drewski6

The only trade we should be making involving Duran should be his jersey. Swap out the current one for one with a "C" on it. He is the captain. You dont trade the captain.

On an 0-0 count, the advice should be the same. To keyhole. Its the execution that is off. Nobody is being told to take more or swing more. Or at least they shouldnt be

I can see it changing again and then again and then again Right now , the name of the game is hunt. So everyone is trying to punish mistakes. Everyone is trying to mash (pull). Everyone is swing happy (ofc to different extents). So strikeouts go up. And to an extent you live with it. But it kinda makes low and away a blue zone. So if you get something offspeed that breaks away from you, low and away , running away from you, but you are trying to pull and not miss mistakes and it looks like a mistake (until it breaks and runs away) - well thats why you are seeing so many sweepers. They are a great counter for a pull approach. With 2 strikes you kinda have to try to slap that over the first basemans head (assuming righty/righty, or over the 3b head assuming lefty / lefty) down the line. Like splendid said, its kind of a chess match.

If Tony Gwynn had Ichiros speed or even 70% of Ichiros speed , he would have done it in the nineties (at least once). Granted Tony gwynn had like a .395 BA , with only like a .550 slg which is hard to do. So theres warts in an extreme contact approach.

Any homerun over 440' gets an extra run.

It did feel like Raffy contract had a bit of cant let another betts happen, reactionary. I agree.

Absolutely, its so important right now. Thats why MLB players are playing baseball video games. Gotta put in the time to learn pitcher tendencies (as a hitter) or hitter tendencies (as a pitcher)

sweeper would never hit 90. A hammer curve might, but dont think ive ever seen it.

You break your wrist with a sweeper, not a slider. Its not a slider, and its not a slurve either. It use to be considered a curveball (was referred to as a sweeping curveball). It differs from a "sharp" curve (aka an uncle charlie aka a hammer curve) due to its slower speed and (as you correctly note) horizontal break. They renamed it (pretty much just changed it from a sweeping curve to a sweeper) because less of a mouthful and its so different from all other curveball varieties Watching it either as a batter or fan, it looks exactly like you say. A much slower slider that runs away much more than a slider (assuming pitcher/batter same handedness), but its more similar to a curveball. You are breaking your wrist and focusing on max spin at the cost of velocity. Sliders and slurves are thrown hard. You can throw a front hip slider, wouldnt recommend a front hip sweeper, thats gettin crushed

Ambush hitting refers to only looking inner or outer half of the place. Its not considered sneaky or negative , thats just what its called. Modern hitting coaches preach it. Its different for jumping on the first thing straight, and taking advantage of a % first pitch fastballs. Im not sure what people call it, but I sometimes refer to it as blitzing. Again, its not anything cheap or shady. Its just new school. Cuz thats my whole point. Things change and gotta stay up on it. Jumping on first pitch fastballs, "ambush" hitting, so hot right now. Staying back and trying to just put the ball in play is dated philosophy. Stay current or get left behind. New school baby!

Do you know that Giolitto started playing the show earlier this year? It works. I think more for pitchers, but hitters too

Im talking about the video game

Yes, you are correct. Its trends , tendencies, hitting philsophy evolution. Right now, pulling the ball is so in right now. No hitting coaches are saying stay back, be patient. They are saying if you get a fastball in a red zone, jump on it, meet the ball out in front. It will likely change again, but right now, pulling the ball is in, and there is a reason for that. Telling someone to stop pulling the ball is arguing with modern hitting philosophies.

Its cheating. And I dont mean banned products. I mean legal tips and tricks.

Sure, but what is your take on the "how"? HOW do players cut down on their k rates? The majority of the time its by playing MLB the Show , so you learn about pitcher tendancies or studying film (which is the same thing) or having a hitting coach tell you keyhole or ambush or stick to your red zones Its not about preaching patience. Some of that, but by the time they get to the majors theyve kind of already maxed that kind of stuff out. Now they need the tips and tricks. Like "this guy has a dirty slider that he throws a lot, jump on the first thing straight" or "you are much better at hitting inside pitches, just look inside dont even swing at outside" or they get experience and get better at pitch-guessing. Or they learn little things like how to cheat in the batters box. Most of the gains come from this, not practicing pitch recognition or learning patience or any of that little league stuff. By the time you reach the majors , there is only marginal gains to be made there. Schwarber didnt stop pulling the ball, or letting it get deeper into the zone, you can tell by the HRs. He didnt learn to stop chasing balls out of the zone. He probably learned pitcher tendancies and is better at guessing what pitcher x is going to throw. He probably stopped trying to cover the whole zone and when he thinks a pitcher wants to work him away, hes only looking away. Its more tips and tricks than it is practice and hard work.

Or they start playing MLB The Show. It really helps.

I remember when Christian Guzman went from a .260 hitter to a .300 hitter overnight. He got Lasik vision correction. Like Wild Thing Vaughn. Thats how you improve overnight lol. Or juice.

If contracts have been stagnant for 5 years or more, you should be signing everybody you can top long term deals. Cuz thats what happens. New contract completely shakes the market and everyone is like "too rich for my blood" and thats just copium. Once Ohtani signed for 700m it was like yeah but deferred money, yeah but he pitches too, yeah but.... Yeah but nothing, Soto got a 700m contract and hes a lousy defender who doesnt pitch. So you know whats next? 700m for non elite players. Then 1b for elite players. So on and so on. And not only will it keep increasing, but the rate of which it is increasing is also increasing (that latter part may not be forever).

Yeah, the two players dont have to be super similar - inflation is going to happen. That is the world. So if a dude is good enough, you may want to lock him up, get in before inflation. Even free-agents. My theory on the matter is that every so-often a new contract comes and sets a completely new standard for contracts. Never down, always up. I remember discussing w/ people saying we shouldnt pay that much for Swayman (Bruins goalie) and I said, once you sign him to a 7m/yr contract, everyone is going to start getting them, and then it will continue to go north from there., Players dont have to get better for their contracts to age well. They just have to not crap the bed. And after Swayman signed (I think he was the third goalie to break the 7m/yr barrier) - like 3 more got that money in 1 year. Now he had an awful year, but the fact remains that there is a trickle up effect. Soto would have never gotten so much money if Ohtani didnt. And now there is no going back. You want a top of the line stud? Who is proven. Already top 10 in the league. The bidding starts at 600m. Thats not coming back down. Pretty much, once Ohtani signed, everyone who was worth a damn became great value on their current deal (even Devers, assuming his SF stats arent his new normal) because Ohtani reset the market. And any contract signed prior to that became gold. Ask anybody who has ever said "Im going to wait for the price of houses to come back down before I buy (myself included)". I always go back to Beltre. Everyone laughed when Beltre got 4 yrs at 16-18m. Two years later, everybody was trying to trade for that contract. Same player, its not like he broke out. If anything he had declined because this was after his tenure here so he was getting up there. My point is that Roman doesnt have to be Betts for that contract to age well. Inflation will do the heavy lifting. He just needs to be adequate, and he'll be a steal in a few years. Because in a few years, todays top dollar will no longer be top dollar.

I didnt get the sense he was comparing the two as much as using Mookie as a barometer. When does Romans contract expire? 29 years old. Its not that different from him being 27 and wanting to get a deal done if hes still awesome before he is a free agent, kind of like you try to lock guys up while you still have control. The point he made was inflation and its a good one. Its very possible that 5 years from now, he is a top 5 OF in baseball with a contract that makes him the 42nd highest paid OF'er in baseball. Its like when Celtics fans told me Jaylen Brown contract was a mistake because it made him highest paid NBA player. I said all you have to do is wait 1 year. Same thing happened to Pat Mahomes. If the deal becomes a bargain, and he really doesnt have to get much better for it to become a bargain (inflation will do the heavy lifting here), then it makes sense to extend him again before he becomes a free-agent at 29 and gets a 1.2 billion dollar from LAD

They have. Leary: What is Youk's ethnicity? Dont think Ive heard that name Orsillo: The name is Greek, but he's ethnically Jewish" (Youk makes a nice play) Leary: "Take that , Mel Gibson"

If a guy gets better at contact, swinging out of the zone - without staying back and turning into a slap hitter, its usually a personal thing. Like Lasik. Generally, when guys try too hard to avoid the k, they get worse overall. Because you clog their head and have them second guessing. Guys are guessing pitch, focusing on one part of the zone, using all of these cheats. Its not about simply being more patient. Schwarber prob use to try to cover the whole plate, and now is only swinging at pitches in his red zones. Its not like someone was like "you should get better at not swinging at junk" and he was like "great idea, never thought of that" You can do it, you can cut down on your k rate, but the coaching and effort component of it is not "swing less" its getting better at guessing pitch, pigeon holing, ambushing, sitting fast ball.

Your first reply to his post or your first reply to his post as "FredLynn"

Well said. To improve chase rate, you need to stay back longer. Its about the approach. Telling someone to get better at recognizing spin is wasted breath. And in 2025, staying back is a fools errand You get better at Ks by learning to live with them. I once had a friend tell me, his solution at poker was to stop losing money. Sounds great. But he then became scared money, and his overall game went south.