Analysis: Expect more shifts, strikeouts and starting 'relievers' when MLB’s 2019 begins
Baseball's latest trends could tamp down the excitement of the 2019 season. By Neil Greenberg Neil Greenberg Reporter analyzing advanced sports statistics for the Fancy Stats blog Email Bio Follow March 26 at 11:14 AM Baseball is constantly evolving but as the 2019 season prepares to open, the sport’s fielders, and perhaps the joy of the game, are continuing on the slow road to extinction.
In 2018 seven hitters met or exceeded 25 home runs, 75 walks and 150 strikeouts: Bryce Harper, Paul Goldschmidt, Rhys Hoskins, Aaron Judge, Matt Carpenter, Michael Conforto and Justin Smoak. In 2019, more than twice that number of batters is projected to meet or exceed the 25-75-150 benchmarks, 15 in all, with eight others coming within five at-bats of one or more of the three true outcomes.
“We knew we were going to have power, and we knew we’d have some swing-and-miss, certainly, so I don’t think [the spring] changes my perception of what we have going into the season,” Derek Falvey, the Twins’ chief baseball officer, told Phil Miller of the Star Tribune. “I feel pretty good about the collective power of the position player group, for sure.”
On-base plus slugging against “I do think there are times where [using an opener] presents a real strategic advantage when you’re looking at teams that have left-handed-hitting heavy tops of the order and you’re planning to start a right-hander,” Farhan Zaidi, San Francisco president of baseball operations, explained at Giants FanFest in February.
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