There was an article in The Athletic covering two topics that we have had multiple threads on the past few weeks - pitchers applying foreign substances to the baseball and the lack of hitting. Todays article pointed to pitchers doctoring the ball as one of the major factors in the decline of hitting.
A few excerpts:
Riding the bus back to the team hotel after a recent game, members of a National League club passed around the ball from a rookie’s first hit. The players were stunned by how sticky the ball was — how hours after the ball was taken out of play, they were still picking glue strands off the rawhide. “What are we even doing here?” a pitcher on that team said.
.....Many in the game are asking the same question about pitchers who illegally apply foreign substances to baseballs. The problem remains rampant....“Everyone has swing-and-miss stuff from top to bottom, and it’s not because everyone got so much better in the last three years,” Phillies catcher J.T. Realmuto told reporters on Wednesday. “To be honest, that stuff helps a lot.
“It is getting out of hand,” said an American League pitcher, who spoke on condition of anonymity. “When you watch some of these guys from the dugout you can almost hear the ball ripping out of their hands. Guys are doing stuff now that you can’t do to a baseball with just your hand. You just can’t.”.....“It’s pretty frustrating picking up a foul ball and seeing it covered in sticky stuff,” Marlins outfielder Adam Duvall said.
“Most players, if you go into a clubhouse and you see a pitcher putting stuff on his glove, the hitters give him a hard time but that’s it,” another AL pitcher said. “They don’t like it but they won’t stop it. They know everyone is doing it and they want to win. What good is only stopping your guy from cheating? Makes no sense.”
Since the start of the Statcast era in 2015, the percentage of fastballs thrown with spin rates over 2400 RPM has nearly doubled, from 18 percent to 35 percent..... it is impossible to achieve such dramatic increases in spin rate naturally. Hall of Fame pitcher Jim Palmer and White Sox hitting coach Frank Menechino are among those who said the substances also help enhance movement on breaking balls.
“You have hitters who are like, ‘How the f— are we supposed to hit this?’ For big-league hitters to admit defeat is rare. But when you have a guy throwing a fastball that rises 4 feet or a slider that looks like a strike and drops off another foot, it’s like video game stuff. You think (hitters) are just complaining, but then you look at the video and it’s like, holy s—, how are they supposed to hit this? I don’t care what your approach is at the plate, you don’t have a chance.”
With pitchers now throwing harder, and also apparently doctoring the baseballs, is it any wonder hitting is at an all-time low. Rather than moving the mound back, perhaps MLB should first try to enforce the rule prohibiting pitchers from applying foreign substances to the baseball.
Thanks a lot Trevor Bauer for your contribution to ruining a great game.
A few excerpts:
Riding the bus back to the team hotel after a recent game, members of a National League club passed around the ball from a rookie’s first hit. The players were stunned by how sticky the ball was — how hours after the ball was taken out of play, they were still picking glue strands off the rawhide. “What are we even doing here?” a pitcher on that team said.
.....Many in the game are asking the same question about pitchers who illegally apply foreign substances to baseballs. The problem remains rampant....“Everyone has swing-and-miss stuff from top to bottom, and it’s not because everyone got so much better in the last three years,” Phillies catcher J.T. Realmuto told reporters on Wednesday. “To be honest, that stuff helps a lot.
“It is getting out of hand,” said an American League pitcher, who spoke on condition of anonymity. “When you watch some of these guys from the dugout you can almost hear the ball ripping out of their hands. Guys are doing stuff now that you can’t do to a baseball with just your hand. You just can’t.”.....“It’s pretty frustrating picking up a foul ball and seeing it covered in sticky stuff,” Marlins outfielder Adam Duvall said.
“Most players, if you go into a clubhouse and you see a pitcher putting stuff on his glove, the hitters give him a hard time but that’s it,” another AL pitcher said. “They don’t like it but they won’t stop it. They know everyone is doing it and they want to win. What good is only stopping your guy from cheating? Makes no sense.”
Since the start of the Statcast era in 2015, the percentage of fastballs thrown with spin rates over 2400 RPM has nearly doubled, from 18 percent to 35 percent..... it is impossible to achieve such dramatic increases in spin rate naturally. Hall of Fame pitcher Jim Palmer and White Sox hitting coach Frank Menechino are among those who said the substances also help enhance movement on breaking balls.
“You have hitters who are like, ‘How the f— are we supposed to hit this?’ For big-league hitters to admit defeat is rare. But when you have a guy throwing a fastball that rises 4 feet or a slider that looks like a strike and drops off another foot, it’s like video game stuff. You think (hitters) are just complaining, but then you look at the video and it’s like, holy s—, how are they supposed to hit this? I don’t care what your approach is at the plate, you don’t have a chance.”
With pitchers now throwing harder, and also apparently doctoring the baseballs, is it any wonder hitting is at an all-time low. Rather than moving the mound back, perhaps MLB should first try to enforce the rule prohibiting pitchers from applying foreign substances to the baseball.
Thanks a lot Trevor Bauer for your contribution to ruining a great game.
