Quote:
Originally Posted by dkgo
You think the way to reduce strikeouts is to widen the strike zone? What? Forcing players to strikeout or swing at bad pitches isn't going to do any of the things you think it will.
Pitchers are better than ever, especially the bottom half of them. A higher percentage of pitches are 90s+ than ever before. That's why strikeouts are up, because hitting a really fast baseball is ****ing hard. Since it is harder to hit it you are less likely to get several hits in a row, so players try to make their hits count more with homeruns. That's all there is to it.
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This is, mostly, correct
Pitchers are filthier than ever.
A random middle reliever is throwing stuff better than yesterday's greats.
They only way to counter act that is to reduce the pitchers' effectiveness somehow. Lowering the mound, moving the mound back, allowing fewer relievers...
But, once you've done that, it's got to be counteracted with something to reduce the hitters' proclivity to tee off Widening the strike zone, deadening the ball, etc