Major league batting average (BA) in 2018 is .246. That's the lowest since the year before the American League adopted the designated hitter (DH) rule in 1973: .244 in 1972. See for yourself:
https://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/MLB/bat.shtml
As a result of the low BA, on base average (persistently called a percentage even though it's never shown in the form of a percentage) is only .317 in 2018. Some recent on base averages:
2006 .337 (BA .269)
2000 .345 (BA .270)
1999 .345 (BA .271)
You can see how BA impacts on base average, which had these extremes since 1909:
1930 .356 (BA .296)
1968 .299 (BA .237)
Combine that with (Home Runs replacing Singles. Friday, May 4, 2018) and you have less real base running because there's no running with a home run. There's a victory lap for hitting a juiced baseball over a wall.
The two most recent games between the Yankees and Braves in Yankee Stadium have seen multiple fly balls by both teams become home runs by clearing the right field wall by very small distances. They include an 11th inning game winner by Brave righty Ronald Acuna and embarrassingly "cheap" home runs by Yankee righty behemoths Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton. That's because the Steinbrenner family built the new Yankee Stadium for a lefty Yankee slugger who died in 1948: Babe Ruth. Not very clever.
Batters are ignoring easy bunt singles into empty areas. Instead some people are advocating a rule against the shift. This is the ultimate baseball act of irrationality.
Oh, and for the umpteenth time, the DH should have been the DF (designated fielder) with only 8 batters.
Designated FIELDER, 8 batters! Now that's entertainment! Sunday, December 27, 2015
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