Beat40 said:

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I guess the question is what if pitch 1 or 2 is the only pitch in the AB you could drive? The elite guys will throw whatever they want in whatever count they want. And they usually go 6 regardless of your approach.

I'm pro taking some pitches, but I also understand the idea of hit the best pitch against elite pitching, especially if you are a good-to-great hitter. Taking pitches might only cap their outing at 6 innings.

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txags92 said:

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Beat40 said:

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I guess the question is what if pitch 1 or 2 is the only pitch in the AB you could drive? The elite guys will throw whatever they want in whatever count they want. And they usually go 6 regardless of your approach.

I'm pro taking some pitches, but I also understand the idea of hit the best pitch against elite pitching, especially if you are a good-to-great hitter. Taking pitches might only cap their outing at 6 innings.

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Given Altuve's proclivities to swing away early in the count, I doubt any decent pitcher is throwing him anything worth hitting in those first couple of pitches. If they do, they are a fool. He seems to swing at a lot of fastballs way above the zone, and sliders way outside on P1. I wonder if statcast has the ability to tell us which team swings at the most pitches that would be called balls? I would bet we are way up there.

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cone said:

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consider for a moment that this team is really not that great

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Beat40 said:

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txags92 said:

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Beat40 said:

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I guess the question is what if pitch 1 or 2 is the only pitch in the AB you could drive? The elite guys will throw whatever they want in whatever count they want. And they usually go 6 regardless of your approach.

I'm pro taking some pitches, but I also understand the idea of hit the best pitch against elite pitching, especially if you are a good-to-great hitter. Taking pitches might only cap their outing at 6 innings.

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Given Altuve's proclivities to swing away early in the count, I doubt any decent pitcher is throwing him anything worth hitting in those first couple of pitches. If they do, they are a fool. He seems to swing at a lot of fastballs way above the zone, and sliders way outside on P1. I wonder if statcast has the ability to tell us which team swings at the most pitches that would be called balls? I would bet we are way up there.

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Check out the below. I set it to the entire league, all balls in play and strikeouts for everything outside of the zone.

There are some big names on the list. Astros have 2 in the top 10, Altuve (3) and Diaz (9). Ohtani is top 20. Outside of Altuve and Diaz, the next Astro on the list is Yordan at 40.

Astros are #5 at swinging at putting balls in play outside the zone. Lot of playoff teams in top 10, specifically 5-10.

Chases outside zone

Chases outside zone by team


I think the link below is the page you're really looking for. You can sort multiple columns - from chase, whiff, 1st pitch swinnging, etc. You can make numbers say whatever you want to say, but if you look at chase %, while the Astros are really high, there are some other solid playoff teams in the top 10. Also some in the lower 3rd. My takeaway is chasing is all over the board and not a great thing to base an offense off of.

Plate Discipline

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Astros are swapping relievers today. Shawn Dubin is coming up for Seth Martinez, who was optioned after last night’s game.

— Brian McTaggart (@brianmctaggart) September 24, 2024

EastCoastAgNc said:

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Astros are swapping relievers today. Shawn Dubin is coming up for Seth Martinez, who was optioned after last night’s game.

— Brian McTaggart (@brianmctaggart) September 24, 2024

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tjack16 said:

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I personally don't think we have enough to win 3 straight series to get to the World Series

I'd pick us against anybody in the wild card, and then I'd give us the slight edge over Cleveland just given our "been there done that" experience.

However unless there's an upset in an earlier round I don't see us out slugging New York or Baltimore in an ALCS. Especially if our offense does what it tends to do and not hit with RISP. Also our bullpen maybe has good stats but they've been making me very weary the past few weeks

My prediction would be losing the ALCS to either New York/Baltimore in 6 games

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txags92 said:

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Beat40 said:

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txags92 said:

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Beat40 said:

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I guess the question is what if pitch 1 or 2 is the only pitch in the AB you could drive? The elite guys will throw whatever they want in whatever count they want. And they usually go 6 regardless of your approach.

I'm pro taking some pitches, but I also understand the idea of hit the best pitch against elite pitching, especially if you are a good-to-great hitter. Taking pitches might only cap their outing at 6 innings.

---

Given Altuve's proclivities to swing away early in the count, I doubt any decent pitcher is throwing him anything worth hitting in those first couple of pitches. If they do, they are a fool. He seems to swing at a lot of fastballs way above the zone, and sliders way outside on P1. I wonder if statcast has the ability to tell us which team swings at the most pitches that would be called balls? I would bet we are way up there.

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Check out the below. I set it to the entire league, all balls in play and strikeouts for everything outside of the zone.

There are some big names on the list. Astros have 2 in the top 10, Altuve (3) and Diaz (9). Ohtani is top 20. Outside of Altuve and Diaz, the next Astro on the list is Yordan at 40.

Astros are #5 at swinging at putting balls in play outside the zone. Lot of playoff teams in top 10, specifically 5-10.

Chases outside zone

Chases outside zone by team


I think the link below is the page you're really looking for. You can sort multiple columns - from chase, whiff, 1st pitch swinnging, etc. You can make numbers say whatever you want to say, but if you look at chase %, while the Astros are really high, there are some other solid playoff teams in the top 10. Also some in the lower 3rd. My takeaway is chasing is all over the board and not a great thing to base an offense off of.

Plate Discipline

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When you sort that "chases outside zone by team" by percentage instead of raw #, we are only behind Miami in percentage chased outside the zone. We see fewer pitches than pretty much any other team and swing and miss at a higher percentage on pitches outside of the zone than anybody except Miami. Those metrics ought to get Cintron fired by themselves.

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txags92 said:

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Beat40 said:

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txags92 said:

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Beat40 said:

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I guess the question is what if pitch 1 or 2 is the only pitch in the AB you could drive? The elite guys will throw whatever they want in whatever count they want. And they usually go 6 regardless of your approach.

I'm pro taking some pitches, but I also understand the idea of hit the best pitch against elite pitching, especially if you are a good-to-great hitter. Taking pitches might only cap their outing at 6 innings.

---

Given Altuve's proclivities to swing away early in the count, I doubt any decent pitcher is throwing him anything worth hitting in those first couple of pitches. If they do, they are a fool. He seems to swing at a lot of fastballs way above the zone, and sliders way outside on P1. I wonder if statcast has the ability to tell us which team swings at the most pitches that would be called balls? I would bet we are way up there.

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Check out the below. I set it to the entire league, all balls in play and strikeouts for everything outside of the zone.

There are some big names on the list. Astros have 2 in the top 10, Altuve (3) and Diaz (9). Ohtani is top 20. Outside of Altuve and Diaz, the next Astro on the list is Yordan at 40.

Astros are #5 at swinging at putting balls in play outside the zone. Lot of playoff teams in top 10, specifically 5-10.

Chases outside zone

Chases outside zone by team


I think the link below is the page you're really looking for. You can sort multiple columns - from chase, whiff, 1st pitch swinnging, etc. You can make numbers say whatever you want to say, but if you look at chase %, while the Astros are really high, there are some other solid playoff teams in the top 10. Also some in the lower 3rd. My takeaway is chasing is all over the board and not a great thing to base an offense off of.

Plate Discipline

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When you sort that "chases outside zone by team" by percentage instead of raw #, we are only behind Miami in percentage chased outside the zone. We see fewer pitches than pretty much any other team and swing and miss at a higher percentage on pitches outside of the zone than anybody except Miami. Those metrics ought to get Cintron fired by themselves.

ETA: And having the 3rd highest chase % and highest first pitch swing % just paints the picture of an undisciplined set of batters to me. The fact that we swing that much at crap pitches, yet aren't highest in meatball swing % also suggests we aren't seeing enough pitches from a pitcher to know the difference. The real impact of watching pitches comes in either letting a pitcher with bad control give you free baserunners, or in later at bats, having seen all of his pitches, you know what you are looking for. When you get two outs on 3-4 pitches in your first 2 at bats against a guy, you still don't know what you are looking for when you see him again for the 3rd time.

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tjack16 said:

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I personally don't think we have enough to win 3 straight series to get to the World Series

I'd pick us against anybody in the wild card, and then I'd give us the slight edge over Cleveland just given our "been there done that" experience.

However unless there's an upset in an earlier round I don't see us out slugging New York or Baltimore in an ALCS. Especially if our offense does what it tends to do and not hit with RISP. Also our bullpen maybe has good stats but they've been making me very weary the past few weeks

My prediction would be losing the ALCS to either New York/Baltimore in 6 games

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cone said:

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just my opinion

they don't have the bats and the pen isn't deep enough

starting pitching is fine, good enough

top half of the order is fine

bottom half of the order is just woeful

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Beat40 said:

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tjack16 said:

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I personally don't think we have enough to win 3 straight series to get to the World Series

I'd pick us against anybody in the wild card, and then I'd give us the slight edge over Cleveland just given our "been there done that" experience.

However unless there's an upset in an earlier round I don't see us out slugging New York or Baltimore in an ALCS. Especially if our offense does what it tends to do and not hit with RISP. Also our bullpen maybe has good stats but they've been making me very weary the past few weeks

My prediction would be losing the ALCS to either New York/Baltimore in 6 games

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They good thing is you don't have to outslug them. You have to outpitch them. I'd put Astros pitching up against New York or Balitmore any day, especially the starters.

From there, it's timely hits. It's post-season baseball, anything can happen.

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Beat40 said:

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txags92 said:

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Beat40 said:

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txags92 said:

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Beat40 said:

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I guess the question is what if pitch 1 or 2 is the only pitch in the AB you could drive? The elite guys will throw whatever they want in whatever count they want. And they usually go 6 regardless of your approach.

I'm pro taking some pitches, but I also understand the idea of hit the best pitch against elite pitching, especially if you are a good-to-great hitter. Taking pitches might only cap their outing at 6 innings.

---

Given Altuve's proclivities to swing away early in the count, I doubt any decent pitcher is throwing him anything worth hitting in those first couple of pitches. If they do, they are a fool. He seems to swing at a lot of fastballs way above the zone, and sliders way outside on P1. I wonder if statcast has the ability to tell us which team swings at the most pitches that would be called balls? I would bet we are way up there.

---

Check out the below. I set it to the entire league, all balls in play and strikeouts for everything outside of the zone.

There are some big names on the list. Astros have 2 in the top 10, Altuve (3) and Diaz (9). Ohtani is top 20. Outside of Altuve and Diaz, the next Astro on the list is Yordan at 40.

Astros are #5 at swinging at putting balls in play outside the zone. Lot of playoff teams in top 10, specifically 5-10.

Chases outside zone

Chases outside zone by team


I think the link below is the page you're really looking for. You can sort multiple columns - from chase, whiff, 1st pitch swinnging, etc. You can make numbers say whatever you want to say, but if you look at chase %, while the Astros are really high, there are some other solid playoff teams in the top 10. Also some in the lower 3rd. My takeaway is chasing is all over the board and not a great thing to base an offense off of.

Plate Discipline

---

When you sort that "chases outside zone by team" by percentage instead of raw #, we are only behind Miami in percentage chased outside the zone. We see fewer pitches than pretty much any other team and swing and miss at a higher percentage on pitches outside of the zone than anybody except Miami. Those metrics ought to get Cintron fired by themselves.

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