i remember when they used to have the fox game of the week like mid afternoon and you’d see a guy like billy wagner come in and they’d flash flames on the chyron if the pitch was above 95. thought that was as fast as a ball could go
I'd love to see how many 97+ fastballs Bonds saw in 2001. I'd be surprised if it was more than 40. Judge is probably north of 1500. The game has changed so much since then and it's mostly bc every dude that rolls out of the bullpen throws 98.
i remember texting my buddy who’s a yankees fan back in 2010 that the braves had this dude johnny venters who was throwing 95 mph sinkers and he said he didn’t believe me because that’s impossible. now every team’s like #5 starter throws that easily
Judge has 685 PAs at 4.19 pitches per PA, sees fastballs 43.7% of the time at an average speed of 94.1 mph so he’s probably closer to 300-400 over 97. For reference, first season there is pitch type data is 2002, year after 73, and Bonds saw 68% fastballs on average at 89 mph (LOL)
I would have guessed the average would have been 95+. Must be some noodle arms out there skewing it down.
For every shutdown high leverage guy you’ve got in a bullpen you probably also have a couple inning eaters that just throw strikes Would be interesting to see those breakdowns of avg reliever velo by situation/leverage
Considering this is data for one of the greatest hitters ever vs one of the best of this era and looking at the difference between fastball selection and velocity it’s no wonder elbows are exploding all the time
I'd love to see the numbers today's hitters would put up if they saw 89mph fastballs 68% of the time with no shift on. Seeing the league at .240 or whatever it is now sucks but it's understandable when looking at this kind of data.
Didn't Gange reveal recently that he and Bonds had agreed that he only got one offspeed pitch in an AB? Kinda take the shine off him yanking 100. He was great, best I've ever seen, but that AB isn't as legendary to me when he knew what was coming.
he wasn't supposed to throw any breaking balls. but he did, so I'm not sure Bonds could have really known what was coming.
Na not at all. We can only judge players off their eras and Bonds was on a different era against his era. Do I think Bonds would have a 235 wRC+ against today's pitching? No, I don't. Do I think Ruth would have hit 714 HR's against today's pitching? Nope. Do I think Alcantara would have 30 wins in the 1960's? Absolutely. Today's players are just better all around. I don't think that's really up for debate. Argument is the same across all sports.
I mean we have people who talk about Dansby Swanson like he’s some kind of generational talent when he’s just Bo Bichette for people who can’t dance so who cares
I don't understand why teams throw Dansby anything but sliders off the plate Generational looks for sure though
i heard some stat on the radio broadcast last night about how he's leading the league in homers against a certain velocity or something like that. i cant remember the exact specifics. game 4 last year was the best example. astros pitcher embarrassed him with two sliders and then threw a fastball that he hit out to tie the game
from Stark's award column NL MVP: Paul Goldschmidt, Cardinals One thing I’ve always said about MVP seasons is: You have to finish them. A month ago, I never would have figured that was going to be a problem for Paul Goldschmidt. But … Oops. You never know. Baseball is hard. It’s even hard when you’re the MVP front-runner. So let’s look at where the NL MVP derby stood a little more than five weeks ago — and where it stands now. Through Aug. 25 PLAYER OPS FWAR Paul Goldschmidt 1.057 6.8 Nolan Arenado .922 6.1 Manny Machado .890 5.5 Freddie Freeman .920 5.5 Austin Riley .904 4.7 Mookie Betts .873 5.0 Since Aug. 26* PLAYER OPS FWAR Manny Machado .931 1.8 Freddie Freeman .946 1.6 Mookie Betts .904 1.5 Nolan Arenado .782 1.1 Austin Riley .823 0.9 Paul Goldschmidt .696 0.3 (*through Saturday) (Source: FanGraphs) So all of a sudden, Goldschmidt went from chasing a Triple Crown, having a Lou Gehrig-esque season and holding a commanding lead in this MVP race to finding himself in a shockingly tight battle for his first MVP trophy. Here, as we enter the final days of this season, is how FanGraphs’ full-season Wins Above Replacement leaderboard looked heading into Sunday. Manny Machado — 7.3 Nolan Arenado — 7.2 Paul Goldschmidt — 7.1 Freddie Freeman — 7.1 Francisco Lindor — 6.8 So what we have here, essentially, is a five-way tie, since WAR is not an exact science. Which means writing this column just got a lot harder. And I hate when that happens.
also love Roberts finishing 5th in his voting for NL Manager of the Year. Such an interesting thought about where to place a manager in those type of rankings when the expectations + payroll are high. But the Dodgers are pretty much going to finish 3 to 4 wins shy of the Mariners record, finish in the top 5 all-time for run differential, and lead the league in ERA in a year where they had a ton of pitching injuries but didn't make a splash trade at the deadline. And he is the 5th best manager? I guess I get it. Doesn't seem fair to reward him for having an unreal top half of the lineup. But it sure seems to eliminate him from any discussion as to his aptitude as a regular season manager
Counsell should have won MOY like the last three years so I have no faith that they will get this one right
Schwarber just went on a check swing and immediately put his bat down and started taking his shin guard off, and then the 3b ump said he didn’t go so he’s still hitting. he definitely went btw.
when football, mlb playoffs, nhl, and baketball are all at the same time is the absolute best add morning EPL to my equation