Good pitching is symphonic; bad pitching is a trip to the dentist.
The Braves have had back-to-back days with horrendous pitching performances in Spring Training at this point. On the one hand, it’s Spring Training, so who cares? On the other hand, bad pitching is a bit of a drain on the ol’ soul.
And speaking of soul-draining experience, which pitcher’s craft reduced your will to watch (or live) the most?
I’ll go with one seared into my memory here, though Sean Newcomb’s adventures in trying to find the strike zone might be second: Shane Reynolds.
Reynolds spent just one season at the tail end of his career with the Braves, and he still amassed 1.4 fWAR for a really good Braves team. But the style of pitching was just miserable: few strikeouts, lots of walks, and a batted ball profile that tried to get grounders but wasn’t actually that good at it. Reynolds got that 1.4 fWAR (instead of, say, zero), because he didn’t always blow up. But in 29 starts in that 2003 season for the Braves, he had nine different outings with more walks than strikeouts, and allowed multiple homers in three others. I always thought of him as a walking time bomb, but unlike the kind that just generates tension, he also imploded a lot. Of course, it was also 2003, so he was largely out there pitching and eating innings for most of the game irrespective of performance, which didn’t help my sanity.
Anyway, that’s me. What about you?