This article is a part of Verducci’s View, a weekly baseball newsletter from Sports Illustrated senior writer Tom Verducci. Every Monday, Tom empties out his notebook over email and covers MLB’s hottest topics, provides in-depth analysis through both text and video breakdowns, looks forward to what’s worth watching during the week and more.

From 2015, the start of the Launch Angle Revolution, to 2026, average four-seam velocity increased from 94.3 mph to 96.3 mph. Four-seam usage increased from 30.1% to 32.9%. Batting average on the pitch plummeted from .234 to .209 and slug dropped from .428 to .341. And the average release height on the pitch dropped from 6.1 feet to 5.73 feet.

In short, pitching changed a lot . As fastballs kept getting faster and from lower release points, which increased the vertical attack angle, swinging up at the baseball grew more problematic.…