Add new comment

I hadn't heard that conversation about Beckett, and in fact hadn't noticed Beckett's pace.  But that makes sense, that he would get flak for it.  So, points to the baseball industry for a consistent code of conduct.
..............
If Beckett is really pitching more slowly for the purpose of being disruptive, that's a different conversation, although that one is also complex.  Bob Gibson, among others, used to try to pitch more quickly than batters wanted.  Whether pitchers owe hitters a favorable pace is an interesting question.  I would tend to say that it's not cool for a tennis player to stand there bouncing the ball before his serve to try to disrupt his opponent's rhythm, but in baseball it's different.
..............
I don't know how fangraphs counts "pace" - maybe you can find their definition on their site somewhere?  Certainly with respect to Iwakuma, their complaint is that he's okay with bases empty and then takes much more than 25 seconds after runners are on.