Get a Grip, Guys

The Dodgers’ Freddie Freeman hit a two-out, tenth-inning grand slam last night to beat the Yankees 6-3 in game one of the World Series. It was the greatest game of all time, from what the announcers said and what I read in The Athletic today. Please. Those of us who don’t live on either coast know otherwise. Of greater interest to me was MLBPA executive director Tony Clark calling out teams for the way they handle pitchers. Clark charged that the current analytics-driven mindset is to “have pitchers, starting and relievers, [give] max effort for the period of time that they [teams] can have them. As soon as they seem to run out of gas, as the data suggests they’re going to, [teams] recycle them out and [get ready] to burn out another pitcher.” [today’s online Tribune sports’ section] The story also noted that fastball velocity is up over the last ten years, along with pitcher injuries. Fastballs that used to average 93.3 mph in 2014 are now averaging 95.5 mph, an increase that has seen a near doubling of the number of pitchers who go on the IL, to 484 this past season. So, why not teach more pitchers the knuckleball?