It's depressing how bad hitters have become....

[mfw13]

As of today, the MLB league-wide average OPS is .690 (i.e. Josh Jung). Note that it was .712 last year.

That means that you can have an OBP < .300, and a SLG <.400, and STILL have an OPS+ above 100!

[boxbuster7]

Joey gallo was ahead of his time

[Rage]

or is it how good pitchers are getting?

[erock28]

Originally Posted by Rage

or is it how good pitchers are getting?

I would agree with this - hitters aren't declining per se, it's the advantages afforded to pitchers. Pitch tracking and analysis has allowed every pitcher to amplify their best pitches and increase spin/break. I don't see how hitters can "catch up" save for something dramatic like lowering the mound.

[corockies]

Consistently being able to hit opposite field and getting good at bunting are 2 skills every player should have to master in the minors. Sadly it's all about pitch recognition now and what you can hit as hard and as far as possible.

I'd take a lineup of all solid doubles hitters who can place the ball LF / RF over a group of HR guys who strike out 50% of the time. Especially at Coors Field.

[kipgen]

Originally Posted by corockies

Consistently being able to hit opposite field and getting good at bunting are 2 skills every player should have to master in the minors. Sadly it's all about pitch recognition now and what you can hit as hard and as far as possible.

I'd take a lineup of all solid doubles hitters who can place the ball LF / RF over a group of HR guys who strike out 50% of the time. Especially at Coors Field.

The way the game is currently rewards high risk/high reward type guys who may strike out and/or swing at some bad pitches but have monster power and can crush balls in the zone when they do make contact

Shohei and Judge have 68.2% and 66.3% overall contact rates this year, respectively

The flip side of the coin is a player like Soto who is so good at identifying pitches out of the zone, not chasing them, not swinging for strikes, accruing a ton of walks, and then crushing the pitches he does like

[PeteD]

Lower the mound...problem solved.

[ThoseBackPages]

nerd stats did this

[Gatorsmld]

In 1989 Tony Gwynn had more steals(40) than K's(30). Miss him.

[seanrs1]

Honestly, I would juice the ball starting next year. Would make for an overall better product from the fan point of view. The ball this year is not traveling as far as the year before. I would just the ball to go another 20 ft next year. Let people like Judge and Ohtani try to break the current HR record. Would be great!

[Picklepete]

All the young hitters are concerned with launch angle and hitting home runs, they can't even do basic stuff like hit and run etc.

[johnlocke36]

Originally Posted by Rage

or is it how good pitchers are getting?

obviously this is the case.

Originally Posted by Picklepete

All the young hitters are concerned with launch angle and hitting home runs, they can't even do basic stuff like hit and run etc.

Jacob Misiorowski just made his MLB debut. He was throwing 103 with 96 mph sliders. He gave up 0 hits. 0 hits generally translates to a low OPS.

The response should not be hitters suck now a days, just choke up and go the other way like all the studs from 40 years ago did vs 89 mph heat....

The response is a 96 mph slider is really hard to hit

[JWBlue]

Crazy to think not that long ago 94 mph was a hard fast fastball. It was a rarity.

Today 75% of the pitchers throw harder.

[Scottish Punk]

Originally Posted by JWBlue

Crazy to think not that long ago 94 mph was a hard fast fastball. It was a rarity.

Today 75% of the pitchers throw harder.

Seriously. Every team is filled with bullpens of "bad" pitchers that throw crazy hard. They can only pitch two pitches, can't go more than an inning or two, don't have the best control. But, leveraging multiple you can just keep throwing them out on the mound, let them max for an inning, rinse and repeat. When the TJ surgery comes, just backfill with the next young guy.

The days of pitchers making and surviving the majors on well located "stuff" is disappearing quickly. Velo and spin rate especially if you can tunnel your two pitches together. You can miss spots in the strike zone when you are at 97.

[mattglet]

Originally Posted by Picklepete

All the young hitters are concerned with launch angle and hitting home runs, they can't even do basic stuff like hit and run etc.

They're told they don't need to do anything but be concerned about launch angle and HRs.

Don't hate the player, hate the game.

[mattglet]

Originally Posted by Scottish Punk

Seriously. Every team is filled with bullpens of "bad" pitchers that throw crazy hard. They can only pitch two pitches, can't go more than an inning or two, don't have the best control. But, leveraging multiple you can just keep throwing them out on the mound, let them max for an inning, rinse and repeat. When the TJ surgery comes, just backfill with the next young guy.

The days of pitchers making and surviving the majors on well located "stuff" is disappearing quickly. Velo and spin rate especially if you can tunnel your two pitches together. You can miss spots in the strike zone when you are at 97.

And Riley Pint still can't get to the majors

[OhioLawyerF5]

Originally Posted by johnlocke36

obviously this is the case.







Jacob Misiorowski just made his MLB debut. He was throwing 103 with 96 mph sliders. He gave up 0 hits. 0 hits generally translates to a low OPS.



The response should not be hitters suck now a days, just choke up and go the other way like all the studs from 40 years ago did vs 89 mph heat....



The response is a 96 mph slider is really hard to hit

That's not a response. You can recognize the challenge, but that doesn't mean you throw up your hands and say there's nothing you can do. Hitters need to find a way to deal with the pitching.

[LVDan]

Summer is here and HR rates will start to climb significantly, leaguewide OPS numbers will improve.

[finfangfan]

It does seem like the era of low averages and swinging for the fences is here to stay for awhile. I am an Orioles fan and actually enjoyed the quality of baseball during 2023 and 2024 when the moved the left field wall back at Camden Yards. Sure it limited home runs somewhat but it also made for some exciting plays.

This year, the Orioles moved the wall back in and expanded the splash zone so even more fans could get soaked after each extra base hit.

By 2035, MLB will probably look more like Banana Ball.

[ottobord]

Hitters are swinging for the fences and OFers are running down everything that doesn't go over the fence.

[ThoseBackPages]

chicks dig the long ball

[theshowandme]

There is a stat floating around, the numbers are not exact here, but it goes something like this:

Pete Rose faced around 900 pitchers in his career (15,000+ PAs)

Albert Pujols had HITS off 1200+ pitchers in his career (13,000+ PAs)

Facing 3+ guys a night and they all throw 96+ sure makes things hard

[towerymt]

Hitters have never been better.

[mfw13]

IMHO, it's a bit of both.

Pitchers are throwing nastier pitches

AND

Hitters are swinging for the fences all the time and therefore are making less contact.

Additionally, what makes this year's numbers pretty staggering is the fact that we're in the DH era......you don't have 6500-7500 annual pitcher AB's from the NL in the equation any more.

[elontusk1119]

it's the analytics that is way better for pitchers to exploit weakness of hitter.

If there is one spot in the zone that a hitter can't hit, the pitchers now have so much data to quickly converge on that.