Consilient Insights | Baseball Rules | Sam Curran | Strauss Deal
Baseball is a truly unique sport. Not because Pete Alonso hit a 3 Run Opposite Field Home Run in the 9th Inning against arguably the best closer in the sport. But because Baseball encourages dramatic shifts in Lineup Construction Rules during the Playoffs. In the most important game of the Mets Season, Carlos Mendoza started 4th Outfielder Tyrone Taylor and a Utility Middle Infielder in Jose Iglesias as a 5 Hitter.
Historically that 5th Position in an MLB Lineup is considered to be a Power Position. Jose Iglesias has 51 Home Runs over the course of his 12 Year Career. That said, Iglesias has been one of the Mets Most Consistent Hitters. Over the course of this season he’s hitting .375 with Runners in Scoring Position. Those numbers get magnified in the Playoffs and Utility Players become viable options in the Middle of a Lineup.
Finally, Iglesias is an interesting Player Archetype. He’s a lifetime .283 Hitter. In a Sport where it’s getting harder and harder to hit the baseball and generate diverse offense, players like Iglesias should increase in value, keeping in mind the League Batting Average was .243. To the contrary, Iglesias has been living off a series a Minor League Contracts and 1 Year Deal. This begs the question, is Iglesias’ Defense, Reliable Hitting, and Culture-Setting Less Valuable than the guy who hits 18 Empty Home Runs a Year? In my view this Player Archetype is incredibly valuable amidst a Sea of Strike Outs and Inefficient At-Bats. While the Playoffs are only just beginning, I am curious to see how the Offseason will treat guys like Donovan Solano, Jose Iglesias, and Isaiah Kiner-Falefa.
The Cricket Equivalent of Jose Iglesias is the Consistent but Inconsistent Classic Bits and Pieces All Rounder. While Classic Bits and Pieces All Rounders cannot be part of your Core, they can be effective members of your team. But for them to be effective, they need or require Robust Roster and Lineup Construction so those Classic Bits and Pieces All Rounders can play to their strengths as opposed to overcoming their weaknesses. A Good Example of this is Sam Curran. Curran often gets criticized for his Up and Down Play. In my opinion his inconsistency is not his fault. His inconsistency is the manifestation of Poor Talent Evaluation and Team Building. Curran is a Classic Bits and Pieces All Rounder forced sometimes to be a New Ball Bowler, a Death Bowler, or a Genuine Middle Order Batsman. In the case of Sam Curran, Better Talent Evaluation would lead to Better Archetyping, Better Archetyping would lead to Better Roster and Lineup Construction, and Better Roster and Lineup Construction would lead to Better Game Modeling. And Better Game Modeling would lead to Better Performances.
One More Thing
Finally, as a Sport we can learn a lot from Baseball both on and off the pitch. MLB recently finalized a Multi-Year International Partnership with European Workwear Leader STRAUSS. As part of this deal, STRAUSS’ name and logo appears on MLB Batting Helmets during the Postseason and Regular Season Games in Europe, as well as Minor League Baseball Batting Helmets all season long. Can the ICC engage in similar partnerships during the ICC Events to increase revenue across the board?