The Votto Effect

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DOUGHBOYS
Posts: 13088
Joined: Sat Feb 05, 2005 6:00 pm

The Votto Effect

Post by DOUGHBOYS » Tue Apr 06, 2021 9:39 am

I shouldn't blame Joey Votto. I really shouldn't. When Votto was good, he could hit. He was better at walking, but he could hit.
Votto became a poster boy for the analytics crowd. OBP and the almighty walk was prayed to, five times a day by the analytics crowd.
Somehow, analytics gets mixed up with our game. Fantasy baseball.
Our game is ruled by five categories. Five.
Walks are not one of those categories. Neither is On Base Percentage.
Still, F**king still, it is stuffed down our throats by experts, podcasters, and the like who get on a microphone.
As if they are doing us a big favor in reminding us that even though a player is hitting .190, his OBP IS .420
BIG F**KING DEAL!

I am driving some kids to school this morning and I get control of the radio so I don't go insane from the kids.
A fellow on there is saying that Yermin Mercedes is lucky. He's just hot with the bat over a short time and that it is magnified because it is the beginning of the season.
I'm ok with this so far...
Then, he says this...."He's only received one walk"
WHAT THE F***?
The kid is 12 for 18 and this guy wants walks!
This is on a fantasy freakin channel!

You know who has walked and has a high OBP?
Robbie Grossman.
Grossman has walked eight times in 16 plate appearances.
Even for the worst of mathemeticians, they know that's a.500 OBP.
Grossman has 12 less hits than Mercedes.
That's right.
Grossman doesn't have a hit.
He has walked eight times and scored one...one freaking run.
WHAT GOOD DOES THAT DO HIS OWNERS!?!?

If Mercedes is lucky and Grossman is good, give me LUCKY every time, baby!
I thought I was yelling at the guy on radio under my breath until one of the kids asked me what a 'base on balls' was.
I pulled up to the school and responded it is what you are going to do right now, take a walk to your school.
The walk was easy for the kid. Hell, in my sixties, a walk is easy for me.
Why do these analyst nerds make them seem so hard?

In my car, is the only time I listen to "experts". Like Votto in my lineup, they drive me crazy.
As I've said before, the analysts rooting for walks are the same kids who batted ninth for their Little League team and their 'win' was drawing a walk from the opposing pitcher.
Take that "Win" and get off my radio ,willya!
Don't tell me that Robbie Grossman owners are lucky to have a player with a .500 OBP. They aren't.
The reality is that Mercedes has been productive.
Grossman has only been productive in the eyes of a former Little Leaguer who hit last. Because on my fantasy team, he sucks.

You know what rings in the ears of these analsts who were former ninth hitting little leaguers?
"A walk is as good as a hit."
Every Little League coach said that to their ninth hitter. Never, ever to their third hitter.
As NFBC players, I consider us, third hitters.
We want bang. We paid the bucks. We want bang for those bucks.
Listening to these fellas allowed to have a microphone is counter productive to our game. The NFBC game.
Maybe it flies for Yahoo Kids and others. I don't know.

The more I write this, the more peeved I get at these analytical geeks.
Keep those damned walks to yourself! Don't try and infect our game with your damn walks.
And don't even try selling Joe Fan on your crap!
I'll know baseball has gone to Hell in a handbasket when Joe Fan reveres the walk.
I can see Joe Fan coming home from a game saying, "Did you see that ball Mercedes hit?"
Never, never will they say, "Did you see that ball that Grossman DID'NT hit?"
On my tombstone-
Wait! I never had the perfect draft!

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whale4evr
Posts: 134
Joined: Wed Nov 30, 2011 1:09 pm
Location: CT

Re: The Votto Effect

Post by whale4evr » Wed Apr 07, 2021 10:26 am

Its just the case of analysis vs application. The analysis is sound its just being applied incorrectly. The whole objective of analytics was to find players who had skills to help teams win games (ie WAR). It has nothing to do with traditional stat categories. The "experts" are trying to apply analytics to fantasy baseball to impress not us fantasy gamers but front office types; or they're just spouting the "company line" to try to sound smart. Take 'em with a grain of salt.

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