That is absolutely true. I read all together (according to my wife) too much about baseball but I have never come across the real nuts and bolts information you have and provide. One of the darkest baseball days I've experienced was when "Judging the Royals" ended. I'm grateful for these pieces whenever you can post them!
I got lucky. I knew some pro ballplayers and they were trying to help me get better and they started teaching me how the game is played. So when the Star sent me out to cover the Royals (they offered the job to three other people first) that's what I wanted to write about: process.
How and why players, coaches and managers do what they do. For the most part, all those guys were happy to help me because they want fans to understand.
And the more fans understand, the more interesting the game gets. All this stuff is right in front of us if we know where to look and when to look there. The players, coaches and managers get the credit for being willing to explain.
Stupid question, but why is an off-speed pitch likely to be hit to the pull side? I was under the impression that batters were taught at a young age to hit outside pitches to the opposite field and hit inside pitches to the pull side. Obviously, the same fundamentals don't apply to bigger, stronger major leaguers. I've seen batters homer outside pitches to the pull side. I guess positioning in the batter's box is also a factor.
Most inside pitches are fastballs and some off-speed pitches move towards the glove side (outside part of the plate). Is that why you constantly see right handed batters rolling over, grounding out to the left side of the infield because they are trying to pull an off-speed pitch on the outer half of the plate?
Also, do you have any content on cut-offs and relays? It would make for another great baseball piece.
The slower a pitch is the more likely it becomes that the batter will hit it out in front of the plate and send it to the pull side. The faster a pitch is the deeper it will get into the strike zone and the more likely it becomes that the ball will be hit to the opposite field. Pitchers are constantly changing speeds to get the batter reacting to fastballs and then throwing off-speed and vice versa.
As somebody said: "Hitting is timing, pitching is disrupting timing."
And yeah, when a guy pulls a weak grounder to the pull side he might have been fooled by the ball's velocity. As you point out, if you're strong enough and stand on top of the plate you can pull outside pitches with authority, but if you're not that strong those swings will result in weak balls in play.
Cutoffs and relays are best understood with diagrams and baseball instructional manuals have dozens of them. That won't work on this blog, but if you I think of an entertaining way to write about them I'll post something.
Lucky for me Rusty liked to get on the field early and whenever I saw him out there I'd go talk to him. Also lucky for me, a lot of ballplayers and ex-ballplayers love to talk about the game and I was always a willing listener.
I definitely had my go-to guys when I wanted something explained. I wore Rusty out with questions for 10 years. Rusty, Jason Kendall, Chris Getz, Chris Young, Wade Davis, Mike Moustakas, Eric Hosmer, Mike Jirschle, Ned Yost when he had time...pretty much everybody on those 2014 and '15 teams...they all tried to make me smarter (not sure it worked) and they all liked talking about baseball.
All the content is good but these baseball pieces are worth a subscription alone.
Thanks, John. Some people love them and some people don't but I like writing these because it's not information you're likely to get anyplace else.
That is absolutely true. I read all together (according to my wife) too much about baseball but I have never come across the real nuts and bolts information you have and provide. One of the darkest baseball days I've experienced was when "Judging the Royals" ended. I'm grateful for these pieces whenever you can post them!
I got lucky. I knew some pro ballplayers and they were trying to help me get better and they started teaching me how the game is played. So when the Star sent me out to cover the Royals (they offered the job to three other people first) that's what I wanted to write about: process.
How and why players, coaches and managers do what they do. For the most part, all those guys were happy to help me because they want fans to understand.
And the more fans understand, the more interesting the game gets. All this stuff is right in front of us if we know where to look and when to look there. The players, coaches and managers get the credit for being willing to explain.
I need to take notes when I read your baseball articles. I loved this one!
Thanks. And when the ballplayers were explaining all this to me, trust me, I had to take notes.
Stupid question, but why is an off-speed pitch likely to be hit to the pull side? I was under the impression that batters were taught at a young age to hit outside pitches to the opposite field and hit inside pitches to the pull side. Obviously, the same fundamentals don't apply to bigger, stronger major leaguers. I've seen batters homer outside pitches to the pull side. I guess positioning in the batter's box is also a factor.
Most inside pitches are fastballs and some off-speed pitches move towards the glove side (outside part of the plate). Is that why you constantly see right handed batters rolling over, grounding out to the left side of the infield because they are trying to pull an off-speed pitch on the outer half of the plate?
Also, do you have any content on cut-offs and relays? It would make for another great baseball piece.
The slower a pitch is the more likely it becomes that the batter will hit it out in front of the plate and send it to the pull side. The faster a pitch is the deeper it will get into the strike zone and the more likely it becomes that the ball will be hit to the opposite field. Pitchers are constantly changing speeds to get the batter reacting to fastballs and then throwing off-speed and vice versa.
As somebody said: "Hitting is timing, pitching is disrupting timing."
And yeah, when a guy pulls a weak grounder to the pull side he might have been fooled by the ball's velocity. As you point out, if you're strong enough and stand on top of the plate you can pull outside pitches with authority, but if you're not that strong those swings will result in weak balls in play.
Cutoffs and relays are best understood with diagrams and baseball instructional manuals have dozens of them. That won't work on this blog, but if you I think of an entertaining way to write about them I'll post something.
Really loved this one. I especially like it that the way to get good at signs is just to do it.
Rusty seems like a great guy.
Lucky for me Rusty liked to get on the field early and whenever I saw him out there I'd go talk to him. Also lucky for me, a lot of ballplayers and ex-ballplayers love to talk about the game and I was always a willing listener.
Rusty taught me a lot of baseball.
I’m going to have to read it all again, and take notes especially when Rusty’s explaining.
I definitely had my go-to guys when I wanted something explained. I wore Rusty out with questions for 10 years. Rusty, Jason Kendall, Chris Getz, Chris Young, Wade Davis, Mike Moustakas, Eric Hosmer, Mike Jirschle, Ned Yost when he had time...pretty much everybody on those 2014 and '15 teams...they all tried to make me smarter (not sure it worked) and they all liked talking about baseball.
I was always happy to listen.