Pitchers and hitters don’t progress from one stage to another in a straight line. That’s what we would like, because we like predictable. We like things neatly arranged and sequential, but baseball player development happens so differently… and sometimes, so maddeningly different than what we like, that we are frequently frustrated beyond belief.
This time last year, Striker Buehler, who was then named “Walker” Buehler, was stinking up the joint with a 7.71 ERA and walked 7.7 batters per 9 innings. They were forced to change his name to Striker, when he dropped to 2.3 walked batters per 9 innings this season.