Baseball Chatter 10/08/17

 

2017 was a great year for baseball. There were records set everywhere you looked. For me, the best part is that many of those records broke previous records set by known steroid users in the midst of the ‘steroid era.’ There may not be a big black cloud over a whole generation of baseball after all.

Here are a few:

  • 2017 saw the most home runs ever hit in a single season, 6105.
    • 143 more than the previous record of 5963 set in 2000
  • 117 batters hit at least 20
  • Giancarlo Stanton hit 59, the most by any player in a single season since Barry Bonds in 2001
  • Aaron Judge hit 52 and broke Mark McGwire’s record of 49 for the most homers by a rookie

 

Hitters have also set records in strikeouts each of the past 10 seasons, including 2017, striking out 40,104 times

  • The number of complete games pitched has hit record lows each the past three seasons. Part of that is due to the use of the Effector
    • 2017 – 59 CG
    • 2016 – 83 CG
    • 2015 – 104 CG
  • Whit Merrifield led the American league with 34 stolen bases, the fewest for an AL leader since 1961
  • Yasiel Puig is the most entertaining player in baseball. He can also make it to third base in 11 seconds. I want Puig and Aaron Nola on every team next season.

Team Stuff

Team ERA for Starting Pitchers, notice the top eight teams are playoff teams

 

 

 

 

 

  • Oakland A’s went 17-7 over their final 24 games, and 36-37 in the second half. They haven’t ended a season this good since 2013.
  • Giants, on the other hand, are 94-140 since the second half of 2016. Brandon Belt led the team in homers, with 18
  • The Phillies spent about $116 million on payroll in 2017. In 2018 they are responsible for a total payroll of only a little over $6 million.
      • 19.8% to active players
      • 14% to injured players
      • 66% to players who were traded or optioned
  • The Orioles rotation heading into 2018 consists of Kevin Gausman and Dylan Bundy. Probably a good thing since the Orioles rotation was one of the worst in baseball in 2017

 

Player Tidbits

  • Danny Duffy is expected to start training in six weeks and should be ready for spring training in February.
  • Trevor Bauer went 10-1 with a 2.60 ERA in his last 14 games, including 13 starts
  • Garrett Richards, Andrew Heaney and Tyler Skaggs combined for 27 starts
  • Jesse Winker hit .298 with a .375 OBP over 137 plate appearances in 47 games with seven home runs and 15 RBI. He plays both corner outfield positions.
  • Craig Kimbrel struck out 124 batters out of the 254 he faced
  • Drew Pomeranz went 17-6 with a 3.32 ERA and struck out 174 over 173⅔ innings.

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