OPINION: MLB’s Offensive Problem


 

 

Major League Baseball has an offensive problem, and it is not White Sox designated hitter Yermín Mercedes swinging away at a 3-0 pitch for a home run in the ninth inning of a 15-4 ballgame.

In fact, that swing only helped address the actual biggest problem in baseball right now, the lowest league-wide batting average in the history of the game. As of games played through last Thursday, the league-wide average was .236, which according to Baseball Reference is lower than any baseball season in the 150-year recorded history of the sport. The closest comparable years are in 1968 when the league average was .237, and 1888 and 1908 when the average was .239.

As of the writing of this column, there have already been six no-hitters this season, with Spencer Turnbull of the Tigers and Corey Kluber of the Yankees being the latest to throw a no-no on a list that also includes: Joe Musgrove of the Padres, Carlos Rodon of the White Sox, John Means of the Orioles and Wade Miley of the Reds. Madison Bumgarner allowed no hits in a seven-inning game of a doubleheader as well, but that was not counted as an official no-hitter. The record for a single season is eight in 1884, and we have seen seven no-no’s in the 1990, 1991, 2012 and 2015 seasons.

As for what is exactly the cause of this dearth of offense, opinions vary.

Some point to an alteration of the baseball prior to the start of this year that reduced the coefficient of restitution (COR), or more basically the bounciness of the ball in an attempt to reduce home runs. Others think the analytics are to blame for the increased emphasis on shifts defensively and launch angle offensively that have superseded the old mantra of “hitting it where they ain’t.”

My friend Jimmy, who thinks it is past time to just let hitters use steroids again. Others think the solution may be in moving back the pitcher’s mound to compensate for increased pitch velocity in recent years.

Perhaps it is an amalgamation of several of these factors, but even pitchers are beginning to see the lack of offense in games as an issue. Los Angeles Dodgers future Hall of Fame pitcher Clayton Kershaw said as much last week after Kluber threw the second no-hitter in as many days last week.

“No-hitters are cool and I have all the respect in the world for Corey Kluber and (Madison Bumgarner) and all those guys that have thrown no-hitters,” Kershaw said last Wednesday night, according to the Los Angeles Daily News. “But to have one happen every night…it’s probably not good for the game.

“Fans want to see some hits, I get that, and some action and not many people striking out,” Kershaw added. “So I appreciate the attempt that MLB has tried to do, but I think it seems like they missed the mark so far.”

Until a change or changes are made, Major League Baseball appears destined to set new marks in offensive futility that no one seems to want the sport to reach.

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