Out of Left Field - Week 12

May 5, 2023

May 05, 2023

Hello from one of our loyal reader’s homes in Park City, Utah.

The Yankees are in last place, the pirates are unstoppable, I can’t stop watching Wake Forest pitch and BOY OH BOY do we have a lot to talk about next week with the University of Alabama baseball scandal.

Shall we scroll down? We shall

Quote of the Week

“I do love a locker room, it smells like potential” - Ted Lasso

Something To Know - Why is Everyone Hitting the Ball Harder?

From Nerds to Boomers, the word “Exit Velocity” is hot in the streets. Exit velocity is the speed of a baseball as it comes off a bat immediately after contact. As you can expect, hard-hit balls have higher exit velocities than dribbles.

Thanks to MLB Statcast, all of this data is easy to obtain. Below are the MLB Exit Velocity numbers for about a quarter of the 2022 season.

Big Takeaways:

The harder you hit the ball, the more likely you are to get a hit
The harder you hit the ball, the more extra-base hits you
95mph is the real barrier for what is a “hard” hit.

A better visualization is that if you want to hit for extra bases, it behooves you to hit the ball harder. Yes, I did make this chart and I’m very proud of it.

Things You Should Know: Major League Baseball

In a great article this week via The Athletic’s Jayson Stark broke down how we’re looking four weeks into MLB’s new rules. Baseball’s new rules Q&A: Early MLB metrics, minor-league experiments, robot umps in 2024?

Is the Pitch Clock Working?

NINE-INNING Games Under 2 hours and 30 minutes
2023 — 109
2022* — 11
(*at same stage of season)
NINE-INNING Games 3 hours and 30 minutes or Longer
2023 — 1
2022* — 39

The pitch clock is the best invention since the Designated Hitter and everyone should on the same page. Playing baseball fast (under 3 hours) allows the game to be a real family affair any day of the week.

The average game time hovers around 2 hours and 34 minutes and folks, I just saw Guardians of the Galaxy pt.3 and that movie was longer than any baseball game I’ve watched this year.

Mike Trout > Chris Pratt

I really like Chris Pratt too.

Things You Should Know: Minor League Baseball

Last year’s #1 pick in the MLB Draft, Jackson Holliday, son of 15-year MLB veteran Matt Holliday, was promoted to High-A last week.

Nick, why in the heck should I care? Well, you should care because he only played around 30 total games at Low-A before getting the call to move up. The average age of hitters in Low-A is 21 years of age. The average age of hitters in High-A is 22.5 years of age. Jackson Holliday is 19 years old(!!).

The Orioles already came into the season with the best minor league system in baseball, and honestly, they may have been the best without Holliday. It’s not unreasonable to think we will see Holliday in the big leagues as a September call-up in 2024, when he will be 20 years old, or on Opening Day 2025, when he will be 21 years old.

Youth in baseball is awesome and the face of the youth movement now, is Holliday.

Things You Should Know: College Baseball

While most people think about the Transfer Portal as a way for high-profile collegiate football and basketball players to jump ship between Power-5 programs, there is another use for the Transfer Portal. That other use is to put Division 3 players on the map!

Here is a list of former Division 3 players making some NOISE in the Division 1 game this year

Speaking of D3 Baseball(!)

Current Record: 15-5 (3-1 Last Week)

Did Nick Have Fun Watching Baseball Last Weekend?

#20 Duke at #13 Virginia: - G1: 17-5 (DUKE), G2: 10-2 (UVA), G3: 7-3 (DUKE)
Prediction: Duke takes two out of three with the help of a few D3’ers.
Reality: Is Duke about to host a regional? Chris Pollard deserves more than ACC Coach of the Year if he turns around last year’s team (22-32 Overall Record, 10-20 in ACC play), into a regional host. The Rankings are going to be wild this week.
UCLA at #8 Stanford: - G1: 6-5 (STAN), G2: 9-6 (UCLA), G3: 10-7 (UCLA)
Prediction: UCLA takes the series and Stanford’s team GPA remains high.
Reality: For another week, Stanford remains “good”. Almost a perfect week and as Brian O’Connor once said:
R.I.P. Paul Walker
Florida State at Notre Dame: - G1: 3-2 (FSU), G2: 12-2 (ND), G3: 12-8 (ND)
Prediction: Rough Homecoming for Link - Notre Dame takes the series in those ugly, ugly uniforms.
Reality: Notre Dame keeps winning and is very soon going to have their names in postseason contention. Florida State, for maybe the first time ever(?), will finish with the worst record out of all ACC teams.
Tulane at #12 East Carolina: - G1: 11-10 (ECU), G2: 8-0 (TUL), G3: 8-6 (ECU)
Prediction: ECU wins the series. (gosh, I really hope they win)
Reality: Bang! It’s more and more likely that ECU will host a regional. Those poor opposing teams must embark to Greeneville, NC, and listen to those WILD fans.

Division 1 College Baseball Games to Watch This Weekend

This week is going to be a theme. We’re going to highlight the teams fighting like heck for a chance to host a regional.

Oklahoma at #12 West Virginia: The Mountaineers come into the weekend with a real chance to get a Top-8 seed in the coming weeks and a sweep of a pretty good Oklahoma team helps them get there. West Virginia being good at sports is good for everyone.
Prediction: West Virginia Sweeps and is in a perfect position for a bad weekend from one of our fringe 7-11th ranked teams.
#18 Tennessee at Georgia: Tennessee falls into the category of being “Hotter than the sun” and while their fall from grace was hard to watch, their ascension into a Top 16 seed for the playoffs is equally enjoyable.
Prediction: Tennessee rolls over Georgia at home and walks themselves back into the Top-15 while also ruining Georgia’s playoff chances
#19 Boston College at #2 Wake Forest: Boston College, I am talking directly to you. I need you to host a regional. I live very close and I would like to attend. You cannot host a regional if you don’t win this series. I know Wake is better than you, I do, but I need your best effort.
Prediction: …..Wake Forest is going to harm Boston College. BC may not score all weekend against the Wake pitching staff
Butler at Georgetown: Mid-Major Love. All 100 of you that read this newsletter are Georgetown fans this weekend. We need the Hoyas in the playoffs and that means we need a clean sweep of Butler. Butler Baseball does not have a Gordon Heyward playing Center Field so this can actually happen. Additionally, Georgetown has the best pitcher you’ve never heard of?
Prediction: Georgetown takes three games and I remain happy for another week.