Nice article looks at the current situation in Detroit, what is in Toledo and what is percolating below Toledo. One thing for those not aware, the baseball used below AAA is different than the baseball used in AAA and MLB. No idea why this is but, anyways, it makes a difference. below is the portion discussing the jump from AA to AAA and above and change in philosophy under Harris.
The Erie Arms: Talent Developing, But Not Quite Ready
During the Scott Harris era, there’s been a clear shift in how the Tigers handle their developmental pipeline. Toledo isn’t just a stopover anymore it’s the final proving ground. That’s especially true for pitchers and position players, and there’s a very specific reason for it.
Triple-A Toledo uses the same baseballs as the Major Leagues; slicker, firmer, and harder to grip than the standard issue at Double-A and below. That subtle difference matters. It affects pitch shape, spin, command, all the things that can make or break a young arm at the next level. So, it makes sense that we’re not seeing guys jump straight from Erie to Detroit anymore.
The organization wants to see how they adjust to the real ball before they hand them a job at the big league level. (In case you were curious, thanks to Chris on this, Buck Farmer was the last pitcher to make the jump from Erie to Detroit back in 2014, Erie on 8/7/14, Tigers on 8/13/14)
Down in Double-A Erie, there’s talent, but also a gap that reflects why the Tigers rarely jump pitchers straight from Erie to Detroit anymore. As noted earlier, the baseballs used at this level are tackier and easier to grip than the slick MLB models used in Triple-A and the majors. That difference can exaggerate pitch shape and command, which is exactly why the organization insists pitchers prove themselves in Toledo first.
it’s crazy what they do to baseballs in order to help the offense.
I still think a lot of the issue in the bigs is the massive amount of money if you hit home runs. I see so many swings that are just nuts, especially with 2 strikes when you should really just be trying to contact the ball.
2 strike xbh % value> 2 strike medium to weak contact % value. Its not just the player, the teams in general want more of their guys swinging away on 0-2,1-2. Used to be your best couple guys got that green light or you Dave Kingman Adam Dunn kind of guy. Now its everyone except the tiny dudes. Not sure I agree without situational ball being more factored into that equation…yknow actual in game strategy.
One thing that has been discussed numerous times over the last couple of years and briefly last night’s broadcast is the difference in the game today. I have posted these articles prior and can dig them up again. I believe Theathletic had a few of them by Jason Stark iirc.
Today’s pitchers have so many different pitches vs 10yrs ago 15, 20 yrs ago due to analytics, spin rates, etc. You have four different fastballs, different offspeed pitches, hell even a fastball knuckler coming up in the minors…lol.
Used to be that a pitcher had 4 or five pitches two of them were really good rest were avg or poor. Hitters could wait for one of those avg pitches and do damage. Today that isn’t the case, they have numerous pitches and most of them are very good pitches. The same or very similar arm slot and motion to throw 4 different pitches.
In my opinion pitchers have a decided edge in today’s game which is why the league got rid of the shift. Yet, I still don’t understand using a different baseball.
Also most pitchers are max effort now. And don’t go deep in games. Hitting is hard especially when you rarely even get a chance to see a pitcher a 3rd time. Pretty common for a leadoff hitter to have 5 at bats and face 3 or 4 different pitchers. Sometimes 5 when teams use openers.
Used to be you knew you were going to see the starting pitcher several times every game.