Shorter than six feet tall: 6.9% of MLB pitchers 2000-2013. Yoshinobu Yamamoto is 5'10". And what's "the hollow beneath the kneecap"?

1,871 pitchers threw at least career 100 innings in the years 2000-2013.

129 pitchers shorter than 6 feet tall threw at least career 100 innings in the years 2000-2013.

		Total	<6	Pct
2000	2013	1,871	129	6.89%

For combined seasons, since 2000, player height 5-11 or shorter, player height 5-11 or shorter, in the regular season, requiring Innings Pitched >= 100, sorted by descending Strikeouts.

https://stathead.com/tiny/aCaPu

More Strike Outs than Sonny Gray:
Bartolo Colon (5'11"): 2,150 Cy Young 2005
Johnny Cueto (5'11"): 1,851 Active
Tim Lincecum (5'11"): 1,736 Cy Young 2008 & 2009
Pedro Martínez (5'11"): 1,620 Hall of Fame; 3 Cy Young

Yoshinobu Yamamoto is the pitcher in Japan we've been hearing about. He is a free agent. Several MLB teams are interested in signing him.

Yoshinobu Yamamoto

Position: Pitcher

Bats: Right  •  Throws: Right

5-10, 176lb (178cm, 79kg)

Born: August 17, 1998 (Age: 25-106d) in Bizen, Japan jp

Full Name: Yoshinobu Yamamoto

View Player Info from the B-R Bullpen

I'm a Yankee fan and i wanted the Yankees to sign Yamamoto. However, this week I learned that Yamamoto is short ... for a pitcher. Historically the tallest players in the last 100 years have been pitchers and first basemen.

For combined seasons, since 2018, player height 5-11 or shorter, player height 5-11 or shorter, in the regular season, requiring Innings Pitched >= 500, sorted by descending ERA+.

https://stathead.com/tiny/TCc5P

Player	ERA+	IP	From	To	Age	W	L	W-L%	Dec	ERA	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	SO	BF	WHIP	H9	HR9	BB9	SO9	SO/BB	Team
Sonny Gray	126	800.2	2018	2023	28-33	50	42	.543	92	3.50	154	147	0	0	0	800.2	672	328	311	73	292	855	3342	1.204	7.6	0.8	3.3	9.6	2.93	CIN,MIN,NYY
Framber Valdez	123	712.1	2018	2023	24-29	53	34	.609	87	3.40	129	107	6	3	0	712.1	601	302	269	59	266	697	2978	1.217	7.6	0.7	3.4	8.8	2.62	HOU
Marcus Stroman	116	741.0	2018	2023	27-32	40	51	.440	91	3.68	136	134	1	1	0	741.0	702	344	303	69	226	632	3097	1.252	8.5	0.8	2.7	7.7	2.80	CHC,NYM,

Gray (5'10") was a distant #2 in 2023 Cy Young voting to Yankee Gerrit Cole (6'4"). He pitched his worst in 2018 for the Yankees ... in Yankee Stadium. He pitched well for the Yankees on the road.

Stroman  (5'7") pitched 179 innings for the Mets in 2021: ERA+ 133; led NL with 33 starts.

Valdez (5'11") had pitched only for Houston. Starter 2021-2023. Led AL in innings in 2022.

For combined seasons, since 1903, Playing in the AL or NL, a member of the Hall of Fame, player height 5-11 or shorter, player height 5-11 or shorter, in the regular season, requiring Innings Pitched >= 1500, sorted by descending Innings Pitched.

https://stathead.com/tiny/527GU

Player	IP	From	To	Age	W	L	W-L%	Dec	ERA	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	H	R	ER	HR	BB	SO	ERA+	H9	HR9	BB9	SO9	SO/BB
Burleigh Grimes	4180.0	1916	1934	22-40	270	212	.560	482	3.53	616	497	314	35	18	4412	2050	1638	148	1295	1512	108	9.5	0.3	2.8	3.3	1.17
Ted Lyons	4161.0	1923	1946	22-45	260	230	.531	490	3.67	594	484	356	27	25	4489	2056	1696	222	1121	1073	118	9.7	0.5	2.4	2.3	0.96
Eddie Plank	3666.2	1903	1917	27-41	268	155	.634	423	2.22	512	434	328	61	20	3173	1218	906	33	889	1902	123	7.8	0.1	2.2	4.7	2.14
Whitey Ford	3170.1	1950	1967	21-38	236	106	.690	342	2.75	498	438	156	45	11	2766	1107	967	228	1086	1956	133	7.9	0.6	3.1	5.6	1.80
Stan Coveleski	3082.0	1912	1928	22-38	215	142	.602	357	2.89	450	385	223	38	21	3055	1227	990	66	802	981	127	8.9	0.2	2.3	2.9	1.22
Pedro Martínez	2827.1	1992	2009	20-37	219	100	.687	319	2.93	476	409	46	17	3	2221	1006	919	239	760	3154	154	7.1	0.8	2.4	10.0	4.15
Mordecai Brown	2703.1	1903	1916	26-39	208	111	.652	319	1.93	411	281	236	50	45	2284	863	579	33	548	1167	146	7.6	0.1	1.8	3.9	2.13
Joe McGinnity	1998.1	1903	1908	32-37	143	80	.641	223	2.40	281	221	170	25	21	1815	722	533	33	432	720	118	8.2	0.1	1.9	3.2	1.67
Jack Chesbro	1958.0	1903	1909	29-35	128	94	.577	222	2.59	270	228	168	18	2	1759	799	563	27	438	916	109	8.1	0.1	2.0	4.2	2.0

Only two since WWII:
Ford (5'10")
Martinez (5'11")

There is some current thought that shorter pitchers with the current lower strike zone (bottom is the hollow of the knee (top of hollow, bottom???) have an angle for their stuff that is advantageous for them.

Strike Zone: "the lower level is a line at the hollow beneath the kneecap". Somebody tell Aaron Boone, Yankee manager. Wednesday, June 29, 2022

"beneath the kneecap".

https://img.mlbstatic.com/mlb-images/image/upload/mlb/atcjzj9j7wrgvsm8wnjq.pdf

The STRIKE ZONE is that area over home plate the upper limit of which is a horizontal line at the midpoint between the top of the shoulders and the top of the uniform pants, and the lower level is a line at the hollow beneath the kneecap. The Strike Zone shall be determined from the batter’s stance as the batter is prepared to swing at a pitched ball. (For diagram of STRIKE ZONE, see Appendix 5.)

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I know: what the heck is "the hollow" and how the heck did that get into the rule book and when? ...

Try to touch yourself at the top of your personal strike zone. Ask others to try. Good luck. And we expect the plate umpire to do it on pitches traveling 95 miles per hour? 100 MPH? Or Bugs Bunny pitches? ...

1. Like many baseball rules, the strike zone is moronic. It is by and for morons, a.k.a, baseball fans who never really challenge it and who have no idea what the rule is. The strike zone varies with each batter but only vertically, not horizontally. Having it vary is supposed to make it fair to different size batters but only half way. Short guys have to reach extra hard to hit outside pitches.

2. The strike zone is imaginary. You cannot touch any part of it. No fair ... the plate helps to define the strike zone but the plate is not part of the strike zone. The pitcher, batter and umpire are supposed to deal with that three dimensional, adjustable, irregularly shaped area. Irregular because the plate has an irregular shape.

3. There are computer thingies that supposedly know the strike zone for each batter. They can even display a rectangle on the television screen to share this absolute knowledge. Funny thing, but that rectangle looks the same to me for each batter. Oh, well.

Now the plate umpire does not get this information. No, the plate umpire must make a snap decision and call ball or strike for each pitch taken. And then we compare the ump's decision with absolute truth...

The strike zone rule shown above omits some detail, which is probably located elsewhere:

1. Only part of the ball must be above the plate. That's where that metaphor of a pitch being on the black (the outside of the white plate has a black border) comes from. The ball need only be tangent to the inside or outside edge of the plate.

2. But what about "the hollow beneath the kneecap"? Must the ball be above the top of the hollow? Can it be only tangent to the bottom of the hollow? What is the umpire looking for?

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