Four Players with 10+ HR on June 1

[Angelsjunky]

The Angels now have four players with double digit HR by the end of June 1: Trout with 14, La Stella and Calhoun with 12 each, and Pujols with 10.

Looking at the last couple decades, they haven't had more than two players with 10+ HR on June since 2004 when they had three. You have to go back to 2000 to find as many or more than 2019: The Angels had five players with 10+ HR on June 1 (Glaus, Vaugh, Salmon, Anderson, Erstad). That was the year they had four players finish with 30+ HR.

By July 1, the Angels could theoretically have six players in double digits, with Lucroy at 7 HR and Goodwin with 6.

 

 

[Taylor]

It seems like everyone in baseball has 10+ home runs this season.

[ten ocho recon scout]

1 minute ago, Bumpy Grimes said:

It seems like everyone in baseball has 10+ home runs this season.

Beat me to it. Just mentioning that to a buddy last night. You almost have to look at 30 home runs now like the steroid era. 30 is cool, but 45 is a slugger.

Ball is definitely jumping out this year.

Batting average is dipping. Seems like .240 is the norm. .240 with 25 home run power basically.

[Angels_Make_Me_Drink]

Balls are definitely juiced this year. May saw the MLB record for HR's league wide. 

[tomsred]

50 minutes ago, Angels_Make_Me_Drink said:

Balls are definitely juiced this year. May saw the MLB record for HR's league wide. 

I think it is more a factor of pitchers pitching up in the zone with fastballs looking for strikeouts.  

[Angelsjunky]

OK, fair enough. 81 players with 10+ HR, Angels have 4 of them. The average would be 2.7 per team, so at least they're above average.

[Angelsjunky]

Just a bit of research. The median HR total for qualifying batters in 2018 was 20...meaning, 20 HR is now average power for a regular position player...at least last year. I think it might even trend upward a bit this year, but power had already gone up last year. The median SLG in 2018 was .439. So average power is 20 HR, .439 SLG.

This year the median SLG for qualifiers is .462, so it seems to have gone up. For context, five years ago in 2014, the median was 14 HR and .408 SLG.

[Blarg]

Yesterday there were people in the gameday thread cussing Heaney for giving up two. 

[Claude]

We have 78 total team home runs which is very good. The problem is that our pitching has given up 95.

[Amazing Larry]

7 hours ago, Angels_Make_Me_Drink said:

Balls are definitely juiced this year. May saw the MLB record for HR's league wide. 

Five Thirty Eight says the balls have changed.

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/juiced-baseballs/

[eligrba]

8 hours ago, Bumpy Grimes said:

It seems like everyone in baseball has 10+ home runs this season hit off of Harvey and Cahill.

fify

[eligrba]

27 minutes ago, Calzone 2 said:

We have 78 total team home runs which is very good. The problem is that our pitching has given up 95.

Harvey=11HR

Cahill=16 HR

Stratton=6 HR

Pena=8 HR

Skaggs=8 HR

These pitchers have also combined to pitch only 234 innings out of 513 innings to this point.

Let that sink in............

[Second Base]

I don't mean to sound like a conspiracy theorist, but I'm just not sure it's a coincidence that after the strike of 94, and fans leave the game behind in droves, that we suddenly have an era of baseball where the most sacred records are being challenged. Suddenly the game is more drama filled and interesting than ever before and the fans return. 

Fast forward to 2017-ish, among an era featuring less offense than ever before, lagging game times, less compelling baseball, attendance for games begins to plummet. Then all of a sudden, out of nowhere hitters have suddenly learned to hit the ball further than ever before, even during the steroid era.

Home runs = more butts in seats. 

It all comes down to money. MLB is willing to sacrifice its own statistical legitimacy to remain relevant. They've sold out, and now we live in the juiced-ball era. 30 HR's doesn't mean jack-squat anymore thanks to Manfred, the same idiot that popped off about Mike Trout not doing enough to market himself. 

It's criminal.

 

[greginpsca]

In 1972 the Angels had only 2 players with over 10 hr's.  Bob Oliver had 19 and Leroy Stanton had 12. 1973 had Oliver with 18 and Frank Robinson with 30. Back in the "Tanana and Ryan and then start crying" days.

[Claude]

1 hour ago, Second Base said:

I don't mean to sound like a conspiracy theorist, but I'm just not sure it's a coincidence that after the strike of 94, and fans leave the game behind in droves, that we suddenly have an era of baseball where the most sacred records are being challenged. Suddenly the game is more drama filled and interesting than ever before and the fans return. 

Fast forward to 2017-ish, among an era featuring less offense than ever before, lagging game times, less compelling baseball, attendance for games begins to plummet. Then all of a sudden, out of nowhere hitters have suddenly learned to hit the ball further than ever before, even during the steroid era.

Home runs = more butts in seats. 

It all comes down to money. MLB is willing to sacrifice its own statistical legitimacy to remain relevant. They've sold out, and now we live in the juiced-ball era. 30 HR's doesn't mean jack-squat anymore thanks to Manfred, the same idiot that popped off about Mike Trout not doing enough to market himself. 

It's criminal.

 

So would a 70hr Mike Trout season ever be taken seriously enough that everyone here jumps in @tdawg87‘s bunk. 

[Billy_Ball]

20 years later the 1992 Angels had only 2 players with 10+ HR.  Gary Gaetti had 12 and Chad Curtis had 10.

[Stradling]

3 hours ago, Blarg said:

Yesterday there were people in the gameday thread cussing Heaney for giving up two. 

This is such a great post.  

[AngelsLakersFan]

3 hours ago, Second Base said:

I don't mean to sound like a conspiracy theorist, but I'm just not sure it's a coincidence that after the strike of 94, and fans leave the game behind in droves, that we suddenly have an era of baseball where the most sacred records are being challenged. Suddenly the game is more drama filled and interesting than ever before and the fans return. 

Fast forward to 2017-ish, among an era featuring less offense than ever before, lagging game times, less compelling baseball, attendance for games begins to plummet. Then all of a sudden, out of nowhere hitters have suddenly learned to hit the ball further than ever before, even during the steroid era.

Home runs = more butts in seats. 

It all comes down to money. MLB is willing to sacrifice its own statistical legitimacy to remain relevant. They've sold out, and now we live in the juiced-ball era. 30 HR's doesn't mean jack-squat anymore thanks to Manfred, the same idiot that popped off about Mike Trout not doing enough to market himself. 

It's criminal.

 

I don't think its a conspiracy theory. Im pretty sure fangraphs and 538's research has proven that this is the case. 

[Second Base]

2 hours ago, Calzone 2 said:

So would a 70hr Mike Trout season ever be taken seriously enough that everyone here jumps in @tdawg87‘s bunk. 

Trout played before the ball was juiced. We know 30-40 HR's is legitimate from him. But HR specific hitters like Gallo or Judge? Yeah they might.

[Taylor]

33 minutes ago, AngelsLakersFan said:

I don't think its a conspiracy theory. Im pretty sure fangraphs and 538's research has proven that this is the case. 

In before someone says 538 is fake news because of the 2016 election.

[Rico]

4 players with 10 or more homeruns and none of them are Ohtani or Upton. 

[Blarg]

Not sure what the intent of that post was. 

[ten ocho recon scout]

7 hours ago, Billy_Ball said:

20 years later the 1992 Angels had only 2 players with 10+ HR.  Gary Gaetti had 12 and Chad Curtis wanted a 10 year old

 

[ScottT]

9 hours ago, Lhalo said:

Five Thirty Eight says the balls have changed.

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/juiced-baseballs/

Interesting, but I don't care.

Unless someone discovers that the balls at Yankee Stadium were made differently than the ones at Petco Park, I don't care.   Even then, I'm not so sure. Unless they switch baseballs every half inning.

A lot of people were/are butthurt over steroids and home run records, but baseball has changed many times in its history.  There are differences in training, ballparks, nutrition, inclusion, lighting, umpiring, the mound, I'd be curious to compare baseballs throughout the decades. I'm sure there are a lot of differences.

[ScottT]

I remember reading something about rule changes for bats a few years ago making a big difference.  Those have changed over the years, too.