In a 1940 publicity stunt, the Cleveland Indians\u2019 flamethrowing pitcher, Bob Feller, tested which was faster: One of his own blazing deliveries, or a motorcycle. Feller\u2019s pitching won, hands down. But today, Feller\u2019s once-remarkable speed has become commonplace, even bettered, as major leaguers routinely pass triple figures on the radar gun. The secret to this arms race? The advances in pitching analytics,often authored by people without any previous baseball pedigree.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s part of the narrative of Unhittable, a new book by one such individual \u2013 Rob Friedman, more commonly known to his online followers as PitchingNinja<\/a>. The book\u2019s subtitle says it all: How Technology, Mavericks and Innovators Engineered Baseball\u2019s New Era of Pitching Dominance.<\/p>\n This brave new world is tracked through methods such as heat maps, slow-motion cameras and AI. Those who chart this landscape use previously unheard-of terminology \u2013 among other things, readers will acquaint themselves with a precedent-defying phenomenon called Seam-Shifted Wake. All the while, stats gurus seek to quantify not just velocity but accuracy in how pitchers deliver the ball to the plate.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s really changed through the years,\u201d Friedman says. \u201c[Baseball] used to be more focused on guys who were farm-strong but never lifted weights \u2026 [on the idea] you could not teach people how to throw hard, you were either born with it or could not do it.\u201d Today, he says, \u201cTechnology brings out the best in everybody.\u201d<\/p>\n Pitchers taking advantage of the wealth of analytics include last year\u2019s National League Cy Young winner, Paul Skenes of the Pittsburgh Pirates. Friedman is similarly upbeat about another young star, Nolan McLean of the New York Mets.<\/p>\n \u201cMy favorite guy to watch is \u2026 lesser-known,\u201d Friedman says of McLean. \u201cHis stuff is absolutely nasty<\/a>. I was happy that in the World Baseball Classic, the world got to see the movement of his stuff. He\u2019s extraordinary, off-the-charts.<\/p>\n \u201cObviously, Paul Skenes I follow, I like, I root for him. Tarik [Skubal of the Detroit Tigers] is another guy. But Nolan McLean is not on the radar, even by some in New York.\u201d<\/p>\n To quote Yogi Berra, is the rise in pitching talent deja vu all over again? Namely, are we seeing a return to 1968, when Denny McLain went 31-4 for the world champion Detroit Tigers, and Carl Yastrzemski led the American League with a .301 batting average? Friedman has thoughts on whether the cards are once again stacked against hitters.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve never said [the game is] too pitcher-friendly,\u201d Friedman says. \u201cMy name is PitchingNinja. I love nasty pitching.\u201d He calls baseball \u201cthe only sport in which the guy with the ball is technically on defense. The pitcher really is on offense. Guys will be reacting to what the pitchers do.\u201d<\/p>\n In the modern game, Friedman says, \u201cI do think pitchers have a big advantage. The question is, do fans want it the way it is?\u201d<\/p>\n McLain\u2019s opponent in the 1968 World Series, the St Louis Cardinals, featured the fearsome Bob Gibson, who was known for throwing triple-digit speeds. The book quotes Gibson about the toll that throwing 100 mph takes on a pitcher\u2019s body: \u201cEverything hurts. Even your ass hurts. I see pictures of my face and say, \u2018Holy shit,\u2019 but that\u2019s the strain you feel when you throw.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Injuries to pitchers are on the rise<\/a>. Does Friedman think that\u2019s down to pitchers trying to throw as hard as possible these days? While he says there is \u201cno agreement on why injuries happen,\u201d he adds, \u201cIt\u2019s just like a race car. You drive fast enough, you lose control. At some point, things break \u2026 Even Paul Skenes has backed off some,\u201d lowering his velocity from 102 mph to 99 mph, \u201cenough to get hitters out.\u201d<\/p>\n Instead of just focusing on velocity, Friedman says, pitchers can also \u201cfocus on adding more pitches,\u201d including through the practice of tunneling \u2013 developing multiple pitches that begin similarly before breaking in varying directions.<\/p>\n