Bill Ballou on Baseball 9/13

Triple-A baseball fans are used to seeing Major League Baseball players of the future, but in the last couple of seasons, they have also witnessed plain old Major League Baseball of the future.

Two years ago, WooSox fans saw the effects of slightly larger bases. Really, it was hard to notice any difference in how the game was played, but they, along with a pitch clock and the banning of shifts, will be part of MLB starting next season.

The pitch clock experiment tried out again in Triple-A this season seems to have been wildly successful, at least among the paying customers. As games have gotten longer through the years, the biggest complaint has been slow pace more than length.

The higher level of crispness and energy in games at Polar Park this season has been tangible. The game itself has been a great product above and beyond the “stars of the future” aspect of Triple-A.

Speeding things up is a back-to-the-future item. Baseball traditionally was efficiently played since it developed in the decades before night games. First pitch was at 3 p.m., so day-shift workers might be able to make the game, and with no lights, things had to move quickly to get in nine innings before the sun went down.

Banning shifts is a different story and Triple-A fans did not see that this season but will, along with the rest of pro baseball, next year. This is a much more contentious issue than base size or pace of game since it changes the very nature of the sport.

WooSox manager Chad Tracy has talked about it on occasion during this season, and, like almost every manager, feels he should be allowed to position his players where he wants. For baseball, it is a fundamental change, like raising the basket in basketball or increasing the size of the net in hockey.

The idea of creating more offense, or at least a more diverse offense than a cascade of home runs, is a great idea. Today’s baseball is evolving into something like the NFL would be without scoring drives. Just throw 40 passes a game into the end zone, and if five are caught, that’s 35 points and you probably win.

Effective, perhaps, but not fun.

Baseball could try a couple of subtler approaches. How about reducing the size of fielders' gloves? They have gotten bigger through the years as well, and designed to the point where you might as well provide position players with fishing nets. Great defensive plays are fun, but hits are even more fun. Putting a ball in play is becoming a death sentence for batting averages, and gloves are one reason.

Also, rosters can be restricted to 10 pitchers for any one game. This inning-by-inning parade of anonymous 98 mph pitchers has gotten out of hand. No wonder there are so many strikeouts. One reason pitchers of the past didn’t throw so hard as today—they could, but they didn’t—is they had to ration their energy so they could get more outs.

When it was developed in the 1840s, baseball was a contest between batters and fielders. Pitchers were like today’s home run derby hurlers. The idea was to deliver a ball that could be put in play so somebody could try to catch it and somebody could run the bases.

Those days are not returning, but the balance of the game has become out of whack. The new rules are a start to returning that balance; banning shifts is a radical approach, but radical approaches may be the medicine the game needs.

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TRIPLE-A TRIVIA

Who is the only batter to play for the WooSox this season who has hit a home run both for Worcester and Pawtucket?

Who is the last catcher to catch 100 or more games in a season for a Boston Triple-A affiliate?

Answers below.

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HERE AND THERE…..

Ronaldo Hernandez homered during Tuesday’s game at Scranton/WB as Worcester batters have now hit at least one home run in 14 straight games to set a new WooSox standard. The team did 12 in a row at one point last season and homered at least once in the first 12 games of 2022. …Johan Mieses’ first home run in a Worcester uniform was the first, and so far only, one to hit a moving train chugging past left field in Polar Park. That was on June 4, 2021. Mieses didn’t hit another one at home until June 4, 2022 and all told has hit 14 of his 17 WooSox homers on the road. … Patience has indeed been a virtue for Deivy Grullon, who has caught as many games in September (5) as he did in May, June, July and August combined. So far in 2022, six of Grullon’s 10 overall hits have been for extra bases. … … After a sensational year in 2021 when their full-season affiliates went 316-223 (.586), the Red Sox are likely to finish in the red in that category this year. Their top four farm clubs were just 256-270 (.487) through Sunday. Some good news? Worcester and Portland, the two higher level affiliates, were 141-127, and Portland is closing in on an Eastern League playoff berth. … Enmanuel Valdez owns the remarkable distinction of having as many RBIs (28) as hits in a WooSox uniform. Overall, with three different minor league teams this season he has 105 RBIs in 112 games — amazing production at any level. … The seven unearned runs the WooSox gave up in Saturday’s 9-5 loss at Lehigh Valley set a club record in that dubious category. Worcester pitchers have hurt themselves defensively, being charged with 12 errors. That’s more than the team’s first basemen (10) and third basemen (10). Catchers have committed 16 errors, some of those on interference calls; shortstops have 14, second basemen 13 and the three outfield positions 8 combined. … It’s good to see that a minor league players union has been recognized by the majors, who are in complete charge these days. Minor league hockey, which Worcester is very familiar with, has been unionized for years and the game has survived very nicely.

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UPCOMING…

Worcester’s two-week road trip, now a bit shortened, continues at Scranton-Wilkes-Barre with the usual sextet of games. The RailRiders are hot with an 8-2 record in their last 10 games. That includes a 4-2 series victory last week over the league-leading Durham Bulls on the road.

The WooSox have only played 12 games at PNC Park in two seasons. The series there is as close as it can be. The teams are 6-6 and Worcester has outscored the home team, 55-54. WooSox batters have homered 14 times in the 12 games, five of them coming in a 14-5 victory on Aug. 12.

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CATCHING UP WITH…

Middle infielder Steve Rodriguez, who played 144 games for Pawtucket in 1994-95 then was traded to Detroit after a brief stay in Boston, is the hitting coach at the University of Texas after years as head coach at Pepperdine and Baylor. He coached WooSox manager Tracy at Pepperdine.

Outfielder Darnell McDonald, who spent parts of 2010, 2011 and 2012 with Pawtucket and also spent three seasons in Boston, owns SVA Sports in Phoenix, a mental skills development company.

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TRIVIA ANSWERS

1. Bobby Dalbec, who has a homer for the WooSox this season, hit seven for the Pawtucket Red Sox in 2019

2. Kelly Shoppach got into 101 games at catcher for the 2004 Pawtucket Red Sox and played in 113 overall. Shoppach batted .233 with 22 home runs and 64 RBIs and spent most of 2005 in Pawtucket as well.