From: https://www.si.com/mlb/2020/08/10/justin-verlander-fastball-usage
"Quietly, and as it concerns hitters, in an all too literal sense of quiet, baseball has crossed a major threshold in how the game is played. For the first time in recorded history, fastballs no longer account for the majority of pitches.
The bread and butter of pitching is stale. The “fastball count” is no more. Country hardball is dead.
Its death did not occur suddenly. Fastball use has been declining every year since 2015, coinciding with the start of “The Statcast Era,” a shorthand for how technology and advanced metrics have changed pitching for the better–and perhaps baseball for the worse.
Fastball use held steady from 2010 through 2015 at between 56.8% and 57.8%. Then the fastball began to fall out of favor, slowly at first, but with stunning drops in the past two seasons. Fastball percentage starting from 2015: 56.8, 56.3, 55.3, 54.5, 51.9 and–drum roll, please–49.7 at the start of this week.
“I think 95 is the new 90,” Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “Guys can really hit velocity. And so, to kind of get guys off of that, pitching off your secondaries … I really believe there’s a lot to that.”"
Interesting article. I got the impression from the article that this is a permanent change in the sport as if it's a bad thing. Maybe. I think it has to do with the incredible increase in velocity that Roberts alluded to. It's harder to hit fastballs now than it used to be, because now they're coming in 95-100, when they used to come in 88-93 (only the studs got it over 95). Human reaction time is what it is, and so hitters have to get more geared up for the fastball than ever before, which leaves them more susceptible to off speed stuff with movement. Instead of easing (haha...it's not that easy) into a 90 mph fastball, guys have to be ready for a steady stream of guys throwing 97. You have to think fastball, fastball, fastball now, or else you're just going to be blown away. And so pitchers with good fastballs and even mediocre off speed stuff still find the off speed stuff to be more effective.
To my point from the article: "Roll this around your head: the average slider is harder to hit (.193) than an elite fastball (.213 on fastballs clocked at 97 mph or faster)."
Guys using the launch angle approach, gearing up for guys throwing 95+ all the time...it all leads to the inevitable reaction from pitchers...throw off the timing with slower stuff with movement. As hitters adjust for more off speed pitches, pitchers will once again use their fastballs more.
The yin and yang of baseball.
"Quietly, and as it concerns hitters, in an all too literal sense of quiet, baseball has crossed a major threshold in how the game is played. For the first time in recorded history, fastballs no longer account for the majority of pitches.
The bread and butter of pitching is stale. The “fastball count” is no more. Country hardball is dead.
Its death did not occur suddenly. Fastball use has been declining every year since 2015, coinciding with the start of “The Statcast Era,” a shorthand for how technology and advanced metrics have changed pitching for the better–and perhaps baseball for the worse.
Fastball use held steady from 2010 through 2015 at between 56.8% and 57.8%. Then the fastball began to fall out of favor, slowly at first, but with stunning drops in the past two seasons. Fastball percentage starting from 2015: 56.8, 56.3, 55.3, 54.5, 51.9 and–drum roll, please–49.7 at the start of this week.
“I think 95 is the new 90,” Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “Guys can really hit velocity. And so, to kind of get guys off of that, pitching off your secondaries … I really believe there’s a lot to that.”"
Interesting article. I got the impression from the article that this is a permanent change in the sport as if it's a bad thing. Maybe. I think it has to do with the incredible increase in velocity that Roberts alluded to. It's harder to hit fastballs now than it used to be, because now they're coming in 95-100, when they used to come in 88-93 (only the studs got it over 95). Human reaction time is what it is, and so hitters have to get more geared up for the fastball than ever before, which leaves them more susceptible to off speed stuff with movement. Instead of easing (haha...it's not that easy) into a 90 mph fastball, guys have to be ready for a steady stream of guys throwing 97. You have to think fastball, fastball, fastball now, or else you're just going to be blown away. And so pitchers with good fastballs and even mediocre off speed stuff still find the off speed stuff to be more effective.
To my point from the article: "Roll this around your head: the average slider is harder to hit (.193) than an elite fastball (.213 on fastballs clocked at 97 mph or faster)."
Guys using the launch angle approach, gearing up for guys throwing 95+ all the time...it all leads to the inevitable reaction from pitchers...throw off the timing with slower stuff with movement. As hitters adjust for more off speed pitches, pitchers will once again use their fastballs more.
The yin and yang of baseball.