Quote:
Originally Posted by TheGuardian
And this is a problem how?  |
PED's can't help you recognize a curveball, but they can help you hit it.
Look at it this way, in real time, the difference between a 91 mph fastball and a 99 mph fastball is 100th's of a second, but that 8 mph difference is HUGE, right? Baseball is a game where 100ths of a second make the difference between a double play and a grand slam.
So let's say you're a guy that struggles to recognize a curveball. Oh you can generally pick up the spin, but usually just in time to swing over top of it for a slow roller to short. Worse still, in response to that you start trying to cheat a little bit on them and become a guess hitter. Suddenly you're batting .250 with holes in your swing you can drive a truck through (in essence, you're Rick Ankiel).
Now imagine you take the proper PEDs, many of which are known to enhance quick twitch muscles. Suddenly your bat-speed improves just a hair. Now that yacker that you don't recognize quite as well as Pujols becomes a little less filthy because you're able to hang back on it just a bit and drive your bat into the zone quicker.
Once that happens, you can start to develop a reputation as a better hitter and pitchers will nibble a little more with you. Once they start to nibble, they get behind in the count and then they have to start giving you pitches to hit or risk putting you on base.
PED's don't make shitty hitters great. But they can make good hitters better. They can make great hitters historic.
If you want to legalize it across the board - fine, whatever. There will be no historic context for statistics anymore, but shit happens. Though be prepared for a bizarre little pandora's box, IMO. As soon as the cap comes off, players will absolutely race to inject themselves with the most potent shit possible and you'll end up with some hairy drawbacks sooner or later.
But don't try to argue that they only make a nominal difference. A) In baseball, a nominal difference is actually pretty damn significant and B) I simply disagree that the difference is only nominal.