Atlanta Braves legendary third baseman Chipper Jones believes hitting has become more difficult in the current era than when he was playing, as each team has pitchers who can regularly throw at around 100 mph. The Hall of Famer stated that not only has the velocity of the fastball gone up, but the pitchers also have much stronger secondary pitches.
The Atlanta Braves selected Chipper Jones to be the No. 1 overall pick of the 1990 MLB Draft, and he spent his entire 20-year career with the organization. He is an eight-time All-Star and was named MVP in 1999, besides getting more than 2700 base hits and 450 home runs. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2018 in his first year on the ballot.
Chipper Jones had once joked while attending a Braves game that his batting average would be about .200 if he were to be playing in the MLB today. Jones explained the reasons behind the statement during his appearance on the Pitching Ninja podcast this week.
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"I saw 100 [mph] when I played. Rob Nenn, Billy Wagner. I'm sure Kerry Wood pushed it from time to time. Joel Zumaya. Guys that are coming out of the bullpen," Jones said. "You'd see guys that threw 100, but it was like one guy on each staff that threw 100. Now there are four or five guys on each staff.
"And it's not just relegated to dirty righties. It's set up guys from the left side that are throwing 100," he added. "It's not that we can't hit 100. It's that their secondary stuff is a lot better than it was 20 years ago."
Jones finished his stellar career with a .303 batting average and a 141 OPS+ and accumulated 85.3 bWAR.
You've got to sit on one or the other and guys don't like doing that: Chipper Jones
During his interview, Chipper Jones added that the higher velocity of the fastball makes the secondary pitches more effective.
"If you're throwing 95 to 100 [mph], and your secondary pitch is 82 [mph], good luck!" he said. "Yeah, it's a guessing game. You've got to sit on one or the other, and guys don't like doing that."
The Braves legend is widely considered to be among the best pure hitters of his generation. He also had exceptional plate discipline and finished his career with more walks than strikeouts.
