Oh boy, here we go again—the Great Velocity Myth. I wrote a novel about this months ago—maybe even a year ago. I’m not digging it back up, but this dog has been beaten over and over. The same propellerhead dumbasses keep coming back because they refuse to admit they’re wrong. I remember putting TrackMan behind the backfields at TigerTown. I stood there comparing the TrackMan readings with the Stalker guns, and TrackMan was consistently three to four miles per hour higher. Not occasionally. Consistently. I watched the entire progression: from the JUGS gun, to the original Stalker—which looked like an old mailbox—to the Stalker Pro, which finally looked more like an actual radar gun, and then to TrackMan. Every time the technology changed, the velocity numbers went up. Every damn time. Now we have Hawk-Eye, and suddenly the propellerheads have some magic formula—just like WAR and all the other analytical bullshit—that supposedly proves everybody who played the game is wrong. Here’s the funny part: Major League Baseball had it published on its own website for years. It acknowledged that the differences between the old radar systems and TrackMan or Hawk-Eye could produce readings two to six miles per hour apart. I saw it on MLB’s website. Now that specific language is gone. Why did it disappear? Maybe because it blows a giant hole in the story they’re trying to sell. Baseball wants everyone mesmerized by 98, 101 and 103 on the scoreboard because velocity has become its marketing crutch. Admitting that those readings cannot be directly compared with readings from older radar guns would force people to acknowledge how much of this so-called historic velocity explosion comes from changes in the technology. Are today’s pitchers throwing hard? Of course they are. I completely agree. But baseball didn’t suddenly invent 98–100 mph. Guys have thrown hard throughout the history of this game. If today’s tracking technology had been used back then—even starting in the 1970s—those velocity readings would be very, very similar to what we’re seeing today. You cannot change the way velocity is measured, get higher readings and then use those higher readings to “prove” that previous generations couldn’t throw as hard. That’s circular bullshit. Want another clue? Watch the hitter. Watch the takes. Watch the swings. Watch how comfortable he looks. When the board says 101 but major-league hitters are calmly tracking the baseball and taking comfortable swings, that tells me something—because I actually stood in that batter’s box and faced major-league velocity. The real pitching problem today isn’t a lack of velocity. It’s a lack of command and control. On the hitting side, you occasionally see young players trying to stay inside the baseball, which is good. But far too many players have been programmed to lift and separate. Yet these propellerhead dumbasses who have never stood in that box will tell former major-league players that we’re wrong. We played it, faced it, coached it, scouted it and watched the technology change firsthand—but they typed some numbers into a spreadsheet, so apparently they know better. Major-league players who faced the velocity are wrong. Major League Baseball’s own published explanation was wrong. But the guy pounding his keyboard is right? Utter bullshit. I faced it. You Googled it. Now fire up your keyboards. Tell me how wrong I am. Tell me how bad I sucked—even though I played 14 years in the big leagues. Tell me why none of that experience matters and why your spreadsheet and magic formula mean you know more than the people who actually played the game. Go ahead. Lose your minds. I’m waiting. This should be fun. #MLB #Baseball #PitchingVelocity #TrackMan #HawkEye #Statcast #SheGone03 @THEHUGESHOW