As a Red Sox fan, I knew reading more and more about Judge slumping meant he’d break the slump against us. Of course it’s when Joe brings it up that it happens
Yes, yes the scene did immediately come to mind. Candidly can’t believe how many films Tim Robbins was in for that 7-8 year span. That eras Tom Hanks. Sort of. Like, without the Oscars. Well, he did direct his wife to one.
**Soto has led the league in walks in each of the last three seasons, but this year he’s in a battle—at the moment his 118 walks is one behind his teammate Judge.**
It is the drop in IBB. Over the past 3 years, Soto received - on average - 124 unintentional walks, a figure he will likely top this year. But while he averaged 13 IBB per year 2021-23, this year he has 1.
Judge has 100 UIBB plus another 19 IBB to, so far, just nose out Soto. If we eliminate Pos' least favorite play, Soto would be leading by 17.
That is an interesting point, but Soto is still a walk machine for his career. He has unintentional walks in 17.5% of his PAs for his career. (If you remove the IBBs from both his walks and PAs) MLB average this year is 7.9%. Judge is no slouch at 14.6%.
Ted Williams, the king of this, finished his career at 18.5%.
And a nitpick: the IBB stat only became official in 1955 so most of the Teddy Ballgame data needs to be taken with a small grain of salt as it may not be precise.
Absolutely Khazad. ~125 unintentional walks per season is a massive accomplishment that I was not intending to minimize.
Best I know from Tom Tango and others’ research, on average IBB - unlike uiBB - are a neutral event. So a drop there, while showing up in OPS+ are not showing up on the scoreboard. So Soto’s decline only explains why he is not running away with the BB crown.
I do not think it is cheating to be standing in the batters box and for your ears to hear the catcher tell you what pitch is coming. If they were paying him or something that is different, but if you are just standing there holding a bat and the catcher says something, you have not committed an act of cheating. What are they supposed to do? Act like they didn't hear it and strike out?
I am STILL waiting for someone to do the experiment to see how much - if anything at all - knowing what pitch is coming improves a team's performance. Yes, there's some anecdotal evidence - but why not get a couple of college teams or some independent minor league squads to actually do the test in an exhibition game?
With the absence of any actual data from any actual scientific study, I suppose you can argue that we don’t really KNOW that it helps to know what pitch is coming.
But teams have always gone to great lengths to keep hitters in the dark. And the reaction time necessary to hit a baseball is so ridiculously short. Just knowing if you’re getting an offspeed pitch or not has to help, doesn’t it? At some point common sense has a role.
And trust probably matters. If a batter is told that a changeup is coming, but gets 98 mph under his chin, he may decide to go back to the old fashioned way.
The answer would be ‘a lot’. We did drills like this with pitchers throwing to batters that knew what was coming to improve pitch recognition. It was MUCH easier to hit.
Mitchell, how and where did you do this? And how much easier? I am asking out of interest. It would seem obvious that it would it would be easier, but I am curious about the magnitude of the improvement.
I don’t think that there’s an accusations that the batters cheated - more like, why would the catcher tell them what was coming? Gambling obviously comes to mind, but it sounds like a young guy, having a tough time, playing catcher for months in the hot sun just doing something stupid to end the season and go home. Too bad - probably the end of his career. But maybe he knew that, too.
And over that Judge slump the Yankees extended their lead over the Orioles (who played both the Rockies and White Sox and also lost series to the Dodgers, Rays and Red Sox).
Fort Myers coaches were notified by Lakeland coaches about Bender's pitch tipping after the game, sources said. Bender's willingness to tip pitches surprised Lakeland players, and there were no indications of wrongdoing from the Flying Tigers, sources said. Bender had told teammates he wanted the season to be over, according to sources.
I totally get this. I don’t approve, but Bender has been in organized baseball since mid-January and playing games since February. He’s exhausted. Sticking around for an extra weeks seems terrible. That’s exactly how I felt at the end of summer ball in college when we made the playoffs.
I get it, too...I was supposed to play in college, at a crappy D3 school. Summer leading up to it, I played in a league where we played a bunch of games and doubleheaders on weekends. I was so tired and burned out after it, and when I got to school and saw how much they were practicing in the fall...I quit. I regret it, but I was so tired of everything.
So I get the feeling, but at no time was I paid professional with a shot at the majors. Seems a bit different in this dude's case....couldn't see the forest through the trees.
I do like that Lakeland told Fort Myers about it only after the game. Still gotta win first, then let the other team know their player was telling you what pitches were coming.
Wouldn't want to do that during the game, might set a bad example to your players that cheating isn't tolerated. Better to show that cheating is tolerated if it helps you.
I should add that I find this amusing and interesting that no one said anything during the game. Other than Bender, of course.
Seriously: Is it cheating if the OTHER team tells you what is coming your way? There's lots of ways to hand a team a game. My goal is to win the game, not examine why they're not trying to win or winning at all. See, for example, White Sox, Chicago 2024.
Sure, and if the guy is telling you what's coming then it's hard to ignore. It just seems that taking advantage of information you shouldn't have is a kind of cheating. Just because the catcher is telling you this doesn't mean his team endorsed him doing so; it's still information the other team doesn't want you to have.
I'm not trying to make a grand point here, it just seems that if you use info/data that you obviously should not have then it is a form of cheating. Not the same as hacking PitchCom but the same affect on the game.
My point, I guess, is that I find it amusing that no one mentioned it during the game, and I think it's also amusing that most everyone involved expected that.
I had to look this up. The Royals have had 16 three game series that went into game three tied at a game apiece. They are 4-12 in the rubber games. This probably does not bode well for the postseason.
I love 'Bull Durham' but I HATE that particular scene.
"Brandon Marsh crunched a forkball" are words that can ONLY be found together in baseball, and gosh it's just such a lovely sport, ya'll.
As a Red Sox fan, I knew reading more and more about Judge slumping meant he’d break the slump against us. Of course it’s when Joe brings it up that it happens
You beat me to it. Couldn’t Joe have held off on the “slumping Judge” stuff until Monday?!?
Yes, yes the scene did immediately come to mind. Candidly can’t believe how many films Tim Robbins was in for that 7-8 year span. That eras Tom Hanks. Sort of. Like, without the Oscars. Well, he did direct his wife to one.
Well, another nfl player goes down with a brain injury (tua). See the guardian article posted today about brain injuries in the nfl.
Enjoy glorying in your new book.
You seem fun.
It’s a strange story but Fort Myers got shut out so it didn’t really affect the outcome.
Cal Raleigh, 2nd in the league against sliders. I just wanted to point out a Mariner on an offensive leader board.
I mean, Nuke didn't have to throw a *hanging* curveball.
**Soto has led the league in walks in each of the last three seasons, but this year he’s in a battle—at the moment his 118 walks is one behind his teammate Judge.**
It is the drop in IBB. Over the past 3 years, Soto received - on average - 124 unintentional walks, a figure he will likely top this year. But while he averaged 13 IBB per year 2021-23, this year he has 1.
Judge has 100 UIBB plus another 19 IBB to, so far, just nose out Soto. If we eliminate Pos' least favorite play, Soto would be leading by 17.
That is an interesting point, but Soto is still a walk machine for his career. He has unintentional walks in 17.5% of his PAs for his career. (If you remove the IBBs from both his walks and PAs) MLB average this year is 7.9%. Judge is no slouch at 14.6%.
Ted Williams, the king of this, finished his career at 18.5%.
And a nitpick: the IBB stat only became official in 1955 so most of the Teddy Ballgame data needs to be taken with a small grain of salt as it may not be precise.
Absolutely Khazad. ~125 unintentional walks per season is a massive accomplishment that I was not intending to minimize.
Best I know from Tom Tango and others’ research, on average IBB - unlike uiBB - are a neutral event. So a drop there, while showing up in OPS+ are not showing up on the scoreboard. So Soto’s decline only explains why he is not running away with the BB crown.
Don’t forget the Eddies: Stanky over 18%, Yost 17.5%, Joost over 15%.
I do not think it is cheating to be standing in the batters box and for your ears to hear the catcher tell you what pitch is coming. If they were paying him or something that is different, but if you are just standing there holding a bat and the catcher says something, you have not committed an act of cheating. What are they supposed to do? Act like they didn't hear it and strike out?
I am STILL waiting for someone to do the experiment to see how much - if anything at all - knowing what pitch is coming improves a team's performance. Yes, there's some anecdotal evidence - but why not get a couple of college teams or some independent minor league squads to actually do the test in an exhibition game?
With the absence of any actual data from any actual scientific study, I suppose you can argue that we don’t really KNOW that it helps to know what pitch is coming.
But teams have always gone to great lengths to keep hitters in the dark. And the reaction time necessary to hit a baseball is so ridiculously short. Just knowing if you’re getting an offspeed pitch or not has to help, doesn’t it? At some point common sense has a role.
And trust probably matters. If a batter is told that a changeup is coming, but gets 98 mph under his chin, he may decide to go back to the old fashioned way.
I think the fact that a couple of trashcan lead in off-speed and change-ups is pretty indicative that knowing what's coming helps.
The answer would be ‘a lot’. We did drills like this with pitchers throwing to batters that knew what was coming to improve pitch recognition. It was MUCH easier to hit.
Mitchell, how and where did you do this? And how much easier? I am asking out of interest. It would seem obvious that it would it would be easier, but I am curious about the magnitude of the improvement.
I don’t think that there’s an accusations that the batters cheated - more like, why would the catcher tell them what was coming? Gambling obviously comes to mind, but it sounds like a young guy, having a tough time, playing catcher for months in the hot sun just doing something stupid to end the season and go home. Too bad - probably the end of his career. But maybe he knew that, too.
Much wisdom from Crash Davis, and from Annie Savoy, in Bull Durham, best baseball movie !!
You never saw Long Gone.
And over that Judge slump the Yankees extended their lead over the Orioles (who played both the Rockies and White Sox and also lost series to the Dodgers, Rays and Red Sox).
Judge may be slumping, but the Yankees definitely won their most recent series with the Royals.
definitely but barely
Nah that Bender story is hilarious in real life too.
“F this I wanna go home” whom amongst us hasn’t?
Bender wanted their season to be over with.
Per ESPN:
Fort Myers coaches were notified by Lakeland coaches about Bender's pitch tipping after the game, sources said. Bender's willingness to tip pitches surprised Lakeland players, and there were no indications of wrongdoing from the Flying Tigers, sources said. Bender had told teammates he wanted the season to be over, according to sources.
I totally get this. I don’t approve, but Bender has been in organized baseball since mid-January and playing games since February. He’s exhausted. Sticking around for an extra weeks seems terrible. That’s exactly how I felt at the end of summer ball in college when we made the playoffs.
He played exactly 79 games including college this year and got a 300K bonus for 19 games in the pros.
Good riddance to bad rubbish.
I get it, too...I was supposed to play in college, at a crappy D3 school. Summer leading up to it, I played in a league where we played a bunch of games and doubleheaders on weekends. I was so tired and burned out after it, and when I got to school and saw how much they were practicing in the fall...I quit. I regret it, but I was so tired of everything.
So I get the feeling, but at no time was I paid professional with a shot at the majors. Seems a bit different in this dude's case....couldn't see the forest through the trees.
Also playing D3 in and of itself is kind of insane. Just play intramural at that point.
I avoided a disaster, let me tell ya.
I do like that Lakeland told Fort Myers about it only after the game. Still gotta win first, then let the other team know their player was telling you what pitches were coming.
Wouldn't want to do that during the game, might set a bad example to your players that cheating isn't tolerated. Better to show that cheating is tolerated if it helps you.
I should add that I find this amusing and interesting that no one said anything during the game. Other than Bender, of course.
Not mentioned by anyone is that the score was 6-0. It is not as if Fort Myers was going to win. You can't win if you don't score.
I didn't really consider it cheating, either. The guy was offering up information...no one was banging a trashcan or anything.
Lakeland wasn't cheating. They were taking advantage of willingly shared information.
Seriously: Is it cheating if the OTHER team tells you what is coming your way? There's lots of ways to hand a team a game. My goal is to win the game, not examine why they're not trying to win or winning at all. See, for example, White Sox, Chicago 2024.
Sure, and if the guy is telling you what's coming then it's hard to ignore. It just seems that taking advantage of information you shouldn't have is a kind of cheating. Just because the catcher is telling you this doesn't mean his team endorsed him doing so; it's still information the other team doesn't want you to have.
I'm not trying to make a grand point here, it just seems that if you use info/data that you obviously should not have then it is a form of cheating. Not the same as hacking PitchCom but the same affect on the game.
My point, I guess, is that I find it amusing that no one mentioned it during the game, and I think it's also amusing that most everyone involved expected that.
Yankees beat Royals two out of three!
Quirk of the Royals this year: they almost always either lose a series 2-1, or sweep it.
Very few 2-1 series wins.
This is according to their broadcasters. I haven't looked it up...
I had to look this up. The Royals have had 16 three game series that went into game three tied at a game apiece. They are 4-12 in the rubber games. This probably does not bode well for the postseason.
Right!