from Amazon
Wednesday, September 07, 2011
Ken Singleton and plate discipline
Love the interview.
DL: Are you a believer in protection?
KS: Yes I am. Most definitely. I could sense what was happening as soon as they started batting Eddie behind me. He was younger and a little more aggressive than I was, and he was trying to make a name for himself. And he was doing so. He was in the process of building a Hall-of-Fame career. Pitchers had a choice. We were both switch hitters and they could either pitch around me and go after him, or they could try to get me and be careful with him. It was sort of a “pick your poison” sort of thing.
I believe him. And we’ve shown as much that protection exists. The question is if the change in pitching to a hitter because of protection makes the batter, OVERALL, more effective. There’s a shift. But, is that a shift that overall has an impact? And the current research says: no.