A left turn in Houston | Baseball Prospectus

Transduce Por Fernando Battaglini

The stars decided not to write history this season. They could certainly have done that, but with one of their many transfers in the deadline for changes, they made sure they didn’t. Jesús Sánchez already adds 60 performances to the team with the team, and although they have been a nightmare – Batea .161/.217/.250, and his DRC+ from the exchange from Miami is only 83 – he does not have to play well to play well to play a new historical record. With Yordan Álvarez on the way back, it is almost certain that they will avoid it.

In 2022, the Blue Jays of the team benefited from only 30.7% of their visits to the court. That is the lowest registered figure, and thanks to the arrival of Sánchez and (ultimately) Álvarez for these stars, it will probably stay that way. Not long ago, however, that record was very threatened. Houston had already improved somewhat in July, but they still reached the deadline by having had the advantage of a platoon at 31.1% of the time. Since then, with Sánchez in the team and the ambitious Slagman Víctor Caratini who plays almost every day, they have had the team in their favor 40.3% of the time. Even with those two batters, however, their level will remain under that figure for the rest of the year. The team whose batters have had the second lower team advantage this year, Los Angels, came to 39.4%on Tuesday with that figure. The stars arrived with 32.3%; They are safe in the basement in the context of this season.

This is of course not automatically a serious problem. We live in the era in which the skills of the power and the dismissed are the most important engine of the offensive in most squadrons, and certain power strikes thrive against right -wing pitchers. The more we learn about the paths of the bat, the more we can believe that at least a few skilled batters will be both the right and pitchers and the left -they will have that neutral team power, has always been part of the identity of the stars, since the start of the José Altuve -Carlos Correa era. As demonstrated by the acquisition of Isaac Paredes This year (before his ischiotibial lesion that ended the season) his stadium also gives them some flexibility in this aspect. It is a great place to be a right batter, regardless of who is in the hill, not only because of the Crawford boxes in the left garden line, but because it is easy to reach the fences of the dirty post from the right garden to the powerful alley of the right middle, even in the opposite direction.

The Blue Jays, who hold this cult record, have almost accidentally reached it. They had Vladimir Guerrero Jr.” Bo Bichette” George Springer and Teoscar Hernández as the basis of his coordination, with Lourdes Gurriel Jr.” Alejandro Kirk y Matt Chapman As a relief. Part of this was due to the fact that his trained position of players (Kirk, Hernández) was formed on their farms, paid better than the left. Part of this (Chapman) was due to the selection of defense players who also bathe well. It wasn’t something that Ross Atkins And Mark Shapiro, transplanted from an organization of Cleveland who is constantly looking for Batting -Battings with the same consciousness as any other baseball team, left. In fact, they would exchange Gurriel immediately afterwards (already Gabriel Moreno) To Arizona for the left Dulton Varsho; They would be the last team that gives a chance Brandon Belt In the large competitions; and they would sign the Ambidiestro attached Anthony Santander With a remarkable contract.

On the other hand, this willingness to maximize the small benefits of purely talent in the workforce has been a distinctive seal of the team construction strategy during various management administrations. They were willing to risk the rookie Cam SmithAnd has been fixed in his coordination. His biggest signing as a free agent was this winter Christian WalkerA right -wing toleter. Houston has no problem with this; They believe that they can benefit more when they concentrate on the speed of bat and other internal indicators of players who, when they give their players one of the systematic but limited benefits of baseball more often.

Then why are they alternated on the deadline? Especially, to protect or to complicate the lifetime of this type of equipment and managers a bit (such as the tigers of this type of equipment and managers AJ HinchHe defeated Houston 1-0 with Shoveled On Tuesday evening and eliminated last fall) in the late season. Having Sanchez must allow the team to touch him and separate the team by one or two positions in the alignment, forcing the manager to wonder if it is possible to use the left to attack both, but that Dilemma complicates by submitting a dangerous right seizure. That depends on solving Sánchez, but the team does not need a star. Acquired Carlos Correa To fill the hole that has been left by walls and has restored his magic since he dressed Houston’s shirt again. They only need a small strategic change to prevent them from being exploited in a short series by an equipped bullity.

There is an interesting conclusion (although not surprising, if you think carefully) for fans who do not care about the perspectives of the stars to reach the play -offs. This failed attempt to determine a new minimum in the efficiency of the peloton, just three years after the previous one, is part of a trend in the entire competition. In general, the battery people enjoy the benefit of the peloton with less often than before. At first glance, this fact could be surprised, because the minimum of three batters must facilitate the managers to combat when their opponent uses a pitcher of the same hand during a specific part of the alignment. However, as we know, this rule was not only implemented as a gradual measure to improve the rhythm of the games, but to tackle an existing problem and that was worse.

The moment the openers worked much more in the competitions, especially in the 1980s, it was very unusual that a team attacked the squadron conditions less than 40% of the time. After the coordination of the day was configured, it probably had the benefits that you had planned for six or seven entries, instead of four or five. Moreover, there were six players on the couch every day at that time, so the emerging batting was less expensive and more expected. The emerging batting penalty was just a rumor, and most managers were afraid to miss the chance to make the best of a confrontation than to send to a cold batter. At the time there were also more ambitious batters; It was more logical to be amidiesto at a time when power was less appreciated, less taught and less crucial to score races.

The cardinals of 1985 and 1986 had the team advantage in about 84% of their performances on the record. They used amid skirts Tom Mr.” Ozzie Smith” Willie McGee” Vince Coleman y Terry PendletonBut they also had de facto balls in the right garden (Andy Van Slyke y Tito Landrum) and in the recipient (Darrell Porter y Tom not). They represent a historical end that would now be completely impossible, although they were even an atypical case at the time. The stars are the same antithesis of that team: they play in a park with shallow corners with the aim of connecting homers; They do not walk on the bases or do not touch the ball much; And they only have a bank with four men.

This is not necessarily bad, not even aesthetic. It can be argued in favor of the pleasure of making more emerging battle decisions and the collisions between managers, but the version of the game that practices the offensive of the stars – not only connect home runs, but cover the holes and are looking for balls when they succeed – it is explosively in their own way and very attractive. However, history is undoubtedly moving in a certain direction. If it is not this year’s Houston team that is more than 70% of the time to pitchers of the same hand, it could be next year, or another team in another city within five years. Despite a small correction of rules that are directly aimed at them, the pitchers get increasingly friendly collisions, and this will probably continue for a while. However, the more we study the forms of launches, swings and their interactions, the more we can leave the idea that obtaining the peloton advantage is the best way to play collisions.