Quote:
Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth
Your logic would mean there's no such thing as a great pitcher who pitches to contact, or who isn't a dominant strikeout pitcher, because once a batter puts a ball in play it's all just dumb luck. That just does not square with experience. Did you ever watch Greg Maddux pitch?
Put another way, putting a ball in play on a pitch that was a hanging curve or a fastball with no movement down the middle is just not the same as doing so on a wicked slider two inches off the plate. A great pitcher can throw more pitches that are difficult to make solid contact with and thus your chances of getting a hit off him on a ball you put into play is not just random or some stat that will eventually hit the mean.
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Isn't that the whole idea behind good knuckleball (or sinkerball) pitchers? Don't let batters get good contact on balls so they hit mostly pop us, weak grounders, or foul balls. But that isn't really cool anymore so no one really tries mastering it. Nowadays seems like everyone wants the studs throwing 100 MPH that strike everyone out, so are more and more the kinds of pitchers you see coming up.