Many fans of baseball cling to past eras of the game with a sentimentality that puts the good old days on a pedestal.
But there’s one unequivocal truth that can be hard for such fans to accept: Hitting is harder now than it has ever been.
You’ll know right away whether you agree with that. Did your brain go, “Well duh, of course it is”? Or did you pause and want to argue that statement immediately?
There isn’t actually much arguing it, though.
For proof, you don’t need to look further than a new Pete Crow-Armstrong stat that emerged on Monday as he continues his incredible season for the Chicago Cubs.
When compared to Joe DiMaggio, it’s clear that this is just an entirely different ballgame.
PCA Compared To Joe DiMaggio
MLB stats guru Mike Petriello shared a post on Monday morning that had some fans upset but also made a very clear point. This is what he wrote:
“Pete Crow-Armstrong has faced 28 teams and 286 pitchers in 22 stadiums so far this season, which isn’t over yet Joe DiMaggio faced 7 teams and 321 pitchers in 9 stadiums in his entire (regular season) career, which spanned 13 seasons between 1936-1951.”
That should immediately make it clear that hitting is a lot more complicated now than it used to be.
For his career, Crow-Armstrong will face exponentially more pitchers than DiMaggio did. He’s nearly equaling DiMaggio’s career number of pitchers faced just in this season.
And yes, it’s harder to face pitchers who you haven’t seen before, or who you’ve seen less. That’s why pretty much every pitcher is worse the third time through a batting order than the first two times. Familiarity helps the hitter.
Some will point out that starting pitchers in past eras used to go deeper into games. That doesn’t actually prove they were better, though. It just proves that managers take a different approach in this era, in large part for that very reason that it’s harder for hitters who don’t ever get the same look twice.
And There’s More
It would be one thing if the only point here was that hitters face more pitchers in 2026 than in 1936.
But they also face filthier pitchers. The velocities, the movement, the pitch types — all can be honed in a lab and are unlike anything the game of baseball has ever seen before.
Hitters can study tendencies, but it’s still the pitcher with the ball in his hand in total control.
That’s part of why this season for Crow-Armstrong has been so exceptional. It should be harder than ever for a hitter to make the big leap forward that PCA did this season, but he did it anyway. He shifted his batting stance early in the year, and since then, he’s been as good as anyone in baseball.
Crow-Armstrong is going to be the NL MVP, and he’s going to have earned it.
Cubs’ Pete Crow-Armstrong Stat Proves Hitting Is Harder Now Than Ever