They're the easiest pitches to hit by far. I subscribe to the belief that it's the pitcher's job to make hitting as difficult as possible, and you wouldn't seem to accomplish that by repeatedly dialing up the straight stuff. Fastballs appear on the surface to be ineffectual.
Take Yu Darvish for example. He throws eight! pitches per BrooksBaseball; for the purposes of this exercise I'm going to discount sinkers and cutters, focusing instead on the fourseam versus the offspeed. Brooks gives me this.
FanGraphs paints a similar albeit disjointed picture.
Pitch 1 is the fastball. Why should Darvish throw this pitch far more extensively than any other? What compels him to do that? If we're analyzing his repertoire based solely on this data, we're led to believe that Yu is better served abandoning Pitch 1 entirely.
It oughtn't be a question of command. In many cases pitchers pound the zone more frequently with their breaking stuff, especially when you consider that it's mostly thrown while ahead in the count. If you place a tin can atop your head and stand sixty feet-six inches from 2013 Matt Harvey, you'd be in little danger. Strike throwing isn't the crux of it. Hitters are much more likely to chase breaking pitches outside the zone in any event.
To my knowledge, there isn't any assertive evidence for benders being harder on the arm. FanGraphs posits that pitching itself is one long injury. They figure curveballs to be harmful, but note the correlation between fastball usage/velocity and UCL tearing. I'm receptive to the idea that fastballs are easier on the body, but I have no proof. At any rate, football players pound their brains to mush in pursuit of their Ws.
Obviously, there's an argument to be made that fastballs help "set up" other pitches, particularly changeups due to arm action, etc. I don't dispute it, but Darvish's secondary offerings would have to worsen pretty drastically to be rendered less effective than the fourseam. Jake Arrieta is the only pitcher I can recall who throws a breaking pitch as his #1. His heater sits at 94-95 for good measure, and still it pales in comparison. Moreover, shouldn't this phenomenon work in reverse? If breaking pitches play up to the fastball, why isn't Darvish's of all fastballs likewise made a better pitch?
Darvish, Felix, Kershaw, Lester, Sale: the first five pitchers that came to mind, and generally poor examples.
Might this be the future of our game? In 2250, when baseball is the last remaining professional sport, might people look back and laugh at the days when most pitches didn't even bend? I mean... look how easy it is to hit. And what of the next crop of Y2K Anthony Davis pitching prospects? Are we approaching the era of 98 mile-per-hour sliders? I'm reminded of this video.
I'd love your feedback.
P.S. I've always wanted Sons of Sam Horn to realize how badly they've needed Out of the Park Baseball in their lives.
Take Yu Darvish for example. He throws eight! pitches per BrooksBaseball; for the purposes of this exercise I'm going to discount sinkers and cutters, focusing instead on the fourseam versus the offspeed. Brooks gives me this.
FanGraphs paints a similar albeit disjointed picture.
Pitch 1 is the fastball. Why should Darvish throw this pitch far more extensively than any other? What compels him to do that? If we're analyzing his repertoire based solely on this data, we're led to believe that Yu is better served abandoning Pitch 1 entirely.
It oughtn't be a question of command. In many cases pitchers pound the zone more frequently with their breaking stuff, especially when you consider that it's mostly thrown while ahead in the count. If you place a tin can atop your head and stand sixty feet-six inches from 2013 Matt Harvey, you'd be in little danger. Strike throwing isn't the crux of it. Hitters are much more likely to chase breaking pitches outside the zone in any event.
To my knowledge, there isn't any assertive evidence for benders being harder on the arm. FanGraphs posits that pitching itself is one long injury. They figure curveballs to be harmful, but note the correlation between fastball usage/velocity and UCL tearing. I'm receptive to the idea that fastballs are easier on the body, but I have no proof. At any rate, football players pound their brains to mush in pursuit of their Ws.
Obviously, there's an argument to be made that fastballs help "set up" other pitches, particularly changeups due to arm action, etc. I don't dispute it, but Darvish's secondary offerings would have to worsen pretty drastically to be rendered less effective than the fourseam. Jake Arrieta is the only pitcher I can recall who throws a breaking pitch as his #1. His heater sits at 94-95 for good measure, and still it pales in comparison. Moreover, shouldn't this phenomenon work in reverse? If breaking pitches play up to the fastball, why isn't Darvish's of all fastballs likewise made a better pitch?
Darvish, Felix, Kershaw, Lester, Sale: the first five pitchers that came to mind, and generally poor examples.
Might this be the future of our game? In 2250, when baseball is the last remaining professional sport, might people look back and laugh at the days when most pitches didn't even bend? I mean... look how easy it is to hit. And what of the next crop of Y2K Anthony Davis pitching prospects? Are we approaching the era of 98 mile-per-hour sliders? I'm reminded of this video.
I'd love your feedback.
P.S. I've always wanted Sons of Sam Horn to realize how badly they've needed Out of the Park Baseball in their lives.