Is this All-Star parade so good that it's bad for baseball?



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WASHINGTON – Blake Snell knows what it's like to play in front of small crowds in a national advertising vacuum – just like David Price, James Shields and all the other successful pitchers who preceded him to Tampa Bay. The superfamous rays Dick Vitale has incredible power and enthusiasm, but he can not do much on Twitter except to defend his beloved team and his individual exploits.

Snell failed to rank among the top five voting player and fell short of making the All-Star American League squad on Sunday's selection. Anonymity comes with the territory.

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Then a funny thing happened: Fans and members of the media began to lament the injustice of Snell's exclusion from the "I". team. Rays pitcher Chris Archer spoke to his peers of the importance of "due diligence," and even New York Giants receivers Odell Beckham Jr. came in.

He felt more love as a famous cause / snub than ever with disconcerting hitters with his fastball, his curve, his slider and his gearshift

"It was cool to see that people cared so much and wanted to see me play with the best., "said Snell Monday at MLB's All-Star Media Day." That meant a lot to me, so many people I did not know not even were attentive, Tampa is a small market, and I do not feel many people are really watching us.

Here is the starting batch for beginners: Post a 2.09 MPM in your first 19 starts while being in the toughest division of history. baseball, and you still have to wait five days for Corey Kluber to receive an injection into his knee to form the Star Team.

The lineups for Tuesday's All-Star game at Nationals Park are stacked to the point of Justin Verlander, a future daddy, is still launching the heat of the mid-90s at the age of 35. Max Scherzer races at his fourth Cy Young Award.Jacob deGrom has a 1.68 ERA at the break and is not even All-Star kicker Chris Sale has an average of 13.12 outs on catches in nine innings, while Kluber had 132 puffs and 17 come and go this season. rino is a real breakout star. And Gerrit Cole and Trevor Bauer are proud of UCLA, even though it's doubtful that they'll spend a lot of time remembering the good old days of Westwood in the AHL club this week .

"I think the pitchers are better than ever.There are players from the era who say that the game was better than today, but the talent that is there in this moment is stupid and crazy, you see players throwing 100 broken balls and making good changes in the batters. "

David Ortiz, on the pitchers in today's match

Just think of the pitchers who did not made the team stars. Colorado's Kyle Freeland has a 2.76 ERA at Coors Field and limits the hitter to an average of .223 at home batting, and he was barely in the discussion. Tyler Skaggs, who posted a 0.84 ERA in June and emerged as a front-line player in Anaheim, was another afterthought. Adam Ottavino, Dellin Betances, Kyle Barraclough, Kirby Yates, Collin McHugh, Jose Leclerc and Lou Trivino are part of a series of bullhorns whose numbers are overly good and have been squeezed out by the numbers game.

Stack All Those Arms Over One "

" I think the pitchers are better than ever, "said David Ortiz, vice president of the team. who led the world team in the game All-Star Futures Sunday. "There are players from the time who say that the game was better than now, but the talent that exists right now is stupid and crazy, and now you see guys throwing 100, breaking brittle balls and making good changes in the batters account

"We have great talent in the game. What I see is perhaps the best I've seen.

These first-half statistics provided by Sarah Langs of ESPN reflect the current state of affairs:

• The 30 Major League Baseball teams are on track to set a new record The hitter averages 8.5 times per team in each game, eclipsing the previous high of 8.25 last season.

• The current average of .247 batting at MLB would be the lowest since .244 in 1972. It's the lowest in 1968, when Bob Gibson posted a 1.12 ERA, Carl Yastrzemski won batting batting score at .301 and cumulative average of baseball bat was .237. to 10 inches to give a chance to the batters.

• Before this MLB had never experienced one more month of strikeouts than hits. This has already happened twice – in April and June – and the 30 clubs took the break with an average of 8.5 strikeouts and 8.42 shots per game. The White Sox, Rangers, Padres and first-place Phillies all have over 900 strikeouts and fewer than 800 shots at the break.

• There were 34 faceoffs of six innings or more this season. Last year, there were 24 for the whole season.

• Velocity gains hitherto unimaginable heights. According to FanGraphs data, 23 MLB starters launch their fastball an average of 95 mph or better. Ten years ago, only six starters broke this barrier. In 2008, Matt Lindstrom of the Marlins was the hardest reliever of the game, with an average speed of 96.9 mph. This year, 16 bullpeners have an average of 97 or more, and Jordan Hicks of the Cardinals throws his fastball at an average speed of 100.2 mph

"It's the evolution of the 39, bullpen, "said Scherzer. guys who can throw the heck out of baseball for a run or two. For me, it's here that the biggest change has occurred in the game. It's not just about throwing fast balls at 100 km / h. These guys have offspeed pitches that hitters need to be aware of, and they can pitch multiple lands for strikes. That's what makes the game really difficult.

Jacob deGrom arrived at the all-star game with a 1.68 ERA and did not even start the game. Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY HUI Sports

As the MLB's competition committee discusses potential changes in defensive changes, the batters continue to look for ways to counter these demoralizing defensive lineups. . Do they go over the shift, hit the ball in the other direction or drop the occasional carrot to plant a seed of doubt in the minds of the defenders of the day. ; infield? In the midst of spiral batting totals, even batters who pride themselves on being in contact have become accustomed to returning to the dugout canoe.

Cardinals third goal Matt Carpenter is a perfect example. In 2013, he participated 98 times 717 times. He climbed to 151 in 665 two years later and is on his way to triple digit withdrawals for the fifth straight season.

"When people say that the batters do not care about the withdrawal, that's not true. Carpenter said: "If someone is the poster child for that, it's me, I really, really, try not to hit, if people want Believe it or not, but I like to see a lot of throws, and if you hit like that nowadays, you will hit.

"I have never changed the approach and my withdrawals at batting increased every year, it's not because I do something different, but because the pitchers keep getting better, the teams pay players who have high turnover rates and a lot of changes, which everyone is looking for now. "

The American League's first crop did not live up to its historic standards, and Wilson Ramos of Tampa Bay was the only receiver of the American League to have achieved this year's star records, ceded the starting point to Salvador Perez of Kansas City, which provides a way do batting .221 and a base percentage of .259 in the break.

Your Complete Guide to the Star Week
• All-Star Game landing page

The National League field is in a state of disrepair: Matt Kemp l Throws the pack with a. 882 OPS, and another oldie, but Nickie Goodakis is next, at .877. The last time NL. have played a full season without an outfielder, an OPS of 0.900 or better was recorded in 1986, when Tim Raines led the pack at .889

At nightly games, batters and coaches brains for an antidote . But for each calculation or adjustment that they make, the pitchers make a corresponding move to maintain the advantage.

"Baseball goes in cycles," said coach Dave Magadan in Arizona. "When the guys tried to hit the ball in the air more, there was a lot of thought behind that, but all that data and information is also given to the pitchers and the pitchers, they know what the guys are going through and This information is much more useful for them than for the batters, because the pitcher has the ball in his hand and he controls everything.

"It gets worse every year, we talk as much as possible about how whose pitchers will attack our hitters, but it has become harder and harder for some to make this adjustment: guys are ready to hit three or four times in a game to reap the benefits of that one, where they hit two or three. -run circuit to help you win a game. Unfortunately you get alignments with eight guys like that.When I look at the statistics sheet of the teams we play and I see someone with a close amount of walks and of stick outs, I'm like, 'whoa'. MLB is naturally concerned about the impact on the fans' interest, but all this dead time and the war against the ground simple can not mask all the good things that are happening. In the game this season, the Red Sox and the Yankees, those stars of East AL, are on a collision course for an epic division race. The NL Pennon race is preparing to be a crazy race. Mike Trout, Mookie Betts, Judge Aaron, Manny Machado and Francisco Lindor are among the young offensive stars who are constantly worth the price of admission.

But on the whole, pitching reigns supreme, and you will not find many people waiting for the pendulum. Blake Snell would be wise to breathe deeply and enjoy the tip of the introductory cap Tuesday night. These All-Star Game play spots are becoming more and more valuable every year.

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