The most interesting thing about the American Century golf tournament, which features sports stars and celebs, has been the interview room (its certainly not the golf). Guys have held lengthy media sessions and been pretty candid in them, at least more so than they ever would be during their respective seasons.
One of the participants is Jamie Moyer, who in the course of a long media session, was asked about the spate of recent no hitters and perfect games around baseball. Given that Moyer has played the game longer than anyone else currently in baseball, his opinion was interesting.
"I would think it would be quite the opposite, honestly, because of the way baseball has implemented the strike zone and the pressure that's on the umpires to call balls and strikes with the videos that they're being graded upon, I would have thought it would have been the complete opposite.
But I think part of it‑‑ and I'm not a hitter‑‑ but I think part of it, the way hitting is being taught today and the styles of hitting that are being taught, a lot of the game is away.
Guys are taking more pitches, trying to work counts, and I think that's‑‑ I'm not saying the no‑hitters are coming with the better arms, but arms are better, I think, as far as velocity goes.
I mean, you look at a Verlander, I mean he's pretty special to watch. Here's a guy in a lot of his games that he's had success, real successful games he's had over the last couple of years, in the ninth inning he's hitting 99, hitting 100, 101.
You don't see‑‑ think back over the last 15, 20 years, you didn't see that happen. So I think the arms are bigger. The velocity, I think, has changed a little bit.
There's a lot more starting pitchers that have higher end velocity. And I think some of it is because of the way‑‑ the approaches that hitters are taking to the plate."