Is the best starting pitcher in baseball the one guy a manager would give the baseball to in a win-or-go-home Game 7? Or is he the pitcher best equipped to excel from the start of spring training until the final out of the World Series?
It’s a question that has always existed in the sport with the longest, most grueling season of them all.
Yet as more starting pitchers try to extract more movement and velocity out of their pitch mix, it’s almost become an either-or proposition. Today’s starter is especially durable or reliably excellent in a single game, but rarely both.
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The effect is a mix of good and bad.
Take Paul Skenes. The 22-year-old right-hander threw a fastball that averaged 100 mph in his major league debut on May 11, and in his final game of the season, on Sept. 28.
In terms of generating swings and misses, Skenes’ best pitch was a changeup (54.8) — one …