I don’t think the Angels are telling Trout to try and get more walks. No team would tell a hitter like Trout to try to get walked more. He gets walked plenty because teams will pitch around him. Sabermetrics hasn’t changed anything in that the Angels want the players around Trout to have better OB% so that Trout can do damage.
truth – He’s played no more than 140 games since 2017, that’s a huge amount of games to lose.
I’ll even do the math for you. Trout has missed 420 games since the start of 2017, That’s 476 hits lost because of injury and Covid. That would have left him less than 900 away from 3,000 hits. He would have easily reached it in less than 6 years, at age 37.
He’s got some work to do… and he has never really been known as a “hits” guy. He is a ridiculous player, there’s no denying, but he hasn’t had 150+ hits in a season since 2016. 150 hits x 20 seasons = 3,000 hits
Ted Williams debuted at 20 and played into his 40s. He only recorded more than 130 hits in a season 6 times and his season high was 150. Williams walked more than 110 times in a season 8 times.
It’s truely a tragedy that sabermetrics took away the chance at 3000 hits from a “top 10 hitter ever” like Ted Williams.
yeah, i sorted by runs instead of hits by mistake. regardless, the point stands that saying a guy walking too much is preventing him from reaching 3000 hits is just silly.
Hicks/Harrison is a nice 3/4, almost as nice as Cease/King! Haha, good luck fellas, until we play again. We only have 2 more meetings and they’re both in September! Seems odd, but that’s the new schedule for ya. Cheerio
Good luck back atcha. King was tough yesterday, and so was Waldron today. SD and SF seem to be fairly equally matched. If the Giants can’t win it, the Padres are my next hope.
If I was hosting one of these chats, zero chance I’d answer a question from a “faithful Royals fan” if the person doesn’t even know what division the Royals play in.
With a balanced schedule and interleague play, can you blame someone for not knowing easily one of the worst divisions? I wouldn’t claim the AL Central if it had a paternity test with my name on it.
Run – Boston should be a 2-team city again. It’s a big enough high income market with a lot of passionate baseball fans who would embrace an expansion team, especially after the past several years. But I know it will never happen.
@FeverPitchGuy — you never know. This is pure unadulterated speculation, but it could be more of a possibility with more pushback having publicly-funded stadiums in OAK & KC (where they just voted against it). Not that I’m saying KC would leave, but MLB loves nostalgia, and minimizing risk, which is what they would be doing by putting more teams in their largest markets. I’m a proponent of seeing a team in Brooklyn, but you gotta consider the blowback from heavyweights: NYY, NYM, BOS would give to cutting into their market. I’d love to see 3 teams back in NYC and 2 teams in BOS, but you might see more support (and less resistance) in other less populated cities. It’s a little tiring seeing how franchises have become toys of the elite, but it’s always been like that and we’re just more aware. Corporate ownership or aging billionaire going through their last-life crisis. Pick your poison.
Whilst I agree, I think the counterpoint is “small sample size.”
That being said, sometimes the hardest part is your initiation week(s), and the kid really does look like a stud with All Star potential. Seems like just a couple weeks ago some posters here we so adamant about how the Padres are making such a huge mistake… haven’t heard a peep from them since Korea.
I like dating younger women. I call my girlfriend “Babe” and one day she asked me why I nicknamed her after a talking pig. I knew what she meant, but I said “don’t ever disrespect George Herman Ruth like that” and she didn’t get it. I thought it was funny.
Even though he debuted at age 19, Mike Trout seems unlikely to reach 3000 hits and will probably finish with “only” 550 home runs or so.
Sabermetrics really sucked the fun out of the game. An all time great hitter should have gaudier numbers.
I don’t understand how the analysis of stats somehow prevented Trout from having more hits and HRs.
Emphasizing walks and OB% means fewer hits.
truth – That’s not the result of analytics, that’s just common sense.
Wade Boggs had more than 100 walks 4 times, that was 16 years before Moneyball.
Isn’t it just ridiculous that a supposed “top 10 hitter ever” probably won’t reach 3000 hits even if he plays from this teens to his forties?
I don’t think the Angels are telling Trout to try and get more walks. No team would tell a hitter like Trout to try to get walked more. He gets walked plenty because teams will pitch around him. Sabermetrics hasn’t changed anything in that the Angels want the players around Trout to have better OB% so that Trout can do damage.
truth – He’s played no more than 140 games since 2017, that’s a huge amount of games to lose.
I’ll even do the math for you. Trout has missed 420 games since the start of 2017, That’s 476 hits lost because of injury and Covid. That would have left him less than 900 away from 3,000 hits. He would have easily reached it in less than 6 years, at age 37.
He’s got some work to do… and he has never really been known as a “hits” guy. He is a ridiculous player, there’s no denying, but he hasn’t had 150+ hits in a season since 2016. 150 hits x 20 seasons = 3,000 hits
baseball-reference.com/players/t/troutmi01.shtml
He can do it, but he absolutely needs to stay healthy (enough) to endure.
Ted Williams debuted at 20 and played into his 40s. He only recorded more than 130 hits in a season 6 times and his season high was 150. Williams walked more than 110 times in a season 8 times.
It’s truely a tragedy that sabermetrics took away the chance at 3000 hits from a “top 10 hitter ever” like Ted Williams.
Squeeze – Thank you, Ted was an even better reference than Boggs!
Squeeze- *THEE* Ted Williams? He had 10 seasons of 150+ hits, a season high of 194 and only missed 3K because of his years of service.
baseball-reference.com/players/w/willite01.shtml
yeah, i sorted by runs instead of hits by mistake. regardless, the point stands that saying a guy walking too much is preventing him from reaching 3000 hits is just silly.
Trout has fewer hits because he’s never healthy, not because he takes walks.
“Webb, Hicks, and Harrison are the only pitchers who seem like rotation locks.”
What’s Mark saying about Snell?
Was just thinking the same thing…
I thought the same whilst chatting… then I imagined he just forgot about Snell since he hasn’t pitched yet.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I would assume the hot-hand in the moment stays in the rotation as the 5.
That’s what I assumed. Still thought it worth mentioning.
Hicks/Harrison is a nice 3/4, almost as nice as Cease/King! Haha, good luck fellas, until we play again. We only have 2 more meetings and they’re both in September! Seems odd, but that’s the new schedule for ya. Cheerio
Good luck back atcha. King was tough yesterday, and so was Waldron today. SD and SF seem to be fairly equally matched. If the Giants can’t win it, the Padres are my next hope.
Once “we” are eliminated (every year not ending in ’84 or ’98… *sigh*) I end up rooting for the NL West to keep the Piece of Metal in our Divi.
Hopefully tomorrow is a nice loud reminder.
Hicks is one exciting little pitcher. Easy to see why the man wanted to start.
Whoops, total brainlock on my part. Yeah, Snell is going to be staying in the rotation!
If I was hosting one of these chats, zero chance I’d answer a question from a “faithful Royals fan” if the person doesn’t even know what division the Royals play in.
Maybe the faithful one just woke up from 1993?
Gwynn – Blast From The Past was a great movie!
Better than Encino Man?!?
Gwynning – The Weasel is still doing standup, but that movie was probably the peak of his career.
Gwynning – Could be! Maybe he decided to hibernate right when George Brett retired.
With a balanced schedule and interleague play, can you blame someone for not knowing easily one of the worst divisions? I wouldn’t claim the AL Central if it had a paternity test with my name on it.
I suppose this could go 2 ways, Run… but are you a Guards fan clinging onto an old pic or a Braves fan?
The longest continuously-run franchise in MLB.
Go Red Stockings, Red Caps, Beaneaters, Dovers, Rustlers, Bees, Braves!
That makes your first comment make more sense! And funnier!
Run – Boston should be a 2-team city again. It’s a big enough high income market with a lot of passionate baseball fans who would embrace an expansion team, especially after the past several years. But I know it will never happen.
@FeverPitchGuy — you never know. This is pure unadulterated speculation, but it could be more of a possibility with more pushback having publicly-funded stadiums in OAK & KC (where they just voted against it). Not that I’m saying KC would leave, but MLB loves nostalgia, and minimizing risk, which is what they would be doing by putting more teams in their largest markets. I’m a proponent of seeing a team in Brooklyn, but you gotta consider the blowback from heavyweights: NYY, NYM, BOS would give to cutting into their market. I’d love to see 3 teams back in NYC and 2 teams in BOS, but you might see more support (and less resistance) in other less populated cities. It’s a little tiring seeing how franchises have become toys of the elite, but it’s always been like that and we’re just more aware. Corporate ownership or aging billionaire going through their last-life crisis. Pick your poison.
Jackson Merrill looks like a decent mlb player.
If you are just going to give an opinion based on looks then Merrill looks far better than decent.
His slash line is .324/.395/.471 with an ops of .865 140wrc+.
He has also played well in center. Given the fact that he had never played center and very little outfield at all in his life this is saying a lot.
Kid looks like a stud.
Whilst I agree, I think the counterpoint is “small sample size.”
That being said, sometimes the hardest part is your initiation week(s), and the kid really does look like a stud with All Star potential. Seems like just a couple weeks ago some posters here we so adamant about how the Padres are making such a huge mistake… haven’t heard a peep from them since Korea.
I wish Darragh did more chats. The older writers have repeated their opinions so many times it’s not as interesting as hearing fresh takes.
Manfred – Not that age should matter, but Darragh is older than Nick, Tony and Steve.
Steve’s chats are fantastic, as well as Tim’s although he doesn’t do that many.
I like dating younger women. I call my girlfriend “Babe” and one day she asked me why I nicknamed her after a talking pig. I knew what she meant, but I said “don’t ever disrespect George Herman Ruth like that” and she didn’t get it. I thought it was funny.
Not too much younger I hope
I’m not a Wander-ing, 21 and up. 😉
IM – Oil Can is one of the best, but I would have to go with Big Unit, since that was also my nickname.