Around this time a year back, problems about the state of baseball were not restricted to pedants, experts, and old males chewing out clouds. The league-wide batting average by the end of April 2022 was.231. Mario Mendoza, the light-hitting infielder of the 1970s and 1980s whose name is synonymous with below-average hitting, batted.231 in 1981. To some, the video game had actually changed beyond recognition.

As it frequently does, batting average crept up as the season progressed. By the end of the season, it reached.243, still the lowest over a full season given that 1968. As now, Major League Baseball chose it was time to change the guidelines.

Batting average has to do with as practical to identifying the balance between hitting and pitching as a digital thermometer is to diagnosing an ill client: useful, however incomplete. It informs us a lot about the effectiveness of the new rules, however not whatever.

Here are a couple of early observations about what's changed, and what hasn't:

1. Batters are being rewarded with more hits-- and not just lefties

The increase in batting typical tells us two things. One is more apparent than the other.

By restricting where infielders can stand-- both feet on the dirt, with 2 guys on either side of 2nd base-- it just makes sense that more ground balls are getting across the outfield. Sure enough, batting average on grounders was.249 through Tuesday, up from.241 a year ago.

Here's where the numbers get intriguing. Left-handed hitters have constantly been moved more often than right-handed players. Right-handers' batting average on grounders is up 13 points compared to last year, while lefties have actually gained just three points.

Where lefties hold the early benefit is on line drives: their batting average on liners has leapt 42 points (.628 to.670), compared to 20 points for righties (.633 to.653).

2. Home runs are rising, too

Here's another one the new rules didn't see coming: a year back, one out of every 10 fly balls strike in April led to a crowning achievement. Far in 2023, the home-run-per-fly-ball rate is up to 12.7%.

MLB has attempted to standardize the physical properties of baseballs ever considering that home runs rose at record rates in 2017 and 2019. Even if no new guidelines were executed this year, the concern of how quickly the ball carries would have been an important one to ask.

Separated power, which subtracts batting average from slugging percentage, is tracking at its third-highest March/April rate given that a minimum of 2002. If the current HR/fly ball ratio holds, it will be the greatest by the end of April in all however three documented seasons (2017, 2019 and 2021).

Note that home run rates will require time to be judged relatively. Toronto's Rogers Centre, which changed its dimensions over the winter, has actually hosted two video games. Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg has actually hosted nine.
Bigger bases, less pickoffs, less time to improvise on the mound: all of these initiatives were planned to increase stolen bases. To the surprise of no one, they're working.

What's altered is the success rate: at 81.3%, the average thief in 2023 is now effective as often as Ichiro Suzuki was throughout his significant league career. This may lead to more stolen bases as the season goes on, as teams get more daring on the basepaths and batting average on balls in play increases.

Philosophically, this may rub old-school fans the incorrect method. After all, defensive shifts were not the standard up until just recently, so a guideline that rearranges two fielders on either side of second base is effectively restoring the game to a previous variation of itself. Eighteen-inch bases and limitations on pickoff attempts were never ever the norm. Instead of carefully pushing the balance between offense and defense in one instructions, these rules by force move the needle someplace it's never ever been.

4. More double plays

One unexpected consequence of the shifting guideline to watch on: 2.32% of all fielding possibilities this season have resulted in a double play, up from 2.25% in 2022. That's a subtle change that anecdotally appears more noticable in person.

It's also rather counterintuitive. After all, if more ground balls are getting through the infield, shouldn't it be harder for teams to turn double plays?

2 aspects, I believe, are working in the fielders' favor. One is that if the balls are being hit harder-- which they are-- fielders ought to have more time to throw the ball around the infield on double-play efforts. The other is that if batting and on-base averages are up-- which they are-- there should be more runners on first base to double up. Expect that trend to be more noticable as BABIP increases this summer.

5. True outcomes

Pitchers are still tossing more difficult than ever, and more breaking balls than ever, so perhaps it is unsurprising that strikeout rates are still sky-high. Through Tuesday, the strikeout rate was basically the same from a year ago. The unusual one: the league-wide walk rate is on rate to be the highest in April since 2010.

Integrate those figures with the high crowning achievement rate, and baseball is still a video game of "three true results." The rate of balls in play is basically unchanged. What has altered is the difficulty in turning those batted balls into outs.

6. Time (and rate) of video game

MLB boasted on its official Twitter account that 10 of the 13 video games played Monday ended by 9:30 p.m. local time. Unless you're a vampire, that's good news.

You most likely knew that the average time of a nine-inning video game has actually fallen by almost half an hour. Thankfully, Baseball Reference is tracking the more subtle pace-of-game metrics too: Through Tuesday, the average time between plate looks is down 24 seconds and the average time between balls in play is down by 33 seconds. Thank you, pitch clock!

With all these quicker games, perhaps MLB can reconsider the "need" for an automatic runner on second base in additional innings.