CBS story on the continued lack of MLB hitting

Pitchers are beyond filthy now, and the hitters are emphasizing power and elevation in their swings. Pair those two factors and averages go down across the board.

The insane stuff coming out of bullpens these days is probably the main culprit for this. I'm sure people will say hitting was just as hard way back in the day and cite Bob Gibson as the reason why, but on the days when Bob Gibson wasn't pitching, the Cardinals didn't have four flamethrowers coming out of the bullpen throwing 99 with wipeout sliders.

A lot of the relief pitchers used to be guys who were MLB worthy, but not good enough to be trusted to pitch 7 or 8 innings.

When they switched to this structure of: Here is your 1 inning to go in and throw 97-98 or above and mix in some sliders or cutters....it got a lot tougher to hit when hitters see a stream of three or four of that per night.

Plus the starter knows he only has to go 5-7 innings max, so he is also coming out blazing instead of having to pace himself.

every bullpen arm is in the 95-100 range these days

not to mention all the starters with increased velos

the days of the control pitcher are dwindling which makes it very difficult to step in not knowing where the pitch will end up

Ted Williams faced about 450 pitchers in his career.

Alec Burleson, who is in his 5th MLB season has faced about 450 different pitchers in his career.

Guys used to face the same pitchers all the time in way fewer stadiums. Now they're facing guys that can barely stay in the majors for a full season but still throw 99 with crazy movement.

And regardless of what the retards say about radar guns, average velocity is absolutely increasing. Guys throw harder now than they used to. And more guys are throwing hard than there used to be.

I agree with the writer's suggestion on limiting the number of pictures on a roster. On a 26 man roster 13 are pitchers. I'd limit it to 11.

Five starters, 1 closer, 2 set-up men, 2 middle men, 1 long relief

" I'd start by limiting the number of pitchers teams can carry, which could force more turns through the order, but I don't know if that'll work. Batting average is down, though, and .300 hitters are going away."

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Tie the DH to the starting pitcher. Once he's out of the game, so is the DH.

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But then you can’t allow pinch hitters for that spot when it comes up again

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Ted Williams faced about 450 pitchers in his career.

Alec Burleson, who is in his 5th MLB season has faced about 450 different pitchers in his career.

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This is kind of a wild stat. Wow. The uppercut swing being taught now certainly plays a factor in the average drop but the bullpen depth and nastiness seems to play a bigger role.

Tough look for Paul...