Mike Schmidt: Frisk the Pitcher an excuse for poor hitting

So baseball began holding “Frisk the Pitcher Night” at every big league stadium this week. Max Scherzer had the look of a guy who didn’t need help to do his job as umpires checked him at Citizens Bank Park.

No evidence was found. On Scherzer or anyone else.

OK, it’s understandable that Commissioner Rob Manfred was under pressure to take action over accusations that a high percentage of today’s pitchers cheat, using something in addition to sweat and saliva on the ball.

The modern-day pitcher can make a fastball sail in or away from a hitter with a cutter. They can make a changeup drop 6 inches with the split, made famous by Bruce Sutter.

They have the basic slider as well. Then they have the difference maker, the 95-100 mph fastball they throw high in the hitting zone, the four-seamer made famous by Nolan Ryan, Dwight Gooden, Billy Wagner and Scherzer, to name a few.

Four-pitch pitchers were very uncommon in the ’70s and ‘80s when I played. I can think of Don Sutton and Rick Sutcliffe, both former Dodgers, off the top of my head. The average pitcher in my day featured fastball, slider or curve, and changeup. As a hitter, I had fewer pitches to deal with.

I know first-hand that pitchers used every possible scuff, scratch, spit, pine tar and sweat, with a little dab of rosin bag, to get hitters out. It’s been in baseball forever. There were many who flaunted it, many known for it, one is a Hall of Fame member. So let’s don’t act like this is something new.

The difference is today’s generation of hitters can’t -- or won’t -- keep up with its generation of pitchers. The real question is why the gap?

I have a simple answer: sabermetrics, analytics and other technology. While these sources of information have a place, they have had negative effect on the hitters.

This year...

source https://www.chron.com/sports/article/Mike-Schmidt-Frisk-the-Pitcher-an-excuse-for-16276468.php