HR

Stolen bases have been on a steep decline over the last several years. Whether it’s from a talent decline (doubtful) or teams understanding that they are often a risky venture not worth taking (probable), the prevailing thought is that we are on the downswing as far as this one statistical category in the game we love. I too have fallen victim to this thought, and it’s a big reason a player like Jonathan Villar was getting so much love going into the 2017 draft season.I remember my draft strategy in the early 2000s being…

These past few seasons (roughly around midway through 2015, actually), we have seen a pretty meteoric rise in the number of home runs hit. You probably know this from the countless articles written about the topic. That, or you know it because Scooter Gennett hit four homers in one game this past season. Either way, from 2007 to 2015, the number of home runs hit in a season averaged between 4,186 (2014) to 5,042 (2009) for a true average of 4,748. In 2016, the total number jumped to 5,610, an increase of roughly 18% from the…