Remember 1969: TMI - Viewpoint from a baseball fan

 

Remember's Note:    This is the second article I have posted that was done 'With a little help from my friends'.   Actually, this very interesting piece, which I agree with 100%, was written entirely by Paul, my friend and new to Mack's Mets commenter.     Paul is a very knowledgeable baseball man having been head coach in our local little league system for several years, as well as being a long time Mets fan/sufferer.

Too much information!

 

These days we are blessed (cursed) with a plethora of information.  Everywhere you look, the ability to collect, analyze, and distribute information has been used to improve products and services – and the capability is increasing at an exponential rate.  So is it true that there can be “too much of a good thing”?  My answer is yes - in professional athletics; and more specifically, with the New York Mets.  

Baseball has evolved from the days where a network of scouts attended baseball games all over the country with a pair of binoculars and a note pad to a complex arsenal of resources that amasses terabytes of information for instant processing by the analytics department.  In the beginning, the information was useful (see the film Moneyball) in gaining a competitive edge.  Soon, every team needed to have an analytics department, and the race was on to out-do everyone else.  Steve Cohen had two priorities when he took on the majority ownership of the Mets – acquiring talent and building a world class analytics department.  He acted swiftly.

Many articles have discussed the hitting woes of the 2021 Mets from their inability to score runs to their league trailing batting average with Runners In Scoring Position (RISP) to the significant drop-off in OPS from some of the key bats in their lineup (Smith and McNeil just to mention a few).  So why does this seem to be happening to so many players on the same team at the same time?  My theory is that the increased emphasis on analytics this year with the Mets has overwhelmed many of the hitters by giving them too much to think about as they approach the plate.   As a baseball coach and student of the game, I know that to hit a 90+ mph fastball, one must have fine-tuned mechanics, great reflexes, and the ability to instantly recognize where a pitch is going.  There is no time to think – only react to a glimpse of the ball, the spin, and let muscle memory take over.  I fondly remember the best batting tips like, “trust your hands” and “have a quiet mind” that were designed to let hitters’ instinct drive the bat to the ball.  When the Mets hitters are studying an iPad in the dugout, and walking to the plate with a head full of statistics on what a certain pitcher throws 42% of the time on an 0-2 count with the shift on to left-handed batters, they have anything but a “quiet mind”.  They are guessing where a ball will be and what type of pitch it is rather than seeing the ball and hitting it.  

My advice to the Mets’ hitters is this – leave the charts at the door.  When you’re at the ballpark, trust your training and your instincts; that is what got you this far.   See the ball and hit it where it’s pitched.  Success will come quickly and will breed confidence.