John Smoltz

John Smoltz proposes an average exit velocity stat that counts strikeouts as zero to better identify the best hitters.

“you give me the average exit velocity of every time a ball is put in play or an out is made”

Pardon My Take: Lebron James Is A Free Agent Again, World Cup Must Win For USMNT, John Smoltz Talking Baseball Plus Our Dingers Only Fantasy Draft (Jul 1, 2026) · Listen from 1:58:14

John Smoltz says analytics are useful but teams that rely on them exclusively are making a mistake.

“if that's all your resources and that's the only decisions you make is on analytics, I think you're missing the boat”

Pardon My Take: Lebron James Is A Free Agent Again, World Cup Must Win For USMNT, John Smoltz Talking Baseball Plus Our Dingers Only Fantasy Draft (Jul 1, 2026) · Listen from 1:34:04

John Smoltz says he would have quit rather than be used as an opener.

“I would have quit. I would have flat out quit”

Pardon My Take: Lebron James Is A Free Agent Again, World Cup Must Win For USMNT, John Smoltz Talking Baseball Plus Our Dingers Only Fantasy Draft (Jul 1, 2026) · Listen from 1:33:03

John Smoltz credits Bobby Cox as the single biggest reason for the course of his career.

“he was the biggest reason, the single most reason why my career identified with what it did”

Pardon My Take: Lebron James Is A Free Agent Again, World Cup Must Win For USMNT, John Smoltz Talking Baseball Plus Our Dingers Only Fantasy Draft (Jul 1, 2026) · Listen from 1:49:56

John Smoltz says Greg Maddux deliberately gave poor interviews to deflect attention from himself.

“he was brilliant in everything that he did because he gave horrible interviews on purpose, horrible”

Pardon My Take: Lebron James Is A Free Agent Again, World Cup Must Win For USMNT, John Smoltz Talking Baseball Plus Our Dingers Only Fantasy Draft (Jul 1, 2026) · Listen from 1:43:35

John Smoltz proposes tying a team's designated hitter to its starting pitcher to reward deep starts and eliminate openers.

“one of the ways, and I floated this out five years ago, and of course they thought I was crazy, was you tie your starting pitcher to the DH”

Pardon My Take: Lebron James Is A Free Agent Again, World Cup Must Win For USMNT, John Smoltz Talking Baseball Plus Our Dingers Only Fantasy Draft (Jul 1, 2026) · Listen from 1:31:22

John Smoltz argues that today's widespread elite velocity is manufactured and physically unsustainable.

“You can't even come close to saying there were five other Nolan Ryans while Nolan Ryan pitched. We have 25 Nolan Ryans now”

Pardon My Take: Lebron James Is A Free Agent Again, World Cup Must Win For USMNT, John Smoltz Talking Baseball Plus Our Dingers Only Fantasy Draft (Jul 1, 2026) · Listen from 1:24:03

John Smoltz advises that young pitchers throwing very hard should be moved off the mound to protect their arms.

“When I see a young man at 14 throwing 92 miles an hour, I cringe”

Pardon My Take: Lebron James Is A Free Agent Again, World Cup Must Win For USMNT, John Smoltz Talking Baseball Plus Our Dingers Only Fantasy Draft (Jul 1, 2026) · Listen from 1:27:04

John Smoltz says Tommy John surgery typically restores a pitcher to his prior level but does not improve him.

“Wherever you have your surgery, wherever you were at, you got a high likelihood of going back to that, but not necessarily advancing from that”

Pardon My Take: Lebron James Is A Free Agent Again, World Cup Must Win For USMNT, John Smoltz Talking Baseball Plus Our Dingers Only Fantasy Draft (Jul 1, 2026) · Listen from 1:28:03

John Smoltz suggests a big-market team such as the Dodgers is best positioned to trade for Tarik Skubal.

“I think a big market team actually could be in the play for, and it's crazy to think that the Dodgers would be one of those teams”

Pardon My Take: Lebron James Is A Free Agent Again, World Cup Must Win For USMNT, John Smoltz Talking Baseball Plus Our Dingers Only Fantasy Draft (Jul 1, 2026) · Listen from 1:21:56