Strikeouts up, home runs, scoring down
By Ronald Blum, Associated Press, 05/01/01
NEW YORK -- David Justice kept flailing away at the plate, striking out four times against Boston before hitting a game-winning home run.
After 11 years in the major leagues, he was trying to adjust to a new strike zone.
"That's not easy," said the New York Yankees designated hitter, who had struck out four times in a game only once before in his career. "As soon as you see a ball's high, you swing. If you don't approach it right, you pop up."
One month after baseball started to enforce its new strike zone, strikeouts are up, while walks, home runs, batting average and ERA are all down.
This is what commissioner Bud Selig envisioned when he told his aides to demand that umpires move the strike zone up and narrow it. For 20 years, it had gotten lower and wider, umpires ignoring the definition that had been in the Official Baseball Rules for more than a century.
"I think the strike zone is a little higher, generally," Houston Astros manager Larry Dierker said. "We have a couple of guys calling it the way it used to be, but I think they're trying to follow the rule."
There was an average of 2.34 home runs per game in April, down 8.6 percent from the record average of 2.54 in the first month of last season, according to the Elias Sports Bureau, baseball's statistician.
Still, the decrease wasn't that dramatic, with the 2001 average remaining 5.4 percent above the 1999 average of 2.22.
Walks decreased 13.3 percent, from 7.82 per game to 6.78, and strikeouts increased 5.4 percent, from 12.91 to 13.61.
That shows the strike zone really is getting larger.
"I've been happy with the consistency in the five games I pitched," Arizona's Curt Schilling said. "I didn't think it would be that easy for them to make that adjustment, but I think so far they've done a good job."
As new ballparks have opened, year-to-year statistical comparisons have become more difficult to evaluate because the new ballparks have different -- and usually smaller -- dimensions.
Three new ballparks opened last year -- hitter-friendly Enron Field in Houston, pitcher-friendly Comerica Park in Detroit and Pacific Bell Park in San Francisco. Two ballparks opened this season, with no dramatic changes evident yet: Miller Park in Milwaukee and PNC Park in Pittsburgh.
Whatever the factors, offense is down this year, with batting average dropping 3.7 percent (.270 to .260), runs falling 10.6 percent (10.75 per game to 9.61) and hits decreasing 4.4 percent (18.56 to 1.774).
Among power categories, doubles dropped 9.1 percent (3.81 per game to 3.46) and triples fell 7.3 percent (0.41 to 0.38).
Pitchers have been the beneficiaries, with the major league ERA falling 9.5 percent, from 4.93 to 4.46.
"Last year, my strike zone was wide," Houston shortstop Julio Lugo said. "I wasn't getting that outside pitch at all. Now there are more high strikes."
While the stats have changed, they aren't affecting styles on the field.
"There are only a few pitchers who can take advantage of pitching up there, and we don't have that type of pitcher," New York Mets manager Bobby Valentine said. "For a lot of pitchers, it's a disadvantage to pitch up there."
While management hoped a bigger strike zone would speed the pace of games, speed has changed only minimally. Through Sunday, the average time of a nine-inning game was 2 hours, 54 minutes, a decrease of only three minutes from last season.
