By Will French
Over the years, pitching in baseball has become way more advanced. We have seen new arm talents from these young college prospects take the sport by swarm.
For example, Paul Skenes. Former Louisiana State University pitcher has dominated the mound ever since he stepped foot in the MLB. The MLB stands for Major League Baseball. Many state that his high velocity fastball and filthy breaking balls are what forms his success today, which is true, with his impressive 1.97 era throughout his whole career so far.
The question that is so blatant from baseball fans everywhere is why are hitters starting to struggle at the plate? The article Average Fastball Speed Mlb Trends states that, “ the average fastball speed in MLB has risen from approximately 91.9 mph in 2007 to 94.2 mph in recent years.” Many pitchers are often sitting in the high 90’s, or even touching the 100’s.
Another part in this mystery is the pitcher’s breaking balls. The bread and butter for every pitcher is their offspeed pitch. Many pitchers who throw sliders and curveballs have lots of “run”, or movement on their pitches, meaning it will go from one side of the plate to the other very quickly, and very far.
The problem is that the amount of pitches is unlimited. They will throw curveballs, slurves, cutters, sinkers, knuckle curves, change ups, and many more.
Bat speed plays a big factor in this new age. Many hitters that are well known now hit for “power”, or basically to hit home runs. There are still a few out there hitting well. The MLB average for hitting is .245, while Aaron Judge is sitting at an impressive .311 average, which is insane in this modern pitching era. Aaron is extremely well known for his quick bat path straight to the ball, which allows for better contact and power on the baseball.
As we can see, the hitter has much more to think about at the plate due to higher velocity on fastballs, and deadly movement speeds from the breaking balls.
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