Over five seasons as ace of the Pittsburgh Pirates http://www.billscheapshop.com/cheap-authentic-cody-ford-jers ey , Gerrit Cole threw one of the game¡¯s hardest, heaviest fastballs, and he threw it often. The pitch helped him make millions of dollars. It put him in contention for major awards. Hitters swung through it again and again, and Cole seemed content not to mess with a good thing.

But when Cole was traded to the Houston Astros this offseason, a funny thing happened. He became more frugal with his fastball and ended up more overpowering than ever.

Cole has joined some of the game¡¯s best pitchers ¨C including Cleveland¡¯s Corey Kluber and the Dodgers¡¯ Clayton Kershaw ¨C in benefiting from a puzzling baseball paradox: In an era when pitchers are throwing harder than ever, they¡¯re maximizing success by using fewer fastballs.

Pitchers ¨C even ones with blazing fastballs like Luis Severino and Chris Archer ¨C are using more offspeed than ever recorded, and while many aces think the downturn is a trend, some believe baseball could be entering a new age dominated not by 100 mph heaters, but by a steady stream of breaking balls and changeups.

So why is the hardest-throwing generation of pitchers ever going the way of the junk-baller?

Depends who you ask, but one culprit stands out to Cole, Kluber and Kershaw: baseball¡¯s swing-changing batters.

¡±You can call it launch angle, or you can call it the upper cuts,¡± Cole said. ¡±There are a lot of swings that are dictating breaking balls.¡±

Cole¡¯s move away from a fastball-first approach is striking given the reputation of his hardest pitch. He topped out at 99 mph as an ace at UCLA, and his fastball was the headliner on a resume that earned him an $8 million signing bonus as the first overall draft pick in 2011 by Pittsburgh. Under the guidance of Pirates pitching coach Ray Searage, Cole pounded the bottom of the strike zone with that heater, and for years, it worked. He was an All-Star and finished fourth in NL Cy Young Award voting in 2015, and was considered among the game¡¯s most overpowering starting pitchers.

Then baseball¡¯s flyball revolution took flight ¨C a movement of hitters using upper-cut swings designed to crush exactly the kinds of sinking fastballs Cole was delivering. After never allowing more than 11 home runs in a season, Cole was tagged for 31 last year.

So it was time to change things up.

From 2013-17, Cole threw his fastball 65 percent of the time ¨C well above the league average. But this year, he¡¯s cut that fastball rate by about 10 points, replacing those heaters with sliders and curveballs. The new look is working. Cole is 8-1 with a 2.59 ERA through 15 starts and leads the American League with 138 strikeouts.

¡±I think you¡¯re just continually trying to mess timing up Devin Singletary Jersey , especially when guys are trying to slug,¡± Cole said. ¡±When they¡¯re trying to hit it out of the park every time, you have an easier time changing speeds.¡±

Kluber and Kershaw have made similar adjustments in the past couple years. Both Cy Young winners rank among the league leaders in fewest fastballs thrown this season.

¡±Guys are geared up to swing for a fastball,¡± Kluber said. ¡±I guess it¡¯s almost rare now to see somebody actually, like, go the other way with the breaking ball.¡±

Kluber has set a career low with a fastball rate of 41.8 percent this season. Same for Kershaw, who has dropped from a 72-percent fastball clip in 2010 all the way to 42.8 percent in an injury-hampered 2018.

¡±The hitters tell you what you need to do,¡± Kershaw said. ¡±And for me, I guess it¡¯s been throwing a lot more breaking balls.¡±

Cole, Kluber and Kershaw suspect the tide will turn back, perhaps soon, once hitters recalibrate to the number of four-seam fastballs pitchers are throwing up in the strike zone.

But Trevor Bauer, Kluber¡¯s analytically-minded teammate in Cleveland, thinks the offspeed uptick is only going to spread.

Two years ago, Bauer and Indians closer Cody Allen watched as 6-foot-8 Yankees fireballer Dellin Betances carved up Cleveland¡¯s hitters with a fastball that averaged 98 mph. Allen ¨C no slouch himself with a fastball around 94 mph ¨C told Bauer that if he could throw hard like Betances, he wouldn¡¯t even bother with a breaking ball.

¡±No,¡± Bauer recalled telling Allen. ¡±He should never throw a fastball.¡±

Bauer¡¯s theory is that the threat of a 100 mph fastball might be more dangerous to hitters than the fastballs themselves.

¡±As guys throw harder, guys have less and less time to hit that offering,¡± Bauer said. ¡±So they have to speed up in order to catch up to it, which, that makes the breaking ball more effective.¡±

Hitters are left picking between two nasty poisons ¨C risk being behind on triple-digit fastballs, or jeopardize taking ugly swings on breaking pitches as they dart out of the strike zone.

Veteran slugger Todd Frazier was with the Yankees last year when New York¡¯s hard-throwing bullpen led by Betances Kyler Murray Jersey , Aroldis Chapman and Chad Green overpowered hitters while also posting the lowest fastball rate in the majors.

¡±I have to set my feet for 98 mph, and understand I might get 84-88 mph slider,¡± said Frazier, now with the New York Mets. ¡±It makes it tougher on you.¡±

And yet, Frazier and his fellow hitters aren¡¯t close to jumping off their fastball-first approach.

¡±The baseline of hitting is the fastball,¡± Mets teammate Jay Bruce said. ¡±You have to stay on the fastball. For me personally, that¡¯s what my timing of th Bill Belichick is universally recognized as one of the best coaches ¡ª if not THE best coach ¡ª in NFL history, and he owns the Super Bowl titles to prove it. That doesn¡¯t mean he ¡ª or his entire New England Patriots staff ¡ª is infallible.Exhibit A: The Miami Miracle.With the Patriots ahead by five points, only 7 seconds left, and the host Dolphins backed up at their own 31, New England sent out its Hail Mary defense. That unit includes tight end Rob Gronkowski, a hulking, 6-foot-6 ballhawk who certainly could be useful when it comes to batting down a wing-and-a-prayer long toss toward the end zone.But would the Dolphins really ask Ryan Tannehill to try to heave ball 70 or so yards through the air? Of course not. Instead, he threw a 14-yard pass to Kenny Stills, who immediately lateraled to the nearby DeVante Parker, who then flipped the ball to Kenyan Drake, who took it the final 52 yards, evading Gronkowski, for the winning TD in quite a ¡°WHAT?!¡± finale.Dolphins 34, Patriots 33.All thanks to a 69-yard touchdown that is the longest play from scrimmage to win a game with no time remaining in the fourth quarter since the 1970 AFL-NFL merger.¡°They changed it up a little bit,¡± Gronkowski said about the Dolphins. ¡°Every time we practice (that defense), it¡¯s for the Hail Mary http://www.billscheapshop.com/cheap-authentic-dawson-knox-je rsey , but (you¡¯ve) got to be ready for anything.¡±In this rare instance, Belichick¡¯s team was not.In addition to having Gronkowski out there, and having to see him stumble a bit in his just-too-slow, wrong-angle, clumsy-attempt-to-grab pursuit of Drake, the Patriots did not put the faster, more-capable tackler Devin McCourty, a starting safety, on the field.¡°I saw (Drake), and Gronk about 10 yards away,¡± Tannehill said with a smile. ¡°I was like, ¡®Gronk¡¯s on the field! We got this!'¡±A win would have clinched the AFC East for New England (9-4), which also looked sloppy at the end of the first half, failing to score despite having the football at Miami¡¯s 2 with 14 seconds remaining.Tony Dungy, who won a Super Bowl as coach of the Indianapolis Colts and now appears on NBC¡¯s ¡°Football Night in America,¡± expressed surprise at that waste of a scoring chance, along with the game-ending defensive strategy.¡°We just are not used to seeing that from the Patriots,¡± Dungy said.His NBC colleague Rodney Harrison, once a Patriots defensive back under Belichick, called the way things ended Sunday ¡°inexcusable,¡± adding: ¡°I played there six years, and I¡¯ve never seen anything like this.¡±In typical Belichick fashion http://www.giantsauthorizedshops.com/authentic-dexter-lawren ce-jersey , he didn¡¯t say much afterward, offering little more than: ¡°Need to coach it better, play it better.¡±Both true. Especially the first part.In case you missed it, here are other top topics after the NFL season¡¯s 14th Sunday:CONGRATS, JONSeems pretty clear that Oakland Raiders coach Jon Gruden deserves NFL Executive of the Year honors for becoming what might just be the first dealmaker to turn TWO mediocre clubs into playoff teams with trades in the same season. He helped the NFC East-leading Dallas Cowboys (8-5) by shipping them Amari Cooper, who provided three TD catches in a 29-23 OT victory over the reigning Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles. And Gruden also helped the NFC North-leading Chicago Bears (9-4) by sending them Khalil Mack, whose latest strip-sack came in a 15-6 victory over the Los Angeles Rams.NO-LOOK MAHOMESPatrick Mahomes keeps adding to his stats ¡ª up to 43 TD passes and more than 4,300 passing yards ¡ª and his library of amazing plays for the AFC West-leading Kansas City Chiefs (11-2). In a 27-24 overtime win over the Baltimore Ravens, Mahomes produced two more highlight keepers: a no-look completion to Demarcus Robinson, and a down-by-a-TD, 1½-minutes-left, fourth-and-9, in-his-own-territory heave to Tyreek Hill while scrambling to his right and throwing across his body toward the other side of the field for a 40-yard gain.ON TO NO. 4After Mark Sanchez¡¯s first NFL start since 2015 was a six-completion, two-interception disaster for the Washington Redskins in a 40-16 loss to the New York Giants ¡ª ¡°Nothing worked,¡± as coach Jay Gruden put it ¡ª now it¡¯ll be Josh Johnson¡¯s turn to make his first NFL start since 2011. Johnson will be the fourth QB to start this season for the Redskins, who opened the season 6-3 but now are 6-7 after losing Alex Smith and Colt McCoy to injuries. The only other club with that many starters at the game¡¯s most vital position? The Buffalo Bills, who are 4-9 after trying Josh Allen, Nathan Peterman, Matt Barkley and Derek Anderson.