Quote:
Originally Posted by jbergey22
Yes, throw strikes which means eliminate free baserunners(which is exactly what saberheads agree with). And yes change speeds and keep the hitters off balance so you can stay in the big leagues. No one is saying that I could come in and give up the same BABIP as Roy Halladay but I also would never be a big league pitcher. The players at the highest level of talent can naturally keep a hitter off balance otherwise he wont be in the league very long. You are thinking about this way too much. You still need to do the things you were taught to be a big league pitcher however to be successful at the big league level you need to depend on more than having hitters get themselves out.
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Naturally. That applies at any level. But understand that there's two ways of lettin' 'em hit it. The first way is to lay it in there and hope they keep it in the park and hopefully at someone. That's luck. The second way is by moving the ball in and out, up and down, and backwards and forwards (changing speeds) while attacking the strike zone as opposed to trying to get them to bite at pitches off the plate. You're giving the hitter pitches they can hit, they just can't hit them very well so you get the tappers and pop ups. That's skill.
Pitchers don't always make their pitch when they want to, so that's when you see the shots because they got too much of the plate or had to come in with one because they fell behind. Anyone who has ever toed the rubber will tell you that success is a function of luck meeting skill. Luck will get the outs you didn't deserve, either by batters striking themselves out or creaming the ball right at someone. Skill gets you the outs you did deserve-the tappers and pop ups. Just as good luck gets you outs didn't deserve, bad luck allows the hits the batter never should have got-the grounder that finds a hole or the popup that falls just out of reach. But the guys with more skill than luck over the long haul do better than the guys with the luck. Maybe BABIP can measure luck, maybe it can't. It sure does not measure skill.