Craig Edwards at FanGraphs starts a series that looks for evidence in the data that 2017’s offensive surge might have to do with performance enhancing drugs. What he finds is that the big increase in power is coming from defensive positions:
If there were rampant PED use in the same way there was during the steroid era, we might expect to see the same types of wide gulfs that we saw in 2002. Instead, we see a leveling out. If we assume that PED is one of the main causes of increased power, the data suggest that absolutely everyone is on PEDs and that they’re all using those PEDs to power up in such a manner that corner outfielders no longer have a big advantage over second or third basemen. While we commonly talk about the PED era affecting everyone, the era was still one of extremes.
Consider that, in 2017, the top-30 home-run hitters make up roughly 18% of the total home runs and the middle-100 players (with at least 300 PA) make up 27% of the home runs. Back in 2002, the top-30 home run hitters — led by Alex Rodriguez (with 57) and Jim Thome (52) — made up 22% of the home-run totals, with the middle-100 players accounting for 24% of them. Things were more extreme in 2002, which suggests that the changes in 2017 are more likely a product of something that’s affecting the entire league as opposed to one subset of players.
The middle infielders are catching up to the corner outfielders, not both moving in the same direction.
from baseballmusings.com http://ift.tt/2wWzDEz
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