National treasure David Laurila posts his weekly notes column with a nice explanation of Greg Maddux‘s success. Here’s pitching instructor Brian Vikander:

“A big part of pitching is preventing on-time contact,” said Vikander, whose three-plus decades of experience includes working with Tom House and a plethora of professional hurlers. “Maddux was able to take all of the components — pitch selection, sequencing, location, and movement — and put them together to do that. It wasn’t any different than a Grandmaster in chess; it was like Boris Spassky. Most people don’t understand how that unusual opening would be used in a World Title game. Bobby Fischer did, but there aren’t many who are capable of that level of thinking.”

FanGraphs.com

The story goes on to describe how Jered Weaver did the same thing after he lost his velocity. Vikander again:

“He wasn’t giving them the Blue Bayou, he was getting big-league hitters out with all that other stuff. He was an Emperor Without Clothes on the mound. Hitters knew he couldn’t throw anything by them, yet he could still make them look stupid. It was Spassky playing chess. It was wonderful.”

For those of us who grew up with a pitcher like this being a normal component of a rotation, it seems that there would be a competitive advantage for teams to sign pitchers with this skill set. It might even help the game, as these pitchers are likely to have more balls put in play, which appears to be something the fans desire.