Time to move the fences or build taller ones....

[CoogansBluff]

I'm rethinking all the money and time invested into DD pitching lessons. Maybe she need to pursue a different position?

I don't follow that logic. The more offense there is, the more valuable a good pitcher becomes.

 

[riseball]

From what I am seeing it is as much about fat pitches as it is great hitting. If you throw it fat and down the middle a 14 year old can hit it out of the park.

 

[Rocketech1]

From what I am seeing it is as much about fat pitches as it is great hitting. If you throw it fat and down the middle a 14 year old can hit it out of the park.

For example, because of the lowered strike zone the riseball has become less effective. Tori Finucane at Mizzou gave up two home runs during one game this weekend because her riseball wasn't being called for a strike so when she lowered it, it got hit hard out of the park. Really has taken the good pitchers and made them a lot less effective. With teams like Florida crowding the plate, the smaller strike zone, so quick to call illegal pitches (but not on the slappers who are out of the box when hitting), short fences and hot bats, it's a little out of control the excessive offense we are seeing with less than ideal swings.

Heck, Oregon as a team is batting like .380 and their on-base and slugging % is off the charts.

 

[riseball]

For example, because of the lowered strike zone the riseball has become less effective. Tori Finucane at Mizzou gave up two home runs during one game this weekend because her riseball wasn't being called for a strike so when she lowered it, it got hit hard out of the park. Really has taken the good pitchers and made them a lot less effective. With teams like Florida crowding the plate, the smaller strike zone, so quick to call illegal pitches (but not on the slappers who are out of the box when hitting), short fences and hot bats, it's a little out of control the excessive offense we are seeing with less than ideal swings.

Heck, Oregon as a team is batting like .380 and their on-base and slugging % is off the charts.

I agree with you on the ramifications of the strike zone. However, would you describe either of the two pitches in question as good pitches or would you say they were fat?

 

[Rocketech1]

I don't follow that logic. The more offense there is, the more valuable a good pitcher becomes.

My point is that it used to be you worked your arse off to become a very good pitcher and you were rewarded by being dominate during a game. Now top to bottom, every batter in the lineup is a threat to go yard. For example, UCLA's #9 batter is batting .500. Crazy but makes sense since the players ahead of her are also having lots of success at the plate.

There is a big trend for more offense and this year is a by product of it. No way Oregon hits 8 home runs in 4 innings when the school record was 6 all time in 7 innings. You ok with that?

 

[Rocketech1]

I agree with you on the ramifications of the strike zone. However, would you describe either of the two pitches in question as good pitches or would you say they were fat?

In my opinion had the batters not swung at the home run riseballs that were high in the strike zone, they probably would have been called balls. You can say Tori missed her spots and therefore gave up some home runs, but I believe that she wasn't given a high strike zone earlier in the game (she walked the first two batters of the game as an example) and had to lower her riseball to get the call.

I truly believe that there has been a deliberate effort by the governing bodies at all levels to make the game more offensive (e.g. 14u pitching now at 43 feet) but the result has been too dramatic for my taste.

 

[marriard]

I agree with you on the ramifications of the strike zone. However, would you describe either of the two pitches in question as good pitches or would you say they were fat?

In my opinion she had no choice but to throw it fatter than she would like because the good pitch location for that pitch is now too far out of the called zone that batters can easily lay off it. As you know, to make a batter chase a pitch out of the zone at some point, the pitch generally had better look like a strike. So as it stands now, your rise ideally needs to be below the waist and ends at the numbers instead of starting above the waist and ending above the numbers/around the shoulders (as it was previously). As a batter I like my odds of hitting the first pitch versus the second - and riseball pitchers are being asked to throw the first one as it is the one that looks like a strike because the second version now it easier for batters to pick as a ball.

It is the same with drop balls. I watched a game today where a dropball pitcher just couldn't get a pitch at the knees, so she had to bring it further into the hitting zone. It is not a case of the occasional umpire calling it this way, it is that they have all been asked to call it this way since the rule changes were made and now as it continues to be emphasized year after year, they are actually calling it this way.

I don't follow that logic. The more offense there is, the more valuable a good pitcher becomes.

Sure, but there is a very, very limited group of good pitchers and they are already appreciated. Players are going to leave pitching if it becomes too one sided. I know if I was getting home runs hit off me every game off questionable hits on reasonable pitches and watching batters celebrating as every looked at me as having given up a HR I would quit eventually - why should you put all that work in to have that happen?

Now that is fine if I wasn't any good at it, but if I am what should be a reasonable pitcher and I walk away, then the already small pool of pitchers is just going to get smaller and smaller - and it is way too small already.

 

[CoogansBluff]

My point is that it used to be you worked your arse off to become a very good pitcher and you were rewarded by being dominate during a game. Now top to bottom, every batter in the lineup is a threat to go yard. For example, UCLA's #9 batter is batting .500. Crazy but makes sense since the players ahead of her are also having lots of success at the plate.

There is a big trend for more offense and this year is a by product of it. No way Oregon hits 8 home runs in 4 innings when the school record was 6 all time in 7 innings. You ok with that?

I'm just saying that those are two different issues. Is it too easy to hit HR now? Maybe so.

But do I believe that pitchers who work their arses off are entitled to dominant games? No. Maybe the new 'dominant' is a 2.00 ERA instead of a 1.00 ERA.

Sure, but there is a very, very limited group of good pitchers and they are already appreciated. Players are going to leave pitching if it becomes too one sided. I know if I was getting home runs hit off me every game off questionable hits on reasonable pitches and watching batters celebrating as every looked at me as having given up a HR I would quit eventually - why should you put all that work in to have that happen?

I don't believe that this will cause pitchers to quit. In fact, you might have more pitchers because they will become more valuable and more appreciated than ever.

In the NFL Draft last year, there were 5 cornerbacks taken in the first round of the NFL Draft. Why? Because the offenses are so good that if you don't have guys who can cover wide receivers, you're toast.

In college football last year, only 5 D-1 teams allowed fewer than 300 yards per game. Ohio State won a national title and gave up 342 per game. If you gave up 342 yards per game in the 1970s, you were terrible. Do young football players not want to play defense now?