Inducing Weak Contact: Why Rex Hudler Got Me Thinking
As part of my preseason prep, I watched a Kris Bubic start from last season. During it, Rex Hudler, who is never short on opinions, brought up an interesting point. The more pitches each batter sees, the quicker the batter becomes with the pitcher repertoire, and the more likely the batter gets a hit. At first, I thought someone else was speaking, but no, the concept warranted further investigation. It’s the same theory behind the times-through-the-order penalty but the new effect could be felt depending on how many pitches a pitcher throws per hitter and depth of arsenal for the pitcher. That idea started me down a wormhole that led to many questions and one subpar answer, but there seems to be at least one nugget of wisdom in Rex Hudler’s head.
First off, with less than a month before the season starts, it’s not an ideal time to start a study that could take weeks to iron out. I barely have enough time to report news, velocity readings, and draft my own teams. The following “answers” are not set in stone and there are so many more questions to investigate. I could either shelve the ideas for months or just make a snippet available and let others run with the ideas while I grind through the fantasy season. I’m giving others the chance to refine the ideas before I come back to them.
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