@OC____

Improving skills Former: @DrivelineBB Writing on baseball & sports in the link below

open.substack.com/pub/rotatenewsletter?r=74ayr&utm_medium=ios
Joined August 2009
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939Media
The best baseball coaching meme of all time? I think so. Thanks @OC____
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This year 10 MiLB hitters reached 35 HRs Last year, 2 did. This year, 25 hitters reached 30 HRs. Last year, 5 did. This year, 75 MiLB hitters reached 25 HRs. Last year, 18 did. This year, 171 MiLB hitters reached 20 HRs Last year, 66 did.
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Pete Crow-Armstrong has faced 28 teams and 286 pitchers in 22 stadiums so far this season, which isn't over yet Joe DiMaggio faced 7 teams and 321 pitchers in 9 stadiums in his entire (regular season) career, which spanned 13 seasons between 1936-1951. It's a different sport.
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"When you've got a guy raring back and firing 93"
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For context here is the MLB ball next to the MiLB ball (Florida State) both from this season. MLB on the right, is hand sewn, the seams are wider and flatter and the ball looks and feels rounder.
Lance Brozdowski
@LanceBrozAug 23
Kade Anderson’s four-seamer… Double-A: 93.7 mph, 2180 rpm, 18.8” VB, -8.4” HB MLB Debut: 93.6 mph, 1976 rpm, 15.4” VB, -7.3” HB (extension up 2-3”) The physical baseball is different below AAA. I’m surprised the Mariners had him skip that level. 🤷‍♂️
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One of the more annoying parts of pro ball - the different ball. Besides spin characteristics the “feel” is quite a bit different, too. IIRC I they can’t produce equivalent balls across all levels at the volume required. There’s no machine that can stitch an MLB ball.
Lance Brozdowski
@LanceBrozAug 23
Kade Anderson’s four-seamer… Double-A: 93.7 mph, 2180 rpm, 18.8” VB, -8.4” HB MLB Debut: 93.6 mph, 1976 rpm, 15.4” VB, -7.3” HB (extension up 2-3”) The physical baseball is different below AAA. I’m surprised the Mariners had him skip that level. 🤷‍♂️
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As others have pointed out, the Nationals also waited until after Mikolas received his full pension/10 years of service time last week. That may seem meaningless to fans, but players notice that kind of thing. When players talk about the Dodgers, it’s obviously the money, but they also talk about all the other things they do well to take care of players. It helps to be known as an org that does right by guys. And it helps get them to give their all for you in turn. Love that we have a front office that thinks through this stuff and does right by people.
Stars and Strikes - Daily Nats Content
@starsstrikesbbAug 12
Classy by the Nationals to give Miles Mikolas was appears to be a final send off. He obviously struggled most of the year, but was evidently pretty beloved in that clubhouse. For a team that’s made such fast turnaround, that counts for something.
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BB% has remained relatively stable (7.5%–10.5% band) across a century of baseball, while K% has surged since the 1950s. As a result, K-BB% has grown from roughly 0.0% during the 1920s–1940s to over 13.0%–14.0% in the modern era.
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OC retweeted
OC@OC____Jul 31
Teams play a better defensive player and slightly worse bat than a worse defensive player and better bat 9/10 times. You can see this in lineup decisions, trades, the draft, etc It’s a significant chunk of why the game looks different now.
Seth McClung
@Seth_3773Jul 30
My dad told me about 15 years ago that baseball was heading for universal dh…. Meaning two line ups exclusive offensive players and defensive players per team. 9DHs and a defense. I laughed at him…. Now…. That’s the kind of crap these nerds want.
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Every time I watch MLB hitters take BP, I see the exact opposite of this. Hitters still very much work the middle, the gaps, etc. I honestly don’t see much difference between the BP of the early 2000s and the BP of today.
Andy Barkett@abarkett17Jul 7
Talked to Manny Ramirez today about taking batting practice. He said today’s BP has become pull-side homers and exit velo. He and David Ortiz worked gap-to-gap. Middle of the field first. The home runs showed up on their own. That isn’t an accident. ⚾️ Habits are important!
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The biggest difference today is the structured play. When kids are at the park and nobody is around, they play. When a kid doesn’t feel good throwing, he stops. Today every throw is at a structured practice, game, or pitching lesson. Let the kids play and they’ll be healthier.
Coach Beede
@CoachBeedeJul 5
A father told me his ten-year-old throws year-round on three teams. I asked what the rush was. A young arm does not bank innings, it spends them. Rest is not lost development. It is the development. The kids still pitching at eighteen are the ones who sat in the winter at ten.
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A reminder that bat speed is, to a large extent, a timing metric Early contact or short-swing means that we "stopped short" on the clock. Naturally, the speed won't be there... unless of course the batter TIMED the swing to want to make early contact Be careful out there...
Jorge Arrate@JArrate25Jun 28
I was interested in how Bat Speed and Swing Length intertwine with each other. Intuitively, it makes sense that a longer swing would result to higher speeds but could a short path and fast swing be the crown jewel. Notable takeways⬇️
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A great piece today from @GeoffPontesBA on the Delano Bat craze that's happening this summer in amateur baseball. Is it wood? Is it composite? How much does it cloud a scout's ability to project hitting skill and power? Is it legal? Should it be? baseballamerica.com/stories/…

Delano Bats Are Taking Youth Baseball By Storm—But Is There A Place For Them In The Competitive...

A new composite wood bat made by Delano is taking youth baseball by storm. But is there a place for this innovation in the competitive game?

baseballamerica.com
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James Wood has not even been in MLB for 2 full years and has already faced the same amount of different pitchers as Ted Williams
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🛎️ “You can’t run fast by running poorly.” Some performance problems aren’t primarily informational or perceptual. They’re capability or organization problems.
Brandon Davis, CSCS@Brandon_L_DavisJun 11
One of the best parts of @SHREDmillSpeed is you can’t run fast by running poorly. Had a kid make a 2 MPH jump from rep one to rep two just by understanding big anterior pelvic tilt with big back side mechanics will never be an efficient way to put force into the ground.
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🔥 Hot Take: If multiple successful solutions exist, all we know is that athletes don’t have to move identically to achieve the same outcome. That doesn’t tell us whether some technical solutions are more effective, more efficient, more robust, or more trainable than others.
Tom Parry@kestrelpsychJun 9
Does this suggest there is not “one correct technique” and behavior is a function of constraints 🧐
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A good time to re-up one of my favorite research articles I've done: Not only did Ted hit it there, but it was probably more like 530 feet, and it's almost impossible in today's park for anyone to do the same. --> mlb.com/redsox/news/ted-will…

Did Ted Williams' 'red seat' HR really go 502 feet?

There’s absolutely no shortage of legendary home runs in baseball history, whether we’re talking about Babe Ruth’s “called shot” in 1932, Bobby Thomson’s “Shot Heard ‘Round the World” in 1951,...

mlb.com
Fenway Park
@fenwayparkJun 9
📍Section 42, Row 37, Seat 21 80 years ago today, Ted Williams hit the longest home run in Fenway Park history. Today, you'll find a lone red seat in the bleachers showing just how far his 502-foot blast traveled.
Wide shot of the Fenway Park bleachers where a lone red seat stands out amongst a sea of green seats.

ALT Wide shot of the Fenway Park bleachers where a lone red seat stands out amongst a sea of green seats.

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Feel it's a useful day to post this again. Last year, I studied every single MLB starting pitcher who debuted from 2008-2015. I grouped them by their average fastball velocity compared to the league. The hard-throwers were better and had longer careers. baseballamerica.com/stories/…

To Have A Lengthy MLB Career, Pitchers Need To Throw Hard

J.J. Cooper digs into years' worth of MLB pitching data to investigate the connection between throwing harder and career length.

baseballamerica.com
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Why does it seem like everyone is throwing 100? Because they are. The numbers of pitchers hitting triple digits keep growing, and Major League Baseball is changing because of it. On the velocity revolution and how 100 mph is everywhere, free at ESPN: espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/4854…

'It's 100 or die': How throwing 100 mph went from a novelty to the norm in MLB

Hitting 100 mph on the radar gun is a badge of honor. Here's why the number of pitchers who have reached it has exploded.

espn.com
Pat McAfee
@PatMcAfeeShowApr 17
"When I first came up the average fastball was around 89-91 and now it seems like everyone I'm facing is throwing 100.. You've got guys like Mason Miller throwing 104" @MikeTrout #PMSLive
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The baseballs used in MiLB levels (below Triple-A) are softer, and the seams are higher to help with grip and air resistance, compared to those of MLB/AAA. That allows for more "verty" behaviors, as Neighbors puts it.
Orioles on MASN
@masnOriolesApr 17
Orioles closer prospect Tyson Neighbors sometimes sees an IVB of 27" on his four-seamer with Double-A baseballs. @annieklaff caught up with the righty in Bowie on his pitch movement, valuable conversations with big leaguer Albert Suárez in Spring Training and more.

Tyson Neighbors after first offseason in the Orioles organization

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