3/14/15

Mack - Young Pitching vs. Young Position Players

Comment From Guest
Would you rather have the Jays/Met’s young pitching or Cubs/Twins young position players?
9:42
Jeff Sullivan: Pretty much always the young position players
9:42
Jeff Sullivan: And I think of the two pairs, I’d prefer Mets and Cubs
9:42
Jeff Sullivan: Dammit now I’m not sure. I think I’m already switching back over to Jays instead of Mets


One of the areas where Mack's Mets is evolving is on the weekends.

I have turned over the weekday posts to Chris Soto and the rest of the staff. They have asked me to write the Friday Morning Report, which I am doing, and I am filling in the weekend with some additional thoughts.

I always like to use the writers at Fangraphs to build a post around and my favorite there is Jeff Sullivan. I especially thank 'Guest' for asking a great question that I have never considered before. Here I've been obsessed by the young Mets pitchers coming up the ranks and I've never considered 'position players' being more dominate.

I don't agree with 'Sully' on this one, but the only thing I will give him is the fact that a team with very talented position players have up to eight players on the field at the same time, while you only can 'field' one pitcher at a time.

I've watched a lot of baseball over my lifetime (especially the playoffs) and the one thing I remember first are the teams that shut down their opponents with a combination of dominant starters plus 2/3 sizzling relief pitchers.

The sport of baseball isn't dominated by the batters anymore. The most talented players entering high school ball are being turned into pitchers first and hitters last. We all see the lower numbers for batters over the past ten years and it isn't a coincidence.

Like I said... the exception here would be a team with eight great hitters, but, man for man, I believe young pitching will always dominate over young hitting.


5 comments:

Tom Brennan said...

The Mets scored 20 runs in the last at bat Thursday and first 3 innings Friday. 20 runs in 4 innings. Makes you wonder a bit about how good the offense might also be this year.

Seems, as I was making the case a few weeks ago, a lot better than 2014's 629 runs.

Of course, KC (I believe) was a cautionary tale on spring hitting in 2014 - hit like Hall of Famers in the spring, hit thw wall once the season started.

I just LIKE the Mets' offense this year. - and all of it so far without last year's most productive bat, Duda.

Maybe we have pitching AND offense this year.

Ernest Dove said...

2 outs. One or two runners on base. At bat is Trout, Stanton or Pujols in his prime.............this is y God invented the art of the intentional walk.
What u can't do is avoid Kershaw or Harvey for 6 to 9 innings.

Mack Ade said...

Tom -

the results from this lineup could drastically change if Flores duplicates hi spring numbers during the regular season.

Imagine if he turns out to me the 'middle of the lineup' type he's shown he could be in the minors?

Dallas said...

Not sure if I posted this before, but this articles is VERY interesting. This article says the PitchFX data coupled with umpire evaluations and calling of lower strikes is the main culprit for decreased offense and provides some compelling evidence. Its a good read.

http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2014/09/baseball-offensive-drought-and-camera-technology/379443/

Tom Brennan said...

Wow. What hitting.