Well this is fun… three series are done in 2018 and the Braves haven’t dropped one yet. How long could this last?
Fred tried to guess at the answer to this question a couple of days ago. The Atlanta Braves are 6-3… yet could very plausibly be 8-1. In other words, that 6-3 record… it’s not really that much of a fluke.
The question, of course, is how far this Field of Dreams can go (yes – I was watching the movie replay Sunday night… even though it has nothing whatsoever to do with this topic).
Well, there are reasons to believe this hot start could continue… even as it regresses:
- At .291, the team batting average leads all of baseball by 26 points – and every NL team by forty-four points.
- Team OBP is .375 – also tops in baseball – though maybe a lot of that comes thanks to Freddie Freeman and his .564 rate.
- Ozzie Albies – is hitting, but clearly hasn’t hit his stride yet.
- Ender Inciarte – also hasn’t started well yet. Thus the “best” part of the order really isn’t doing much yet. Once they do…
- Both starting catchers have been banged up. Suzuki is back, though still getting back into gear.
- Ronald Acuna Jr. still isn’t here
- Luiz Gohara still isn’t here
- Johan Camargo still isn’t here
In other words, the Braves are doing all of this while the main part of their lineup – or expected lineup – is still either not here or not yet playing as hoped.
Robo Umps Talk Again?
Over the weekend, there was a well-publicized incident between umpire Tim Timmons, DBacks manager Torey Lovullo, and Yadier Molina over the issue of ‘stealing’ strikes.
I had noticed this going on quite frequently in the recent Phillies series in Atlanta – with the Braves being the victims.
This isn’t something I can quantify, for even BrooksBaseball seems to show charts with strikes being called exactly where there are supposed to be at the bottom of the zone.
Yet anecdotal evidence seems to suggest that more catchers than ever are taking pitches that arrive below the knees and either snatching their gloves upward or – more subtly – rotating them upward to bring the ball into a position within the strike zone.
We call this ‘pitch framing’.
Umpires are clearly falling for the practice, which is bringing the topic of ‘robo’ or electronic umpires back into the space of conversation.
I am generally in favor of the concept, but today I heard a nationally-known baseball analyst give what I think is probably the worst take on this issue.
He’s against the idea because of how it would change the game.
Sorry, but speaking as a traditionalist, that ship has sailed, circled the globe a few times, and is back for yet another voyage.
Change, You Say?
Here’s just a few ways the game has changed in the past 140-odd years:
- 4-ball walks; 3 ball strikeouts (the rule changed several times between 1880 and 1890)
- the World Series
- dead-ball/live ball
- purpose-built stadiums (as opposed to fenceless grounds – including old polo fields)
- lights
- integration (hey, I didn’t say that these changes were bad – just that they’ve been changing the game)
- 3-to-4-to-5 man rotations… and even hints of 6 now
- expansion – first westward, then outward (additional teams)
- divisional play
- mound height lowered
- The Designated Hitter… the worst of all
- The specialization age – closers; relief specialists
- The Infield Fly rule
- Instant replay challenges
- The slide rule – at home and (mostly) second base
- The instant intentional walk
- steroids… okay, maybe this was the worst of all
- The Wild Card
- Pace of play
So with all of this that has happened to the game, do you really think that a technological advancement that would produce a universally consistent strike zone actually would either (a) change the game, or (b) harm it is any fundamental way?
If you believe so, then you’d also have to reject the instant replay system and how it has generally helped umpire performance… though admittedly, we’ve seen that the human element has apparently never actually been removed from the equation as was supposed to happen.
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But today we have technology that does the following – for every game and every pitch:
- tracks pitch mph
- tracks pitch angle
- tracks pitch deflection (any direction)
- tracks pitch rotation (rpm)
- tracks pitch location – to an accuracy of at least 0.5 inches
- Hey, it’s already used to grade umpire performance
Yet we have some umpires who can’t track pitches… at all, really. I’ll certainly throw tonight’s home plate ump in that mix. Certainly even many good ones are being fooled by the pitch framers – to the point that teams are clamoring for catchers skilled in this dark art.
MLB already uses this technology to provide performance feedback to the umpires… so why not use it for improving the game itself?
For a variety of reasons, the umps would still have to be in their usual spots – so nobody even loses a job.
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Look, you can certainly find reasons for not liking this use of technology to improve the game, but to suggest that it would somehow change the game more than it’s already been altered in the past 100+ years is actually quite laughable.