2021 Around MLB: Return of the Dead Ball Era

[Alabuckeye]

I hope they consider charging the mound in the whole, mound moving distance thing. Forward gives the hitter more advantage and puts the catcher in a tough spot....back gives the SS and 2B time to get in to defend their thrower.

 

[AZ_]

New stats available at FanGraphs, for those interested:

New Stats Are Now Available at FanGraphs!

xwOBA, CSW% and more!

blogs.fangraphs.com

 

[LL3]

MLB Cracking Down On Pitchers' Use Of Foreign Substances On Baseballs

MLB is taking steps to try to reduce the number of pitchers who use foreign substances to doctor the baseball. Read more at MLB Trade Rumors.

www.mlbtraderumors.com

@jup and all commenters -- how serious will this effort be?...and to what impact?
It is still a bit vague, so imagine a great deal will depend on penalties, warnings, and the like...

 

[jup]

MLB Cracking Down On Pitchers' Use Of Foreign Substances On Baseballs

MLB is taking steps to try to reduce the number of pitchers who use foreign substances to doctor the baseball. Read more at MLB Trade Rumors.

www.mlbtraderumors.com

@jup and all commenters -- how serious will this effort be?...and to what impact?
It is still a bit vague, so imagine a great deal will depend on penalties, warnings, and the like...

Well they finally got smart and realized they had a spy behind the plate since forever - Stat Cast, Trackman & Pitch FX. And they finally figured out they could use that data for their purpose, which is what people like Bauer have been telling them for about 3 or 4 years now.

The problem with that part of it is - what to do with pitchers like Verlander, Scherzer, Sale - grandfather them in ?? Because they have been stickied for longer than spin rate data has existed. And what of the guys just graduating to the league, knowing they need to start in the minors because that way they won't show any increase in spin rate at the MLB level since they will have been stickied for their whole career.

And testing the balls ???

What a joke

It is not like hitters and catchers don't have all sorts of stickey stuff on their hands, jerseys and everywhere else. So who is to say where and when it got on the ball.

I don't really know how serious they are yet. My guy I used to get information from (2nd hand) left the Commish's office this year, so I am not sure how much I will actually get wind of directly from the enforcement side. But this is a losing battle because selective enforcement just makes the playing field all the more uneven. You have to blanket enforce it or legalize it. And if they were to blanket enforce it, it would encompass ALL their star pitchers, and that is a pretty hard pill for teams to swallow. But with a spy behind the plate for every pitch, every game, looking for variations both up and down is the only way you will ever get there if you are serious.

Go bust Verlander then see how much his spin rate drops. Then watch for it to come up again. Better yet Sale. The amount of stickie on that guys hand could rip your jersey off if he patted you on the back.

Spin rates vary around a mean so there is a normal bounce up and down. But I have quite a bit of data I was doing research on a few years back. At some point I will try to dig it out and post some over on the pitching thread. Developed a darned interesting way of looking at it. Probably should have put up some kind of fan post about it over on fangraphs but never had the time.

 

[LL3]

Thanks for the response...I will be interested in what you may find out, and of course see what, if any, enforcement effort there is. This could have tremendous impact, or just fizzle.

 

[Criznit]

Seems to me the easiest and fairly ineffective way would be to keep the games balls away from the teams before the game (if they don't already) and switch them out repeatedly. Ump can decide if the pitcher is being egregious or not and maybe this causes some of the worst offenders to get themselves caught because they aren't good at concealing it. See Pineda.

 

[LL3]

Seems to me the easiest and fairly ineffective way would be to keep the games balls away from the teams before the game (if they don't already) and switch them out repeatedly. Ump can decide if the pitcher is being egregious or not and maybe this causes some of the worst offenders to get themselves caught because they aren't good at concealing it. See Pineda.

They seem to be aiming at the broader issue, not just the few most egregious offenders — depending more on technology than the Angel Hernandezs of the world. . ...but we shall see.

 

[jup]

Seems to me the easiest and fairly ineffective way would be to keep the games balls away from the teams before the game (if they don't already) and switch them out repeatedly. Ump can decide if the pitcher is being egregious or not and maybe this causes some of the worst offenders to get themselves caught because they aren't good at concealing it. See Pineda.

So a lot of times, the catcher puts it on for the pitcher.

So the ump hands the ball to the catcher - on goes the stickie - he throws it to the pitcher, the pitcher rubs up the ball because it is brand new and away you go. So if you test that ball, it will have traces of stickie, but how did it get there ????

It is tougher than you would think. The way to see it is in the spike in spin rate from pitch to pitch. HOWEVER, that becomes really tricky because how do you compare the spin rate of the FB just thrown with the CB he is throwing next ?? Especially for someone like Ryan Pressley who goes to his sticky almost always before he throws a CB.

 

[sportscoach]

So a lot of times, the catcher puts it on for the pitcher.

So the ump hands the ball to the catcher - on goes the stickie - he throws it to the pitcher, the pitcher rubs up the ball because it is brand new and away you go. So if you test that ball, it will have traces of stickie, but how did it get there ????

It is tougher than you would think. The way to see it is in the spike in spin rate from pitch to pitch. HOWEVER, that becomes really tricky because how do you compare the spin rate of the FB just thrown with the CB he is throwing next ?? Especially for someone like Ryan Pressley who goes to his sticky almost always before he throws a CB.

Sounds like they have to crack down either so hard that it hurts the game, or allow only substance A maybe?

 

[Gson]

Well they finally got smart and realized they had a spy behind the plate since forever - Stat Cast, Trackman & Pitch FX. And they finally figured out they could use that data for their purpose, which is what people like Bauer have been telling them for about 3 or 4 years now.

The problem with that part of it is - what to do with pitchers like Verlander, Scherzer, Sale - grandfather them in ?? Because they have been stickied for longer than spin rate data has existed. And what of the guys just graduating to the league, knowing they need to start in the minors because that way they won't show any increase in spin rate at the MLB level since they will have been stickied for their whole career.

And testing the balls ???

What a joke

It is not like hitters and catchers don't have all sorts of stickey stuff on their hands, jerseys and everywhere else. So who is to say where and when it got on the ball.

I don't really know how serious they are yet. My guy I used to get information from (2nd hand) left the Commish's office this year, so I am not sure how much I will actually get wind of directly from the enforcement side. But this is a losing battle because selective enforcement just makes the playing field all the more uneven. You have to blanket enforce it or legalize it. And if they were to blanket enforce it, it would encompass ALL their star pitchers, and that is a pretty hard pill for teams to swallow. But with a spy behind the plate for every pitch, every game, looking for variations both up and down is the only way you will ever get there if you are serious.

Go bust Verlander then see how much his spin rate drops. Then watch for it to come up again. Better yet Sale. The amount of stickie on that guys hand could rip your jersey off if he patted you on the back.

Spin rates vary around a mean so there is a normal bounce up and down. But I have quite a bit of data I was doing research on a few years back. At some point I will try to dig it out and post some over on the pitching thread. Developed a darned interesting way of looking at it. Probably should have put up some kind of fan post about it over on fangraphs but never had the time.

take a look at Jackson Jobe.. a.k.a. the Spin Master.. 3600 + rpm's.. sheesh..

 

[AZ_]

 

[BMAN]

I see the Mets are now having trouble signing Lindor. Dude is not worth $385 million.

 

[BimboColesHair]

If only they had 2 plus years of Lindor and company countering any offer they received to prep them for these negotiations.

 

[N7RobBob]

I see the Mets are now having trouble signing Lindor. Dude is not worth $385 million.

Great that it isn't our problem anymore... Hopefully for his sake he can focus on baseball this year and perform like he can. Then he can get that money he wants. If he performs the way he has the past 2 years is he even worth $200 million?

 

[BMAN]

Great that it isn't our problem anymore... Hopefully for his sake he can focus on baseball this year and perform like he can. Then he can get that money he wants. If he performs the way he has the past 2 years is he even worth $200 million?

No way. And I just can’t see him getting a better offer than the Mets one. Way too many really good shortstops about to hit the open market. Plus a lot of the big market teams already have good shortstops. I don’t what he’s thinking. He’s really become unlikeable this offseason, shocking really.