Posted by deathinahole on 10/26/2012 7:37:00 PM (view original):
Mike is right. Bully the batter. Low self esteem = lack of aggressiveness at the plate.
Kill the bullying, and you kill the pitcher.
I think this is the real problem. Batters have become so protected - by equipment and umps - that pitchers can't control the game anymore. Bonds was allowed to cut the strike zone in half with his body armor. What the hell is a pitcher supposed to do? 30 years ago, Bonds would have gotten a few in the ribs and backed off the plate.
Put restrictions on hitters armor, allow pitchers more freedom to pitch inside/hit guys again, and it'll even out. There's a reason baseball survived over 100 years without all these protective "rules".