Ready, aim, duck: MLB pitchers living on the wild side

PHOENIX (AP) — The guys on the mound in Major League Baseball can have their pitches measured in a variety of ways, whether it's spin rate, speed or angle into the strike zone. The goal is simple: finding ways to hurl the baseball toward the plate as violently and unpredictably as possible.

That's resulting in a whole lot of pain for batters — literally.

MLB pitchers are hitting batters and throwing more wild pitches than at any time since 1900, according to baseball-reference.com. When baseballs are flying toward hitters at 95 mph or higher, that can obviously be quite dangerous.

Just ask Phillies star Bryce Harper, who took a 97 mph fastball to the face back in April. Luckily, he wasn't seriously hurt.

“We’ve brought guys up in a velocity world,” Marlins manager Don Mattingly said. “We gotta throw harder, you gotta get more spin rate, guys are trying to get more all the time. When you do that, you’re sacrificing the accuracy of what you’re doing.”

The number of batters hit by a pitch, along with wild pitches, have steadily increased over the past decade. Teams are getting hit at a rate of 0.47 times per game in 2021, which is up from 0.32 in 2011. Wild pitches have increased to 0.40 from 0.32 over the same span.

The reasons behind the trend toward the wild side are varied. Pitchers are certainly throwing as hard as ever and nasty breaking balls in the dirt are tough for catchers to block.

D-backs veteran catcher Stephen Vogt said pitching philosophy has changed dramatically during his 15 years in professional baseball. The effective low and outside corner pitch — think Greg Maddux — isn't nearly as effective anymore.

“If you throw out, you’re gonna get crushed,” Vogt said. “You have to be able to hit that inside corner.”

Mattingly agreed with Vogt, saying that...

source https://www.chron.com/sports/article/Ready-aim-duck-MLB-pitchers-living-on-the-wild-16175448.php