July 13, 2011

Little Players

At Cheap Talk, Jeff wonders:

In baseball, the strike zone (effectively the target that a pitcher must aim for) is defined relative to the size of the hitter. A very small player has a very small strike zone, so small that many pitchers will have a hard time throwing strikes. Insert such a batter at a key moment, he walks to first base and then you replace him with a fast runner. Why doesn’t every team have such a player on their roster?

The answer, of course, is that win a 25-man roster, teams can’t afford too many specialists. If you have the designated walker, you also need someone to replace him on the base paths. So in fact, you burn two position player roster spots.

The Oakland A’s once tried to carry a pinch-running specialist, but that didn’t work out either. Teams need some flexibility for emergencies. Even most designated hitters can play the field if needed. An extremely small person gives a team no flexibility. The only time you would really want to use him was with the bases loaded and the team needing one run, either to tie or win.

5 thoughts on “Little Players

  1. Andrew

    The trouble with the designated runner, Herb Washington, is that while he had world class speed, he wasn’t a very good baserummer. He was only successful 31/48 times, well below the break even point. Your point remains about roster size, but Washington was really nothing more than a gimmick that helped the A’s lose ballgames.

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  2. Tom

    Another problem with the very small pinch hitter idea is that a lot of pitchers can pinpoint their strikes (and a lot can’t, of course), so depending on the pitcher there’s a chance that the mini-hitter could strike out looking, which would be a total waste.

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  3. pft

    If a pitcher does not need to worry about the batter hitting the ball, most can throw strikes even with a diminished strike zone (reduced 50%?).

    Most walks occur because pitchers try to hit the corners, but if they do not fear throwing a ball right down the middle, these walks are avoided for the most part. There are of course those pitchers who can not throw strikes to king kong, but thye would not be in a close game.

    Also, if the batter is able to walk frequently and then has to be pinchrun for, due to his short legs, his value is greatly reduced.

    I also think umpires would give pitchers the benefit of the doubt on close calls to a guy who belongs in a circus and not on the ball field.

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  4. Alex Hayes

    So, if the strike zone is between the chest and the kneecaps, what you really want is a batter with very long shins, very very short thighs, a very very short abdominal region, then extremely long arms. This would allow the strike zone to be tiny, but decent speed with their legs and a phenomenal dive using those long arms.

    Who says GM babies have no use?! 😀

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