![]() ![]() This might help provide us with insight into what type of pitcher is best suited to set these called strike records. Bartolo was 39 years old this past season, the same age as Mussina in 2008 and just two years younger than Blyleven in his 1992 season. The end result of all this was one of the better season’s of Mussina’s very distinguished career and one of the greatest final seasons for a pitcher in the history of the game.īartolo Colon ranks in the top ten twice, with more than 22 percent of his total pitches as called strikes in both his 20 seasons. This unique demonstration of pinpoint control helped contribute to a fine strikeout rate and an phenomenally low walk rate of just 3.8 percent, with both his ERA and FIP for that season rated as 20 percent better than the league. Amazingly, one of every four pitches Mussina threw in the 2008 season were called strikes. Mike Mussina, however, was much more fortunate in his farewell act%mdash a season in which he posted the highest called strike percentage on record. So it’s uncertain whether this was a common approach for Blyleven, or if it was an adjustment he made in the twilight of his career. It’s worth mentioning that Blyleven was also 41 years old at the time, while also returning from rotator cuff surgery that kept him out of the entire 1991 season. This historical distinction didn’t have particularly favorable consequences for Blyleven, however, as he finished the 1992 season with a largely forgettable 117 ERA. ![]() With the exception of Blyleven’s final season in 1992, all of the top called strike seasons have occurred in the past decade, with six of the 10 occurring in the last three years. Because more strikes have been called recently more than in the past, the pitcher-seasons with the very highest called strike percentages dating back to 1988 are almost exclusive to the last few years (minimum 500 batters faced): Called strike leaders 1988-2012 Over the last few weeks I’ve been particularly fascinated by the steady increase in called strikes over swinging strikes, so that may be as good as place as any to begin. Realizing that I have never read an article outlining the more extreme seasons regarding these topics, I decided to use the retrosheet files from 1988-2012 to compile some of the more interesting seasons within that time frame. After reveling in its wonder all this time, it may be almost impossible to remember those dark ages, when we were unable to track velocity, movement, and location so conveniently and on a large scale.īut prior to the PITCHf/x era, we still had some very fascinating and useful information available to us regarding called strike and swing-and-miss rates, strike-to-ball ratios, contact percentages and other anecdotal details of how individual pitcher’s strategies varied. The release of PITCHf/x data over the last few years has been a revelation for baseball fans and analysts alike. ![]()
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