High Heat Baseball

[Bonny Battaglino]

TheDickson Baseball Dictionary is an absolutely invaluable resource for those who love the game of baseball. Referred to as "a staggering piece of scholarship" (Wall Street Journal) and "an indispensable guide to the language of baseball" (San Diego Union-Tribune), the Baseball Dictionary is the definitive source for baseball terms.

The complete definition of high heat, from the Dickson Baseball Dictionary, appears below, along with (where applicable) first usage, synonyms, historical details and more high heat research, courtesy ofBaseball Almanac.

JOHN MILLER: Tonight is the Presidential opener. The forty-third President of the United States, George W. Bush threw out the ceremonial first pitch and threw it well. Joe Morgan, no less an authority, praised that throw.

JOHN MILLER: I remember Joe and I did a game in Arlington, Texas...it was an opening night, and President George H. W. Bush, the forty-first president, was there for the ceremonial first pitch that night for your Rangers.

JOHN MILLER: I don't know if you had some connections with the president at that time, but you got him down there, and he ended up, as I recall, warming up with Joe Morgan under the stands for that first pitch.

JOHN MILLER: It's spectacular. I'd like to be able to get out of the booth and look around at some of the various views. In understand you can see the Washington Monument from some places. You can see the river.

Now you're a huge baseball fan. You were involved with the Texas Rangers. You put together an investment group. You were the president of the Rangers for several years. Can you get behind this Washington team, or is it too difficult because you're so into the Rangers?

JOE MORGAN: Ahh, thank you. You know, I wanted to remind John, we were on the plane once...the two of us...we were sitting there. And you said we should go to John McMullin, tell him that you would run the team for him, and that I could be the general manager.

JOHN MILLER: President Bush is here with us. The presidential opener here in Washington. A long time Washington tradition started by President Taft in 1910. Probably the most memorable opening pitch I've ever seen was 2001 in Yankee Stadium when you threw out the first within a few weeks of September 11th...

JOHN MILLER: I started to recall 2001 because that was a time and a place where emotions were raw. The New Yorkers were on the front lines. You came out there in Yankee Stadium before the huge crowd and the fans started chanting "U.S.A., U.S.A." That had to be an amazing moment for you.

PRESIDENT BUSH: It was a nerve racking moment and it was very emotional and I was touched, and the raw emotion at the stadium was, you know, palpable, it was a really amazing experience.

PRESIDENT BUSH: He asked me if I was going to throw from the mound, and I said, "What do you think?" He said, "Well, you need to throw from the mound." I said, "OK, I will." He said, "But, don't bounce it....put a little pressure on it."

JOHN MILLER: Well, usually we see this ceremonial first pitches, right Joe? The people stand at the front of the mound...they kind of lob it in there...it bounces a lot. To do it right up on the mound...you don't see that very often.

PRESIDENT BUSH: Well, I didn't want to bounce it, that's for certain. That's why I came in with high heat. Thank goodness you didn't put that little strike zone up there that you've got.

PRESIDENT BUSH: Right. I talked to him a little about that. I saw him on another matter and he wanted to get into the business side of baseball. He's got an ownership in the AAA and AA for the Astros...round Rock and Corpus...he and his family.

PRESIDENT BUSH: It's an honor to be here. You know I actually saw the Senators when my grandfather was a United States Senator from Connecticut. He took me to see the Senators in old Griffith Stadium.

JOHN MILLER: ...the steroid issue in baseball and you urged the players, the union people, the owners, to get together and get rid of steroids from the game. Now since that time, there's been movement. Are you satisfied? Are you happy with the kind of movement that's been made?

PRESIDENT BUSH: I'm happy with the recognition that it was a problem, and the question is whether they will be developing these sophisticated, you know, stuff, that will make it hard to detect. I certainly hope the players continue to work to clean up the sport like fans like you and fans like me want. We really want these records intact.

JOE MORGAN: I'm like you. I think both the players and the owners have recognized that there is a problem and they're trying to find a way that they both can live with, you know, to clean up the sport. But like you, it's going to be difficult because of the designer drugs. The say there's more money in designing them than there is to catch the guys so, that makes it more difficult.

PRESIDENT BUSH: It's just...you know...it's too bad because it's such a fabulous sport. One of the great things about the sport is that you can take the records of Joe Morgan and compare them to the next speedy second baseman and get some kind of, you know, historical relevance and ah...so this era is a little distorted, but it's till hard to play the game.

PRESIDENT BUSH: Ah, you know, I thought it was part of the cleansing process...the healing process. You know, the great thing about baseball is you don't have to be a giant to play it...

PRESIDENT BUSH: [laughing]...but fast, and hands, I mean, you know, the normal sized person can play it and it's a great sport. You know, I'll tell you, I'm glad you gave me a chance to visit with you. One of my real wishes is that baseball will get back into the inner-city of America.

PRESIDENT BUSH: Such fabulous opportunities for some of these kids you know. And it's...contracts are better in baseball if you can make the team. You play longer, and the skills, you know, a lot of our inner-city kids have got the skills necessary to play, they just need exposure and for the sport to be accepted better.

JOE MORGAN: I think exposure is the key there, you know, in the inner-city, I think, and one of the things that has happened is that basketball...they hold clinics in the inner-city, they do a lot of different things in the inner-city. They get the kids interested in their sport. We need to do more of that, and as you are saying, bring more awareness in the inner-city so the kids will be a little more excited about playing the game.

PRESIDENT BUSH: You know, one of the fun things we've done at the White House is host tee-ball on the South Lawn, all aiming just to bring more exposure to Little League baseball and encourage kids to play.

JOE MORGAN: ...because I went with your Dad, Stan Musial, a lot of the great players went there and it does bring a lot of the kids to the White House and to be able to play baseball on the White House lawn...that's pretty cool.

JOHN MILLER: George Will, the syndicated columnist and political commentator for ABC Television...he was part of our pregame ceremonies tonight on ESPN...there's the First Lady [as camera focuses on the First Lady in the stands]...

PRESIDENT BUSH: Absolutely. Some of the best times of our lives were when we were with the Rangers. We took our little girls to baseball games and hung out with our friends at the ballpark. It's a really good time for our family.

For me, the latter group includes interleague play, the sacrifice bunt, Tropicana Field, five-game playoff series and, oddly enough, peanut butter and jelly. (I say oddly because it's a difficult dislike when you have preschool-age children.)

As with anyone -- with the exception of out-and-out grouches who hate everything -- I have reasons for my dislikes. In the case of "PB&J," it's simple: I don't like the smell of those two ingredients in unison, though I like them separately; it has a rep as a "kid's" sandwich, yet adults eat it, which is all too weird; and it's one of the messiest foods in existence. For example, my 2-year-old daughter has been known to peel the pieces of bread apart, then eat the PB or J beginning from the middle of each piece and working outward.

The same feeling -- that "bleagh," those extreme dislikes -- also applies to fantasy baseball. The entire point of this game is to have an opinion; if you can't, then you're not going to have any fun playing it.

For me, and probably for most fantasy owners, dislikes initially come from the gut, and they're comparative to a player's perceived value, typically average draft position (ADP) or our consensus rankings. To me, there is no such thing as a "do not draft" list. When I say, "Don't draft him," I assume you know it comes with the usual caveat, " anywhere near that listed price, though everyone has a purchase price." A fifth-round dislike might, and probably would, register with me as a brilliant pickup in the 15th round. Remember, value in this game is relative.

That's where some of the advanced statistical tools we have available come in. Many fantasy owners are already familiar with such references as Baseball-Reference.com and FanGraphs; ESPN also now has access to a pitch-tracking tool, which we use to gain even further insight on players' strengths and weaknesses. It's this tool that often supports many of my cases for "sleeper" and "bust" picks, and now, as I reveal my list of "bleagh" players, I'll demonstrate some of its capabilities.

The challenge for us regarding Ichiro this season is determining which of the following is true: Was his 2011 merely a fluky down year, or was it a product of advancing age? Considering that he's now 38 years old, the latter is a legitimate fear. Ichiro struggled in two specific areas: He was no longer elite at hitting pitches outside of the strike zone, and he was not nearly as effective hitting hard fastballs (those clocked at 93 mph or faster).

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