This Homerun Thing Is Becoming A Problem
Gary Sanchez is having a bounce back year. After struggling through just 89 games last season and hitting a putrid .189, Sanchez leads all MLB catchers this season with 29 home runs.
Sure, his .232 average and .307 OBP leave something to be desired but Sanchez has been hurt for at least two extended stretches this year and suffered through a significant slump so it’s not surprising that he hasn’t been the most consistent hitter. Moreover, he’s been hot lately so those numbers are on the rise.
Let’s review the numbers I just laid out and look at a couple of new ones while we’re at it, shall we? Sanchez has 29 home runs and is hitting .232. That means that he’s not getting a lot of hits and he is hitting a lot of home runs. He’s only played 93 games, so those 29 homers are really an awful lot. This is especially true when you learn the jarring fact that Gary Sanchez has only 82 hits on the season.
More than 35% of Gary Sanchez’ hits this season have been home runs.
Obviously, that’s insane. So is all this:
There’s obviously something going on in the MLB this season. That thing is definitely the ball.
This thread from JJ Cooper on twitter pretty much sums it up:
I don’t mind baseball changing. I’m not one of those people that bemoans the shift, decries the fact that seemingly everyone throws 99mph now, and generally laments that baseball in 2019 is different than it was in 1989 or 1959 or 1929.
My point of view is essentially that this stuff is all cyclical. A few years ago, offense was way down the shift was ending hitter’s careers. Now, everybody and their mother is hitting 40 bombs and striking out 200 times. Soon, something else will happen and the game will shift towards defense once again.
However.
If the equipment is what’s driving the changes, that’s a problem. If the ball really is the key force behind the proliferation of home runs in baseball right now- and it is- that truly needs to be addressed.
As a fan, I’d appreciate it if the Commissioner at least acknowledged that there was an issue and that the ball was to blame and at least promised to look into it. That Rob Manfred has denied that anything is different this year concerns me.
19 teams have at least a shot at setting their respective franchise’s single season home run record. That seems like a problem.
When a record is broken, it signifies that something has occurred that hasn’t occurred before. It’s historic and fun.
When records are broken en masse, it signifies that something fundamental has changed and that the playing field might be level, but it’s not where it was in the past. That’s a different thing entirely.
If baseball is going to be all home runs and strikeouts for a few years, that’s fine with me. But this is ridiculous.
-Max Frankel
