#MoveTheMound - and reinvigorate the game. YouTube video..

[ChipTait]

I don't watch this sort of video often, but I found his hypothesis intriguing.

He discusses the fact that pitchers have gained an advantage, due to analytics, specialized training, and their ever-increasing height.  

Fans want more doubles and triples.  But the game trends more toward the Three True Outcomes.  Could moving the pitcher's plate back 27 inches make the game much more exciting?

It has to be better than 7 inning double-headers and ghost runners...

I'd love to hear your thoughts.

[Moose Milligan]

Just lower the mound.  (He talks about this towards the end of the video).  What he did with showing you "the best player in baseball" for 250 milliseconds or whatever was cute, too.  

The video makes some good points.  But one thing I've not heard from the "move the mound back" crowd is the effect it would have on breaking pitches.  This argument all seems to stem from having to deal with fastball velocity.  But that hammer curve that drops in for a strike right now probably bounces on home plate with the mound moved back.  That late breaking slider is easier to lay off.  Which I guess is part of the point, batters have longer to gauge whether a pitch is a ball or a strike, but I don't see how pitchers are going to be able to adjust their breaking stuff to be able to get it over for a strike.  I'm assuming that they won't be able to throw those hammer curves and late breaking sliders as fast in an effort to extend the length of the break and get the pitches over.  I wonder if changeups would be more or less neutralized?  Baseball got lucky with the 60 feet 6 inches thing, IMO, when in regards to how pitches act.  That hammer curve breaking exactly as it gets to the plate is a thing of beauty.  That cut fastball sawing off a batter as it darts in at the last second is perfect.  

Baseball wants this whole balance thing that seems to be impossible to achieve.  They want games that don't take forever, but they want increased offense.  More offense = more pitches, more baserunners, more pitching changes = longer games.  But I guess if those longer games have more action, that's okay.

I can see the pros and cons of moving the mound back.  But I'd be in favor of just lowering it first.  

[VaBird1]

37 minutes ago, Moose Milligan said:

Just lower the mound.  (He talks about this towards the end of the video).  What he did with showing you "the best player in baseball" for 250 milliseconds or whatever was cute, too.  

The video makes some good points.  But one thing I've not heard from the "move the mound back" crowd is the effect it would have on breaking pitches.  This argument all seems to stem from having to deal with fastball velocity.  But that hammer curve that drops in for a strike right now probably bounces on home plate with the mound moved back.  That late breaking slider is easier to lay off.  Which I guess is part of the point, batters have longer to gauge whether a pitch is a ball or a strike, but I don't see how pitchers are going to be able to adjust their breaking stuff to be able to get it over for a strike.  I'm assuming that they won't be able to throw those hammer curves and late breaking sliders as fast in an effort to extend the length of the break and get the pitches over.  I wonder if changeups would be more or less neutralized?  Baseball got lucky with the 60 feet 6 inches thing, IMO, when in regards to how pitches act.  That hammer curve breaking exactly as it gets to the plate is a thing of beauty.  That cut fastball sawing off a batter as it darts in at the last second is perfect.  

Baseball wants this whole balance thing that seems to be impossible to achieve.  They want games that don't take forever, but they want increased offense.  More offense = more pitches, more baserunners, more pitching changes = longer games.  But I guess if those longer games have more action, that's okay.

I can see the pros and cons of moving the mound back.  But I'd be in favor of just lowering it first.  

I’ve been wondering why lowering the mound wasn’t the first suggestion vs. moving it back.