MLB batting average near half-century low and velocity at all-time high

Perhaps the pitchers are that much better than they used to be.

There are specialty pitchers now who throw hard. It's not like the old middle innings reliever who didn't throw very hard but ate up innings. Almost all of these boys nowadays throw heat. Just imagine how low averages would be without the shift. But look at exit velocities of hood hitters and you'll see those guys are sending it back just as hot.

The same trend is happening in NPB only worse. Offence across the league has collapsed this year. There are all kinds of weird statistics as a result:

1) The Seibu Lions as a team are at risk of hitting under the Mendoza line (current team batting average is .206).

2) Ryosuke Kikuchi of the Hiroshima Carp is currently batting .212. That is good enough to put him in the top 20 in the batting title race in the Central League.

3) No player in either league is on track to hit 30 home runs this year (Kazuma Okamoto of the Giants has the most with just 16 in 84 games).

4) Likewise no player is on track to collect 100 RBI in either league (Okamoto leads with 52).

5) In the Central League no team other than the Baystars has a team batting average above .240.

6) The top 6 pitchers in each league qualified for the ERA title all have ERAs under 2.00

Let's set baseball's rocket scientists straight. It's real easy to see what is happening, really.

A starter goes out knowing he'll go 5, 6, 7 innings at most and then out. Even if he's got a no-hitter going, out after 7. All he has to do is flat-out hurl that potato up there. No need even to pace himself.

Same with the relievers. 1 inning, tops. K's are all that matter.

Then you have hitters swinging for home runs, knowing that if they get 30 HRs, 100 RBIs, and bat .232 with two hundred strike outs he can command his salary as a free agent. Hitters who have 5 HRs and bat .350 are of no value.

Throw hard, swing hard. No more .300 hitters, no more complete games, and baseball is reduced to a pretty boring level. But there is a strategy they can employ: throw even harder, swing even harder. At'll fix thangs.

Part of it may be the expansion of interleague play.

The more teams you play against, the more pitchers you're going to face -- but you'll be facing them less frequently, and oftentimes you'll be facing pitchers you've never faced before.

That is advantageous for the pitchers.

Back in the day when there were fewer teams in each league, and with no interleague play, you faced the same pitchers more frequently.

Also, it's much more common nowadays to bat against three or four different pitchers in the same game. In the past, when starters typically were left in the game longer, you would often bat against him three or even four times.

All of this has to have some effect on batting averages and strikeouts.

The same trend is happening in NPB only worse. Offence across the league has collapsed this year. There are all kinds of weird statistics as a result:

Very interesting stats rainyday; thanks.

Baseball batters can switch to cricket, which is becoming a batsman's game more and more.

Increasing fastball pitch speed makes other pitches even more difficult to hit. Off speed pitches are killers nowadays.

What amazes me about this articles is what they can actually measure these days:

Spin rates on sliders, sweepers and slurves have increased from 2,106 revolutions per minute in 2015 to 2,475

Ichiro’s first three seasons only one pitcher in eight threw above 93mph. His last three seasons it was one in three. Interesting, to me anyway, is that Babe Ruth never had a single season of 100 strikeouts.

The percentage of fastballs — four-seamers, sinkers and cutters — is 55.5% this year, just above last season’s 55.4%. It was 62.5% in 2015.

Spin rates on sliders, sweepers and slurves have increased from 2,106 revolutions per minute in 2015 to 2,475 this year and their use has increased from 10.9% to 22.5%.

Increasing speeds + spin rates = a lot more movement. Nobody just throws straight anymore

And nobody is afraid of blowing their elbows anymore neither. If they blow their elbows, they just get Tommy John surgery and come back again in a year's time like they never left. TJ surgery revolutionized pitching - pitchers can throw as devastating to their elbows as they can, get excellent stats, earn sky-high contracts, and not worry about losing money by blowing their elbows. 1 in 4 pitchers nowadays are expected to go thru TJ surgery - it's becoming an expected part of the occupation