SAN DIEGO – Major League Baseball teams have played about a third of their 162-game schedule heading into Memorial Day, and it could be a historic season, but not in a good way.
The overall batting average for the 30 teams is .240. If it remains that way, it will be the lowest since the league batted .237 in 1968, the so-called year of the pitcher, when the leaguewide ERA was 2.98.
Considering the number of injuries to key pitchers this season that would seem to be counterintuitive.
As May turns to June, some of baseball’s most talented pitchers are still on the shelf: Max Scherzer and Jacob deGrom of the defending World Series-winning Texas Rangers, Gerrit Cole of the New York Yankees, Clayton Kershaw of the Los Angeles Dodgers, and Merrill Kelly and Eduardo Rodriguez of the defending National League pennant-winning Arizona Diamondbacks.
Save for Kelly, who tossed 24 2/3 innings before his right shoulder gave out, the rest of this group hasn’t pitched in a game this season. Still hits, runs scored, home runs and even walks are all down from last season. The leaguewide ERA is a respectable 3.96, but almost a full run higher than the year of the pitcher.
Currently there’s $964.7 million worth of players on the injured list, most of that pitching. Younger pitchers have apparently picked up the slack.
“There’s a younger group who are taking the necessary next steps,” D-backs manager Torey Lovullo said trying to explain the phenomena of lower batting averages against lesser pitching. “They’re getting to the next level earlier.”
With the new rules instituted last season, this wasn’t supposed to happen. The pitch clock, bigger bases, fewer pick-off throws to first base and no shifts were supposed to produce more steals, more runs and more potent offenses.
Numbers ticked up a tad last season. The league batting average was .248, an increase from .243 in 2022. But teams find a way to manage around the rules. Take the mini shifts, for instance. Baseball analytics folks are tucking middle infielders as close to second base as possible without violating the rule that states two players must be stationed on each side of the infield. They can cross to the other side as soon as the ball is in play.
That ultimately chokes off hits. The last time leaguewide hitting was this anemic, the league after the 1968 season lowered the mound from 15 to 10 inches. Batting averages soared 11 points in 1969 to .248, and with the advent of the designated hitter in the American League in 1973, reached its zenith of .271 in 1999.
But that number has slowly fallen ever since, even with the implementation of the universal DH in both leagues. In 2021, the last year pitchers hit in the National League, the batting average was only .244.
That leaves teams up to their own devices when trying to generate runs.
“If you have the right kind of players, the right kind of teaching and the ability of the players to go out and execute, anything is possible,” Lovullo said.
But one has to face the facts. Fifteen of the 30 MLB teams are hitting below the league’s .240 average, including the Chicago White Sox at the bottom of the league at a miserable .214. The Cincinnati Reds are a few ticks above them at .218.
Then there are the anomalies. The Yankees are third in the league with a .257 batting average and with a 37-18 record are one of the early season’s major surprises. Particularly after missing the playoffs last season for the first time since 2016 and finishing with an 82-80 record.
The results followed an offseason of soul searching in which principal owner Hal Steinbrenner spent a month before deciding to bring back general manager Brian Cashman and manager Aaron Boone. The clear goal is ascending to the World Series and winning it again for the first time since 2009.
Cashman made the trade with the San Diego Padres to obtain Juan Soto, their biggest move of the offseason, and that so far has paid incredible dividends. So has a secondary trade with Boston for Alex Verdugo, who’s also been playing lights out. With a second in the league player payroll of $305.4 million, they are the best team money can buy.
Even without Cole, last year’s AL Cy Young Award winner, the Yankees sport the league’s best ERA of 2.77. Their starters are 26-12 with a 2.72 ERA. In two wins at Petco Park this weekend against the Padres, the starters allowed no runs and six hits. In the three games, including a Sunday 5-2 loss, their starters allowed one earned run on nine hits in 11 innings.
“It’s more tone setting,” Boone said after Saturday night’s 4-1 win in which Marcus Stroman tossed six innings of three-hit ball. “Our starters set the tone for us each and every day.”
Cole, returning from inflammation in his right elbow, threw to hitters again at the club's training facility in Tampa on Saturday and is on track for a minor-league rehab assignment, Boone said.
Then there’s Aaron Judge, who’s re-emerged after opening the season in a tremendous slump. On April 28, he was hitting .189 with three homers and 11 RBIs during the season’s first 19 games.
Including Saturday night’s first-inning, two-run homer–another tone setter–and a fourth-inning double, he’s now become the first player in Major League history with 12 doubles and 11 homers during a 20-game span.
“What Aaron’s doing is what the greats do from time to time,” Boone said.
He's hitting .279, with 17 homers and 39 RBIs, is tied for the league lead in homers, and leads overall with a .629 slugging percentage and a 1.039 OPS.
Considering how last season ended with Judge nursing a torn ligament in his right big toe and the tumult of the offseason, Judge said he’s not surprised the Yankees have opened the season so well.
“We had a lot of high expectations for this group, especially after the offseason and coming off of what happened last year,” Judge said. “Playing in New York you’re expected to win. We knew this coming into camp. It’s still a long season, but so far we’ve showed up every single day ready to go.”
On this Memorial Day, the Yankees are MLB’s exception right now, not the rule.