A fly ball pitcher is a type of
baseball pitcher
In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw a ...
who produces an above-average number of
fly balls, typically by keeping his
fastball
The fastball is the most common type of pitch thrown by pitchers in baseball and softball. " Power pitchers," such as former American major leaguers Nolan Ryan and Roger Clemens, rely on speed to prevent the ball from being hit, and have thr ...
high up in the strike zone and relying on late movement to cause the batter to be unable to make solid contact. This designation is constructed around the
ground ball fly ball ratio
In baseball statistics, ground ball-fly ball ratio (denoted by G/F or GB/FB) is a measure of:
* Frequency of batted ground balls in play versus fly balls in play to denote what kind of contact a batter makes more frequently. Calculated as (total ...
, which measures how frequently a pitcher gets batters out on fly balls versus ground balls.
The downside of a fly ball pitcher is that, in a ballpark where the design tends to favor hitters over pitchers (an example being
Yankee Stadium
Yankee Stadium is a baseball stadium located in the Bronx, New York City. It is the home field of the New York Yankees of Major League Baseball, and New York City FC of Major League Soccer.
Opened in April 2009, the stadium replaced the orig ...
), a fly ball pitcher will tend to give up more home runs, resulting in a higher
earned run average
In baseball statistics, earned run average (ERA) is the average of earned runs allowed by a pitcher per nine innings pitched (i.e. the traditional length of a game). It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the number ...
.
Examples include pitchers
Sid Fernandez
Charles Sidney Fernandez (born October 12, 1962) is an American former professional baseball left-handed pitcher who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Los Angeles Dodgers, New York Mets, Baltimore Orioles, Philadelphia Phillies, and ...
,
Ted Lilly
Theodore Roosevelt Lilly III (born January 4, 1976) is an American former professional baseball pitcher. Lilly attended Yosemite High School in Oakhurst, California, and Fresno City College. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Mont ...
,
Chris Young and
Marco Estrada.
Notes
Baseball pitching
Baseball terminology
Baseball strategy
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ja:ゴロ/フライ比率#フライボールピッチャー