- Feb 7, 2013
- 3,188
- 48
Is it harder to face slower pitching or faster pitching in the same game after facing pretty fast pitching? We recently had a head coach who argued that it is more difficult for a batter to adjust to a slower relief pitcher once the batters had seen a faster pitcher in the previous 1 or 2 at bats and therefore would pitch the slower pitcher with more off speed stuff in the later innings 4-7, generally. But if this is the case, why are most relief pitchers in MLB throwing heat to close the game vs. say a knuckleballer like Tim Wakefield or R.A. Dickey?