"525 different big-leaguers homered in 2017. One hundred and seventeen of those players went deep at least 20 times. All told, MLB hitters hit 6,105 home runs, shattering the previous record.
Evidently, the power that MLB executives long prized isn’t so hard to obtain anymore. As Athletics GM David Forst says, "it’s become a lot easier to find in the last few years."
Gradually, this abundance of power has impacted team decision making. If the slugger market is over-saturated, GMs can prioritize other needs. This amounts to a significant shift, and leads to a related question: now that power is readily available, which skill is hardest to find?"
http://www.sportsnet.ca/baseball/mlb/mlb-gms-power-now-abundant-whats-toughest-find-skill/~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Whoever said "You can't defend against a Home Run" was 100% correct. It makes heroes of those batters & victims of the pitcher of record. To minimize that damage the bases must be kept empty.
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RALLY KILLING DEFENSES
* Olson's prowess, glove and reach are a defensive key at 1B where most outs are recorded, ...but useless against Home Runs.
* Chapman's deep positioning & laser arm will earn extra outs and kill rallies, ...but might as well be sitting in the stands vs home runs.
* Put great arms and legs at as many defensive positions as possible and keep them on their toes with balls hit their way. Only then can the outs and double-plays happen, ...the rally killers.
PITCHING TO THE DEFENSE: The Best Rally Killer
* "Control" is the single most priority. Poor control is failure about to happen. Loss of control is exactly what it implies.
* Catchable fly balls, Playable grounders and Strike Outs. Staying away from the center of the strike zone, ...unless intended, is critical. Control again.
* Base on balls, intentional walks, ....only 25 full time players hit .300 or better, that is only 16%. In the AL 4 of the 12 players that hit .299 or better are on Houston. That leaves 8 of the remaining .300 hitters spread out over 14 teams. (White Sox are expected to lose Abreau &/or Avisail.)
So why elevate those odds to 100% and chance starting a rally? ...if bases are loaded and the next hitter is a slugger that owns the pitcher, you might opt to walk a run in. ...but bad control got you into that situation. Control pitchers are the key.
Control Chart: See FanPost: NEW A'S ROTATION
FYI: TEAM PITCHING FEWEST HRs ALLOWED - Regular Season
An American League Team took the honors in spite of the DH!
#1 Cleveland: 163 HR over 1440 innings or amazingly close to 1 HR per game
#7 Brewers: 184 HR
#10 NYY: 192 HR
#11 Houston 192 HR
...Skip to Oakland: #23 A's 210 HR (Finished 12th in the AL) ....1.3 HRs per game.
A's 2017 Pitchers that finished under 1 HR per game/9 innings:
162 GAMES: Manaea, (Sonny), Hahn, Blackburn, Hendriks, Coulombe, (Madson), Treinen, (Josh Smith)
http://www.espn.com/mlb/stats/team/_/stat/pitching/sort/homeRuns/type/expanded/order/false