Well, not really. But Dan Uggla sees a lot of them.
SI.com broke down the numbers and it isn’t even a close race for what Major Leaguer sees the most breaking balls. Howard faced more than 1,100 breaking balls last season, almost 200 more than the next closest hitter, Dan Uggla of the Marlins, according to Stats Inc.
Well, that is really not surprising. Why the heck you give either of those guys a steady diet of fast balls when you know they will just probably end up being a souvenir for a fan in the bleachers to take home?
Here is Tom Verducci's breakdown.
Most Breaking Balls Seen
MLB, 2009
Player
Breaking Balls
Ryan Howard
1,127
Dan Uggla
931
Mark Reynolds
930
Hunter Pence
928
Matt Kemp
913
Justin Upton
840
Jayson Werth
817
Danny has adapted in taking more walks. In fact, last season he finished 9th in the league in the number of walks. The only other player on the list to finish in the top 10 was Jayson Werth at tenth.
I guess what this means is Danny needs to be ready for the hanging breaking ball, since there ain't no way they are going to challenge him. Can't really blame the pitchers for not doing so, but I wish that they would.