Pitching

Molly recently mentioned the sex appeal to be found in a baseball pitcher’s ability to focus on her blog (in which she inexplicably calls me “A”), and since pitching is one of my favorite topics, I figured I’d do a copy-cat post… except far more exhaustive/obsessive.

There is a body-type that screams “football linesman” and another that screams “basketball center.” Baseball pitchers, on the other hand, come in all shapes and sizes. In order to pitch in the big leagues, you need to be able to throw at least two pitches, and you need to be able to throw at least one of these well. One of these must be a fastball, and the other needs to have either speed or movement that is distinctly different from that fastball. A starting pitcher, who is expected to face the same opposing players multiple times over the course of a game, will probably need to know how to throw a third pitch, unless he can throw one of the aforementioned pitches exceptionally well. A closer, whose job it is to retire the final few batters to secure a win, only needs to know how to throw one pitch if it is exceptional.

As a baseball travels through the air, its seams affect the air current around it, and different pitches are created by manipulating these air currents by altering the way the seams travel. When a pitch is released, the pitcher must be touching a 2 feet long slab, called “the rubber,” that is 1 foot higher and 60 feet 6 inches away from the 17 inch wide front of a five-sided plate shaped with two 12 inch angles aligned one each with the first and third base lines which begin 8.5 inches behind the front edge. One reason for the shape is to increase the difficultly of throwing a “back door” pitch which curves around the front edge but crosses over the back.

A “ball” is a pitch that does not go over the plate and between the mid-torso and lowest point of the kneecap of a batter, does not touch any part of the batter AND the batter makes no attempt to hit. The main goal of the pitcher is to retire each batter, which is called an “out,” before he throws four balls. On the fourth ball, the batter gets to advance to first base. This is called a “base on balls” or “walk.” After three outs, any base runners are cleared and the teams switch sides. Three outs recorded by each side is called an “inning.”

A Major League fastball leaves the pitcher’s hand and crosses home plate in less than half a second. A ball hit by a batter can return to a pitcher in less time than that.

There are a myriad of limitations put on the pitcher. For example, the pitcher can do almost nothing to trick a base runner. Doing so is called a “balk” allowing all base runners to advance one base, and what constitutes trickery is a matter of such debate it is not even legal for anyone to question or argue a called balk. (The pitcher can fake a throw if he is not touching the rubber when he does so.) A pitcher also can’t use a scuffed or otherwise affected ball, throw a softball-style windmill pitch or lick his fingers and then touch the ball without wiping his hand first unless he does so when he’s not standing on the mound. The weapons the pitcher is left with are skill, determination, guile, nerves of steel and eight teammates. The overall strategy of the pitcher is to get and keep the batter off balance and out of rhythm.

It becomes quickly obvious to anyone whose job it is to prevent a person with a bat wound behind their head from hitting a ball that it would be prudent to keep the ball as far away from that bat as possible. In other words, throw a pitch low and away. And eureka, this is the key location every pitcher needs to be able to deliver a pitch to. Not only does it take more time for the bat to reach that spot, it also forces the batter to extend his arms, eliminating arm muscles from the equation, pushes the batter’s balance forward and prevents the bat from getting under the ball and giving it lift.

Anybody that can consistently throw a pitch low and away will not only make millions of dollars, but if they can continue to do it year after year, like Greg Maddux, they will become a hall-of-famer. Baseball is really easy. Of course, if you keep throwing pitches low and away, the batter will cheat forward and anticipate that location. This can be quickly remedied by throwing a fastball high and inside, which will force the batter backward, which is no simple task when leaning forward, so he will be too busy getting out of the way to swing at the pitch. In order to entice a batter looking low and away to awkwardly swing, you must pitch inside but keep it low. But this is risky, because if a batter is looking for a pitch low and inside or if any pitch is too centered over the plate, the batter has a good chance of hitting it full force. The only reason to intentionally throw a pitch high and outside is if you’re trying to walk the batter. That’s pretty much how pitching works. On paper.

The importance of throwing a pitch low and away is also a major reason why, with rare exception, it is advantageous for a right-handed pitcher to face a batter on the right-handed or third base side of the plate and vice-versa. This is because the natural arc of a pitch thrown by a right-hander will tend to cause it to go away from the third base side of the plate. For the same reason, however, it is more difficult for a right-handed pitcher to throw low and inside to a batter on the right side and vice versa. In other words, strategy will be affected by whether a pitcher is facing a batter on the left or right side. A batter on the left-handed side has better odds of getting a pitch middle-in while facing a right-handed pitcher than a righty facing the same guy. Also, a batter hitting a right-handed pitcher on the left-handed side has a better angle to see the ball as it is released from the right-hander’s hand. An important aspect of any pitcher is his ability to hide the ball, distract the eye of the batter and/or be unpredictable before and as he throws. Before a batter can hit the ball, he first has to be able to see it. Then, he has milliseconds to judge its angle, spin and speed and react.

There is a little more to striking a baseball than the bat simply connecting with the ball. The bat has a so-called “sweet-spot” in which physics allows maximal thrust upon the ball upon contact. Although opinions differ, the sweet spot of a bat is an area around 3 inches long, which is exactly the diameter of a baseball. Humans can instinctually intuit the sweet-spot of a bat better than modern physics, which, frankly, is pretty freaking awesome. That is to say it’s really, really difficult to squarely hit a moving baseball with a cylindrical piece of wood. A successful pitcher is able to prevent a well-trained batter from connecting the ball with the sweet-spot.

Anybody who claims baseball isn’t a team sport is a dolt. By far the most common method of getting a batter out is by getting him to hit a ball poorly in play so that a fielder can either catch it in the air or get it into the hand of someone who can touch first base before the batter. The pitches thrown and the defensive alignment of the fielders are specifically designed and arranged to best exploit the weakness and tendencies of each batter and the strengths of the pitcher. The beauty of sport, of course, is that things often don’t go according to plan, and the true spirit of a pitcher is revealed when they don’t.

Being unpredictable is a far riskier strategy than sticking with what’s working. A disciplined hitter who recognizes an effective pitch will often simply wait until the pitcher throws something else. It is a rare day when a pitcher can throw all of his pitches with equal effectiveness. Some of this is out of the pitcher’s control, as the movement of a ball is influenced in part by wind, humidity and elevation. The pitcher and batter both spend the game figuring out what pitches are most reliable and deceptive as well as which pitches that pitcher/batter have the most confidence in throwing/hitting that day. Pitchers get in trouble when they lose confidence or have too much confidence in an unreliable or predictable pitch.

The “strike zone” or simply “zone” is the area above the plate, above the lowest point of the kneecaps and below the middle of the batter’s torso. The batter cannot have either foot completely outside a rectangular area, called a batter’s box, 6 feet long, 4 feet wide and 6 inches away from home plate when he strikes the ball or he is automatically out. Any pitch deemed to have traveled through the strike zone regardless of whether the batter attempts to hit it or any pitch the batter attempts to hit but misses is called a “strike.” Any struck ball that is touched by a fielder while out of play, stops out of play before reaching a bag (90 feet), is wide of the bag while crossing it after a bounce, initially lands out of play beyond a bag or strikes the batter while he is still in the batter’s box is called a “foul” and is out of play, but all other struck balls are “fair” and in play. A foul with less than two strikes is also marked as a strike. Any ball that is caught in the air except a ball immediately caught by the catcher with less than two strikes is considered an “out” and that ball is considered in play (even if caught in foul territory). A batter is out after three strikes, unless the third strike hits the ground before being caught in which case that ball is considered in play unless there is a runner on first base and there are less than two outs. Getting that third strike against a batter is called a “strike-out,” even if it hits the ground, so it is possible to strike out and still get on base. In scoring, strike-outs are represented with a “K,” and a strike-out secured without a batter trying to swing is noted with a backwards K. The “pitch count” is the number of balls and strikes accumulated during an at bat, and balls are always announced or listed first.

The fastball will always be the most important pitch in baseball. There are several different kinds of fastballs, but they all share a backspin rotation which minimizes drag, although the best ones still have subtle movement. To clarify movement- baseballs can move laterally or down as they travel through the air. One of the greatest fastballs in history belonged to Sandy Koufax, and those who saw it swear it actually rose in the air on its way to home plate. This is so commonly believed that Koufax’s Wikipedia entry actually gives an explanation as to why it rose, but since baseballs don’t have wings, it is in fact impossible for a baseball to rise or lift. In reality a rising fastball is merely an optical illusion, but since batters get very good at calculating the effects of gravity on the ball, fastballs with minimal declination, especially when thrown higher in the zone, can be very effective. Pitch speed is measured from when it leaves the pitcher’s hand, and even a fastball is going around 10 mph slower than the measured speed by the time it reaches the batter. As a ball slows, it is more likely to be affected by air currents, and this is why many fastballs have what is called “late movement.”

Pitches thrown with a twisting or limited rotation are called breaking balls. The seams induce asymmetrical drag that causes the ball to move. This drag also slows down the ball- unless you’re talking about a freak pitch like Randy Johnson’s slider. This decreased speed can be advantageous as varying the speeds of pitches interrupts the batter’s timing. A change-up is a pitch with backspin rotation but thrown using weaker fingers or grip so that it looks like a fastball but travels substantially slower. The point of a breaking ball is to give it movement away from or into and under the bat while the point of the change-up is to drop unexpectedly under the bat. Breaking balls and change-ups are collectively contrasted from fastballs by being called off-speed pitches. Every off-speed pitch should arrive low in the strike zone. An off-speed pitch that arrives above the batter’s waist will provide a good angle for the batter to see the ball and ample time for the batter to get the bat under the ball, all while the ball is conveniently dropping into the bat. Such a pitch is called a “hanger,” and the only reason every hanger isn’t annihilated is that, since pitchers never intend to throw it, hitters aren’t always expecting it.

Many people forget that pitchers want to avoid throwing in the strike zone as much as possible. They want the batter to chase balls that are out of the zone. This is best done by not giving the batter the opportunity to wait for a predictable or hittable pitch. For this reason the pitcher wants the first pitch to be a strike. That first pitch sets up the rest of the at-bat. In jazz there’s a saying, “It’s not what you play, it’s what you play next that counts.” Adapted to baseball, it is often true that it’s not what pitch is thrown, it’s what pitch is thrown next that counts. Every pitch can change the momentum of whether there’s more pressure on the batter to hit the ball or on the pitcher to get a strike on the next pitch. Pitch counts that favor the hitter are called “hitter’s counts” for obvious reasons. These are 1-0, 2-0, 3-0, 2-1 and 3-1. All other pitch counts tend to favor the pitcher, except 3-2, or “full count,” which slightly favors the hitter but can also favor the pitcher depending on the circumstances. Hitter’s counts add pressure on the pitcher to get a ball in the strike zone, so he will tend to throw a pitch he can best control (usually the fastball) and aim it dangerously more toward the center of the zone. Hitter’s counts are often called fastball counts.

Balls and strikes are determined by a human umpire. Different umpires see the strike zone a bit differently and the strike zone can change pitcher to pitcher and over the course of a game. The most irritating games are those in which the strike zone changes pitch to pitch. The more movement a pitch has, the more difficult it is to determine whether it traveled through the strike zone. A pitch is less likely to be called a strike if it misses the intended location, which can be exposed by where the catcher puts his glove or how he catches it. One task of the pitcher is to find out how far low and outside they can throw and still get a strike called.

Each major league team is only allowed to have 25 players on their active roster except from September 1st until the end of the regular season, when they can have 40. Of the 25, around 12 are pitchers. Starting pitchers are usually expected to throw just over a hundred pitches per game. The goal is to retire a side in 15 or less pitches. During the regular season, which is 162 games long, starting pitchers rest for four days after pitching in one, which means there are five starting pitchers. The rest are relief pitchers whose job it is to replace the starting pitcher for various reasons, often because the pitcher has become ineffective or the manager thinks another pitcher will be more effective against a certain batter. Major League baseball is divided into two leagues, called the National League and the American League, and in the 70’s the American League added a rule allowing for another player to bat in place of the pitcher. This is called the designated hitter rule, and the logic behind is since pitchers don’t hit every day to get into a balanced rhythm, they are usually the worst hitters on the team. In the National League, where the designated hitter rule is considered a cop-out, pitchers are often taken out of the game to be replaced by a better hitter.

Baseball players are expected to follow certain rules of conduct. These rules, often unwritten, are sometimes enforced by a pitcher in the form of a fastball to the body of a batter. I defy anyone who doesn’t think this is a good idea to watch a professional American basketball game. But seriously, the designated hitter rule can be tied to a frowning upon this tradition, as now in the American League the pitcher does not have the potential to taste a bit of his own medicine if exception is taken to his actions.

Baseball loves statistics, and one of the more complicated statistics is a pitcher’s ERA, which stands for earned run average. Basically it is a tool designed to judge a pitcher’s ability at preventing the other team from scoring, and measures the points scored by the opposition that can be blamed in part on the pitcher for every nine innings that pitcher works. A great ERA of a starting pitcher is 2 or lower. ERA does not work well for comparing relief pitchers, as one bad inning will tend to inflate the statistic for awhile. If I were in charge, I’d invent a stat called FBF, or first batter faced, to judge the effectiveness of a relief pitcher in retiring the first batter. But currently, the best statistic to use when valuing a relief pitcher is by looking at his strike-out to walk ratio (strike-outs divided by walks), which shouldn’t really be worse than three.

Another statistic every starting pitcher will forever be tied to is his record. A baseball game is considered “official” after five complete innings, and in every official game, one and only one pitcher is credited with a “win” and another with a “loss.” Any pitcher who leaves the game before it is official cannot qualify for a win or loss and is credited with a “no-decision.” Every pitcher that pitches at least five full innings automatically qualifies for a win or loss unless the game is tied when he is taken out. (For this reason it is very controversial whenever a pitcher with the lead is taken out of a game in the fifth inning.) If his team is or gets ahead in the same inning in which he was removed and stays a head for the rest of the game, he gets a win. If his team is behind or gets behind in the same inning in which he was removed and stays behind for the rest of the game, he gets a loss. If the score gets tied or the lead changes sides in any inning after a pitcher was removed, that pitcher will get a “”no-decision.” If a starting pitcher gets a no-decision, the win or loss will fall on a relief pitcher. If more than one relief pitcher pitched in an inning during which a lead was taken, it becomes the job of the official scorer to decide which is credited with the win or loss. Of the 32 games a pitcher can expect to start, the lofty goal of every pitcher is to get 20 wins in a season. In some years nobody succeeds in this endeavor.

A “save” is a relatively modern stat that determines the effectiveness of a pitcher in securing a team’s win by retaining the lead at the end of a game and getting the final opposing batter out. A player qualifies for a save if he enters and finishes a game with his team leading and pitches at least three innings, or pitches at least an inning with a three run or less lead or pitches at least 1/3 of an inning and enters the game with the potential tying run on base, at bat or next up to bat (which is called “on-deck”). If that same pitcher loses the lead, he is credited with a “blown save.” While it is not possible to be credited with both a save and a win in the same game, a pitcher can actually get a blown-save and a win.

For more information on baseball and how it works, read the complete official baseball rules, which are surprisingly articulate, at: http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/downloads/y2010/official_rules/2010_OfficialBaseballRules.pdf