Agreed, great article.

Another scrubeenie here, although I will point out that I did manage to finish my sophomore season with a .500 batting average (1 for 2...). It's funny, though: throwing a fastball into that tiny target honestly looks a lot harder today than when I was trying to do it back then, 40 years ago. (Never successfully enough that the coach would let me do it in a game, mind you, but still.) It just seemed like something you've gotta learn to do, rather than the awesome feat that it is. Youth is wasted on the young.

Nice comment about how big a "soft-tosser's" 85-mph fastball really is, BG.

Awesume resume Ian, Thanks... You're hired.

Beautiful. Thank you for a real gift.

Needed reminder of how good these guys are. Just today, one of your fellow writers at BP referred to Casey Kotchman as a "mediocre athlete." Mediocre major league player maybe - but I doubt if there's any mediocre athletes in the big leagues.

Pick up a tub of baseballs at your local secondhand sports store (they always have a ton) and pick a used glove while you're there and head over the park with a buddy (or by yourself) and just try throwing at a target consistently. Not only is it incredibly difficult (and fun), you'll probably be surprised how quickly your arm begins to ache.

Word!! Great article, and I totally agree.

However...

(1) RE: "What would happen if you attempted to throw a ball into a 24-inch-by-21-inch space from 60.5 feet away?" It blows my mind whenever hitters get offended by pitchers throwing inside. I'm not saying pitchers never intentionally drill hitters - sure, it happens all the time. But the way many hitters crowd the plate, the difference between a strike over the inside corner and a HBP in the ribs can be less than 12 inches. Do these sensitive hitters think they could hit a 12-inch-diameter target from 60.5 feet away with any consistency?

(2) It also blows my mind when hitters whine about called strike threes. Did these guys not play Little League? "Protect the plate" means don't let the ump punch you out - with 2 strikes on you, you have to swing at anything close, even if it's just to foul it off. Anyone who ever played has heard this a hundred times, and yet we still see major league players whine about called strike threes. So what if the pitch missed the plate? Okay, the ump made the wrong call - but you've been taught not to let that happen, haven't you?

(3) It seems like way too often you see this - an OF loses a routine fly ball in the sun or whatever, and it pops out of his glove and to the ground. However, the batter was jogging out of the box, surely thinking, "Why should I run full speed on this one? It's a routine fly ball, surely the guy is going to catch it...," and he ends up on first base when he could have made second base standing up had he hustled right out of the box.

Again, I totally agree with the article and I enjoy watching and marvel at the skill displayed by pro ballplayers at the MLB level - hell, I marvel at the skill displayed at the Low-A level - but the above-listed phenomena have always puzzled me and I guess they always will.

Great article man. Should be required reading for the casual and passive fans who, for whatever reason, lack perspective about the skills on display at an MLB game. The 12th pitcher on any roster would have a K/BB ratio of about 25,000/1 if he faced the fans seated at the ballpark! Plus, any article that gets Tracy Miller some deserved run in BP wins.

Great article.

My wife is a musical theater actress, and it consistently amazes me how skilled she and her colleagues are when it comes to singing, dancing and emoting on cue. My son is a budding gymnast- it is incredible to see what the oldr kids at his gym can do.

It is amazing to see human performance at peak levels. You are right, we fail to appreciate this sometimes.

You are gifted, talented and write concisely and to the point without droning on and on. Here are some other fun baseball skills to try that many of us couldn't do:
1. Run as fast as you can then slide into the grass without spraining something or winding yourself from the running. That's just the grass, not even the dirt!
2. Have someone drop a ball from a four story building. Try to catch it on a sunny day. A cloudy day. In a drizzle. In the dusk.
3. Place two friends twenty feet apart. Run from one to the other five times. This is called a rundown and it's way harder than it looks.
4. Bunt. Chances are, your bunt is in the sink.

Baseball is really, really hard.