Jaffe: Where have all the Sluggers Gone?

[weams]

http://www.si.com/mlb/2014/09/03/home-runs-power-hitters-giancarlo-stanton

More alarming is the increasing scarcity of the 30-homer hitter. In 1987, 28 players reached that milestone, the first time there had been an average of 1.0 per team. From 1996-2009, only four times did that rate fall below 1.0, and only once (2007) did it fall below 0.9; since then, it's been at 0.9 just once (2012), and last year it fell below 0.5 for the first non-strike season since 1992.

Falling home run rates have gone hand in hand with falling levels of overall scoring. This year's 4.10 runs per game is down 1.5 percent from last year's 4.17 per game, down 5.2 percent from 2012's 4.32 per game, and down 11.1 percent from 2009's 4.61 per game, the last time it was above 4.50. It's the lowest rate since the strike-shortened 1981 season (4.00), or since 1978 (4.10) if you prefer full 162-game slates.

[LookitsPuck]

Proper PED testing, anyone? Unlike the NFL which is a joke and pretty much everyone is doped up.

[MarylandAaron]

Might be the over-infatuation with OBP. Most teams now are pursuing guys who stand there and watch pitches instead of driving the ball.

[weams]

Might be the over-infatuation with OBP. Most teams now are pursuing guys who stand there and watch pitches instead of driving the ball.

I think we trained a decade of them.

[Can_of_corn]

They took that job in Tennessee.

[OFFNY]

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