Elly DLC @ SS

[CJD]

(02-28-2024, 07:30 PM)bengalfan74 Wrote: I'd love for someone to coach him up. Look at a lot of those "old school" players - 600 + plate appearances, 50ish strike outs, batting average way, WAY, higher than the kids today.

I think this has a lot to do with the improvement in pitching over the years.

Pitching development programs have become crazy nowadays, even as much as 20 years ago things were way different.

I remember when we signed Aroldis Chapman in 2010, he was the talk of the town. When he debuted near the end of the season, his outings were much watch TV. Why? Because he could throw over 100 mph. There were roars of applause after each pitch in his rookie season, especially for his record breaking 105 mph fastball.

Nowadays though, being able to throw 100 mph is just kind of...fine. Hunter Greene regularly throws 100 mph as a starter (much harder to do than as a reliever), and no one in the baseball world really cares. So many players are throwing 100 mph now, that it almost feels routine.

There are baseball pitching labs that are able to alter the shape of a pitcher's breaking ball almost at will. They've got it down to a science.

In the old school days, you had elite pitchers, but the strain that pitchers were putting on their arms was much lower, which meant easier pitches to hit. Complete games are extremely rare nowadays, but were regular occurrences in the 80s and earlier. 

In 1980, Rick Langford led the majors leagues with 28 complete games. He had 290.0 innings pitched that season. And he didn't lead the league in IP. That award belonged to Steve Carlton, with 304 innings pitched.

In 2023, Sandy Alcantra led the major leagues with 3 complete games. Logan Webb lead the majors with 216 innings pitched.

There was only one player in baseball with a strikeout rate less than 10% in 2023. A 20% strikeout rate is considered average nowadays.