[QUOTE=KhalDrogo;18192505]The only comfort I take in this year is that it seems like everyone sucks at the plate outside of Trout. Juan is definitely on the low end though.

Hope he picks it up.[/QUOTE]

I had an opportunity to listen to a baseball team exec talking about this. He said that all the teams have been finding that players did a very poor job working out in the off-season. And many came in poorly prepared, and in some cases having picked up bad practices.

Add to that the work that Fangraphs did showing this has been a particularly bad year from the climate's effect on how the ball carries (cold heavy spring air shortens fly ball distance), and an emphasis of HR or bust.

You end up with a lot of players looking poor. And hopefully we'll start seeing some turnaround as the season goes on, players get back in shape, and the weather changes.

Soto has also been super unlucky, according to Statcast. So that doesn't help either. ;)

More broadly, though, I do wonder if this has helped expose players with more or less natural talent. And who needs to work harder to be in real top performing levels of the league.

You guys should all write letters to him and tell him he is doing it wrong. He has 500 more MLB hits than most of the exparts in here.


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