From the moment they start playing the sport, pitchers are advised to stay away from the middle of the strike zone.
Naturally, hitters do a better job punishing pitches in the middle-middle location: they don’t have to make considerable adjustments necessary to reach a ball thrown on the inside part, or one pitched on the outside corner.
This is harder to achieve than it looks: baseball is a game of inches, and if a fastballs catches too much of the middle of the plate, it will probably get hit hard.
Pitchers make this mistake frequently.
Texas Rangers left-hander Andrew Heaney was impeccable on Sunday night, though.
His Rangers defeated the Houston Astros, the reigning World Series champions and owners of the best and most dangerous lineup in baseball, 9-1.
Heaney stayed on the mound for five innings in which he granted no runs.
He allowed just two hits and walked three, striking out four.
How do you beat the best lineup in the game?
With flawless command, which means avoiding the middle part of the zone at all costs.
This is INCREDIBLE.
Andrew Heaney avoided the heart of the plate tonight better than I’ve seen anyone else this season.
There’s literally zero mistake pitches down the middle. pic.twitter.com/fTSr7zgL8b
—Nick Pollack (@PitcherList) April 17, 2023
That graph is amazing.
Heaney used all quadrants of the zone, but stayed away from the heart of the zone.
It’s the only way to beat an offense that has Alex Bregman, Kyle Tucker, Yordan Alvarez, Jose Abreu, and Jeremy Pena.
This is a perfect situation to illustrate the difference between command and control.
Yesterday, Heaney’s control wasn’t perfect because it resulted in three walks.
His command, which is placing the ball where he wants it in the strike zone, was almost flawless.
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