Fundamentals
There's a ton of talk about MLB teams not playing fundamental baseball these days. Here's my take.
First, I hate what analytics have done to baseball. The shifts, no bunting, relievers in and out of games every five seconds, no steals, everybody obsessing over launch angles, etc. It's all managed to make the game less fun, and that's a damned shame.
It should be noted, however, that I hated to have my teams sacrifice bunt. My philosophy was simple: the most precious thing you have in baseball are those 27 outs. Use them wisely. We always had great offensive talent, and to me, it was a sin to waste even a single out unless we absolutely, positively HAD to. An example:
We were playing in a tournament and had Jimmy Toth up with 1st and 2nd, no outs. I think it was the 7th or 8th inning. Jimmy is a good hitter, a guy who would do anything to help the team win. He was also RARELY asked to bunt and was a slow runner. I wanted to swing away, but was loudly overruled by a cacophony of ballplayers insisting "we have to bunt here!"
Newsflash: bunting is not easy. It requires practice, and it is even more difficult when the guy on the mound is a hard thrower with movement. Trust me on that. Well, Jimmy admirably got the bunt down -- right back to the pitcher, to the shortstop, to first for a doubleplay. Rally dead, and we lost the game.
Mind you, we are FAR from professional ballplayers. Those guys have nothing but time to practice all aspects of the game, and every one of them should absolutely be expert bunters.
But those pesky numbers, oh those numbers.
Analytics tell us the bunt is statistically a bad idea. Same for the stolen base. Both will hurt you more than they will help you. There is no arguing that, much as you'd like to. Facts are facts, and in case you haven't noticed the people running MLB are going with facts 100% of the time no matter what you or I think. It sucks, it's boring, it's ruining the game, but 2+2=4 and that's life.
There are a few rules in the works that may help a little. For instance, next year a reliever entering a game MUST face a minimum of three batters (unless the inning ends). That will help some.
I'd also like to see a rule that requires two infielders on each side of second base. Maybe then all those singles up the middle that used to happen will be singles again.
My point for all the old-school baseball guys is this: it's time to crack a book and at least UNDERSTAND analytics, because it ain't going away. You need to know why these guys think stats like RBI, ERA and batting average -- the very core of OUR style of baseball -- are archaic and fairly useless. It's important to at least understand why they do the things they do.
Hopefully the baseball folks will come to their senses and make some moves to bring the game more in line with the way WE played it all those years ago. That would be nice.
But I ain't holding my breath.
First, I hate what analytics have done to baseball. The shifts, no bunting, relievers in and out of games every five seconds, no steals, everybody obsessing over launch angles, etc. It's all managed to make the game less fun, and that's a damned shame.
It should be noted, however, that I hated to have my teams sacrifice bunt. My philosophy was simple: the most precious thing you have in baseball are those 27 outs. Use them wisely. We always had great offensive talent, and to me, it was a sin to waste even a single out unless we absolutely, positively HAD to. An example:
We were playing in a tournament and had Jimmy Toth up with 1st and 2nd, no outs. I think it was the 7th or 8th inning. Jimmy is a good hitter, a guy who would do anything to help the team win. He was also RARELY asked to bunt and was a slow runner. I wanted to swing away, but was loudly overruled by a cacophony of ballplayers insisting "we have to bunt here!"
Newsflash: bunting is not easy. It requires practice, and it is even more difficult when the guy on the mound is a hard thrower with movement. Trust me on that. Well, Jimmy admirably got the bunt down -- right back to the pitcher, to the shortstop, to first for a doubleplay. Rally dead, and we lost the game.
Mind you, we are FAR from professional ballplayers. Those guys have nothing but time to practice all aspects of the game, and every one of them should absolutely be expert bunters.
But those pesky numbers, oh those numbers.
Analytics tell us the bunt is statistically a bad idea. Same for the stolen base. Both will hurt you more than they will help you. There is no arguing that, much as you'd like to. Facts are facts, and in case you haven't noticed the people running MLB are going with facts 100% of the time no matter what you or I think. It sucks, it's boring, it's ruining the game, but 2+2=4 and that's life.
There are a few rules in the works that may help a little. For instance, next year a reliever entering a game MUST face a minimum of three batters (unless the inning ends). That will help some.
I'd also like to see a rule that requires two infielders on each side of second base. Maybe then all those singles up the middle that used to happen will be singles again.
My point for all the old-school baseball guys is this: it's time to crack a book and at least UNDERSTAND analytics, because it ain't going away. You need to know why these guys think stats like RBI, ERA and batting average -- the very core of OUR style of baseball -- are archaic and fairly useless. It's important to at least understand why they do the things they do.
Hopefully the baseball folks will come to their senses and make some moves to bring the game more in line with the way WE played it all those years ago. That would be nice.
But I ain't holding my breath.
posted by Nick Frese at 4:12 PM
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