On Wednesday afternoon, Paul Skenes and Jacob Misiorowski met in some of the thrilling pitching matchups of the season to this point. Skenes is the perfect pitcher in baseball, whereas Misiorowski is the hardest-throwing starter. It was must-see TV. Michael Baumann coated the occasion in probably the most Baumann approach attainable, specializing in its hugeness — actually. “As impressed as I used to be with this show of firepower, awe at the way forward for pitching was not my main takeaway. No, watching Skenes and Misiorowski do battle made me really feel uneasy,” Baumann wrote. “See, these guys are large.” He adopted these phrases up with one among my favourite paragraphs within the illustrious annals of baseball writing:
That is too massive. Each of them. The trendy baseball subject was designed for Scots-Irish immigrants with dangerous childhood diet and kidney illness. When 5-foot-11 Honus Wagner was the largest, strongest participant within the league. In the event you advised the founding fathers of baseball that sooner or later ballplayers would get so massive they couldn’t borrow pants from Dave Bautista… effectively initially, I assume you’d have to clarify Dave Bautista to Abner Doubleday and Alexander Cartwright. You get my level.
I’m not going to put in writing concerning the Skenes-Misiorowski matchup. What extra may I probably add? As a substitute, I’ll start this week’s mailbag by answering a query about Misiorowski’s earth-shattering velocity. Earlier than I do, although, I’d wish to remind all of you that whereas anybody can submit a query, this mailbag is unique to FanGraphs Members. In the event you aren’t but a Member and wish to preserve studying, you may join a Membership right here. It’s the easiest way to each expertise the positioning and help our employees, and it comes with a bunch of different nice advantages. Additionally, if you happen to’d wish to ask a query for subsequent week’s mailbag, ship me an electronic mail at mailbag@fangraphs.com.
