Think Differently

Baseball is a thinking mans game, but sometimes the thought process doesn't exactly make sense. The traditional way to evaluate players with your eyes is dying out and evaluating players with mathematics is on the rise. I think of the game on its most basic level. The point of baseball is to score more runs than the other team. I always put emphasis on pitching, because you cannot win if you cannot score.

The other day I heard one of the most ridiculous things baseball related in a while regarding Diamond Backs starting pitcher Wade Miley. I don't know where the YES Broadcaster was reading it from, but an article said that for Wade Miley 2012 is as good as it gets. The article emphasis Miley's 17% strikeout rate. The part that got me upset was the fact that the article said Miley's 17% strikeout rate barely cuts it for a starter. I'll explain why this makes no sense. Whether this is true or I'm just hearing things, I'll explain my thinking.

The first point I will make is an obvious one yet no one seems to understand it. We as fans have fallen in love with the strikeout, but for starting pitchers it isn't a necessity and almost always irrelevent. It takes a minimum of three pitches to strikeout a hitter. It takes a minimum of one pitch to get a hitter out in any other way. Remember the point of a starter is to pitch deep into the game and to do it well. The fewer pitches used, the further a pitcher can go before he is fatigued.

The second point I will make is the quantity of outs. A strikeout can only get you one out at a time, while a contact out (i.e. a ground ball) can get you multiple outs, two or possibly even three... on one pitch. Do I need to explain that any further. It's common sense. two or three outs is better than one out.

The third point I will make is regarding hits. I do not care how many hits you give up. Going back to the basic principle of the game, to score more runs than the other team. If the players who get the hits don't score, does it matter? Think about it as long as the pitcher isn't using a lot of pitches and laboring through the game as long as the runs don't score, it doesn't matter how many guys get hits or get on base for that matter. You can give up three singles and then get a pop up, and a ground ball and not allow any runs to score and only use five pitches in the inning. Makes enough sense.

 "Barely cuts it as a starter." These words ticked me off. It is only logical for a reliever to specialize in strikeouts! A bases loaded jam in the 8th inning with zero outs. What do you want? A strikeout. Would you bring in Miley with a 17% strikeout rate or Kimbrel with a 50%+ strikeout rate? In this case contact is bad. Any type of contact is a very high risk of scoring a run. A sac fly, ground ball to a middle infielder, a hit, etc scores a run. So why would Miley barely cut it as a starter if he can't get strikeouts?

Just think of the game on a basic level. We love strikeouts, they are entertaining, but they are not necessary for starters. Pitching to contact is a more efficient and sometimes more effective way of getting outs and going further in the game. I'll make a post about thinking on the basic level for hitters soon enough.