In recapping Sunday’s win over Texas, I noted that Joba Chamberlain had begun pitching exclusively from the stretch, which I didn’t get. “He’s been a starter and pitching from the windup his entire life,” I boasted, “why change it up now? I see no reason for him to not work from the windup with no one on. No point in sacrificing stuff.” Well, someone much smarter than I (Mike Fast of THT) took a look at the data and showed that if anything, pitchers throw harder from the stretch. Shows what I know.
As far as I’m concerned, Joba can pitch however he wants. If he’s more comfortable and more effective from the stretch, then by all means do it. It just caught me a little off guard. I guess I’m still holding out a tiny bit of hope that he’ll one day return to the rotation, and this was a point to the contrary.
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