The boys of summer! (Baseball Thread)

[ab2cmiller]

Dude went full Jose Canseco.

 

[Some Irish Bloke]

The Rockies, who are even worse than the CWS, had a similar play last night in extra innings that ultimately cost them, but not nearly as bad as that. Seems like both clubs are well on their way to another easy 100+ losses ,but I'll admit the CWS have showed some signs of improvement over last year.

The Tigers just went through a decade of hell and finally developed the depth of young talent to compete again. It's usually a long journey in baseball.

 

[Irish#1]

I don’t expect it to last, but Judge is on a terror level right now. Leading in a number of categories and hitting.409 as of Sunday. Last guy I remember flirting with .400 was George Brett.

There's not much the 33-year-old can't do as Judge is first in batting average by 60 points (Paul Goldschmidt trails at .349), in OBP by 60 (Pete Alonso is second at .434), slugging by 138 (Shohei Ohtani is next closest at .641), and OPS by 222 (Ohtani at 1.051).

 

[Some Irish Bloke]

I don’t expect it to last, but Judge is on a terror level right now. Leading in a number of categories and hitting.409 as of Sunday. Last guy I remember flirting with .400 was George Brett.

Speaking of the Aaron Judge and the Yankees, how about that 14-2 ass-whoopin' the Red Sox took last night? I think we can all agree, any night the Sox lose is a good night lol

 

[IRISHDODGER]

I don’t expect it to last, but Judge is on a terror level right now. Leading in a number of categories and hitting.409 as of Sunday. Last guy I remember flirting with .400 was George Brett.

Supposedly batting average no longer matters so I’d be curious the reaction if a player did flirt w/ .400. I think it’s a helluva accomplishment to finish above .300 nowadays but I’m not an “expert”

Tony Gwynn was batting .394 when the strike occurred in 1994. Had he been over .400 at the time, I believe it would’ve qualified b/c he had over 400 ABs.

 

[Some Irish Bloke]

Supposedly batting average no longer matters so I’d be curious the reaction if a player did flirt w/ .400. I think it’s a helluva accomplishment to finish above .300 nowadays but I’m not an “expert”

Tony Gwynn was batting .394 when the strike occurred in 1994. Had he been over .400 at the time, I believe it would’ve qualified b/c he had over 400 ABs.

I still think it matters, but it just isn't the end all, be all like it used to be. Obviously, OPS is the "king" metric now, because it will measure average, walks, and slugging. I still think anything above .300 is very, very good, and a full season at .350+ is insane, let alone flirting with .400.

There aren't many players hitting .300 who are below .800 OPS, which is considered the "good ball player" benchmark.

 

[NorthDakota]

I don’t expect it to last, but Judge is on a terror level right now. Leading in a number of categories and hitting.409 as of Sunday. Last guy I remember flirting with .400 was George Brett.

In 2000, Todd Helton was batting .400 in AUGUST. Finished season at .372.

From 99-02, the Rockies had four straight batting champs. Larry Walker had three, Helton had one

 

[IRISHDODGER]

In 2000, Todd Helton was batting .400 in AUGUST. Finished season at .372.

From 99-02, the Rockies had four straight batting champs. Larry Walker had three, Helton had one

Gwynn finished at .390 in August right before the strike ended the season. He fell 3 hits shy of .400.

 

[Punky]

MLB Lifts Ban on Rose, Jackson

 

[ACamp1900]

Better reinstate Buck Weaver,… hall or no hall

 

[Some Irish Bloke]

Javy Baez has been unbelievable. Dude couldn't hit a beach ball the past few years. 2 more HRs tn

 

[IRISHDODGER]

MLB Lifts Ban on Rose, Jackson

I suspect that opens the door to those worthy of the HoF who used PEDs? Bonds, ARod, Clemens should be no-brainers. Personally, I’d include Sheffield w/ them but I know most won’t. Then there’s ManRam, Sosa, Palmeiro & McGwire. Those will/would be some interesting speeches.

 

[fightingirish26]

I suspect that opens the door to thone worthy of the HoF who used PEDs? Bonds, ARod, Clemens should be no-brainers. Personally, I’d include Sheffield w/ them but I know most won’t. Then there’s ManRam, Sosa, Palmeiro & McGwire. Those will/would be some interesting speeches.

I suppose there's a possibility the steroid users will only be considered after they pass away, though I'm not necessarily advocating for that.

 

[Punky]

I suspect that opens the door to thone worthy of the HoF who used PEDs? Bonds, ARod, Clemens should be no-brainers. Personally, I’d include Sheffield w/ them but I know most won’t. Then there’s ManRam, Sosa, Palmeiro & McGwire. Those will/would be some interesting speeches.

Looks like the article said that bans will now end automatically when the player in question dies. So it will be a while for the PEDs guys to become eligible, and they obviously won't be giving any speeches.......

 

[Jiggafini19Deux]

Supposedly batting average no longer matters so I’d be curious the reaction if a player did flirt w/ .400. I think it’s a helluva accomplishment to finish above .300 nowadays but I’m not an “expert”

Tony Gwynn was batting .394 when the strike occurred in 1994. Had he been over .400 at the time, I believe it would’ve qualified b/c he had over 400 ABs.

I still think it matters, but it just isn't the end all, be all like it used to be. Obviously, OPS is the "king" metric now, because it will measure average, walks, and slugging. I still think anything above .300 is very, very good, and a full season at .350+ is insane, let alone flirting with .400.

There aren't many players hitting .300 who are below .800 OPS, which is considered the "good ball player" benchmark.

I think we can all agree that if one guy goes 4-10 with four singles and another guy goes 4-10 with four home runs, while their batting average is the same that particular counting stat doesn't tell the whole story.

Admittedly, I stopped looking at batting averages and RBIs years ago.

Somebody getting to .500+ OBP would be something. Not named Barry Bonds. Judge is at .497

 

[IRISHDODGER]

I think we can all agree that if one guy goes 4-10 with four singles and another guy goes 4-10 with four home runs, while their batting average is the same that particular counting stat doesn't tell the whole story.

Agreed. But extrapolate that out to an entire season where a player goes 185/456 is a stat that tells a story that hasn’t been told in over 80 years. And to be clear, I’m talking about a player getting to .400 in a season…not claiming that hitting .302 with low walks & low HRs is more valuable to hitting .231 w/ 35 HRs & an eye-popping OPS. But independent of everything, hitting .300+ is not an easy feat in any era…hitting .400 is unfathomable. You can only hit so many “seeing eye singles” before your luck runs out.

 

[irishnd31]

Appears that the Guardians had a team dinner at Skyline before the game last night against the Reds. Starting pitching shit all over the mound in the first 4.😉

 

[NorthDakota]

The Minnesota Twins have won 12 in a row and finally are in 3rd Place in the division

 

[Punky]

 

[Some Irish Bloke]

The Minnesota Twins have won 12 in a row and finally are in 3rd Place in the division

Remarkable couple of weeks they had to get back into that competitive division. Many people had written them off after April saw them almost 10 games below .500. I don't expect this to keep up at all because there will be too many inter-division games coming up, but seeing 4 playoff teams from one division at any point in the season is unheard of.

 

[NorthDakota]

Remarkable couple of weeks they had to get back into that competitive division. Many people had written them off after April saw them almost 10 games below .500. I don't expect this to keep up at all because there will be too many inter-division games coming up, but seeing 4 playoff teams from one division at any point in the season is unheard of.

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We will see what happens. Im curious what the analytics say.

When I checked a few days ago, twins were 5th in AL in runs and 2nd in runs against. Unless that's been a fluke, it seems like a good sign for longevity

 

[Some Irish Bloke]

Riley Greene is a budding star that I feel like not many people know about because there is this other guy in the AL by the name of Aaron Judge who casts such a massive shadow on everyone else, rightfully so.

Two more HRs today, 21 on the year. He's slashing .300/.350/.559 (and he's phenomenal in LF), and Judge makes those numbers look pedestrian lol.

 

[Huntr]

Former Cubs manager Lee Elia passed away today.

I'm not a Cubs fan, but I loved this guy, because he had the greatest baseball rant in history.

Here it is. RIP from one of the 85%.

 

[Irish#1]

Judge fastest player in MLB history to 350 HR’s. Playing his 1,088th game, Judge bettered Mark McGwire's 1,280.

 

[IRISHDODGER]

Riley Greene is a budding star that I feel like not many people know about because there is this other guy in the AL by the name of Aaron Judge who casts such a massive shadow on everyone else, rightfully so.

Two more HRs today, 21 on the year. He's slashing .300/.350/.559 (and he's phenomenal in LF), and Judge makes those numbers look pedestrian lol.

Greene was the 6th pick in his draft. Anyone who follows baseball knows about him. Of course, casual fans just know the big names but there’s a lot of great young players like Greene putting up impressive numbers. Merrill, Chourio, PCA, Jackson Holliday, Skubal, Skenes to name a few. I hope it continues.

 

[Irish#1]

Interesting article by the AP on the disappearance of the curveball. Pitchers are counting more on velocity.

ATLANTA — Curveballs have been thrown a curve by a modern game valuing velocity over variety, disappearing from the major leagues by more than 20,000 annually.

The Athletics have thrown curves on just 2.5% of pitches this season. The overall big league figure dropped from 10.7% in 2019 to 8.1% last year, the lowest since MLB started tracking in 2008, before rising slightly to 8.5% this season.


There were 22,962 fewer curveballs in 2024 than five years earlier.

As pitchers chase higher velocity, the curveball is disappearing from MLB

The overall big league figure dropped from 10.7% in 2019 to 8.1% last year, the lowest since MLB started tracking in 2008.

www.nbcnews.com

 

[irishff1014]

Interesting article by the AP on the disappearance of the curveball. Pitchers are counting more on velocity.

As pitchers chase higher velocity, the curveball is disappearing from MLB

The overall big league figure dropped from 10.7% in 2019 to 8.1% last year, the lowest since MLB started tracking in 2008.

www.nbcnews.com

And more Tommy John’s

 

[irishff1014]

Rays' $1.7B sale could reportedly be done by September: Will new ownership keep team in the Tampa Bay area?

Stuart Sternberg bought the Rays for about $200 million

www.cbssports.com

They are a good team for being poor. IMO they aren’t worth that though.

 

[Irish#1]

They don't make them like this anymore.

 

[irishnd31]

They don't make them like this anymore.

Shane Bieber to the Blue Jays. After all of these years of trying to send Bieber back to Canada.... we sent the wrong Bieber.