What Can Hitters Actually See Out of a Pitcher’s Hand?

Re:What Can Hitters Actually See Out of a Pitcher’s Hand? by MaxLeiter on Sunday September 18, 2016 @02:48PM (#12526555)

Sometimes they do - it ultimately depends on the current pitch count (balls and strikes), the batter, and the pitcher. There are certain situations when "off-speed" (non-fastball pitches, like the one in the video) are usually better.

In this case, the pitch was probably further off than the pitcher wanted, but the pitch thrown is generally less accurate and moves a lot, making it difficult to hit.

For example, when a better has 2 strikes they need to "protect the plate" - swing at any pitch that could -possibly- be a strike (while if they had 0 or 1 strikes, they may let a pitch go hoping it's a ball).

If you're interested in the amount of strategy that goes into a pitchers strategy, I recommend watching this[1] 30 second video of an MLB announcer predicting a pitchers pitches. (Notice the pitch count in the bottom right - "1-2" reads as "1 ball, 2 strikes"

[1] - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Do1l8itr6E

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Re:What Can Hitters Actually See Out of a Pitcher’s Hand? by dionidium on Sunday September 18, 2016 @03:00PM (#12526610)

That's a fun video and it definitely hints at the strategy involved, but it's worth noting that in-game announcers routinely get these sorts of guesses wrong. Which is just to say it's not quite as predictable as this video implies in isolation.

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