Under The Knife 4/26/23
Chipper Jones Mendoza
This clip shook me a bit. I wish I could embed it to make it easier for you, but thanks Elon. In the clip, Chipper Jones says he’d hit 200 against today’s pitchers, which I think is a bit harsh. Jones was a natural hitter, but also a hard worker and if you remember the Jon Sciambi story, he was smarter than most thought as well.
To illustrate just how good pitchers are today, imagine this in Chipper’s era - 98 mph fastball, an 88 mph slider with almost 40 inches of movement, and 9.8 K’s per 9. That’s Trevor Megill, who got sent down Tuesday by the Twins. Every pitcher today, even the ones who don’t have a roster spot on lock, are more or less Kerry Wood today, at least on stuff.
I’d love to see Chipper on a video game, or a WinReality, to see just how he’d do against this kind of stuff. He’s older and I’m curious just how much reaction time he’s lost, how much pitch recognition he could have, versus the obvious ravages of age. Bringing back old pitchers, even in video games, is tougher because we simply don’t have the information. Someone’s going to figure out how to draw some of it out of old film and they’ll have a gold mine.
Because the changes have been gradual, I don’t think we appreciate just how good pitchers are, how hard this game is for hitters, and why hitters struggle to find the real answer for velocity training and pitch design. Is there even a reverse Codify, or anything besides Longball Labs that’s been proven to help hitters? MLB can change rules and change them again, but that’s the struggle they face over the next decade. Pitchers are getting better, faster, and consistently raising the level, by using analytics and advanced tools and ignoring things that don’t matter as much, like health and control.
Yeah, I said health doesn’t matter as much. It does to the individual pitcher, but largely, a team can use depth since everyone is at that level now, and has to be. Pitchers need to take control of their own health, but I’m starting to see teams slide back to the “it’s part of the game” theory and working on depth rather than injury prevention. So let’s get to the injuries:
JUSTIN VERLANDER, SP NYM (strained shoulder)
I’m not sure if hearing Justin Verlander say that his shoulder strain is “99 percent healed” is a positive, or does a Mets fanbase that can be both passionate and pessimistic only note that one percent? The Mets, via Buck Showalter, wouldn’t “divulge where that will be” for some reason, but it will be Friday, will be about 50 pitches, and is expected to be his only rehab start.
Verlander threw well and at high intensity in his last bullpen session, throwing a full mix of pitches though I’m told he was at 90 percent if you go by velocity. This is fairly common and no real worry, though that last ten percent that’s supposed to come from lights and adrenaline can be problematic. The Mets are basically trusting Verlander’s knowledge of his own body, even though he’s never had a shoulder issue before.
The count is really the only thing the team is worried about and there’s no special pre- or post-start plan for Verlander in terms of special care. Verlander does tend to have a pretty specific plan for himself and it hasn’t really changed since coming to the Mets. Again, that’s common for a high level pitcher, though Verlander hasn’t really changed this in years and he should be using the Mets’ front office talent to adjust to his age, given some of the injuries he’s incurred over the past few seasons.
LOGAN GILBERT, SP SEA (strained shoulder)