In this article, I will discuss the difference between players who will pitch to start an inning, and the players who will pitch when there are runners on base, based upon quality of contact.

Thanks to the people at Statcast, there is a measure for this, called expected weighted on base average(xwOBA).

xwOBA measures the wOBA of a given player, along with their exit velocity and launch angle, giving more points to players who make outs, but hit the ball hard and at an optimal launch angle.

The pitching side of xwOBA is how well the pitcher prevents solid contact, along with their opponent’s wOBA.

I looked at the Cards’ pitching staff in terms of xwOBA, and how might each pitcher be useful in a given situation.

I looked at three factors, xwOBA with nobody on, xwOBA with runners on base/RISP, and situational xwOBA, where the tying or go-ahead run is at the plate or on the bases.

The data, from Baseball Savant, is what I measured over the previous 2 seasons(a minimum of 50 results).

As well as that, I only looked at pitchers who are currently on the 40-man roster, and added Juan Nicasio and Wade Davis(since I believe the Cards should sign the two in my other article).

I then took the difference of the xwOBA of nobody on from runners on base, and the difference of the xwOBA of runners on base from situational xwOBA to further determine a separation between the factors, as well as an average of the three.

The results:

Looking at this set of data, I then again classify these pitchers in groups based upon their quality of contact.

First, I grouped pitchers in a class called “Openers”, or pitchers who could start the game(thus xwOBA with no runners on base comes into play), or pitchers who are effective with no runners on base.

The first group(Classified by xwOBA with nobody on base)

Brett Cecil- .271 xwOBA

John Brebbia- .292 xwOBA(though he could be effective late in the game as well)

John Gant- .311 xwOBA(effective late in game as well)

Luke Weaver- .315 xwOBA(also could be effective late in game as well)

Jack Flaherty- .325 xwOBA

All would be effective options for “The Opener” based upon quality of contact with no runners on base.

The second group are players who would be effective at getting the Cards out of a jam early in the game (1st through 6th innings).

The second group(classified with runners on base/RISP)

Tyler Lyons- .264 xwOBA

Sam Tuivailala- .275 xwOBA

Michael Wacha- .310 xwOBA(also a third group candidate)

Adam Wainwright- .310 xwOBA

The players can handle getting out of a jam early in the game, as well as starting the next inning.

The third and final group are pitchers who can be thrown in any situation at any time, and will throw the most innings on the team(top-tier pitchers based upon xwOBA).

League average xwOBA is .314, and these pitchers exceed that number remarkably.

The third group(denoted by average xwOBA),

Alex Reyes- .219 xwOBA

Wade Davis- .264 xwOBA

Juan Nicasio- .282 xwOBA

Matt Bowman- .285 xwOBA

Carlos Martinez- .286 xwOBA

The Cardinals, with a few additions, have the staff to implement this approach.

However, improving the defense is another task that needs to be addressed so these pitchers can attain more likely success.

The post Determining Cards’ Pitching Attack By Quality of Contact appeared first on KRUI Radio.

On Tuesday, October 24^th, the Schaumburg Boomers signed first baseman Kewby Meyer.

Meyer, a 37^th round draft pick by the Tampa Bay Rays in 2015, played two seasons in their farm system, posting a wOBA of .333 in 2015 for the Princeton Rays(Rookie League) and a wOBA of .361 for the Bowling Green Hot Rods (Mid-A) in 2016.

Meyer transitioned to independent league ball, where the left-handed hitter played for the Salina Stockades of the American Association in 2017, posting a .304 wOBA(using the basic wOBA equation).

Those numbers may not be eye-popping, but there a few percentages that are eye popping compared to a certain major league.

That major leaguer? His name is in the title.

Looking at comparisons in terms of Line Drive, Groundball, and Fly Ball percentages, Kewby Meyer’s Minor League totals over 2 years compares to Cody Bellinger’s 2017 season.

(The reason behind not using Meyer’s 2017 LD, GB, and FB percentages is that the American Association does not have presently available information)

Here are the results:

Meyer’s percentages in the leagues that he’s played in compares to Bellinger’s. The only difference is the infield fly ball percentage(denounced as IFFB%), Meyer hits a fly ball in the infield nearly 3 times as much as Cody Bellinger, meaning that Meyer’s launch angle exceeds 35 degrees too often.

A slight change in approach and swing could fix that.

In an interview conducted by Jessica Mendoza, Cody Bellinger talks about using his hands to load for a swing rather than his body to not only generate more power, but an improved launch angle. Bellinger moves his barrel towards the pitcher while keeping the back elbow firm as he is swinging, thus creating more power through a firm, yet quick swing. Other players like Justin Turner and Chris Taylor hit with a similar approach as well.

In the aforementioned video, Bellinger states he started changing his approach while at Rancho Cucamonga, the Dodgers’ A affiliate in 2014. Were there results with this?

Yes, but not immediately.

Bellinger decreased his infield fly ball percentage each year with his peak coming in 2017.

How about fly ball percentage in comparison to his infield fly ball percentage? As Bellinger’s FB% increased, his IFFB% decreased.

With most Frontier Leaguers, their swings cause “topspin” which cause short fly balls to the opposite field. With a little adjustment in the elbow and barrel, Kewby Meyer could not only improve his launch angle(thus reducing IFFB% and increasing FB%) but also decrease “topspin” and become the Frontier League’s version of Cody Bellinger in the coming future.

Well played, Schaumburg.

The post The Schaumburg Boomers May Have Found the Next Cody Bellinger appeared first on KRUI Radio.

Now, a lot is to be explained with this formula, so I’d recommend reading this FanGraphs post for the best clarification.

So, in this article, I will focus on the primary formula for wRC+, which goes as follows:

wRC+ = (wRAA/PA + LgR/PA) + (LgR/PA – (Park Factor * LgR/PA))/(Frontier League wRC/PA excluding ptichers), where wRAA = weighted runs above average, PA = plate appearances, LgR/PA = the league average runs per plate appearance, Park Factor = the batter’s park factor, wRC/PA = the league’s total weighted runs created over the total plate appearances excluding pitchers.

Here are the Frontier League’s Top 10 hitters in terms of wRC+(100 being league average):

Let’s take Kane Sweeney for example.

He produced a 42.45 wRAA in 398 PA, while the LgR/PA equated to 0.127. The park factor for Kane Sweeney(who played at Wild Things Park) was 0.88, while the Frontier League wRC equated to 5561.711 and there were 43,790 plate appearances excluding the pitcher.

Plug the numbers in the appropriate places and Kane Sweeney has a 196 wRC+, which means that Sweeney creates runs better than 96 percent of the league. To put it in perspective, the highest wRC+ in the major leagues in 2017 was Mike Trout with a 181 wRC+.

Kane Sweeney(below) is a superb hitter, and I would not be at all surprised if he signs with a major league organization after this season.

As for the remaining nine players, each player created at least 58 percent more runs than the league average, making them very valuable offensive hitting contributors.

The post wRC+ Leaders in the Frontier League appeared first on KRUI Radio.

Well, it depends on what one is evaluating on a given hitter.

I used to think that strikeouts greatly affected my judgement on a player. I would generally look at walk-to-strikeout ratios as a basis of determining how effective the player was at hitting. Not putting the ball in play does nothing to help a team win. My thinking differed slightly when MLB.com’s Mike Petriello mentioned on Friday’s show of “MLB Now” on MLB Network that strikeouts are not that important anymore.

There may be something to this. I tend to use Weighted-On-Base Average(wOBA) because it measures an overall player’s performance.

In the Major Leagues, for example, Rougned Odor of the Texas Rangers comes to mind as someone who fits this category. In 2016, Odor walked 29 times while striking out 155 times in 628 plate appearances. Not a good hitter based on walks and strikeouts, but his wOBA was .336, which was 18 points better than the league average in 2016.

Focusing on the Independent Frontier League, I gathered some data on the top 5 hitters who led the league in strikeouts and looked at their wOBA to determine their value in that aspect.

Of the 5 hitters, Brandon Thomas and Mike Hill provided value better than the league average(both being in the top 2 of strikeouts), Rock Shoulders was within 6 points of the league average. Point being, players who strikeout more than the rest of the league can still provide offensive value.

Looking at the overall league of the last two years in the Frontier League(since the league went to 12 teams in 2016), numbers have gone up in strikeouts and nearly every category that wOBA covers.

Aside from hit by pitches and doubles, the Frontier League performed more in each category in 2017 than 2016.

A batter leading the league in strikeouts does not always mean that he cannot provide value better than league average. Simply put, strikeouts are not as important as they were.

The post High Strikeout Batters Can Still Provide Value appeared first on KRUI Radio.

The Schaumburg Boomers(66-30) became the first team in the Frontier League to garner its third title(2013,2014). They defeated the opposing Florence Freedom(61-35) in four games in a best-of-five series that began Tuesday. Many in the industry had expected Schaumburg to win it all with excellent hitting and pitching.

In fact, Schaumburg was second in the Frontier League in Weighted On-Base Average(wOBA) with a .345 clip, 21 points above league average. Also, Schaumburg was first in the league in Opponent’s wOBA allowing only a .300 clip, 24 points better than league average, shown by the graph below.

The Boomers were not playing to be better than average, they were playing to be one of the best.

Just two wins shy of tying a Frontier League record, the Boomers were a step above the rest of the league, but unlike the Major Leagues, the Frontier League endures a lot of roster turnover.

The highly talented players usually do not last long in the league, as a player’s given talent will be noticed by Major League Clubs. Schaumburg had a few of those players along the way.

On June 19^th, pitcher Gunnar Kines was sold to the New York Mets after posting a .259 opponent’s wOBA(best in the league at that time).

On July 3^rd, pitcher Alec Kenilvort was sold to the Milwaukee Brewers after posting a .251 opponent’s wOBA(2^nd best among relievers at that time).

On July 19^th, infielder Seth Spivey was sold to the Arizona Diamondbacks after posting a .505 wOBA(leading the league at that time and was a front runner for the Triple Crown).

Three key cogs to the Boomer’s success would surely hinder their performance, right?

Not necessarily.

David Harris only appeared in 76 games with the Boomers, yet he was the MVP of the league with the league-leading .410 wOBA.

Since June 19^th, the Boomers signed 6 players that played a pivotal role in the regular season and post season.

On July 3^rd, the Boomers signed pitchers Kit Fowler and Michael Wood.

Fowler in the regular season allowed only a .244 wOBA in 12 appearances(2^nd best since July 4 through the end of the regular season) and allowed a .377 wOBA in the postseason.

Wood in the regular season allowed a .341 wOBA in 15 appearances, and allowed a .282 wOBA in four and two-thirds innings in the series-clinching game against Florence.

On July 21^st, the Boomers signed infielder Andrew Brodbeck.

Brodbeck in the regular season posted a .336 wOBA, 12 points above league average. In the postseason, Brodbeck was even better, posting a .374 wOBA in 19 plate appearances.

On July 24^th, the Boomers signed infielder John Holland.

Holland posted a .350 wOBA in 151 plate appearances in the regular season, 26 points better than league average. In the postseason, Holland posted just a .238 wOBA in 40 plate appearances.

On July 25^th, the Boomers signed pitcher Joe Hauser.

Hauser, in 9 appearances, allowed just a .265 wOBA in the regular season(3^rd best since his signing). Hauser was even better in the postseason, allowing a .262 wOBA in 2 starts(one of those being a complete game).

On August 4^th, the Boomers signed infielder Rock Shoulders.

Shoulders, a high power, low average player, proved he could provide value with overall offense with a .368 wOBA(2nd best among first baseman since his signing). In the postseason, he was still effective, posting a .353 wOBA.

The Boomers lost key pieces, yet they were able to implement the “next man up” strategy. Taking a look at run differential, the Boomers are astoundingly better than anyone else.

The Schaumburg Boomers were 69 points better than the next best team in run differential, which was their opponent, the Florence Freedom. Of the last 5 Frontier League winners, the next highest team in run differential was +131 by, you guessed it, the Schaumburg Boomers in 2014. No other champion was above +100 in run differential.

The Boomers capped off one of the Frontier League’s most historic seasons led by Jamie Bennett, and their roster throughout the entire season was one of the deepest in all of professional baseball.

The post Schaumburg Boomers: Frontier League Champions appeared first on KRUI Radio.

Digging into the park factors, other than Penn State, there were no large changes that caused a park to go from a pitcher’s park to a hitter’s park and vice versa. They went from a 97 park factor(slight pitcher’s park) to a 116 park factor(hitter-friendly). Nebraska is no longer the most hitter-friendly park and Purdue remains as an extreme pitcher’s park with a 63 park factor rating.

There are seven teams who have a pitcher-friendly park and six teams who have a hitter-friendly park in the Big Ten. Just an FYI, the Big Ten Tournament will be played at Indiana’s home park, Bart Kaufman Stadium, which is a pitcher-friendly park.

Now that park factors are out of the way, let’s get into OPS+, and weighted on base average, better known as wOBA.

According to FanGraphs, “Weighted On-Base Average (wOBA) is one of the most important and popular catch-all offensive statistics. It was created by Tom Tango (and notably used in “The Book”) to measure a hitter’s overall offensive value, based on the relative values of each distinct offensive event.” I am a big fan of Tom Tango and his work, and had the honor to hear some of his work at the SABR Analytics Conference in March. I recommend reading The Book, as I enjoy the wOBA statistic, because it adds a precise value to each event, like walks, hit by pitches, singles, doubles, triples and home runs. wOBA also does a good job of projecting future performance. Thanks to Jeff Zimmerman at Fangraphs, we are able to have a formula for wOBA, although it is not the most precise. The run values are a general estimation over many years in the MLB, but we are talking college baseball. I wanted to use the general formula just to have a number out there for stat nerds and college baseball fans to see. So, here is the basic formula for wOBA that I used: Basic wOBA = (.7* (BB + HBP) + .9*1B + 1.25*2B + 1.6*3B + 2*HR)/PA. Each event has a run value attributed to it. For example, a walk or hit by pitch is worth .7 runs. Now that’s the explanation part, get ready for graphs of each team in the Big Ten, displaying their OPS+ and wOBA. The league average wOBA is .344 in the Big Ten. To qualify for this list, a player must have at least three plate appearances per game played. For example, Iowa played 53 games in the regular season, which means to qualify for this list, an Iowa batter must have accrued at least 159 plate appearances. League average OPS+ is 100, anything above is above average, anything below is below average.

Here is an example calculation for wOBA. Jake Adams walked 27 times and was hit by 5 pitches, while tallying 35 singles, 14 doubles, and 24 home runs in 246 plate appearances. Plug in the numbers to each event, (.7* (27 + 5) + .9*35 + 1.25*14 + 1.6*0 + 2*24)/246 and it comes out to a .482 weighted on base average.

There were a few questions as to how these numbers make sense. Like, why does a nationally ranked team like Michigan have such poor hitting per OPS+? Or why does Purdue have so many outstanding hitters per OPS+, although their record does not show it? The first reason explains why I added wOBA, to measure how good an overall offensive player is minus the park adjustment. The second reason is the park adjustment, a hitter that plays for Purdue and slugs .500 is more valuable than a hitter that plays for Michigan and slugs the same amount due to Purdue being a pitcher’s park and Michigan a hitter’s park. On the flip side, pitching will be affected conversely. Michigan pitching is more valuable than Purdue pitching in terms of park adjustments.

Here are the Top 5 hitters in the Big Ten by each statistic:

The Top 5 Big Ten hitters according to wOBA:

1. Jake Adams, Iowa .485
2. Pat McInerney, Illinois .429
3. Matt Lloyd, Indiana .426
4. Jack Yalowitz, Illinois .423
5. Marty Costes, Maryland .420

The Top 5 Big Ten hitters according to OPS+:

1. Jake Adams, Iowa 206
2. Evan Warden, Purdue 182
3. Matt Lloyd, Indiana 180
4. Bryce Bonner, Purdue 175
5. Jacson McGowan, Purdue 172

In short, Jake Adams is REALLY good. As OPS+ states, he is 106% better than league average and nearly has a .500 wOBA, which is unremarkable! Jakey is going places, that’s for sure.

Moving on to the pitching. Like hitting, I added in another statistic to go along with FIP-. ERA-, which is a given player’s earned run average, adjusted for his team’s park factor. The ERA- calculation is just like the FIP-, except by replacing the FIP to ERA. The formula: 100*((ERA+(ERA-ERA(Park Factor/100))/lgERA. The league ERA is 4.19. To be qualified for ERA- and FIP-, a pitcher must pitch at least one inning per team game played. Ohio State played 56 games this season, so for an Ohio State pitcher to be qualified for the calculation, he must have pitched at least 56 during the season.

Here are the ERA- and FIP- calculations for each team. League FIP is 4.22 and league ERA is 4.19. Both FIP- and ERA- league average is 100. Anything below is above league average, anything above is below league average.

Take Nick Gallagher, for example. He posted a 2.59 ERA. Plug it into the equation, with a 95 park factor and the 4.19 lgERA, 100*((2.59+(2.59-2.59(95/100))/4.19 which comes out to be 65, 35 percent better than league average.

What I like about having both FIP- and ERA- together is how much a defense/luck factors to the pitcher’s performance. FIP measures a pitcher’s three true outcomes, walks/hit by pitches, strikeouts, and home runs. Combining FIP with ERA allows to determine whether a pitcher was lucky or unlucky based upon the three true outcomes. A pitcher with a higher FIP- than ERA- is considered lucky and vice versa. Here are some examples of lucky pitchers:

1. Walter Borkovich, Michigan State
   1. FIP-: 98
   2. ERA-: 56
2. Cal Krueger, Indiana
   1. FIP-: 102
   2. ERA-: 69
3. Lucas Gilbreath, Minnesota
   1. FIP-:86
   2. ERA-: 60

Some examples of unlucky pitchers (FIP- lower than ERA-):

1. Cole Bellair, Illinois
   1. FIP-: 138
   2. ERA-: 171
2. Ryan Feltner, Ohio State
   1. FIP-: 99
   2. ERA-: 145
3. Justin Hagenman, Penn State
   1. FIP-: 92
   2. ERA-: 117

Now, the Top 5 pitchers in FIP- and ERA-:

FIP-:

1. Alec Rennard, Michigan 49
2. Michael Hendrickson, Michigan 54
3. Oliver Jaskie, Michigan 55
4. Sal Biasi, Penn State 63
5. Matt Waldron, Nebraska 64

ERA-:

1. Brian Shaffer, Maryland 43
2. Walter Borkovich, Michigan State 56
3. Oliver Jaskie, Michigan 58
4. Lucas Gilbreath, Minnesota 60
5. Derek Burkamper, Nebraska 60

The three guys atop the FIP- leaderboard are all from Michigan, because each player posted a FIP under 3.30 and played in the most hitter-friendly park in the Big Ten. A notable pitcher to look out for is Brian Shaffer of the Maryland Terrapins. He ranked 6^th in the FIP- leaderboard and is 1^st in the ERA- leaderboard.

With the Big Ten Tournament ahead of us, fans can have a better understanding of how well a pitcher or batter does compared to the rest of their league. Jake Adams is the top hitter in the Big Ten and Brian Shaffer is one of the top pitchers in the Big Ten. Lucky for us, they will more than likely square off on Wednesday at 12:30 PM CDT as 4th seeded Maryland takes on 5th seeded Iowa.

The post OPS+, wOBA, FIP-, and ERA- leaders in the Big Ten Conference appeared first on KRUI Radio.

The “sabermetric revolution”, or the application of using objective methodology to determine and understand player performances, is swirling all around Major League Baseball. Statistics such as  On-Base Plus Slugging Plus(OPS+) for hitters and Fielding Independent Pitching Minus(FIP-) with pitchers, among many more sabermetrics. All these unique stats determining player performance are great ways to understand the game of baseball from a unique perspective. The MLB and everyone working with it/alongside it make these stats easily available. I thought to myself, why not do some digging and research to have these metrics present in NCAA Baseball, specifically the Big Ten and the Iowa Hawkeyes? I am proud to introduce OPS+ and FIP- to the Big Ten Conference, but before I do that I must talk about the metric that is involved with all of the other metrics, the park factor.

A park factor is a measure of how much a given ballpark contributes to the production of a player or team. The formula indicates the difference between runs scored in a team’s home and road games. It goes such as this: (Runs Scored by the Home Team+ Runs Allowed by the Home Team)/(Runs Scored by same team in away games+ Runs Allowed in away games)*100. An average park is scaled to 100. A park below 100 is a pitcher-friendly park. A park above 100 is a hitter-friendly park. I’ve done the park factors for each team through the past weekend in the Big Ten. So, a team like Iowa has a pitcher-friendly park. They scored 90 runs and allowed 56 runs in 15 games at Duane Banks field, while scoring 138 runs and allowing 135 runs in 23 games on the road. Multiply that by 100 and those numbers come up with a park factor of 83.

Alright, on to the fun stuff.

On Base Plus Slugging Plus(OPS+): OPS+, according to MLB.com, is on-base percentage(OBP)(how many times a player gets on base) plus slugging percentage(SLG)(total bases by a given player divided by their at-bats) and normalizes the number across the entire league, while accounting for ballpark factors. It adjusts to a score of 100, which is considered league-average. An OPS+ over 100 is above league average, while below 100 is below league average. The formula goes as follows: 100 * ( OBP/lgOBP + SLG/lgSLG – 1)/Park Factor. The lgOBP and lgSLG is the league average On-Base Percentage and Slugging Percentage for qualified hitters. A qualified hitter is a player who averages at least 3 Plate Appearances per team game played. The lgOBP for the Big Ten(through April 23) is .365 and the lgSLG(through April 23) is .417. Here are the results for the Top 5 hitters in the Big Ten based upon OPS+:

Take Iowa’s Jake Adams who currently has posted a 216 OPS+, which is 116% better than league average. Yes, that is possible. Matt Lloyd is the league-leader because he hits well in a pitcher-friendly environment, as Indiana’s park factor, as previously mentioned, is 76 to go with a .434 on base percentage and a .655 slugging percentage.

Fielding Independent Pitching Minus(FIP-): Fielding Independent Pitching is similar to ERA, but it focuses on a pitcher’s three true outcomes: strikeouts, walks/hit by pitches, and home runs. The formula for FIP: ((13*HR)+(3*(BB+HBP))-(2*K))/IP + constant. The constant came out to be 3.73, but is subject to change until the season concludes. Then we take FIP and put it in another formula to determine how well a pitcher does compared to his league, adjusting for park. The formula goes as follows: 100*((FIP+(FIP-FIP(Park Factor/100))/lgFIP, where the lgFIP is the league average FIP based upon qualified pitchers who have thrown at least 1 inning per team game played. The league average FIP is 4.52. Unlike OPS+, FIP- is designed to have a lower score, so the lower the number is, the better a pitcher is compared to league average. A number above 100 is considered below league average. Here are the top 5 pitchers according to FIP-: 

According to the data, Nebraska’s Matt Waldron is the best pitcher in the Big Ten according to FIP-, 44% better than league average. The reasoning behind his success is his high strikeout-to-walk ratio. So far, he has 33 strikeouts and has only walked 8 batters, hit 4 batters, and gave up 3 home runs in a hitter-friendly park, with a park factor of 136.

There will be a full update on these statistics once the season concludes.

The post Introducing OPS+ and FIP- in the Big Ten appeared first on KRUI Radio.

April 15th, 2017 marks the 70th year in which Jackie Robinson broke Major League Baseball’s color barrier, becoming the first African-American player in the game.

In 1997, the MLB officially retired number forty-two. Since 2009, Major League Baseball has praised Jackie for his efforts, declaring April 15th Jackie Robinson Day, in which all players will wear the number forty-two in his honor.

Why is he

so important in the baseball culture? Well, aside from his talents to become the first African-American player in the MLB, he also resembled a person with great character as well as an ambassador to society. In that time period, people of color were second-class citizens at best. If a particular player were to break the color barrier, the guidelines would not be based solely upon talent. A man would have to show excellent character on and off the field, because this particular person is representing the entire African-American baseball player population. A slip-up would potentially cause a bias towards African-Americans, one that already lacked positivity. Jackie was the perfect fit to represent the Negro Leagues and African-Americans everywhere. For two years. He served as a second lieutenant in the United States Army during WWII.

 He thrived in four sports while at UCLA. He succeeded in the classroom. Lastly, he was a person who was not afraid to voice his opinion in a professional manner.

After his signing with the Brooklyn Dodgers organization in 1946, Robinson received scrutiny and awful racial slurs throughout his 11-year playing career in baseball. Fans, opposing teams, and even teammates were booing Robinson, calling him names, and even throwing objects towards him. Few can only imagine what he went through, especially with the experience in Philadelphia with Phillies’ manager Ben Chapman(highly recommend watching the movie, “42” to hear exactly what Chapman said) on a daily basis.  No person deserves that kind of harsh treatment. It takes a lot of will, courage, and determination to do what he did. That alone shows how much character Jackie Robinson possesses and it shows exactly why he is celebrated in the baseball world every year.

After his playing days, he continued to advocate for equal rights,

continued to promote African-American ballplayers, and continued to carry himself with an upstanding demeanor. We as baseball fans should feel honored every April 15th. People within Major League Baseball cannot express enough gratitude, and nor can I, because Jackie deserves that honor.

The color barrier was broken in the MLB in 1947. One day, I hope to see another barrier broken, the gender barrier.

The post The Continued Importance of Jackie Robinson Day and His Legacy appeared first on KRUI Radio.

Team USA can finally scream “We Are the Champions” after high expectations to win the World Baseball Classic. It did not come easy though, as Team USA had to beat highly-skilled opponents in the Dominican Republic, Japan, and WBC runner-up Puerto Rico in consecutive games. Team USA was aided greatly by their starting pitching, going 3-1 with a 1.25 ERA in the tournament. Puerto Rico did not stand a chance against Marcus Stroman, who no-hit them through 6 innings. Some key hitters for Team USA were Brandon Crawford and Eric Hosmer, who both had an OPS over a thousand.

Overall the WBC set record highs with ratings and attendance. This year marks the first time in which total attendance for every game exceeded 1 million fans. This count was prior to the championship game, which was the second most attended game for a WBC final game with 51,565 fans.

Ratings were also at its peak in WBC history, as 2.3 million fans watched the championship game, roughly 1.4 million more viewers than the 2013 final. Speaking of 1.4 million, that is the amount of fans that tuned in to the semifinal game between USA and Japan. Yet, this was on the MLB Network, not a major network like ESPN. Imagine the amount of viewership if the games were broadcasted on ESPN or if it can ever get to a major point, FOX.

Personally, the WBC gets me foaming at the mouth. I crave the excitement, I crave the opportunity to see international players, and I crave the passion and intensity international fans bring to games. The Japanese fans brought a different ambiance that American baseball fans are accustomed. The Japanese used what seemed to be boom stick noisemakers everywhere they went and were doing an organized chant prior to every pitch. Many countries had fans with noisemakers like the ones they used in the World Cup.

Every country had multitudes of fans who brought their respective country’s flag and wore it like a cape.

In the WBC, we saw an impressive run by Israel, a team that was not only on the verge of not making the tournament, but also not expected to make it out of the first round. However, they were one game away from having the chance to play in the championship round. We saw figures like the American Eagle and the “Mensch on a Bench”.

We saw Italy make an astounding comeback against Mexico, scoring 5 runs in the 9^th to beat Mexico 10-9. We saw impressive pitching performances from players we may not recognize. We saw one of the game’s best relievers in Andrew Miller blow a lead to Nelson Cruz and the Dominican Republic. We saw Adam Jones make an impressive home run saving catch sparking the U.S. to advance to the championship round. All in all, we saw a lot of international baseball history.

Hopefully, the World Baseball Classic has helped increase the excitement and importance of international baseball, especially for major league players. With Team USA winning the championship, this could bring the top-tier players from the United States, such as Clayton Kershaw, Mike Trout, and Kris Bryant to play for Team USA in future WBCs. I hope to be able to see countries allow their major-league players to play for their countries, like Cuba, who does not allow defected players to play for their country. Countries like Japan, South Korea, and China only allow a select number of players due to the tournament’s expensive insurance policy. Increasing participation for the WBC would be instrumental, as it would be one step closer to have the best of the best square off against one another.

The post The World Baseball Classic Was Much More Than Excitement appeared first on KRUI Radio.

Many stars from the MLB are committing to their respective countries or heritages, as this may be the most profiled World Baseball Classic to date. Some stars include Manny Machado of the Baltimore Orioles (Dominican Republic), Jose Altuve of the Houston Astros (Venezuela), Adrian Gonzalez of the Los Angeles Dodgers (Mexico), and Nolan Arenado of the Colorado Rockies (USA).

While most are excited that baseball is back and would rather wait for the MLB season to start, hear me out. The World Baseball Classic is a great opportunity to see a lot of great things. The WBC provides us with the opportunity to enjoy talent from other countries who do not play in Major League Baseball. In the past we have seen current MLB stars like Masahiro Tanaka, Jose Abreu, Yoenis Cespedes, and Kenley Jansen play in the WBC before they were signed to big league contracts. Fun fact about Los Angeles Dodgers closer Kenley Jansen, who is arguably the best closer in baseball right now, played catcher for the Netherlands in the 2006 WBC. Here is a GIF of Jansen throwing out Ryan Braun from his knees.

Another opportunity that the WBC presents is competitive baseball in March. In the month of March, spring training games are just merely for the players prepping themselves for the season. Most of the game’s best players are out of the game by the fifth inning. With the WBC, the game’s premier players are in game action for nine innings. More star studded players as mentioned previously are going to play in the Classic.

Lastly, the WBC has an incredible fan atmosphere. Like the Soccer World Cup, the fans of international teams are loud, rowdy, excited, and prideful for their team. A sense of nationalistic pride comes together in one tournament, on one diamond, in between the foul lines, 60 feet 6 inches away with the winner-take-all in LA.

The first game for Team USA is on Friday, March 10 at 11 AM against Colombia, while the first official game of the WBC is between Israel and South Korea, which begins Monday, March 6 at 4 AM CT in Seoul, South Korea.

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