Weekly Blog Question!
Every week we’re posting a baseball related question and will encourage our readers to voice their opinion. We’d love to hear what you have to say!
Vote in the poll box to the right. Then feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments section below.
This week’s question:
IS THE OVER-RELIANCE ON ANALYTICS HELPING OR HURTING THE GAME?
Before you vote, here’s a little background:
How would legendary manager John McGraw, the quintessential proponent of “small ball,” have reacted to today’s analytics? Not well, I can assure you. For that matter, let’s throw some other “seat-of the-pants” managers like Leo Durocher, Billy Martin and Whitey Herzog into the mix. Something tells me they wouldn’t like it either.
Leo Durocher during his time as Giants’ manager
The last several years has seen a new phenomenon in baseball. It’s the rise of what they call “analytics,” new ways to evaluate players using what is called advanced statistics. These stats like WAR (Wins Above Replacement) and WS (Win Shares) among others, have replaced the traditional stats of batting average, home runs, win for pitchers, runs batted in, and earned run average – numbers most of us have grown up with.
Those who believe in analytics tell us that batting average, RBIs, game-winning hits, and pitching victories mean very little in evaluating players. Each team now has an analytics department and expects managers to adhere to what the analytics say when making out lineups and making decisions from the dugout. These so-called gurus (maybe geeks is an even better description) have also made traditional baseball plays, such as the bunt and hit-and-run, almost extinct. They have also helped create the reliance on shifts with the message to the players being to simply “hit over the shift with a better ‘launch angle’,” another new stat.
What happened to situational hitting? Home run or bust has become the baseball mantra. Multi-innings from a parade of relievers are encouraged and starters are no longer taught to go deep into games. Most recently, several players have charged that teams are creating new analytics that devalue veteran players and make it hard for those 30-and over free agents to find teams and get multi-year contracts.
What next? I don’t like it. How about you?
Anyway, that’s my opinion. Feel free to agree or disagree. You’re welcome to voice your opinion on this page in the comments section below. As always, we enjoy hearing what you have to say!
Bill Gutman