Quote:
Originally Posted by DawnBTVS
Here's a neat link looking at DL Stints related to pitches & platoon splits: https://www.foxsports.com/mlb/just-a...hangeup-011915
I'm curious if having a high fastball/lower change up creates a better K/9 rate. Pedro Martinez once mentioned that at his peak there was something like a 15-17 MPH difference between his rising fastball and change up, which is just filthy considering change ups often look like fastballs coming out of the hand.
You also had pitchers like Randy Johnson who utilized hard, heavy Sliders to help impact their K/9 during their career. |
cool article.. i've always look for pitchers that handle both L/R well via their pitch selection and how ootp has tehm split. the main reason i love the curveball so much on my pitchers.
pretty sure velo isn't necessary, even if it's a big piece of the puizzle for K-rates.
i've had 2 kb'ers lately, one just completed a 20+ career, 92-94 kb, cb ugh can't recall if it had a 3rd pitch... but, it amounted to ~5 to 7 k/9 each year. maybe an 8.0k/9 max-ish
next guy, not as good of a kb, 80-82mph (low 80s, no higher than 82-84mph velo), and a changeup that's rated okay-to-well and a ??? third pitch maybe of similar quality i can't recall by rote-- ~11+k/9 .. 2 season so far, no slowing down. what i though to be ~50/50 guy is turning out better than the 20+ year guy...too bad he is starting a few years later age-wise.
side note: for the first time ever i'm about to have 2 ~good Kb'ers that can win cy youngs 5+ time in career type quality. the second one should hit hte majors in next year or so. i'm going to have 10-15years of ~300ip 1-2 punch... LoL i'm only going to need ~3 RP to cover the bullpen innings. i think this is the last thing i'll do in ootp18 - finish their careers. this league will hit ~70plus years, woot. but, thats' why i am confusing their pitch selectiosn... have 3 guys in memory and it's all jumbled.. 1 'just' retired.
the example kinda blows that theory out of the water, BUT a KB is an odd pitch to say the least. other kb'ers i've had don't have this kind of k-rate without velocity... in fact i rarely see high strikeout guys doing this with lower velocity (< ?95?)... >max stuff and "right" pitch types being an exception. i want to say i see that trend too with a high velo and rated fb-chup combo. i used to think the same thing, until this guy.
I think something else is in the equation due to disparate results. maybe some sort of hidden pitcher mentality/patience, or tied to intelligence/personality stuff? if they dug that deep into the rabbit hole. ie some guys go for K's instead of being smart and that could be represented in pitch selection algorythms (or however it works out in logic per throw) with a variable just as easily as anything else.
edit: stats prove myth -- slider and changeups are notoriously evil pitches on the arm/elbow/shoulder. all that extra torque to create spin within an already awkward body movement (the human body can actually throw harder underhand, the softball girls actually have it "right") although i'm not sure it's conducive to "pitching down" or if that would even matter... you can put way more wicked spin on it too. it's a more *natural* movement than overhand and can create more torque, quantitative, not opinion.
when i was growing up, they didn't allow kids to throw anything with spin. if the ball moved too much the team got a warning.. then the pitcher would be removed if he continued to do it.