Call It “The Tom Glavine Effect”
There has been a lot of work done recently (Notably by Garik at Beyond the Boxscore, and Mike Fast at Baseball Prospectus) by guys with big, smart brains that understand things like math, numbers, and “polynomial formulas” to investigate a pitcher’s ability to expand the strike zone.
Today, J-Doug at Beyond the Boxscore added more information to the constantly growing pile, discovering that a pitcher who can consistently keep his pitches off the plate, but within six inches of the strike zone, will get an extra strike every sixteen pitches, while those who pound the zone will get an extra ball every thirteen pitches.
It’s an interesting discovery and one you should click through to take a look at, but what does it really mean? You can’t say that it’s similar to Michael Jordan being given extra leeway on the basketball court because the best pitchers are not given the benefit of a widest zone. In what just universe is Felix Hernandez consistently squeezed, whereas Livan Hernandez is given extra wiggle room?
Do umpires subconsciously reward slower fastballs? Are some catchers just tremendous framers and the pitchers have very little to do with this? How much value do we need to give to what amounts to, at most, eight pitches per start? The groundwork is being put in place and as more PITCHf/x data rolls in, we will have that information to play with. As of now though, it’s just more trivia to talk about before the games begin.
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