So far this season, the Sox staff's pitches are fourth-highest above the plate in all of MLB.
This is not something new, and that's what's interesting. In fact, they were first in MLB in 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020, leading the league overall over the past five seasons.
It's not due to an over-reliance on 4-seam fastballs either, as the Sox rank just 12th in the those as a percentage of all pitches thrown during that same time period. They have, however, been throwing high heat at a much higher distance above the ground than anyone else in the league.
The distance between rankings of staffs by this measure sometimes boils down to hundredths of inches, so it's not really one-or-the-other here-and-there that's important, IMO. But what looks to be a consistent trend over multiple managers, pitching coaches, and pitchers over 91,000+ pitches seems worthy of note.
This is not something new, and that's what's interesting. In fact, they were first in MLB in 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020, leading the league overall over the past five seasons.
It's not due to an over-reliance on 4-seam fastballs either, as the Sox rank just 12th in the those as a percentage of all pitches thrown during that same time period. They have, however, been throwing high heat at a much higher distance above the ground than anyone else in the league.
The distance between rankings of staffs by this measure sometimes boils down to hundredths of inches, so it's not really one-or-the-other here-and-there that's important, IMO. But what looks to be a consistent trend over multiple managers, pitching coaches, and pitchers over 91,000+ pitches seems worthy of note.