I would say that a guy like Chapman there are fewer balls hit at all, hard or not.
But for me, the way I look at it is, the harder the pitch...the harder the hit. The transference of velocity from the pitcher to the bat seems to match up somewhat. A hard hit ball off of a "soft tosser", all of the velocity off the bat (okay, MORE of the velocity) is generated by the hitter. A ball hit off of a 99 mph fastball goes farther/faster it seems. At least that's how I perceive it. I've got no data to back that up. If anybody could verify that, jump on in.
I was considering the "cleanness of contact" to be equal. But thanks regardless. I'm sure it's just one of those things you see several times and start to think it's the norm. A big FB pitcher comes in and gives up a homer...invariably it's an absolute BOMB.
It just seemed to me that if the swing is the same, the contact is the same and the only difference is the pitch velocity, then the harder thrower would be giving up the harder hit ball. But it's just a VERY small bit of the puzzle.
I guess we'll chalk this up to "observational bias" and call it a day. :O)
"Rounding 3rd and heading for home, good night everybody"
I think the issue is how long he can go with the hard stuff. At 98+, hitters don't really have time to be too selective. If he's working at 94 or 95, I think a lot of guys will lay off that swing and miss slider. He doesn't really get the slider over the plate. If hitters have time to recognize the slider (and getting multiple PAs per game against him will help), then a lot of those K's will convert to walks (or favorable counts where they can sit on the fastball) and we'll have another Volquez on our hands.
I'm all for giving it a try, but Chapman is far from a sure thing as a starting pitcher. Just taking his peripherals as a reliever and assuming they'll hold up multiple times through a batting order just isn't how it works.
Last edited by mth123; 11-10-2012 at 09:23 AM.
All my posts are my opinion - just like yours are. If I forget to state it and you're too dense to see the obvious, look here!
Have him work with Soto and get that circle change going and he could be absolutely devastating.
The contents of this post may be disseminated without the express written consent of the Cincinnati Reds or Major League Baseball.
https://www.amazon.com/Charles-DeMaris/e/B07BD4JBQB
Board Moderators may, at their discretion and judgment, delete and/or edit any messages that violate any of the following guidelines: 1. Explicit references to alleged illegal or unlawful acts. 2. Graphic sexual descriptions. 3. Racial or ethnic slurs. 4. Use of edgy language (including masked profanity). 5. Direct personal attacks, flames, fights, trolling, baiting, name-calling, general nuisance, excessive player criticism or anything along those lines. 6. Posting spam. 7. Each person may have only one user account. It is fine to be critical here - that's what this board is for. But let's not beat a subject or a player to death, please. |