Your Thoughts Exactly

Mark Bellhorn is the consummate sabrmetric player: he is only batting .263, but 78 walks has led his OBP to be .373. Combine that with a .450 slugging percentage and you got yourself a 800 plus OPS second baseman. Other characteristics of Bellhorn’s game fit the sabrmetric underrated ballplayer profile. He makes his share of errors and isn’t the greatest at turning the double play, but zone ratings show he isn’t that bad a defensive player. He strikes out a ton, 148 times, which draws the ire of the common fan, while the statistical crowd hollers that strikeouts don’t matter; they are just the same as a Ball-in-Play out unless there is a man on third with less than two outs, and strikeouts keep Bellhorn from hitting into double plays.

Here is my problem with Bellhorn; I agree that he has tailored his game around exploiting his one strength; reading pitches for balls and strikes, in order to maximize his value as a player. But I hate watching him play. I believe that his style of play, and that of players like Scott Hatteberg whom the statisticians cream over, is antithetical to the originally philosophy of baseball, where the goal of the batter was to “get a hit.” A walk used to be viewed as a penalty to a pitcher for being wild. Over time, it was realized that a more effective way to score runs was to concentrate on “getting on base,” as opposed to just “getting a hit,” thus for players like Bellhorn, they are more effective if they stand at the plate, bat on shoulder, hoping their plate discipline can lead to them getting a high amount of walks and thus increasing their value as players. Sure that might mean he strikes out looking 50-75 times a year, but the extra walks are worth the frustrating At Bats.

Well as a fan, let me say, watching these players, sucks. When I come back from a game at Fenway, I never say to myself, “Man, I may have paid 60 dollars for a seat I can’t fit into, for the privilege of having a fucking pole blocking my view of the pitcher’s mound, but at least I got to see Mark Bellhorn go 0 for 2 with 2 walks! I love baseball!” I want to see action. I want to see hits, and stolen bases, and sac bunts because they are exciting plays, and I want to be entertained. If I want to watch some dope stand at the plate and watch the ball go buy, I’ll watch cricket. I respect the walk when a pitcher is afraid of a players hitting ability, a la Bonds or Manny, or when a pitcher just can’t throw strikes. But I can’t respect the Bellhorn bat-on-the-shoulder strategy as a fan. I can understand why it’s effective, and why Bellhorn chooses to do it, and why teams like the Red Sox and A’s look for those kinds of players (because they believe them to be undervalued by the league in general, although that will change in the next 3-5 years.) But it lessens my enjoyment of the game.

So what can be done about this? Nothing. These players and teams are exploiting the rules of baseball. In the NBA, they would change the rules to prevent it, like they do every two years or so to appeal to the latest media trend (For the love of God they had better not put in the trapezoidal key or move the three point line in response to the U.S.’ Olympic loss,) but the MLB never changes their rules; they are too obsessed with protecting their “national pastime” image. Over time, players like Bellhorn will be valued more accurately throughout the market for their production, and make more money and become more in demand. So there will only be more and more players like him on teams. Which sucks for me as a fan. But I can’t see any way to stop it…unless pitchers started beaning players like Bellhorn for being giant vaginas. Every time he works a 3-1 count on borderline pitches, just hit him in the arm. If Bellhorn really wants to get on base that bad, he won’t mind.