***Official*** 2019 Spring Training Thread

[TL1961]

Chibear, you're in midseason form.

You're complaining about the lineup in ST game, denying it, and already wringing your hands over Maddon.

Yep...midseason form.

 

[Castor76]

Almora swinging at 1st pitch
Happ Ks
Bote gets hit in head

Chatwood. Single Walk Homerun


Yeah it ST

Everybody should go up to the plate wanting to swing at one of the first 3 pitches. I can post you numbers to show it too.

 

[zack54attack]

Wish MLB would go with some of these Spring Training Hats year round. They are awesome.

 

[SilenceS]

Almora swinging at 1st pitch
Happ Ks
Bote gets hit in head

Chatwood. Single Walk Homerun


Yeah it ST

Man, thought I would have another 4 weeks until this started.

 

[CubsFaninMN]

Wish MLB would go with some of these Spring Training Hats year round. They are awesome.

The Nationals' new logo is much better than the old one, I hope they use it on the regular season uniforms. With the old logo, I always felt like we were playing the Walgreen's team...

-Doug

 

[zack54attack]

The Nationals' new logo is much better than the old one, I hope they use it on the regular season uniforms. With the old logo, I always felt like we were playing the Walgreen's team...

-Doug

It was WAY too similar to Walgreens logo lol

 

[chibears55]

Chibear, you're in midseason form.

You're complaining about the lineup in ST game, denying it, and already wringing your hands over Maddon.

Yep...midseason form.

Lol
Yeah ok

Some of you need to get over yourselves here

 

[chibears55]

Everybody should go up to the plate wanting to swing at one of the first 3 pitches. I can post you numbers to show it too.

That ok..
Lol

 

[Castor76]

That ok..
Lol

Laugh all you want. Numbers don't lie. Of the top ten qualified hitters in OPS for 2018, I took their 3 years splits to defer one season anomalies. If they put one of the first 3 pitches in play, they had a slash line of .354/.362/.661. If they went 4 or more pitches, the line went to .239/.405/.443. The OBP is better, but everything else is much worse.

Take the best pitchers with the lowest OPS against and you get the same results. If one of their first 3 pitches is put in play, they give up .277/.286/.451. They get a guy to 4 or more, they only give up .184/.298/.294. That's barely any difference in OBP with massive drops in the others.

If a player had 600 PA over a season and went by either method, the latter method would get the played on base only 23 more times. A pitcher would allow only 20 more base runners with 800 Batters Faced. The difference in SLG alone would more than make up those differences.

 

[CSF77]

By taking less than 4 pitches in a analysis it removes the walk. Which is a large component of OBA.

Then seeing how SLG is lower it contributes those missing walks. Add to it hitters tend to get more defender vs agressive early count

I wouldn't make too much of it honestly. Being a hitter is more of dueling than anything else. If the offers are in the zone and not intended to provide a intended result. Like a pitch that is in a cold zone. You have to take a strike. If it misses then you attack it.

Later count it is more about ahead or behind the counter and letting a bad strike go or trying to foul it off.

 

[Castor76]

And yet the difference in OBP isn't that great. I'm not just talking about what hitters do. I'm also pointing out what happens versus the pitchers. There was about a 10 point difference in the OBP first three versus 4+ but the difference in BA and SLG were both dramatic. In the 6 counts where the walk was not an option, MLB hitters got on only 10 points less than in the 6 where they were. You can look at the numbers, once a pitcher get 2 strikes on a hitter, hitters mostly lose, even great ones.

Just take first pitch hitting. The top hitters got .390/.399/.755. The top pitchers gave up .334/.342/.556. And that was over 2000 PA for the pitchers so not some tiny sample. Hitters down 0-1 went .366/.377/.692. The pitchers gave up .316/.327/.501. In 1-0 counts, Hitters .384/.390/.723 and pitchers gave up .326/.333/.576.

I truly believe so many hitters are set on working the count that they don't go to the plate with an aggressive approach and pitchers have learned this so they know they can get ahead easier.

 

[chibears55]

Laugh all you want. Numbers don't lie. Of the top ten qualified hitters in OPS for 2018, I took their 3 years splits to defer one season anomalies. If they put one of the first 3 pitches in play, they had a slash line of .354/.362/.661. If they went 4 or more pitches, the line went to .239/.405/.443. The OBP is better, but everything else is much worse.

Take the best pitchers with the lowest OPS against and you get the same results. If one of their first 3 pitches is put in play, they give up .277/.286/.451. They get a guy to 4 or more, they only give up .184/.298/.294. That's barely any difference in OBP with massive drops in the others.

If a player had 600 PA over a season and went by either method, the latter method would get the played on base only 23 more times. A pitcher would allow only 20 more base runners with 800 Batters Faced. The difference in SLG alone would more than make up those differences.

I wrote that cause it was Almora , and he was hitting leadoff in his very first AB and swung.. lol

Speaking of leadoff hitters, how many leadoff hitters swing at the 1st pitch of the game

I was making lite of it all of what wrote as at the end , I wrote yeah it spring training..lol

Some of you need to liten up in here too, you all take things too seriously

 

[anotheridiot]

Laugh all you want. Numbers don't lie. Of the top ten qualified hitters in OPS for 2018, I took their 3 years splits to defer one season anomalies. If they put one of the first 3 pitches in play, they had a slash line of .354/.362/.661. If they went 4 or more pitches, the line went to .239/.405/.443. The OBP is better, but everything else is much worse.

Take the best pitchers with the lowest OPS against and you get the same results. If one of their first 3 pitches is put in play, they give up .277/.286/.451. They get a guy to 4 or more, they only give up .184/.298/.294. That's barely any difference in OBP with massive drops in the others.

If a player had 600 PA over a season and went by either method, the latter method would get the played on base only 23 more times. A pitcher would allow only 20 more base runners with 800 Batters Faced. The difference in SLG alone would more than make up those differences.

"Its a simple game, you throw the ball, you catch the ball you hit the ball."

It took science to get involved to watch the ball.

 

[zack54attack]

I like oppo Schwarber...


<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Footage of Kyle Schwarber's double during yesterday's game against the Giants<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Cubs?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Cubs</a> <a href="https://t.co/EB68V54i56">pic.twitter.com/EB68V54i56</a></p>— TeamSchwarber (@TeamSchwarber) <a href="https://twitter.com/TeamSchwarber/status/1100088193758699521?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 25, 2019</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

[Castor76]

I wrote that cause it was Almora , and he was hitting leadoff in his very first AB and swung.. lol

Speaking of leadoff hitters, how many leadoff hitters swing at the 1st pitch of the game

I was making lite of it all of what wrote as at the end , I wrote yeah it spring training..lol

Some of you need to liten up in here too, you all take things too seriously

I seem to remember the first pitch against the Cubs last season being hit out of the park.

I get the tradition that lead off hitters taking pitches so other guys can see the starters stuff. It doesn't change that most hitters have greater success, especially from a BA and SLG viewpoint, by putting one of the first 3 pitches in play. It also bears true when you look at what pitchers give up.

 

[beckdawg]

Duensing threw 8 pitches today all of which were strikes. Would be big if he went back to 2017 form. Cubs are pretty light on lefty options.

 

[beckdawg]

Not sure if it's something or not but Heyward has been leading off in all the spring training games he's played. Today's line up has Almora in it too. No zobrist though so perhaps that's the missing variable here. Still, strikes me as interesting.

 

[anotheridiot]

Not sure if it's something or not but Heyward has been leading off in all the spring training games he's played. Today's line up has Almora in it too. No zobrist though so perhaps that's the missing variable here. Still, strikes me as interesting.

It makes perfect sense to have Heyward lead off, I think he did it once or twice last year, but they never keep him in a position in the batting order that puts too much pressure on him. Its easier to blame Almora, Happ or Schwarber for sucking at leadoff than to put the pressure on the teams highest paid player, who can technically run, should be able to steal bases and get on base. Why do you think it took 3 years to try this unless its finally on orders from Theo.

 

[chibears55]

Not sure if it's something or not but Heyward has been leading off in all the spring training games he's played. Today's line up has Almora in it too. No zobrist though so perhaps that's the missing variable here. Still, strikes me as interesting.

Could be their just giving him extra AB and showcasing him for a trade..
[emoji6]

 

[beckdawg]

Darvish was apparently hitting 96 today. That's a pretty good sign. The max he hit last year was 97.54 on his 4 seam and 97.81 on his sinker.