Stupid Slash Line
Posted: Wed Aug 04, 2021 10:34 am
Allow me a short rant (I may be lying) about those that write and speak 'professionally' about fantasy baseball.
"SHUT THE HELL UP!"
Thank you.
Analytics have tainted these FANTASY 'professionals'.
Want an example? Ok.
Back in the day, a hitter had a slash line as well. It wasn't the .300/.400/.500 BLAH BLAH BLAH slash line we see now.
It was .300/25/75
Everybody knew that it was batting average, home runs, and RBI.
THAT, THAT is so much more of a meaningful slash line, even today, to fantasy players over the three percentages.
Why do we have the three percentages?
As I've said before, these analytics folks hit ninth for their Little League teams.
The shouts of, "A WALK IS AS GOOD AS A HIT!" still rings in their ears.
It was their duty to incorporate the drawing of a walk as important to statistics.
They accomplished their mission.
They sound reallly smart with a three percentage slash line too. But for fantasy, it's as fantasy informative as asking your dog how his day went.
The three slash line is everywhere.
They have even minimized the RBI. Calling them lucky.
You know what was lucky? These little twerps getting a hit in Little League!
Here is an example of a professional roto writer from last night....
'Tyler O'Neill went 3-for-3 with a run scored on Tuesday in a loss to the Braves.
O'Neill also drew a walk. The outfielder came around to score an inconsequential run in the ninth inning of a game the Cardinals lost 6-1. O'Neill is having his best season of his career, and the four-reach game brings his season slash to .271/.331/.509 with 17 homers and 40 RBI.'
I own O'Neill. I could give a shit about his triple percentage line.
Kudos to this writer for doing us the favor of including his .271/17/40 'real' slash line even in a roundabout way.
There is no fantasy league on earth with 10 categories that includes AVG/OBP/SLG
Not one.
But these professionals continue to ram it down our throats like a mom feeding a baby his/her Gerbers carrots.
Yuck.
Juan Soto has 76 BB. Soto has walked more than he has struck out. These professionals will beat that into our heads over the off season. They did the same with Joey Votto. It's a fav of theirs that ranks right up there with hitting for the cycle...(somehow, an RBI is lucky and hitting for the cycle is a skill)
Those 76 walks count as 76 times the bat was taken out of Soto's hands to his fantasy owners.
Is there one Soto fantasy owner among us who wishes for ball four before a 3-2 pitch is delivered to Soto? One?
We don't want a freakin' walk. We want a chance of four categories being effected with one swing.
Soto has a real slash line of .299/18/58
Not first round material.
But just wait.
This off season these professionals will not focus on his real slash line.
They'll prefer their own.
.299/.426/.501 is wonderful, they'll say.
They'll compare him to Votto and even Ted Williams.
As if his real fantasy numbers never existed and if so, can only be improved upon.
Let's look at an anti-Soto when it comes to drawing BB.
Sal Perez.
First, before getting into the differences, let me say that the whole sporting press is missing a terrific story in Sal Perez.
Sal Perez has not missed a game this year.
That's right. A Catcher who hasn't missed a game.
Can you imagine? In this day and age?
Even DH hitters (Are you listening Nellie and Giancarlo?) take days off for 'rest'. Not Salvy. It really is incredible.
Anyway...Salvy has walked just 10 times in 105 games.
"HORRIFYING" to analytical nerds.
But let's compare the real slash lines....
Soto .299/18/58
Salvy .274/25/66
And you know what?
During drafting season, our professional fantasy writers and talkers will be (once again) all over Soto.
They will tell us to draft him. They will tell us to draft him highly.
They'' focus on a slash line that has, really, very little to do with our fantasy game.
What can we expect.
The "A WALK IS AS GOOD AS A HIT!" still rings in their ears.
"SHUT THE HELL UP!"
Thank you.
Analytics have tainted these FANTASY 'professionals'.
Want an example? Ok.
Back in the day, a hitter had a slash line as well. It wasn't the .300/.400/.500 BLAH BLAH BLAH slash line we see now.
It was .300/25/75
Everybody knew that it was batting average, home runs, and RBI.
THAT, THAT is so much more of a meaningful slash line, even today, to fantasy players over the three percentages.
Why do we have the three percentages?
As I've said before, these analytics folks hit ninth for their Little League teams.
The shouts of, "A WALK IS AS GOOD AS A HIT!" still rings in their ears.
It was their duty to incorporate the drawing of a walk as important to statistics.
They accomplished their mission.
They sound reallly smart with a three percentage slash line too. But for fantasy, it's as fantasy informative as asking your dog how his day went.
The three slash line is everywhere.
They have even minimized the RBI. Calling them lucky.
You know what was lucky? These little twerps getting a hit in Little League!
Here is an example of a professional roto writer from last night....
'Tyler O'Neill went 3-for-3 with a run scored on Tuesday in a loss to the Braves.
O'Neill also drew a walk. The outfielder came around to score an inconsequential run in the ninth inning of a game the Cardinals lost 6-1. O'Neill is having his best season of his career, and the four-reach game brings his season slash to .271/.331/.509 with 17 homers and 40 RBI.'
I own O'Neill. I could give a shit about his triple percentage line.
Kudos to this writer for doing us the favor of including his .271/17/40 'real' slash line even in a roundabout way.
There is no fantasy league on earth with 10 categories that includes AVG/OBP/SLG
Not one.
But these professionals continue to ram it down our throats like a mom feeding a baby his/her Gerbers carrots.
Yuck.
Juan Soto has 76 BB. Soto has walked more than he has struck out. These professionals will beat that into our heads over the off season. They did the same with Joey Votto. It's a fav of theirs that ranks right up there with hitting for the cycle...(somehow, an RBI is lucky and hitting for the cycle is a skill)
Those 76 walks count as 76 times the bat was taken out of Soto's hands to his fantasy owners.
Is there one Soto fantasy owner among us who wishes for ball four before a 3-2 pitch is delivered to Soto? One?
We don't want a freakin' walk. We want a chance of four categories being effected with one swing.
Soto has a real slash line of .299/18/58
Not first round material.
But just wait.
This off season these professionals will not focus on his real slash line.
They'll prefer their own.
.299/.426/.501 is wonderful, they'll say.
They'll compare him to Votto and even Ted Williams.
As if his real fantasy numbers never existed and if so, can only be improved upon.
Let's look at an anti-Soto when it comes to drawing BB.
Sal Perez.
First, before getting into the differences, let me say that the whole sporting press is missing a terrific story in Sal Perez.
Sal Perez has not missed a game this year.
That's right. A Catcher who hasn't missed a game.
Can you imagine? In this day and age?
Even DH hitters (Are you listening Nellie and Giancarlo?) take days off for 'rest'. Not Salvy. It really is incredible.
Anyway...Salvy has walked just 10 times in 105 games.
"HORRIFYING" to analytical nerds.
But let's compare the real slash lines....
Soto .299/18/58
Salvy .274/25/66
And you know what?
During drafting season, our professional fantasy writers and talkers will be (once again) all over Soto.
They will tell us to draft him. They will tell us to draft him highly.
They'' focus on a slash line that has, really, very little to do with our fantasy game.
What can we expect.
The "A WALK IS AS GOOD AS A HIT!" still rings in their ears.