Tom Verducci

And I just think the way hitting is now, you just can't cover them all.

And you look around baseball and home runs are down, batting average is down, walks are up, partially because of the ABS.

But it's harder to get a hit now.

And I think it's because there's so much that pitchers are throwing.

Everybody's in the lab looking to shape specific pitches to specific sides of the plate and even specific hitters.

And you're right about the scouting that's done.

I mean, it's true of guys who come up from the minor leagues.

You don't even have to wait for two times through a major league lineup.

I mean, Spencer Jones of the Yankees gets the big leagues.

The Blue Jays absolutely know he can't hit a fastball over his hands.

And they'll just keep throwing that.

They don't have to test to see if they can have a major league fastball like they used to.

So there's no doubt in my mind that the pitchers have an edge even more so because they've always had an edge.

I mean, it's one sport where you're on defense and you have the ball, but you kind of control things, right?

But I think it's even more so now because technology has helped the coaches, instructors, whatever, on all levels.

to be able to give pitchers different shapes of pitches.

There's no experimenting.

Everybody knows what's worth.

It doesn't mean you can execute every single pitch.

That's what it comes down to.