MLB 2025 Season

HesCalledDyer

tempo_n_groove said:

So the HR derby.

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.

cutz

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.

HesCalledDyer

cutz said:

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.

igotid88

tempo_n_groove said:

igotid88 said:

tempo_n_groove said:

HesCalledDyer said:

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.

tbergs

HesCalledDyer said:

cutz said:

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.

I really like the idea. 

igotid88

I remember when the NL was the dominant team at the All Star game. 

tempo_n_groove

igotid88 said:

tempo_n_groove said:

igotid88 said:

tempo_n_groove said:

HesCalledDyer said:

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?

igotid88

tempo_n_groove said:

igotid88 said:

tempo_n_groove said:

igotid88 said:

tempo_n_groove said:

HesCalledDyer said:

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.

Jason P

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. 

tbergs

igotid88 said:

tempo_n_groove said:

igotid88 said:

tempo_n_groove said:

igotid88 said:

tempo_n_groove said:

HesCalledDyer said:

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.

Cliffy6745

tbergs said:

igotid88 said:

tempo_n_groove said:

igotid88 said:

tempo_n_groove said:

igotid88 said:

tempo_n_groove said:

HesCalledDyer said:

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?

tbergs

Cliffy6745 said:

tbergs said:

igotid88 said:

tempo_n_groove said:

igotid88 said:

tempo_n_groove said:

igotid88 said:

tempo_n_groove said:

HesCalledDyer said:

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!

tempo_n_groove

tbergs said:

igotid88 said:

tempo_n_groove said:

igotid88 said:

tempo_n_groove said:

igotid88 said:

tempo_n_groove said:

HesCalledDyer said:

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.

tbergs

tempo_n_groove said:

tbergs said:

igotid88 said:

tempo_n_groove said:

igotid88 said:

tempo_n_groove said:

igotid88 said:

tempo_n_groove said:

HesCalledDyer said:

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.

HesCalledDyer

tempo_n_groove said:

tbergs said:

igotid88 said:

tempo_n_groove said:

igotid88 said:

tempo_n_groove said:

igotid88 said:

tempo_n_groove said:

HesCalledDyer said:

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?

HesCalledDyer

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.

tempo_n_groove

HesCalledDyer said:

tempo_n_groove said:

tbergs said:

igotid88 said:

tempo_n_groove said:

igotid88 said:

tempo_n_groove said:

igotid88 said:

tempo_n_groove said:

HesCalledDyer said:

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?!?

HesCalledDyer

tempo_n_groove said:

HesCalledDyer said:

tempo_n_groove said:

tbergs said:

igotid88 said:

tempo_n_groove said:

igotid88 said:

tempo_n_groove said:

igotid88 said:

tempo_n_groove said:

HesCalledDyer said:

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.

HesCalledDyer

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?

Cliffy6745

10 means the guy who started the inning gets a second at bat, right?  That's the correct answer haha.