Melky is juicing

[elmalo]

Since it rebuilds and repairs tissue faster, if a person works out their upper body religiously, it can lead to increased bat speed, which can reduce the amount of strikeouts a player can have while also increasing contact.

So yes, test can indirectly make you a better contact hitter

You can have all of the bat speed in the world, if your mechanics are off you arent going to increase contact with increased bat speed. And actually, you would want to build up your core more than your upper body, glutes, hips and abs have a lot more to do with bat speed than upper body.

 

[HPC]

You can have all of the bat speed in the world, if your mechanics are off you arent going to increase contact with increased bat speed.

I get the point you are trying to make, but to say that test doesnt make a person a better hitter isnt true

 

[elmalo]

I get the point you are trying to make, but to say that test doesnt make a person a better hitter isnt true

To say it makes a person a better hitter isnt true as well. There are a lot of things that go into swinging a bat. What it does do is give your body a better foundation, however, that doesnt always translate into a better hitter.

 

[HPC]

To say it makes a person a better hitter isnt true as well. There are a lot of things that go into swinging a bat. What it does do is give your body a better foundation, however, that doesnt always translate into a better hitter.

Obviously, a 29 year old Single A guy batting .220 who injects himself isnt going to magically become a .320 hitter in the bigs.

There has to be a foundation already there for the steroids to work.

For a guy like Melky who was a career .280-something hitter with a solid foundation, he benefitted from using them.

Like I said, steroids themselves dont magically turn a guy into a power hitter, or make the bat hit the ball. But what it means for alot of guys is the extra 20 feet needed to turn a double into a homerun or a strikeout into a single.

 

[ballerskrip]

To say it makes a person a better hitter isnt true as well. There are a lot of things that go into swinging a bat. What it does do is give your body a better foundation, however, that doesnt always translate into a better hitter.

Shoot, then we should legalize it, right? This argument is silly. Does it make a crappy hitter into a good hitter? No. But there is a reason that players like Melky take testosterone, because they heal faster, they are in better shape each day, they feel better, and thus IT WORKS. Players wouldn't risk the suspension if it DIDN'T WORK

 

[ballerskrip]

Obviously, a 29 year old Single A guy batting .220 who injects himself isnt going to magically become a .320 hitter in the bigs.

There has to be a foundation already there for the steroids to work.

For a guy like Melky who was a career .280-something hitter with a solid foundation, he benefitted from using them.

Like I said, steroids themselves dont magically turn a guy into a power hitter, or make the bat hit the ball. But what it means for alot of guys is the extra 20 feet needed to turn a double into a homerun or a strikeout into a single.

Exactly what I was saying in my post above

 

[Austin]

Steroids may not cause hitters to make more contact, but when contact is made, the ball is hit harder, obviously. So a ball hit up the middle, that would usually be fielded by a rangy shortstop, would instead have a little extra oomph to get through the hole. That's a major reason why steroids can help contact hitters like Melky.

If Boggs or Gwynn were on steroids, they could have hit .400 because usual groundball outs may have gotten by the fielders.

It's not all about big muscles and added recovery time. Sometimes just a little more subtle strength can bring lmore singles and doubles, drastically increasing a batting average, even if a hitter is not making more contact.

 

[tpeichel]

Obviously, a 29 year old Single A guy batting .220 who injects himself isnt going to magically become a .320 hitter in the bigs.

There has to be a foundation already there for the steroids to work.

For a guy like Melky who was a career .280-something hitter with a solid foundation, he benefitted from using them.

Like I said, steroids themselves dont magically turn a guy into a power hitter, or make the bat hit the ball. But what it means for alot of guys is the extra 20 feet needed to turn a double into a homerun or a strikeout into a single.

Or a little more bat speed so you get the fat part of the bat on it instead of the handle.

 

[thefatguy]

There are what, 15 hitters on each team that represent the best 450 batters on the face of the earth at any given time.
Give any one of them any kind of enhancement or edge, even something as small and technically legal as pitch position or fastball/off-speed indication from a base runner, and I will guarantee they will become better hitters.

 

[elmalo]

Testosterone certainly helps, however, there is no way to say that it is the main, or the only reason that he is doing well. Especially since he has probably been doing them for a while.

 

[Austin]

Testosterone certainly helps, however, there is no way to say that it is the main, or the only reason that he is doing well.

Who cares if it's the main reason? You admit testosterone helps. That's all that matters. Even if it only gave him a few extra hits, they could determine the outcome of games, or even if he wins the batting title.
The extent of how much testosterone helps doesn't matter. It's cheating, and there's no excuse or defense, so stop defending him.

 

[elmalo]

Who cares if it's the main reason? You admit testosterone helps. That's all that matters. Even if it only gave him a few extra hits, they could determine the outcome of games, or even if he wins the batting title.
The extent of how much testosterone helps doesn't matter. It's cheating, and there's no excuse or defense, so stop defending him.

How exactly am I defending him?

 

[RL24]

Who cares if it's the main reason? You admit testosterone helps. That's all that matters. Even if it only gave him a few extra hits, they could determine the outcome of games, or even if he wins the batting title.
The extent of how much testosterone helps doesn't matter. It's cheating, and there's no excuse or defense, so stop defending him.

Damn, last time I saw this much hate directed towards testosterone was at a lesbian convention.


For real, what's the deal? My favorite player has some in his system. I have some in my system. Who's your favorite player? I bet he's got some too...


:lol:

 

[TNP777]

Actually, there was a rumor that was posted on Twitter that Melky tested positive that was tweeted by Andrew Baggerly. He apologized for posting it when it wasn't supposed to be. Melky at the time denied it.

If I'm not mistaken, Baggerly was forced to print a public apology to his readers and Cabrera. To my knowledge, Cabrera has not returned the favor, choosing to apologize to everyone but Baggerly.

 

[leatherman]

Some statistical analysis of Melky's increase the past two seasons. First, here are the first five full seasons for Melky:

G      PA  AB  R   H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO   BA  OBP  SLG  OPS OPS+  TB
130   524 460 75 129 26  2  7  50 12  5 56 59 .280 .360 .391 .752   95 180
150   612 545 66 149 24  8  8  73 13  5 43 68 .273 .327 .391 .718   88 213
129   453 414 42 103 12  1  8  37  9  2 29 58 .249 .301 .341 .641   68 141
154   540 485 66 133 28  1 13  68 10  2 43 59 .274 .336 .416 .752   93 202
147   509 458 50 117 27  3  4  42  7  1 42 64 .255 .317 .354 .671   83 162

So, Melky was a below average hitter in his first five seasons. He never had an OPS+ above 100, never had 30 doubles in a season, never had more than 213 total bases, never hit 15 home runs, never had 80 RBIs, never batted over .280, never slugged higher than .420. And then, he had two All Star caliber seasons. I think it is quite obvious when Melky started juicing, and that it made him a better hitter. Take a look at his stats from the last two seasons:

G      PA  AB   R   H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO   BA  OBP  SLG  OPS OPS+  TB
155   706 658 102 201 44  5 18  87 20 10 35 94 .305 .339 .470 .809  121 309
113   501 459  84 159 25 10 11  60 13  5 36 63 .346 .390 .516 .906  158 237

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 8/16/2012.

Melky was about to get paid. Think of the difference in the contract Melky would have gotten after this season had he not been caught, versus what he will make now. It's probably about $10 million per year.

 

[matfanofold]

This is the way I figure it....

Steroids, and most forms of such, are taken for a few different reasons but mainly to build streignth. When you build up your muscles it usually leads to stronger muscles that can/do produce tighter reflexes and greater bat speed (not to mention greater power behing the swing). All of this can indeed make a hitter better. As we all know a extra hit here and there per week can make a .270 hitter a .320 hitter, and the added velocity and/or distance on hit balls can turn a 15 HR gap hitter a 40+ HR hitter. Of course this is not scientific but just an opinion produced by what I have seen. To say steroids can not make you a better hitter is a mistake in my opinion, it can not add talent but can add refinement to already present talent by enriching the physical form of thoes weilding the talent.

Having said that, the pressure on a MLB player to produce is ungodly. To take some relatively harmless testosterone in an effort to bolster production, and hope your just one of the many to go unchecked, may seem like a reasonable gamble to some trying to keep afloat. Now, I am not saying that I like the idea of people enhancing their abilities via a pill or injection, but I understand it. What seems more unreasonable to me is when a player like Bonds, who for all intent and purpose would probablly have been a .300/30/100 hitter who could swipe 30+ a year without it, takes it just to bolster his own self serving statistical conquests. For a player like Melky, I believe it was a means to keep viable, keep his head above water so to speak. Not that it makes it right but more understandable I guess..

Anyway, just a few of my cents...

 

[Big Mac McGwire]

Testosterone does not make you a better contact hitter. Testosterone builds and repairs muscle tissue. Any benefits of testosterone derive from the muscle that you build and whatever benefits you would achieve by gaining muscle. It is quite possible that he has been taking them for years and this year he finally put it all together.

im not trying to get into what exactly each roid does and which.
Lets agree test makes you stronger.
Then some ground balls or sharp liners became hit alot harder
And they were hit so hard they started catching more air and they became hits.
Maybe a fly out was hit earlier and squarer on the bat and they became
line drive hits. Whatever it was, quicker reaction time, more strength, Steroids
are Performance ENHANCING. I think hitting 60 points higher
qualifys as a usual perForMance being enhanced.
Thats what i just trying to say. If a guys aspect or performance like melkys ability
to hit for average like standards was already decent, steroids enhanced
what he already did well.

 

[zach]

Now the word is that he created a fax website with product info to try and prove he inadvertently took thighs substance that boosted his testosterone.