Episode 1696: A No-Hitter a Day Keeps the Offense Away

Summary[]

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about scheduling their days around Shohei Ohtani and the latest examples of Ohtani excitement, Tony La Russa and unwritten rules vs. fun and the White Sox clubhouse, and Spencer Turnbull and no-hitter overload (before Corey Kluber’s no-no on Wednesday), then answer listener emails about whether Ohtani is the world’s best athlete, resting or playing Ohtani during All-Star week, whether not making the playoffs is too frequent a talking point when it comes to Ohtani and Mike Trout, whether the union could file a grievance over unwritten rules, flopping vs. framing and the possibility of punishing framing, and the median number of plate appearances in an MLB hitter’s career, plus a Stat Blast about Kyle Seager and the players who’ve participated in the most career no-nos.

Topics[]

Is Shohei Ohtani the world's best athlete right now?
Ohtani's participation in the Home Run Derby and All-Star game
Appreciating players who don't make the playoffs or win titles
MLBPA and White Sox clubhouse
Median number of plate appearances for a MLB career
Flopping vs. Framing
Most no-hitters playd in
Shohei Ohtani's latest start
Mid-season managerial changes and impact on team performance

Banter[]

Ben notes that he has begun to organize his life around Shohei Ohtani pitching appearances. He and Meg discuss the league-wide excitement about Ohtani's excellence.
In a follow-up to discussions from Episode 1695, Meg and Ben discuss Tony La Russa's comments about Yermin Mercedes' home run off Willians Astudillo. The band Smash Mouth tweeted support for La Russa's comments.
La Russa's role and impact on the White Sox clubhouse
Ben and Meg discuss Spencer Turnbull's no-hitter and fatigue from no-hitters this year. The episode was recorded prior to Corey Kluber's no-hitter.

Email Questions[]

Anthony: In the interest of promoting Shohei Ohtani further, if it were announced tomorrow that a new team sport had been invented whole cloth, and you had to draft a team of players to play the new sport before learning any information about it or how it's played, Ohtani is definitely the number one overall pick, right? At his athletic prime, I would have maybe taken LeBron James, but right now I genuinely think Ohtani is the best overall athlete on the planet. His combination of size, speed, strength, recognition, reactions, muscle memory, and fine motor skills is unparalleled. It feels like he could be a top player in almost any sport if he had focused on it as a kid, other than a few niche ones where his height would be a disadvantage, like horseback riding.
Jessie: After watching Ohtani hit his league leading home run last night I started thinking about the possibility of him in the Home Run Derby. This led me to the possibility of Ohtani winning the Home Run Derby and then being the Starting pitcher in the All-Star game. Could this happen? Would the Angels let him pitch in the game? Would Kevin Cash actually do this? Would Kevin Cash also forfeit the DH to let him hit?
Michael: I was thinking about this as I saw someone lament online for the seemingly millionth time about how it doesn't seem right (or fair) that the Angels have not been good enough for Mike Trout (and now Shohei Ohtani too) to be annual participants in the playoffs. While pointing this out is an objective fact--Trout has only made one appearance whilst also essentially being a hybrid of Mel Ott, Mickey Mantle, and Ernie Banks's primes--it also seems to undermine a very common theme in all of pro sports: not all icons and HOFers win a championship, or even get multiple chances in the playoffs. Would it have been awesome if Ernie Banks was on a World Series winning team? Of course. But he didn't, and while it didn't detract from anyone thinking he wasn't capital-G Great, his narrative was largely defined by something he had no real control over. It got me thinking: we should use Trout and Ohtani as totems for a better appreciation of the sport writ large, and if we keep falling into the narrative of "wouldn't it be awesome if these guys played on a juggernaut team?" or "wouldn't it be awesome if they were in the playoffs almost all of the time?"--aren't we keeping the dumb narrative of "rings equals true success" alive when we should be trying to mercifully kill it?
Richard: I work as a union organizer, and if I ever heard a boss was telling my workers to sabotage their performance in a way that would impact their pay, I would file a grievance. Even if there are unwritten rules, it sounds like the White Sox are trying to drive down arbitration salaries by telling their employees to phone it in when they are winning big, thus hurting their earning potential. Do either of you see the Union possibly pursuing this?
Mitchell: Former MLB player and current baseball podcaster Trevor Plouffe is often very self-deprecating when it comes to his MLB career. I was surprised to discover that he had over 3,000 MLB plate appearances (3,234 to be exact) which got me thinking, of all MLB position players, is this above or below the median? What is the median number of plate appearances for all MLB hitters?
Shyam: It seems like flopping in basketball (or simulation as soccer officially calls it) are more like true legal terms defined by those sports, and speak specifically to illegal activity that's over the line - unlike pitch framing which is term that exists outside the rulebook (?). But this brings up a different question to mind for me - the root of those actions being illegal for soccer/basketball seems to come from the overreaction being unsporting/unethical/deceitful - and that's what warrants the fines/suspensions/yellow cards/whatever. I'm not at all advocating for this - but does MLB have similar grounds within the rules to eject and/or fine catchers for framing pitches, on the basis that they're unethically misleading the umpire?

Stat Blast[]

Ben looks at data concerning which players have participated in the most no-hitters.
Kyle Seager has been involved in 9 no-hitters. This is tied for second among players form 1900 to the present. Reggie Jackson also was part of 9 no-hitters. Bert Campaneris participated in 11 no-hitters (5 wins, 6 losses).

Notes[]

The median number of career plate appearances is 426 for completed careers of players that debuted from 1901-2000.