Here’s something I’ve tweeted in recent days, but it’s also a good conversation to have here.
The collapse of batting average across MLB is astounding! As of yesterday, there are more qualified hitters batting under .200 (17) than there are guys batting .300 or better (15). These are not the scrubs pinch hitting a couple times a week; these are the everyday players!
Compare this to 30 years ago (1996) and there were 48 guys batting .300 or better. Meanwhile, the guy with the lowest qualified batting average
in the entire sport in 1996? Delino DeShields, and he hit .224, a full nine points worse than the next guy.
Batting average has correctly been minimized in importance over the last couple of decades, but Dear Lord has the pendulum swung too far in the other direction (and this is coming from a full blown nerd!). So what do you think OTM? With more guys hitting under .200 than over .300, does MLB need to make rule changes in the next CBA to incentivize contact?
Talk about this and whatever else you’d like in this thread, and as always, be good to one another!
