Ryan Brooks

I tweet about Arkansas, Wyoming, & Auburn athletics 🐗🐴🦅

[Jermaine Curtis @JermaineCurtis]

I’m not arguing that pitching velocity hasn’t increased. It has. I’m arguing that we’re leaving out another major part of the equation: what players are being incentivized to optimize for has changed.

Luis Arraez is a great example. He’s won 3 batting titles and has elite bat-to-ball skills. But he doesn’t hit a ton of home runs, doesn’t provide huge slugging numbers, and isn’t a major stolen-base threat. Despite being one of the best pure contact hitters in baseball, he’s moved around multiple organizations.

Now imagine that same type of player 30-40 years ago, when hitting .300 or .330 was one of the first things people talked about when evaluating a great hitter. I think that skill set would’ve been viewed very differently.

Players adapt to what the game rewards.

If teams suddenly started giving $700 million contracts to guys who hit .330, even if they only hit 5–10 home runs, do we really think player development and hitting approaches wouldn’t start changing?

Of course they would. Remember, these are the best players in the world.

Their ability to adjust and adapt is part of why they reached that level.

And we can see the exact same thing with pitchers.

Organizations showed pitchers that velocity has tremendous value. So pitchers started optimizing for velocity. Training changed. Development changed. Guys started chasing 95, 97, 100+ because velocity creates opportunities and value.

If organizations suddenly placed a much bigger premium on crafty pitchers who commanded multiple pitches and lived on the corners, development would shift toward optimizing those skills too.

Hitters aren't any different.

Today we emphasize OBP, SLG, OPS, exit velocity and damage. So hitters are going to optimize for those outcomes and accept certain tradeoffs that come with them.

So I’m not saying increased velocity has had zero effect on batting average.

Of course better velocity and pitching make hitting more difficult.

What I’m saying is you can't explain the evolution of hitting by only looking at what pitchers are doing. You also have to look at what hitters are being rewarded for doing.

Pitchers adapted to what the game values. Hitters adapted to what the game values.

The players didn't suddenly forget how to play baseball.

The game changed what it rewards, and the best players in the world adapted to those rewards

[Gus @na_me_eso_atta]

We have a major problem with empathy in this country. You shouldn't have to be directly impacted by something to care about it.

[S @even_steven8tht]

I don’t think there’s a statement that better captures the conservative world view

[Aaron Torres @Aaron_Torres]

Ole Miss: Coming off a playoff appearance

Vanderbilt: Coming off a 10-win season

Miss State: Has an early Heisman contender in 2026

Arkansas, about to lose its 9th straight SEC game and fall to 1-12 vs. non FCS teams the last two years

No SEC program should be this bad

[Big Pig Aidsap @aidsapev]

Presented without context: 1st year head coach and brand new AD at Kentucky beating A&M in College Station.

[Aaron Torres @Aaron_Torres]

For people wondering why Arkansas fans are so mad this week, this graphic is... 15 years ago.

Not 30. Not 50. 15.

Yet since then, Arkansas has 3x as many 10-loss seasons (3) as 9 win seasons (1).

No reason ANY SEC program should be *this* bad for *this* long in this era

[Jay Scott Smith @JayScottSmith]

Just so I understand: The NCAA can retroactively vacate wins and losses that happened 5 years ago because a guy took a cheeseburger or made money off his image before NIL, but can’t vacate a very clear instance where the wrong team won a game after being gifted a free play!?

[Liam Blutman @Blutman27]

And THIS is why the massive Playoff field and Expansion STINK

Oregon is going to lose as 24 point favorites to a team who just lost to Tulsa

And the punishment doesn’t result in ELIMINATION from competing for the National Championship and being the Best Team in CFB

You already lost a chance at that bid imo

[MLB Pipeline @MLBPipeline]

Hagen Smith strikes out three in his eighth consecutive scoreless outing 👀

The @whitesox top pitching prospect has 29 K's and a 0.45 ERA through 12 MLB appearances:

[Sam Block @theblockspot]

Kansas City Royals were 50-74.
Then 51-74.
Then 52-74.
Then 53-74.
Then 54-74.
Then 55-74.
Then 56-74.
Then 57-74.
Then 58-74.
Then 59-74.
Then 59-75.
Then 60-75.

The best story in baseball.
And don’t you dare say they’re done.

[MLB @MLB]

The @Royals win nine straight for the first time since 2017!

[Jared Koller @JaredKollerKC]

Crazy but true. If the #Royals won just *A THIRD* of the games that they lost in the 8th inning or later this year, they’d currently own a playoff spot. If they just held on to all their 9th inning leads, they’d have a playoff spot. A bad bullpen made that big of a difference.

[John Nabors @JohnNaborsShow]

Silverfield told he’s been picked last as coach and team and program right now in the SEC.

“Yeah what was my record against teams in this league again?”

“5-1”

“Ok thank you. I won’t throw a podium at you.”

Banger of a response.

[Big Cat @BarstoolBigCat]

We need that Texas Tech judge to free Balogun

[Nick @NickRTFM]

There is NOTHING in the world like the Estadio Azteca, look at that place when he scored…

[Ted Lieu @tedlieu]

Dear @DHSgov: Did you know our starting forward is a US citizen through birthright citizenship? You’re trying to strip away that right.

Did you know an additional 6 Team USA players were born outside US soil?

Did you know half the team are dual citizens?

Also, Happy Juneteenth

[alexSSN @alexSSN]

This has to be incredibly confusing for people who have only seen Seattle through the lens of Fox News

[FOX Soccer @FOXSoccer]

Look at these DR Congo fans celebrating in the middle of thousands of Portugal fans 🇨🇩