MLB's offensive woes, more bad news for Blue Jays, and the (new) greatest living player

Greetings, fellow baseball enjoyers! And welcome to your thrice-weekly dose of baseball banter!

My name’s AJ… and this is Two-Strike Count.

MLB offense has become offensive

There’s a disturbing trend across baseball. A trend that’s bad news if you’re a fan of offense. So far in 2024, the league batting average is mediocre .241 and the slugging percentage isn’t much better at .390. 

And that’s not even the worst of it.

With about half a season to go, MLB offenses are pace for 39,404 hits (1,400 fewer than last year), 21,078 runs (1,300 fewer than last year), 5,079 home runs (800 fewer than last year), and 7,268 doubles (600 fewer than last year). 

If this pace continues, we’d end up with: the fewest doubles in a season since 1993, the fewest home runs since 2015, the fewest hits per game in a full season since 1968, and the lowest batting average on balls in play since 1992.

So what’s to blame for all this? 

Two words: pitching and analytics.

Pitchers are throwing harder and with more command than ever before. And they’ve also got analytics on their side. They know which pitches to throw to which batters and in which situation. And if they execute their pitches, hitters (even the best ones) are gonna struggle to put the ball in play.

Now, maybe there are other factors at play like the weather, the bats, or the baseballs… but it doesn’t feel like coincidence that this downturn’s happening in the golden age of pitching analytics. 

All we can do is wait and see if the bats heat up when the weather does.

Blue Jays dealt another blow

File this one under things you hate to see. Blue Jays prospect Orelvis Martinez, who just barely made his big league debut, has been suspended 80 games for violating MLB’s PED policy. Add it to the list of things that’ve gone wrong for Toronto this year.

They’ve underperformed in just about every aspect of the game, but most notably on offense. Calling up prospects like Martinez was part of a plan to ignite the lineup. Only, it hasn’t worked so far. The Blue Jays offense is still woefully bad.

Martinez, though, could’ve been just the spark they needed. He was the best young bat in the farm system with an .867 OPS and 16 home runs at Triple-A Buffalo. Instead, though, he’ll miss the rest of the season. A season that’s gotten away from the Blue Jays. A season they thought would see them competing for the pennant. 

A season that’s becoming more disappointing by the second.

Who’s the greatest living player now?

The late, great Willie Mays held the undisputed title of baseball’s greatest living player until his passing this week at the age of 93. So now that the “Say Hey Kid” has gone to that big ballpark in the sky, who inherits his crown?

That’s a trickier question to answer than you might think…thanks to the stain of the steroid era. Because of their involvement (and total disrespect for the game), we can disqualify a few players right off the bat: Bonds, Clemens, and A-Rod. None of them belong in the same sentence as Mays…let alone in Cooperstown.

But who does that leave?

It leaves a veritable who’s who of baseball greats.

Names like Mike Schmidt, Greg Maddux, Albert Pujols, Randy Johnson, and Rickey Henderson. And others like Koufax, Bench, Yastrzemski, and Ripken Jr. And those are just some of the choices. 

So who gets the nod?

Well, that depends on your definition of greatest. Is it defined by the most home runs? The most strikeouts? The most wins? If only it were that simple. When trying to decide who’ll succeed Willie Mays as the greatest living player, you can’t narrow it down to mere numbers. 

It's a matter of who combines on-field performance with the kind of style, flair, and passion embodied by the Say Hey Kid.

And one player does that better than any other...Rickey Henderson. Over 25 seasons, Henderson racked up 3,000 hits, nearly 300 home runs, and an untouchable 1,406 stolen bases. But more than that, he played the game with a style and flair that must’ve made Willie smile. Rickey Henderson came as close as anyone ever had (and probably ever will) to a Mays-like player. 

And that, despite tough competition, makes him the new greatest living baseball player. 

That’s it for this edition of Two-Strike Count, baseball fans. Until next time! 

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