Another Benefit
Secondly, more guys pitching to contact would mean more balls put in play, meaning more action on the diamond.
One of the main criticisms of the game of baseball today is that it’s too slow and boring. Well, if an abundance of pitchers take to the big leagues who average far less than a strikeout every inning like Keuchel especially and Gonzalez to a lesser degree, the children and teenagers of America will be more likely to take notice and stick around to watch another inning or two.
An increase in shortstops diving into the hole to turn would-be singles into groundouts, first basemen stretching the length of their bodies to somehow perfectly scoop errant throws and center fielders leaping up onto walls and bringing back seemingly certain home runs would be appreciated by both newcomers and diehard fans alike.
So where does this leave Gonzalez and Keuchel?
Well, unfortunately, MLB in its current state is not the most conducive to their style of pitching. The Yankees would ideally prefer the exact opposite of these two and the brand of pitching I’ve just advocated. In their ballpark, in the American League, home of the designated hitter, a strikeout pitcher would be New York’s safest option.
Someone who gets outs by forcing players to fly out would have problems at Yankee Stadium, where that short porch causes folks to hold their breath every time a left-handed batter hits a ball off the end of his bat sky-high down the right field line.
With strikeout pitchers, no breath-holding is required, because in those few instances in which batters hit their pitches in the air, they’re probably not coming back.
That’s why it would make sense for the Yankees to insert one of their rising stars into the rotation, someone like Domingo German, Jonathan Loaisiga or Luis Cessa, whom John Harper listed as possible candidates for the job. And surely, no one could fault New York for rolling out one of these youngsters every five days.