[bravos1]

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You are wrong. FWIW, my friend is pitching in one of these games on Wednesday, and Ichiro hits over .400 against him even when Ichiro doesn't know what is coming. That is just one example.

You don't realize how hard it is to recognize a slider half way to the plate and be able to make contact, if you know what is coming, then it's much MUCH easier.

Plus you can just waste the breaking stuff until he throws a fastball again. I stand to my original assessment that the league average would be about .140 points higher.

Plus, say you know a slider is coming... and the pitch starts at the low part of the K zone, you can just lay off it assuming it will drop out of the zone. This would help IMMENSELY.

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Exactly, I said that the league avg would be up 100-150 pts, which is probably a bit hit (75-100 pts seems a bit better) and that the league leaders (Vlad, Manny, Pujols, and the like) would be hovering around .500. 100 HRs would also be very possible. Bonds would have easily hit a 100 when he broke the record if he knew what was coming. How many warning track fly balls did he hit because he got out a bit early on a cutter?

TDarko, you said that hitters get themselves out just as much as the pitcher does. I agree with this and disagree at the same time. You see hitters getting themselves out in many ways (ie rolling over a curveball and failing to go the other way, etc.) but you have to remember that the pitcher still has a major impact in that by keeping the hitter off balance. Pitchers can get away with hanging some pitches because of this. If the hitter knew that a curve/change was coming instead of having to solely react, they would be plastering these hanging pitches even more than they do today.