Chamberlain: How to approach power after 2016’s historic spike

From Alex Chamberlain at The Hardball Times on March 6, 2017:

Explaining last year’s historic home run surge is an arduous and dubious task. Understanding it, or at least acknowledging it, however, is imperative to crafting your approach to the 2017 season. Never before had major league players hit home runs in at least three percent of plate appearances. (The previous record, set during the heart of the alleged Steroid Era, clocked in at 2.992 percent.)

Many have tried to solve the puzzle, including the Ringer’s Ben Lindbergh and Rob Arthur, to little avail. They outlined the prevailing hypotheses as of July 10, 2016, both their own and of others, both debunked and outstanding; there are so many that you’re better off climbing down the rabbit hole and getting lost in the prognosticating for yourself. But the results, by and large: nada.

I’ll re-investigate these claims briefly in an attempt to understand the inputs to 2016’s outputs. But I’ll devote more digital breath to simply digesting the outputs, understanding the implications as they stand, and evaluating how they might, or perhaps should, affect how you coordinate your strategies for your upcoming 2017 drafts.

Read the full article here: http://www.hardballtimes.com/how-to-approach-power-after-2016s-historic-spike/



Originally published: March 6, 2017. Last Updated: March 6, 2017.