Sometimes Chass is Right

Murray Chass makes an excellent point in his latest column. He chides an article that indicates defensive shifts will prevent another .400 hitter:

How could any baseball executive say that, and how could any baseball writer write it without stating the obvious? Do Wallace Matthews and the unnamed Yankees executive know when someone last hit .400? Have they ever heard of Ted Williams? Do they know when he hit .400? Do they know it was 75 years ago, in 1941? Do they know that no one has hit .400 since? Do they think defensive shifts have had anything to do with no one hitting .400 since Williams hit .406?

In fact, as long as Matthews was writing about shifts, he might have mention that Williams was probably the first player against whom a shift was employed. But to say or write that shifts will be the end of the .400 hitter when baseball hasn’t had such an animal for 75 years is ludicrous.

It’s not about the shifts, it’s about the strikeouts. Williams struck out 27 times in 1941, one of the lowest full season totals for his career. He put the ball in play hard, and he put it in play often. Players are becoming smarter about how the game works. At some point, I suspect, some high BABIP player will realize that by cutting down on strike outs he might be able to hit .400. I’m looking at you, Mike Trout and Jose Altuve.

from baseballmusings.com http://ift.tt/2bsakMY