In Part 1, we saw that whatever correlation had existed between no-hitters and strikeout rates was broken in the last 20 to 30 years. But why?
I can’t study that question in depth, but we can dip a toe in the water by starting with a simpler question: What basic measure would we expect to show the strongest correlation to no-hit rates?
“The less often the ball is in play, the more likely a no-hitter becomes.”
Tom Verducci wrote that in a June 2012 Sports Illustrated column titled, “Flurry of no-hitters and perfect games reflect changes in baseball.” You’ve probably heard the same claim elsewhere.
It sounds good in theory, and it may hold for individual games. But on a league-wide basis, it’s not supported by results in the current era, once you look beyond a very small sample. The high-strikeout era as a whole has actually seen a decline in no-hitters, compared to prior rates.
@Tigers 6, Twins 0: Joe Mauer timed a 1-and-1 curve from a tiring Anibal Sanchez and lined it through the middle, a foot above the hurler’s head, spoiling the no-hit bid with 1 out in the 9th on his 121st pitch. Sanchez fanned the last 2 men for 12 Ks, a career-high 130 pitches, and his 4th career 1-hitter. Since his 2006 debut, he leads the majors with 5 regulation CGs of 1 hit or less; Matt Cain has 4 in that time, Verlander and Dickey 3 each. Sanchez allowed 5 hits in his 17-K game last month.
Baseball Fates, please note (please?): I’m just playing around here! None of these things will actually come to pass; it’s just a way of expressing how hot he’s been so far.
Miguel Cabrera finished Thursday’s game #45 with a .391 BA, .701 slugging, 1.168 OPS, 14 HRs, 55 RBI, 39 Runs, 72 hits, 129 total bases, and an OPS+ well north of 200.
Following are lists of all-time leading pitchers, by franchise, for a variety of common pitching metrics.
Ever wanted to know which pitcher had the most 200 strikeout seasons playing for Cleveland? You’ll find that out and lots more after the jump.
August 9, 2012 may very well go down as an extremely important date in the history of the Baltimore Orioles baseball club. It was on that date that the Orioles went from overachievers in a pennant race to a playoff-caliber ball club. It was on that fateful day in August that Baltimore brought Manny Machado to town.
Since giving Machado the call-up from Double-A Bowie the Orioles have run off an impressive 58-39 record in games in which the youngster appears. Machado’s bat has impressed mightily during his short time in the big leagues. He’s hit .292 with 12 homers and 52 RBI, not to mention the 26 doubles he’s pounded. But the addition of Machado’s bat hasn’t been the biggest key to the Orioles resurgence. No, it’s been his defense, as well as the glovework of his teammates.
@Giants 4, Nationals 2 (10): What’s better than a game-tying triple with 2 outs in the 9th? Panda-monium, of course. Matt Cain worked 7 strong for the 3rd time in 4 May outings (the good ones all at home), and the Giants took the MLB lead in walk-off wins, each of their six delivered by a different driver.
Selected observations on Monday’s action.
Mariners 8 @ Indians 10 Yan Gomes was the hero with a walk-off 3-run HR in the 10th, overcoming a solo shot by Seattle’s Justin Smoak in the top of the inning. It was Gomes’ second long ball of the day, giving him 4 for the season in just 55 PAs. Gomes is one of just 13 hitters so far this season who does NOT have more strikeouts than extra-base hits (min. 5 XBH). In 2012, just 3 players (Albert Pujols, Jose Reyes, Salvador Perez) managed that feat with a minimum of 20 extra-base hits.
Congratulations to the following readers on solving the quizzes:
Part 1: wlcmlc, Dr. Doom and Richard Chester teamed up to identify that all of these players had a season with equal totals for walks, runs and RBI, numbering at least 40 (or any number from 38 to 43).
Part 2: Richard Chester and Bix identified that these players had a season with identical totals for doubles and HRs that also equaled their age on June 30 of that season
Part 3: Richard Chester identified that these players had 3 or more seasons of 30 or more walks and more than 3 times as many RBI as walks
The lists of players and their seasons for the three quizzes are after the jump.
My favorite player for this sort of thing is Butch Nieman. He played just 3 seasons for the Braves during World War II, but managed to compile these weird and wacky totals:
Incidentally, with those 37 career homers, Nieman’s rate of 1 HR per 32 PAs ranked 10th best in the majors for 1943-45, among those with 30+ HR for the period.
Back in 2010 the New York Yankees were in possession of a pair of talented minor league catchers by the names of Jesus Montero and Austin Romine. Both players were considered top-100 prospects by Baseball America and both players appeared to be on their way to long, prosperous careers. Romine was considered the finer defender of the two, topping out at #86 in Baseball America’s rankings while Montero was thought to be a powerhouse offensive force, ranking among the top 5 minor league players in the game. While Yankee fans spoke well of Romine they positively salivated at the idea of putting Montero’s prodigious power behind the plate as visions of 35 homer seasons danced in their heads.
There was a catch however. Montero’s defense was considered to be so shaky by the Yankees brain trust that rumors of him becoming a full-time DH were already circulating before he could even advance past Double-A Trenton. Scouting reports pegged Montero’s glove work as shoddy and his throw times to 2nd base as well below Major League average.