Bob File

Mike Piazza says baseball has become so obsessed with analytics and data that people have stopped actually watching the game “Well, and I think you would attest to this, right? For me, when I was managing and guys would come in after a pitcher was being taken out or changed, and they would come in and look and say, ‘Well, what’s he throw?’ I’m like, ‘Dude, just watch him.’ You know, watch the guy throw.” “When I was in Dodger Stadium, I would come out before I warmed up, I would sit on the bench, and the visiting bullpen was right out in right field. Whoever was pitching, I would just sit there for five minutes, watch the slider, watch the changeup. And I could see, and you learn a lot by watching. And I think we’ve computed the game so much into data that nobody watches the game.” “And as a catcher, you know this, right? If a guy’s hot, if he’s not, if he’s chasing, all these things you have to have right here. I mean, I would watch if a guy’s crowding the plate, I know he likes the ball in. If he’s away, I know he likes the ball away.” “It’s just certain little tells as a catcher that you watch. I was watching the game the other day, a guy had a good fastball, he blows two by the guy, the guy fouls one off, he’s tardy. What does he do? He throws a slider, off-speed, and the guy gets a base hit.” “I’m like, the guy is telling you that he can’t catch up to the fastball. Now, I’m not saying you can’t throw off-speed, but you can’t throw it in the zone where the guy can get the bat on it. And then you go back and try to blow him away. So yeah, this organic sort of evolution of the game, the spontaneity is gone.” “Everything is just super, super data-computerized. And it’s a little sterile to me, it’s a little austere. But who am I? It’s just my opinion.”