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How come NL pitchers swing like pvsies ?
- Thread starter FireFox
- Start date
ThePresence
Elite Member
I'm sure they can, however, the 4-year old kids are not facing 90+ MPH fastballs and knee-buckling breaking balls. These are major league pitches they are facing and they are not easy for major league hitters to hit. Of course they look foolish. They are not professional hitters.
homercles337
Diamond Member
Shut up n00b...
SludgeFactory
Platinum Member
It is pretty sad when you see the ones who can't get a bunt down or can't make contact at all, but it makes a lot of sense to me that they're generally terrible hitters. I don't see the off-time as a benefit at all. They're lucky to get 1/6th the plate appearances of a full time player. They don't get nearly as much experience facing big league pitchers or have much of a chance to learn individual tendencies. You can really see it in person, when a truly horrible hitter is at the plate, the thing that sticks out the most is how completely fooled they are on the timing on pitches and how off-balance they are. And for nearly all of them, that lack of experience extends back to college/minor leagues. It's a situation you can't catch up from.
These guys didn't make the major leagues for their ability to recognize pitches and hit breaking balls. There are a ton of slick-fielding position players who can't do it either and never make the big leagues. Regardless of how much time pitchers spend taking whacks at batting practice fastballs, they just don't have the inate ability of average/good hitters.
These guys didn't make the major leagues for their ability to recognize pitches and hit breaking balls. There are a ton of slick-fielding position players who can't do it either and never make the big leagues. Regardless of how much time pitchers spend taking whacks at batting practice fastballs, they just don't have the inate ability of average/good hitters.
You are taking the top 99.999% of the population in a skill (hitting a baseball), and automatically assuming someone else (a pitcher) can become that good through practice. Would you say the same thing about bringing in a random 2nd baseman to pitch? The fact is, the other players got into the majors because of their bats (other than defensive specialists).
SludgeFactory
Platinum Member
I don't think he ever would have developed into this kind of hitter. 🙂
He showed some ability at the plate back in 2000, but as a Cardinals fan, I'm not even sure what type of hitter he is. Based on minor league hitting experience, he's essentially like a 20 year old rookie. What little I've seen of his plate discipline so far hasn't been very good, and the major leagues isn't an ideal place to learn it. Some guys are lucky and are on fire as soon as they get called up, and almost all of them come back to earth within 6 weeks. I'm not sure where Ankiel is going to settle in at this point.
It just shows how difficult it is to hit major league pitching. But when you get right down to it, it's better to the team that a pitcher works on his pitching, not his hitting. If you want to simplify Baseball down to workable numbers, look at team stats, 1 base hit is roughly worth 1/2 a team run. So take your average hitter, 125 or so hits a year for ~.250 BA. Roughly worth 62 runs over 140-150 games, or 1 run every 2.5 games, or .4 runs per game. Okay, ~.4 runs per game such a player contributes. Now compare the era differences between Jake Peavy's 2.36 ERA compared to Carlos Zambrano's 4.20 ERA, a difference of 1.84 runs per game. Bottom line, it's better to have the pitcher focus on pitching, and not hitting. But still screw the DH, it's not "real" baseball. 😉
With a new guy, pitchers don't know how to pitch to, but after time they usually find a weakness then exploit it. Here in Chicago Corey Patterson was a phenom until the league found out he always swung at face-high fastballs, then it was all downhill for his career. He got a short boost when facing new pitchers in Baltimore, but the A.L. soon too figured out what the N.L. already knew.
Gunslinger08
Lifer
Zambrano is actually used as a pinch hitter sometimes. And yes, pitchers generally don't take batting practice. Most teams are happy as long as they don't get hurt while batting. Good pitching wins championships. An extra hit every 5 days isn't going to help as much as extra bullpen sessions.
Whoozyerdaddy
Lifer
LOL... exacly. Pitchers aren't paid to hit. Some pitchers are natural hitters but overall, when your pitcher steps to the plate, you're just hoping he doesn't get beaned.
Pitcher is a unique position. Most guys could fill in a slot if they had too... First to center, short to third... but you can't have your CF run up and pitch. It just doesn't work like that. Pitching is a full time job. Fielding isn't. So fielders can practice hitting. Pitchers throw.
Hmmm.. I could flame you here for posting about shit you obviously have no idea about, but instead I'll make it a little more educational for ya.
First of all fielding IS a full time job.
Let's see, SS and 2nd, these position require some extreme athletic abilities.
A good OF will be a very fast runner and have a cannon for an arm, actually, if you calculate the distance, speed and deviation that an OF has to throw a ball in play, you would understand how much of a full time job that is.
Now, what about a catcher??? That's not a full time job right? You only have to learn how to catch for every last idiot in your BP and make his pitches look good, not to mention fielding work at home plate, and guess what, you're still expected to be able to hit fair or better.
Only fielding positions which can be filled with relatively low amount of skill is 3rd base, and/or some may consider 1st base, but then you must be a pro-hitter.
Yes there are better fielders than others, but the same can be said about pitchers.
To sum it up, I agree with OP, I don't see any reason why a professional pitcher which is ALSO in the top 99.999999% of the population as someone mentioned wouldn't be able to hit decently, instead of looking like a terrified girl scout every time they step up to the plate.
Yes, having a baseball thrown at you at 90+mph can be a little intimidating, catcher's glove makes a lot of noise to, so what? You're a pro, deal with it. I can think of many much more scarier professional sports scenarios.
/thread
Whoozyerdaddy
Lifer
PUH-leez.... How many pitchers do you see taking batting practice on a daily basis? That's what I thought.
Catcher might be the only other position where you'd tolerate a dismal plate performance. But even those guys take regular batting practice.
If the other positions were so specialized then why would ML teams platoon guys around the field to relieve the starters? There are guys who can go out and play 6-7 positions out there (not pitcher or catcher of course).
SoulAssassin
Diamond Member
Because if they could do that, they would. Same reason you or I can't do it.
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