With that logic, why do you need the pitch speed after each pitch?

Because I can't necessarily tell how hard a ball was thrown just by looking at it. Hitting is a different animal.

I bet I could guess a pitch's speed within 5 mph more than you or I could guess the speed of a batted ball within 5 mph.

I see the value of knowing the average exit velocity for a player with whom you are not familiar, but does anyone have any use for knowing the exit velocity of a ball that you just saw hit? I don't need a stat to confirm what my eyes and ears just told me.

I think it would have relevance on how deep an infielder would position himself. We are seeing a lot of errors right now that I think are caused by the speed at which the ball is coming to the infielder as well as the shifts that are being employed. The ball is literally popping out of many infielders gloves and the places where a fielder is throwing from is deeper than it used to be just a few years ago.

It would suck to be playing behind 2nd base. It would also suck to be playing 15 ft into RF.

That is right. What I really do not understand in all of this shifting is why the hitters just don't dump the ball more often. Its an automatic hit in a lot of cases. I guess no one teaches bunting anymore. The current ball is just so juiced it is ridiculous.

That seems disingenuous. If a batter swung late, you could just assume it was faster than normal just like if you just saw a home run you assume it was hit harder.

So, if you can just assume that a home run was hit harder, you don't really need to know the exit velocity, right? I need the pitch speed to identify both the type of pitch and the quality of the pitch. You can tell the quality of a hit by looking at it and hearing it.

So, if you can just assume that a home run was hit harder, you don't really need to know the exit velocity, right? I need the pitch speed to identify both the type of pitch and the quality of the pitch. You can tell the quality of a hit by looking at it and hearing it.

abreu's exit velocity was horrible as he averaged 30HR a year in his first six seasons

Honestly though, I probably fall in Warren's camp a little. An at bat is the ultimate goal oriented undertaking. You hit the ball hard but got out...fuck you, pay me.

It's more of a toy than anything else for a specific at bat. It's practical use is in the aggregate.

The marginal increase in speed of a pitch matters a hell of a lot more than the marginal increase in speed of a batted ball. Stated another way, there's a much bigger difference between a fastball at 90 and a fastball at 95, than a batted ball with an exit velocity of 100 vs. an exit velocity of 95. With batted balls, either it was hit hard or it wasn't, with pitches, the minutiae matters.

Telling me that the homerun had an exit velocity of 110 mph really doesn't help me understand what I just saw any better. Telling me that the pitch that was swung on missed, had a speed of 97 mph does.