BYB Book Club: Unhittable

Stacks of aged books were included in the items up for auction during the inaugural live auction inside the lower level of the Early Owego Antique Center in downtown Owego on February 25, 2023. Img 1058

Welcome to the inaugural BYB Book Club discussion. Our April pick for the book club was Unhittable by Rob Friedman, aka Pitching Ninja. If you’ve read the book (even if you didn’t finish it, we’re not going to check), we’d love for you to participate in this open thread discussion about it.

Below we’ve put in some talking points if you want a place to start off, but feel free to share your opinions (try to keep it constructive rather than mean if you didn’t like it).

Here’s a blurb of the book:

The baseball expert famously known as PitchingNinja explores the revolution that has given pitchers an unprecedented advantage in today’s game.

Can Tarik Skubal three-peat as AL Cy Young? After winning Rookie of the Year and his first Cy Young, how does Paul Skenes get even nastier? Can Jacob deGrom crack 200 strikeouts again? How will Spencer Strider approach his return to dominance? Which pitchers stand to gain the most from an automated strike zone? And what separates Shohei Ohtani’s approach to training from everyone else—why is he the outlier? If you’re asking questions like these as the season approaches, Unhittable is just what you’ve been looking for to prep for Opening Day.

Pitching dominates baseball as never before. Spin rate, sweepers, 105 mph fastballs—all have become standard when evaluating pitching arms and techniques and are familiar lingo in discussion and analysis of the game. Gone is the era of the swaggering power hitters. Batting averages are close to the deadball era; team records for strikeouts are broken and then broken again. The game has fundamentally changed, and hitters may never catch up.

A self-taught coach who has evolved into a top pitching analyst, Rob Friedman has closely observed this revolution that has transformed baseball for both players and fans. Friedman is sought after by players like Cy Young Award-winners Paul Skenes and Tarik Skubal, and All-Stars such as Yu Darvish, and he spotlights the influential figures behind this transformation:

Tom House, a former MLB pitcher turned coaching visionary, utilized cutting-edge technology to refine the techniques of legends like Nolan Ryan and Randy Johnson. His unconventional methods paved the way for a new era shaped by the collision of technology and tradition.
Brent Strom, another MLB pitching insider, has used data to revive flagging careers—helping stars like Justin Verlander, Gerrit Cole, and to use technology to enhance their performance. Kyle Boddy, of Driveline Baseball, has trained elite pitchers such as , Shohei Ohtani, and , using advanced analytics and technology, as well as others.

If you haven’t read it and want to participate, let us know what you would hope the book covers, or share your thoughts on Pitching Ninja’s online presence. Everyone is welcome to join in.

For those who did read the book, here are a few talking points you might want to discuss, but feel free to share anything that’s on your mind about the book:

• What expectations did you have for the book if you were a longtime viewer of Pitching Ninja content? Do you think the book met your expectations?
• How familiar were you with all the different experts and programs that Friedman spotlighted in the book? Do you feel like you learned anything new from his exploration?
• Friedman writes with a very casual style that invites baseball fans from every level to learn about pitching mechanics. Do you think this was the right approach for the topic, or do you wish he’d gone a bit more “inside baseball,” so to speak, and written it for a higher level?
• There are two chapters of the book dedicated to Trevor Bauer. Friedman explains that Bauer is an important figure in the history of pitch development, but he does little to address the scandals and repeated behavior that got Bauer suspended indefinitely and blacklisted from baseball. Do you think it was necessary to include Bauer, and if you think it was, do you think Friedman should have done more to call out Bauer’s bad behavior, or do you think his approach was correct?
• What were some of the more interesting facts you learned while reading that you didn’t previously know?
• Do you feel like you gained a better understanding or appreciation for pitching and pitch mechanics through reading the book? Will it change how you watch games?
• With pitching becoming so refined, how do you think hitters are developing alongside it?
• Did you enjoy the book, and would you recommend it to other baseball fans?

Thanks for reading along with us! If you have suggestions for the next book club selection, please leave a comment about that.