Barring injury or total fluke, Alonso is gonna annihilate the rookie HR record.
For any player playing in the current era, should we put asterisks beside everyone's names and blackball them from the HOF since the baseballs are manufactured to travel farther now? There are fuckin dude's hitting shit out of the park on damn near check swings these days. The minor leagues (maybe just Triple-A) switched to using MLB balls this year and home runs are pretty much double what they were a year ago this time.
If we're going to act like steroids was such a big fluke and ruined the integrity of the game, how is this any different?
You mentioned a "check swing".
Watch Aaron Judge's HR derby contest. He barely swung and popped up a few that were HR's.
When he got a hold of one though it was crushed.
Josh Hamilton and Mark McGwire have been my two fav HR Derby contenders over the years.
I think the fact that roiders took an advantage by cheating differs from the game changing due to a manipulation from the top.
Your observations are right about the impact of the ball, I think. Tough to be a pitcher now.
Perhaps. It is across the board, so it is fair to all who play today. But those who came before the "golf ball era" did not have the advantage of teeing off every swing, so it's still unfair when compared to 99% of the game that came before it. (But I know, we can compare the last 100 years to the 30-40 that came before it and say the same thing). Anyway, I don't really think we should asterisk either era, it was more just a comparison to show the steroid era wasn't the big bad monster under the bed that everyone (not anyone here, but media/BBWAA in general) is so afraid of. MLB wanted home runs then, so they turned a blind eye to steroids. They want home runs now, but since we're so against steroids they let them play with racquetballs. Either way, it's a top-down manipulation of the game by the league.
I dunno. I really just don't like the way baseball is headed with this HR or nothing approach. It isn't making the game more fun or more interesting or more watchable when it's 7 home runs and 25-30 strikeouts per game and maybe 1-2 other baserunners. It's certainly a whole hell of a lot less action during the span of the game. That to me is taking an interesting game and making it fucking boring - the exact thing they're supposedly trying not to do.
Barring injury or total fluke, Alonso is gonna annihilate the rookie HR record.
For any player playing in the current era, should we put asterisks beside everyone's names and blackball them from the HOF since the baseballs are manufactured to travel farther now? There are fuckin dude's hitting shit out of the park on damn near check swings these days. The minor leagues (maybe just Triple-A) switched to using MLB balls this year and home runs are pretty much double what they were a year ago this time.
If we're going to act like steroids was such a big fluke and ruined the integrity of the game, how is this any different?
You mentioned a "check swing".
Watch Aaron Judge's HR derby contest. He barely swung and popped up a few that were HR's.
When he got a hold of one though it was crushed.
Josh Hamilton and Mark McGwire have been my two fav HR Derby contenders over the years.
I could be wrong. But there are more bigger and stronger players nowadays.
Barring injury or total fluke, Alonso is gonna annihilate the rookie HR record.
For any player playing in the current era, should we put asterisks beside everyone's names and blackball them from the HOF since the baseballs are manufactured to travel farther now? There are fuckin dude's hitting shit out of the park on damn near check swings these days. The minor leagues (maybe just Triple-A) switched to using MLB balls this year and home runs are pretty much double what they were a year ago this time.
If we're going to act like steroids was such a big fluke and ruined the integrity of the game, how is this any different?
You mentioned a "check swing".
Watch Aaron Judge's HR derby contest. He barely swung and popped up a few that were HR's.
When he got a hold of one though it was crushed.
Josh Hamilton and Mark McGwire have been my two fav HR Derby contenders over the years.
I could be wrong. But there are more bigger and stronger players nowadays.
Give McGwire and Hamilton this jacked up ball and I will disagree.
That round between Vlad Jr & Pedersen last night was insane! That was one of those "the semi-final was the real final" moments. Alonso had the best strategy to win, though. Didn't just play hard, he played it smart. I also liked how Alonso was spraying the ball all over the field, not just straight pulling it. I haven't seen him play much this year but he's got a great swing! Was hoping to see Josh Bell do better but Acuna is a hell of a ball player, too!
That round between Vlad Jr & Pedersen last night was insane! That was one of those "the semi-final was the real final" moments. Alonso had the best strategy to win, though. Didn't just play hard, he played it smart. I also liked how Alonso was spraying the ball all over the field, not just straight pulling it. I haven't seen him play much this year but he's got a great swing! Was hoping to see Josh Bell do better but Acuna is a hell of a ball player, too!
That round was really fun to watch.
To Tempo’s earlier point, I liked the 10 ball format a bit better to be honest.
I don't like that the players get gassed. I've watched a few that got tired late but killed in the first rounds in years past.
The 10 swing format didn't grab everyones attention I guess?
I do like the new format but I know exaclty what you mean. I even said it after Vlad/Joc last night, that Vlad wasn't gonna win it because that matchup alone took all he had. Alonso only had to hit 14 to win the first round, and what 19 the second? Fewer in both rounds combined than either Vlad or Joc hit in just the 2nd round alone. But that's the nature of a tournament, and why Alonso's strategy paid off. I know Vlad wanted to put on a show and I'm sure he had a great time and isn't mad about not winning, but as a fan you kiiiiiiiinda want to see the guy who hit 91 homers win the thing.
I do like the 10-out format, too. I'd be interested to go back and rewatch it just to see how many these guys would have had using the old format.
The 10-out format took way too long. The hitters could take as many pitches as they wanted before they would swing again(i don't blame them to get some rest). Today's players would hit so many the event would not end until well after Midnight>LOL
The 10-out format took way too long. The hitters could take as many pitches as they wanted before they would swing again(i don't blame them to get some rest). Today's players would hit so many the event would not end until well after Midnight>LOL
I like the time limit.
They could implement both. 10 outs or 4 minutes, whatever comes first.
Barring injury or total fluke, Alonso is gonna annihilate the rookie HR record.
For any player playing in the current era, should we put asterisks beside everyone's names and blackball them from the HOF since the baseballs are manufactured to travel farther now? There are fuckin dude's hitting shit out of the park on damn near check swings these days. The minor leagues (maybe just Triple-A) switched to using MLB balls this year and home runs are pretty much double what they were a year ago this time.
If we're going to act like steroids was such a big fluke and ruined the integrity of the game, how is this any different?
You mentioned a "check swing".
Watch Aaron Judge's HR derby contest. He barely swung and popped up a few that were HR's.
When he got a hold of one though it was crushed.
Josh Hamilton and Mark McGwire have been my two fav HR Derby contenders over the years.
I could be wrong. But there are more bigger and stronger players nowadays.
Give McGwire and Hamilton this jacked up ball and I will disagree.
Every pop up goes out now.
Those 2 players were absolute beasts.
They will crush it. My point was there are probably more 2002 Barry Bonds size players than before.
The 10-out format took way too long. The hitters could take as many pitches as they wanted before they would swing again(i don't blame them to get some rest). Today's players would hit so many the event would not end until well after Midnight>LOL
I like the time limit.
They could implement both. 10 outs or 4 minutes, whatever comes first.
Barring injury or total fluke, Alonso is gonna annihilate the rookie HR record.
For any player playing in the current era, should we put asterisks beside everyone's names and blackball them from the HOF since the baseballs are manufactured to travel farther now? There are fuckin dude's hitting shit out of the park on damn near check swings these days. The minor leagues (maybe just Triple-A) switched to using MLB balls this year and home runs are pretty much double what they were a year ago this time.
If we're going to act like steroids was such a big fluke and ruined the integrity of the game, how is this any different?
You mentioned a "check swing".
Watch Aaron Judge's HR derby contest. He barely swung and popped up a few that were HR's.
When he got a hold of one though it was crushed.
Josh Hamilton and Mark McGwire have been my two fav HR Derby contenders over the years.
I could be wrong. But there are more bigger and stronger players nowadays.
Give McGwire and Hamilton this jacked up ball and I will disagree.
Every pop up goes out now.
Those 2 players were absolute beasts.
They will crush it. My point was there are probably more 2002 Barry Bonds size players than before.
I actually disagree w that. The boys in the 95-05 years were pretty damn big.
No more Frank Thomas, Fielder type guys in the league anymore. Cespedes maybe? Vlad Jr, yes. I can't think of another big hitter that big?
Barring injury or total fluke, Alonso is gonna annihilate the rookie HR record.
For any player playing in the current era, should we put asterisks beside everyone's names and blackball them from the HOF since the baseballs are manufactured to travel farther now? There are fuckin dude's hitting shit out of the park on damn near check swings these days. The minor leagues (maybe just Triple-A) switched to using MLB balls this year and home runs are pretty much double what they were a year ago this time.
If we're going to act like steroids was such a big fluke and ruined the integrity of the game, how is this any different?
You mentioned a "check swing".
Watch Aaron Judge's HR derby contest. He barely swung and popped up a few that were HR's.
When he got a hold of one though it was crushed.
Josh Hamilton and Mark McGwire have been my two fav HR Derby contenders over the years.
I could be wrong. But there are more bigger and stronger players nowadays.
Give McGwire and Hamilton this jacked up ball and I will disagree.
Every pop up goes out now.
Those 2 players were absolute beasts.
They will crush it. My point was there are probably more 2002 Barry Bonds size players than before.
I actually disagree w that. The boys in the 95-05 years were pretty damn big.
No more Frank Thomas, Fielder type guys in the league anymore. Cespedes maybe? Vlad Jr, yes. I can't think of another big hitter that big?
Again I could be wrong. I'm not gonna go through every player's height and weight. But overall I think there are more bigger players. And I'm including smaller guys who are big in muscle also.
I was impressed by Joc because after Vlad hot all those homers and they cut to a shot of Joc he looked so small and I would have bet my life savings that he would not tie or surpass Vlad.
Also, Alonzo didn’t have to hit as many HR buuuttt he did pick the worst pitcher in HR derby history. Dude was throwing inside jam pitches and almost hit him a few times.
Barring injury or total fluke, Alonso is gonna annihilate the rookie HR record.
For any player playing in the current era, should we put asterisks beside everyone's names and blackball them from the HOF since the baseballs are manufactured to travel farther now? There are fuckin dude's hitting shit out of the park on damn near check swings these days. The minor leagues (maybe just Triple-A) switched to using MLB balls this year and home runs are pretty much double what they were a year ago this time.
If we're going to act like steroids was such a big fluke and ruined the integrity of the game, how is this any different?
You mentioned a "check swing".
Watch Aaron Judge's HR derby contest. He barely swung and popped up a few that were HR's.
When he got a hold of one though it was crushed.
Josh Hamilton and Mark McGwire have been my two fav HR Derby contenders over the years.
I could be wrong. But there are more bigger and stronger players nowadays.
Give McGwire and Hamilton this jacked up ball and I will disagree.
Every pop up goes out now.
Those 2 players were absolute beasts.
They will crush it. My point was there are probably more 2002 Barry Bonds size players than before.
I actually disagree w that. The boys in the 95-05 years were pretty damn big.
No more Frank Thomas, Fielder type guys in the league anymore. Cespedes maybe? Vlad Jr, yes. I can't think of another big hitter that big?
Again I could be wrong. I'm not gonna go through every player's height and weight. But overall I think there are more bigger players. And I'm including smaller guys who are big in muscle also.
I don't think there is much of a difference. The bigger (more muscular) players really started exploding in the 90's. No more guys like Strawberry, young Griffey Jr. and the Pittsburgh version of Bonds leading the homer leader boards. I am more interested in seeing how these guys play in to their 30's. All that extra mass plays hell on the joints. Even the big machine quickly took a dive in overall skill after he hit 32, but his homers mostly stayed unaffected. The DH saves a lot of careers these days.
What I miss is the lack of speed position players. Will there ever be another Ricky Henderson or Vince Coleman type player who is actually given enough playing time to reach 100 steals? Even in the early 90's we still had some pretty fast guys in the league, but it seems that skill is more of a novelty and even if someone is fast, they quickly quit stealing bases a few years in, especially after they've secured a bigger contract.
Barring injury or total fluke, Alonso is gonna annihilate the rookie HR record.
For any player playing in the current era, should we put asterisks beside everyone's names and blackball them from the HOF since the baseballs are manufactured to travel farther now? There are fuckin dude's hitting shit out of the park on damn near check swings these days. The minor leagues (maybe just Triple-A) switched to using MLB balls this year and home runs are pretty much double what they were a year ago this time.
If we're going to act like steroids was such a big fluke and ruined the integrity of the game, how is this any different?
You mentioned a "check swing".
Watch Aaron Judge's HR derby contest. He barely swung and popped up a few that were HR's.
When he got a hold of one though it was crushed.
Josh Hamilton and Mark McGwire have been my two fav HR Derby contenders over the years.
I could be wrong. But there are more bigger and stronger players nowadays.
Give McGwire and Hamilton this jacked up ball and I will disagree.
Every pop up goes out now.
Those 2 players were absolute beasts.
They will crush it. My point was there are probably more 2002 Barry Bonds size players than before.
I actually disagree w that. The boys in the 95-05 years were pretty damn big.
No more Frank Thomas, Fielder type guys in the league anymore. Cespedes maybe? Vlad Jr, yes. I can't think of another big hitter that big?
Again I could be wrong. I'm not gonna go through every player's height and weight. But overall I think there are more bigger players. And I'm including smaller guys who are big in muscle also.
I don't think there is much of a difference. The bigger (more muscular) players really started exploding in the 90's. No more guys like Strawberry, young Griffey Jr. and the Pittsburgh version of Bonds leading the homer leader boards. I am more interested in seeing how these guys play in to their 30's. All that extra mass plays hell on the joints. Even the big machine quickly took a dive in overall skill after he hit 32, but his homers mostly stayed unaffected. The DH saves a lot of careers these days.
What I miss is the lack of speed position players. Will there ever be another Ricky Henderson or Vince Coleman type player who is actually given enough playing time to reach 100 steals? Even in the early 90's we still had some pretty fast guys in the league, but it seems that skill is more of a novelty and even if someone is fast, they quickly quit stealing bases a few years in, especially after they've secured a bigger contract.
Barring injury or total fluke, Alonso is gonna annihilate the rookie HR record.
For any player playing in the current era, should we put asterisks beside everyone's names and blackball them from the HOF since the baseballs are manufactured to travel farther now? There are fuckin dude's hitting shit out of the park on damn near check swings these days. The minor leagues (maybe just Triple-A) switched to using MLB balls this year and home runs are pretty much double what they were a year ago this time.
If we're going to act like steroids was such a big fluke and ruined the integrity of the game, how is this any different?
You mentioned a "check swing".
Watch Aaron Judge's HR derby contest. He barely swung and popped up a few that were HR's.
When he got a hold of one though it was crushed.
Josh Hamilton and Mark McGwire have been my two fav HR Derby contenders over the years.
I could be wrong. But there are more bigger and stronger players nowadays.
Give McGwire and Hamilton this jacked up ball and I will disagree.
Every pop up goes out now.
Those 2 players were absolute beasts.
They will crush it. My point was there are probably more 2002 Barry Bonds size players than before.
I actually disagree w that. The boys in the 95-05 years were pretty damn big.
No more Frank Thomas, Fielder type guys in the league anymore. Cespedes maybe? Vlad Jr, yes. I can't think of another big hitter that big?
Again I could be wrong. I'm not gonna go through every player's height and weight. But overall I think there are more bigger players. And I'm including smaller guys who are big in muscle also.
I don't think there is much of a difference. The bigger (more muscular) players really started exploding in the 90's. No more guys like Strawberry, young Griffey Jr. and the Pittsburgh version of Bonds leading the homer leader boards. I am more interested in seeing how these guys play in to their 30's. All that extra mass plays hell on the joints. Even the big machine quickly took a dive in overall skill after he hit 32, but his homers mostly stayed unaffected. The DH saves a lot of careers these days.
What I miss is the lack of speed position players. Will there ever be another Ricky Henderson or Vince Coleman type player who is actually given enough playing time to reach 100 steals? Even in the early 90's we still had some pretty fast guys in the league, but it seems that skill is more of a novelty and even if someone is fast, they quickly quit stealing bases a few years in, especially after they've secured a bigger contract.
Christian yelich?
Duh! I somehow forgot about him, but his is an interesting case. I think he would be one of my first indicators of the ball being juiced for more homers. The guy looked more like Brady Anderson before Brady Anderson became Mickey Mantle and then last year, boom! This year, quadruple boom!
Barring injury or total fluke, Alonso is gonna annihilate the rookie HR record.
For any player playing in the current era, should we put asterisks beside everyone's names and blackball them from the HOF since the baseballs are manufactured to travel farther now? There are fuckin dude's hitting shit out of the park on damn near check swings these days. The minor leagues (maybe just Triple-A) switched to using MLB balls this year and home runs are pretty much double what they were a year ago this time.
If we're going to act like steroids was such a big fluke and ruined the integrity of the game, how is this any different?
You mentioned a "check swing".
Watch Aaron Judge's HR derby contest. He barely swung and popped up a few that were HR's.
When he got a hold of one though it was crushed.
Josh Hamilton and Mark McGwire have been my two fav HR Derby contenders over the years.
I could be wrong. But there are more bigger and stronger players nowadays.
Give McGwire and Hamilton this jacked up ball and I will disagree.
Every pop up goes out now.
Those 2 players were absolute beasts.
They will crush it. My point was there are probably more 2002 Barry Bonds size players than before.
I actually disagree w that. The boys in the 95-05 years were pretty damn big.
No more Frank Thomas, Fielder type guys in the league anymore. Cespedes maybe? Vlad Jr, yes. I can't think of another big hitter that big?
Again I could be wrong. I'm not gonna go through every player's height and weight. But overall I think there are more bigger players. And I'm including smaller guys who are big in muscle also.
I don't think there is much of a difference. The bigger (more muscular) players really started exploding in the 90's. No more guys like Strawberry, young Griffey Jr. and the Pittsburgh version of Bonds leading the homer leader boards. I am more interested in seeing how these guys play in to their 30's. All that extra mass plays hell on the joints. Even the big machine quickly took a dive in overall skill after he hit 32, but his homers mostly stayed unaffected. The DH saves a lot of careers these days.
What I miss is the lack of speed position players. Will there ever be another Ricky Henderson or Vince Coleman type player who is actually given enough playing time to reach 100 steals? Even in the early 90's we still had some pretty fast guys in the league, but it seems that skill is more of a novelty and even if someone is fast, they quickly quit stealing bases a few years in, especially after they've secured a bigger contract.
Trea Turner and Acuna Jr are two.
There is a player in the A's minor league system named Kevin Merrell that is the fastest player in baseball. I'd love to see him come up and wreak havoc on the base paths.
Barring injury or total fluke, Alonso is gonna annihilate the rookie HR record.
For any player playing in the current era, should we put asterisks beside everyone's names and blackball them from the HOF since the baseballs are manufactured to travel farther now? There are fuckin dude's hitting shit out of the park on damn near check swings these days. The minor leagues (maybe just Triple-A) switched to using MLB balls this year and home runs are pretty much double what they were a year ago this time.
If we're going to act like steroids was such a big fluke and ruined the integrity of the game, how is this any different?
You mentioned a "check swing".
Watch Aaron Judge's HR derby contest. He barely swung and popped up a few that were HR's.
When he got a hold of one though it was crushed.
Josh Hamilton and Mark McGwire have been my two fav HR Derby contenders over the years.
I could be wrong. But there are more bigger and stronger players nowadays.
Give McGwire and Hamilton this jacked up ball and I will disagree.
Every pop up goes out now.
Those 2 players were absolute beasts.
They will crush it. My point was there are probably more 2002 Barry Bonds size players than before.
I actually disagree w that. The boys in the 95-05 years were pretty damn big.
No more Frank Thomas, Fielder type guys in the league anymore. Cespedes maybe? Vlad Jr, yes. I can't think of another big hitter that big?
Again I could be wrong. I'm not gonna go through every player's height and weight. But overall I think there are more bigger players. And I'm including smaller guys who are big in muscle also.
I don't think there is much of a difference. The bigger (more muscular) players really started exploding in the 90's. No more guys like Strawberry, young Griffey Jr. and the Pittsburgh version of Bonds leading the homer leader boards. I am more interested in seeing how these guys play in to their 30's. All that extra mass plays hell on the joints. Even the big machine quickly took a dive in overall skill after he hit 32, but his homers mostly stayed unaffected. The DH saves a lot of careers these days.
What I miss is the lack of speed position players. Will there ever be another Ricky Henderson or Vince Coleman type player who is actually given enough playing time to reach 100 steals? Even in the early 90's we still had some pretty fast guys in the league, but it seems that skill is more of a novelty and even if someone is fast, they quickly quit stealing bases a few years in, especially after they've secured a bigger contract.
Trea Turner and Acuna Jr are two.
There is a player in the A's minor league system named Kevin Merrell that is the fastest player in baseball. I'd love to see him come up and wreak havoc on the base paths.
I really like Acuna. He seems like a player who could really stay a true 5 cat player and be fun to watch.
Barring injury or total fluke, Alonso is gonna annihilate the rookie HR record.
For any player playing in the current era, should we put asterisks beside everyone's names and blackball them from the HOF since the baseballs are manufactured to travel farther now? There are fuckin dude's hitting shit out of the park on damn near check swings these days. The minor leagues (maybe just Triple-A) switched to using MLB balls this year and home runs are pretty much double what they were a year ago this time.
If we're going to act like steroids was such a big fluke and ruined the integrity of the game, how is this any different?
You mentioned a "check swing".
Watch Aaron Judge's HR derby contest. He barely swung and popped up a few that were HR's.
When he got a hold of one though it was crushed.
Josh Hamilton and Mark McGwire have been my two fav HR Derby contenders over the years.
I could be wrong. But there are more bigger and stronger players nowadays.
Give McGwire and Hamilton this jacked up ball and I will disagree.
Every pop up goes out now.
Those 2 players were absolute beasts.
They will crush it. My point was there are probably more 2002 Barry Bonds size players than before.
I actually disagree w that. The boys in the 95-05 years were pretty damn big.
No more Frank Thomas, Fielder type guys in the league anymore. Cespedes maybe? Vlad Jr, yes. I can't think of another big hitter that big?
Again I could be wrong. I'm not gonna go through every player's height and weight. But overall I think there are more bigger players. And I'm including smaller guys who are big in muscle also.
I don't think there is much of a difference. The bigger (more muscular) players really started exploding in the 90's. No more guys like Strawberry, young Griffey Jr. and the Pittsburgh version of Bonds leading the homer leader boards. I am more interested in seeing how these guys play in to their 30's. All that extra mass plays hell on the joints. Even the big machine quickly took a dive in overall skill after he hit 32, but his homers mostly stayed unaffected. The DH saves a lot of careers these days.
What I miss is the lack of speed position players. Will there ever be another Ricky Henderson or Vince Coleman type player who is actually given enough playing time to reach 100 steals? Even in the early 90's we still had some pretty fast guys in the league, but it seems that skill is more of a novelty and even if someone is fast, they quickly quit stealing bases a few years in, especially after they've secured a bigger contract.
Trea Turner and Acuna Jr are two.
There is a player in the A's minor league system named Kevin Merrell that is the fastest player in baseball. I'd love to see him come up and wreak havoc on the base paths.
The Cubs had a guy in the early TheoJed years by the name of Tony Campana. That little fucker could fly!! In 2012 he stole 30 in 89 games. The year prior to that, he hit what was at the time the ONLY home run of his professional (minor or major league) career. An inside the parker down the left field line at Wrigley. He crossed home plate standing up. Unfortunately, he rarely hit the ball out of the infield (quite a few of his hits were beating out routine grounders) and his MLB career lasted only 257 games spread across 5 seasons between the Cubs, Dbacks, & Dodgers. But man, when he got on, it was fun to watch him run the basepath.
Barring injury or total fluke, Alonso is gonna annihilate the rookie HR record.
For any player playing in the current era, should we put asterisks beside everyone's names and blackball them from the HOF since the baseballs are manufactured to travel farther now? There are fuckin dude's hitting shit out of the park on damn near check swings these days. The minor leagues (maybe just Triple-A) switched to using MLB balls this year and home runs are pretty much double what they were a year ago this time.
If we're going to act like steroids was such a big fluke and ruined the integrity of the game, how is this any different?
You mentioned a "check swing".
Watch Aaron Judge's HR derby contest. He barely swung and popped up a few that were HR's.
When he got a hold of one though it was crushed.
Josh Hamilton and Mark McGwire have been my two fav HR Derby contenders over the years.
I could be wrong. But there are more bigger and stronger players nowadays.
Give McGwire and Hamilton this jacked up ball and I will disagree.
Every pop up goes out now.
Those 2 players were absolute beasts.
They will crush it. My point was there are probably more 2002 Barry Bonds size players than before.
I actually disagree w that. The boys in the 95-05 years were pretty damn big.
No more Frank Thomas, Fielder type guys in the league anymore. Cespedes maybe? Vlad Jr, yes. I can't think of another big hitter that big?
Again I could be wrong. I'm not gonna go through every player's height and weight. But overall I think there are more bigger players. And I'm including smaller guys who are big in muscle also.
I don't think there is much of a difference. The bigger (more muscular) players really started exploding in the 90's. No more guys like Strawberry, young Griffey Jr. and the Pittsburgh version of Bonds leading the homer leader boards. I am more interested in seeing how these guys play in to their 30's. All that extra mass plays hell on the joints. Even the big machine quickly took a dive in overall skill after he hit 32, but his homers mostly stayed unaffected. The DH saves a lot of careers these days.
What I miss is the lack of speed position players. Will there ever be another Ricky Henderson or Vince Coleman type player who is actually given enough playing time to reach 100 steals? Even in the early 90's we still had some pretty fast guys in the league, but it seems that skill is more of a novelty and even if someone is fast, they quickly quit stealing bases a few years in, especially after they've secured a bigger contract.
Trea Turner and Acuna Jr are two.
There is a player in the A's minor league system named Kevin Merrell that is the fastest player in baseball. I'd love to see him come up and wreak havoc on the base paths.
Barring injury or total fluke, Alonso is gonna annihilate the rookie HR record.
For any player playing in the current era, should we put asterisks beside everyone's names and blackball them from the HOF since the baseballs are manufactured to travel farther now? There are fuckin dude's hitting shit out of the park on damn near check swings these days. The minor leagues (maybe just Triple-A) switched to using MLB balls this year and home runs are pretty much double what they were a year ago this time.
If we're going to act like steroids was such a big fluke and ruined the integrity of the game, how is this any different?
You mentioned a "check swing".
Watch Aaron Judge's HR derby contest. He barely swung and popped up a few that were HR's.
When he got a hold of one though it was crushed.
Josh Hamilton and Mark McGwire have been my two fav HR Derby contenders over the years.
I could be wrong. But there are more bigger and stronger players nowadays.
Give McGwire and Hamilton this jacked up ball and I will disagree.
Every pop up goes out now.
Those 2 players were absolute beasts.
They will crush it. My point was there are probably more 2002 Barry Bonds size players than before.
I actually disagree w that. The boys in the 95-05 years were pretty damn big.
No more Frank Thomas, Fielder type guys in the league anymore. Cespedes maybe? Vlad Jr, yes. I can't think of another big hitter that big?
Again I could be wrong. I'm not gonna go through every player's height and weight. But overall I think there are more bigger players. And I'm including smaller guys who are big in muscle also.
I don't think there is much of a difference. The bigger (more muscular) players really started exploding in the 90's. No more guys like Strawberry, young Griffey Jr. and the Pittsburgh version of Bonds leading the homer leader boards. I am more interested in seeing how these guys play in to their 30's. All that extra mass plays hell on the joints. Even the big machine quickly took a dive in overall skill after he hit 32, but his homers mostly stayed unaffected. The DH saves a lot of careers these days.
What I miss is the lack of speed position players. Will there ever be another Ricky Henderson or Vince Coleman type player who is actually given enough playing time to reach 100 steals? Even in the early 90's we still had some pretty fast guys in the league, but it seems that skill is more of a novelty and even if someone is fast, they quickly quit stealing bases a few years in, especially after they've secured a bigger contract.
Trea Turner and Acuna Jr are two.
There is a player in the A's minor league system named Kevin Merrell that is the fastest player in baseball. I'd love to see him come up and wreak havoc on the base paths.
Kevin Merrell from USF?
Holy shit you know who he is?!?
I know who he is, don't really know much about him tho. Just know the name. He played against Florida State a couple times.
There was a poll on reddit regarding some baseball arguments which have no consensus answer. One of the questions was about the term batting "around the order" and whether it means 9 batters bat or 10 batters bat. About 2/3 of the responses were in favor or 10 batters. I'm in the 1/3 minority that believes batting around is 9 batters. If something happens "around the clock," that means 24 hours, not 25. What's everyone here think?
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Watch Aaron Judge's HR derby contest. He barely swung and popped up a few that were HR's.
When he got a hold of one though it was crushed.
Josh Hamilton and Mark McGwire have been my two fav HR Derby contenders over the years.
A stolen base, or dare to steal home is still friggin exciting!!!
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Every pop up goes out now.
Those 2 players were absolute beasts.
I don't like that the players get gassed. I've watched a few that got tired late but killed in the first rounds in years past.
The 10 swing format didn't grab everyones attention I guess?
To Tempo’s earlier point, I liked the 10 ball format a bit better to be honest.
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I like the time limit.
No more Frank Thomas, Fielder type guys in the league anymore. Cespedes maybe? Vlad Jr, yes. I can't think of another big hitter that big?
Also, Alonzo didn’t have to hit as many HR buuuttt he did pick the worst pitcher in HR derby history. Dude was throwing inside jam pitches and almost hit him a few times.
What I miss is the lack of speed position players. Will there ever be another Ricky Henderson or Vince Coleman type player who is actually given enough playing time to reach 100 steals? Even in the early 90's we still had some pretty fast guys in the league, but it seems that skill is more of a novelty and even if someone is fast, they quickly quit stealing bases a few years in, especially after they've secured a bigger contract.
There is a player in the A's minor league system named Kevin Merrell that is the fastest player in baseball. I'd love to see him come up and wreak havoc on the base paths.