TELLS IN BASEBALL.

TELLS IN BASEBALL. For the opening of baseball season, here is a good article by Stephen Rodrick on Johann Santana, currently the best pitcher in the major leagues. I learned that Santana prepares for each start by playing on Xbox against the team he will be pitching against because he thinks the game is very realistic about the strengths and weaknesses of opposing hitters. The article emphasizes that Santana’s deliveries on his fastball (94 miles an hour) and his changeup (80 miles an hour) are exactly the same. A scout can pick up that a pitcher is “tipping” his pitches by, for example, how he holds his glove. But the absence of any “tell” for a pitch (even one that can’t be put into words) can only be tested by results. There is not a lot written about how hard a pitcher is to read. Hank Aaron was supposed to be unusually good at reading a pitcher and able to pass a lot of his learning on to teammates.