Watched a little of the All-Star game and I was taken back that he is only hitting .211 but has 26 HRs. I get that hitting has changed and everyone is just trying to hit HRs now but wasnt that supposed to change with the shift rules? He has 26 HRs and only 38 other hits which arent HRs. That's a little ridiculous. Failing 80% of the time and being an All-Star is insane. Baseball is goofy AF
OT: Pete Alonso
- Thread starter Sean Miller Fan
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If you think that’s crazy look at Kyle Schwarber’s career numbers. 30% of his hits have been HRs.
Pedro Alvarez was ahead of his time. Might only hit a buck ninety, but he'll give you 30+ yard shots if given a full season of at-bats.
He was especially ahead of his time if they keep making these bases bigger. If first ever becomes 12 feet × 20 feet, most of his throws will have been right on the money.
He was especially ahead of his time if they keep making these bases bigger. If first ever becomes 12 feet × 20 feet, most of his throws will have been right on the money.
Came here to say the same thing, minus the bases
. He missed out by a few years!
Adam Dunn had a .237 career average and 462 HR’s. He was well before my time but Dave Kingman had similar figures too. So Pedro was just a poor man’s version of those guys when it came to batting I suppose.
Yinz are forgetting about Rob Deer and Mickey Tettleton. They weren't as "all or nothing" as Alonso. And Deer wasn't an all-star. But they both were basically on the roster solely for their ability to hit the long ball. No other reason.
I could be wrong, but I don't recall Mike Diaz ever hitting more than around 20 HR in a season.
What are the shot conversion rates in hockey and soccer?
I don't know it myself, but I suspect that it ain't pretty. Failing 80% of the time yet still considered successful is not uncommon in many sports.
Yeah. I was thinking about Kingman when watching Suwinsky. I can’t remember Kingman much because I was a little kid, but I would think Suwinsky is more of a plus player in the field.
Mickey Tettleton was one of the first batting stances I used to emulate as a kid. Used to love watching highlights on Sports Center, before they decided they'd rather try bullying people agreeing with their politics. Cecil Fielder hitting jacks on the roof or out of the stadium was a particular favorite.
so frustrating, looked like he was going to be the next big star during that brief playoff run between 2013-2015. Could probably live with the strikeouts but his glove went totally south.
Nah. He was not even that good. But that is totally what he was on the Pirates for. That and the gangster music Vince Lascheid would play for him when he stepped to the plate. Me and the other 135 people at the game at 3 Rivers really loved that.
I thought for sure he would latch on as a DH. And I still don't get it, honestly. In 2016, he hit .249 with 22 home runs in 337 AB's. If I extrapolate that to the most at-bats he's had in a season in Pittsburgh (a fairly modest 558), he gives you 37 home runs. Who wouldn't want that? And then he only ever got 143 at-bats after that season. I don't get it. Maybe he was breaking down physically or something.
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He couldn't play defense and he couldn't hit lefties. There isn't much appetite for a platoon DH only player. His hitting agaisnt righties wasn't THAT good to justify a roster spot with all his other limitations. I actually think Pedro was a few years too late, not too early. Back when pitching staffs were smaller teams might have kept a guy like him as a pinch hitting specialist- nowadays benches are smaller and bullpen are bigger so your bench guys need to be versatile.
Well pitchers are still 75% right-handed. Even if you only have him in the starting lineup against righties and have to pinch hit for him frequently in the late innings, that's still a decent amount of at-bats. Look at some of the dredge the Pirates have had on the roster.
Not saying you're wrong, but that's just me thinking out loud, I guess. I would value a dude who could hit the ball out any time he's up pretty highly.
pittdan77
Athletic Director
I often wonder how Mike Diaz would be viewed in today's baseball because he was the textbook definition of "warning track power.". He'd probably have 40 home runs and would be making huge money.
I yearn for the days of guys who were just good slap hitters who could lay down a sacrifice bunt and had some range on defense.
I yearn for the days of guys who were just good slap hitters who could lay down a sacrifice bunt and had some range on defense.
Decreasing the downside of trying to pull everything for a home run by eliminating the shift was in no way, shape or form going to stop people from trying to pull everything for a home run.
And that was obvious from the first time anyone had the idea.
He was even worse than that, in about 19 of 20 at bats he didn’t even make contact. But in those mid to late 80s debacle seasons, with his dramatic stride to the plate, with the music playing, he was about the only entertainment factor the team had, if you don’t count the scandalous news headlines of the drug trials.
I think Adam Dunn was different because he drew a bunch of walks. His career OBP is 60 points higher than Pedro and Kingman.
pittdan77
Athletic Director
Game was played differently. Guys went up to the plate to swing the bat and pitchers weren't afraid to put the ball in play so they didn't concern themselves with painting the corners as much. Ball wasn't juiced, either, so they didn't have to worry about a ball in the air carrying off of a broken bat.
Pete Alonso is what he is, a HR hitter. He is not there to .300, he is on the Mets because he can hit 35+ HR's a year and drive in 100+ runs. The Pirates had a very similar type of player in Pedro Alvarez, that they ruined. Actually, the Pirates have a player on their current roster right now who could produce Alonso like numbers if given the opportunity, named Jack Suwinski.
Give me the power guy all day long and I will win more then I lose.
Also, I think that they should have left the MLB teams play their players wherever they wanted to play them. I mean, you are a professional baseball player. You have former MLB players as hitting coaches and you mean to tell me that, as a MLB player you are unable to figure out how to hit the ball away from the shift???
Dave Kingman was not before my time. He hit the two longest HRs I ever saw hit in Forbes Field. One almost hit the top of the flagpole in center field and was still rising. They didn’t have statistics for exit velocity and launch angle back then, but when he hit them, they went out very quickly and at high altitude.
How did baseball manage to survive without the fans knowing exit velocities and launch angles? And no walk up music! It was really a challenge for us in those days, wasn’t it.
Vince Lascheid (the old Three Rivers Stadium organist) had some pretty creative walk up music, but not the canned stuff you hear these days.
The two hardest hit baseballs I was present at the game for:
Dave Parker, circa 1977, against the Dodgers … smoked a line drive dead center field, it never rose enough to go over the fence, it smashed directly into the center field fence on a line, caromed back wildly to about the middle of the outfield. This drew all three outfielders plus the 2b and SS into a tizzy and all of them chased after the ball. Consequently there was nobody to handle the standard retrieval, the cut off throw, relay etc. All the while, Parker was flying around the base paths, as he was very fast at that time, and scored fairly easily; it was (correctly) recorded as a HR. Pretty cool.
Many years later, sometime in the 90s I was at 3 Rivers as Orlando Merced (there’s a name from obscurity) launched a monster HR of the more standard variety, to right field…got out of the field like lightening and was still rising as it hit a pillar and ricocheted back onto field. It occurred so fast it was not immediately apparent it had happened. You heard the crack, a pop as it hit the pillar, and then saw the ball bouncing on the field. That caused some uncertainty but they ultimately ruled it a HR.
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