Red Sox pitchers are getting high again

Hairps

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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.
 

CoffeeNerdness

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Anecdotal but to my mind today's umpires are actually competent at calling the strikes at the upper edges of the zone that used to rarely ever get called.
 

nvalvo

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It's very interesting that they are in a cluster with some of the better pitching staffs and smarter front offices (LAD, HOU, CLE), and then, in first, Baltimore.
 

Al Zarilla

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Anecdotal but to my mind today's umpires are actually competent at calling the strikes at the upper edges of the zone that used to rarely ever get called.
Considering that the upper edge of the strike zone used to be the letters or the armpits, I'd think by force of habit (by older umps?) there'd be more strikes called between the belt and the letters than should be. Off topic, Michael Chavez probably would never had sniffed the major leagues if the old strike zone had remained.
 

mauidano

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I think the trend to the naked eye without digging too deep in metrics etc; is that you have to compete against the hitters and their trend like J.D. Martinez to utilize launch angles. So many home runs the past few years. Very few it seems just drive the ball over the infield for singles, doubles anymore. The money is in home runs. So you have to raise the zone if you're a pitcher and umpires you would hope. Definitely keeps it competitive.
 

PhabPhour20

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Anecdotally, I can never remember another Sox catcher in the past calling for as many (or as HIGH) high fastballs as Vazquez. I wonder if they have this data by catcher.
 

Lose Remerswaal

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Anecdotally, I can never remember another Sox catcher in the past calling for as many (or as HIGH) high fastballs as Vazquez. I wonder if they have this data by catcher.
Varitek was famous on these boards for the "stand up 0-2 count fastball at the eyes" pitch call. I don't think anyone ever swung at it.

edit: fixed dumb count error
 
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Sandy Leon Trotsky

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Varitek was famous on these boards for the "stand up 3-0 count fastball at the eyes" pitch call. I don't think anyone ever swung at it.
My memory of Sox pitchers not named Pedro or Schilling (ugh) was everyone perpetually throwing one foot outside of the strike zone
 

cannonball 1729

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I think the trend to the naked eye without digging too deep in metrics etc; is that you have to compete against the hitters and their trend like J.D. Martinez to utilize launch angles. So many home runs the past few years. Very few it seems just drive the ball over the infield for singles, doubles anymore. The money is in home runs. So you have to raise the zone if you're a pitcher and umpires you would hope. Definitely keeps it competitive.
I think this is basically it. In his interview with Bill Simmons, Theo talked about how the high fastball is kind of the "in" thing right now - fastballs up and breaking stuff down. The whole launch angle revolution puts a premium on swings with a slight uppercut (and a refusal to cut down the swing with two strikes); uppercut swings are always going to be prone to the high fastball, and pitchers are exploiting the hell out of it.
 

wiffleballhero

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This still bothers me to this day about Tek. Its one thing to try and change the eye level but when they know its coming every 0-2 count it does nothing.
It was such an odd move, as though he imagined that the hitter couldn't tell he was standing there. I always wanted Pedro to pop him in the cup with one and just get the K.