Is Mike Piazza Done?

Piazza's bat speed is not slow, and if you think that then you aren't watching closely enough.

His bat speed is still fast enough to drive a ball 450+ feet, so that isn't the issue. The issue is clearly his pitch recognition. Watch for it next time he is up.

Piazza is not a "guess hitter", he is a reactionary hitter. He sees the pitch and then reacts to it. He has said so himself many times. His ability to recognize pitches so late combined with his batspeed has always been the reason he's going to the Hall of Fame.

What has changed lately? Well, right now he doesn't seem able to pick up the breaking pitch anymore. This happens to him every year (including his best years) when he slumps, but these slumps are growing more prolific and more frequent.

The illusion of slow bat speed is there for the less educated viewer. Piazza thinks fastball and then gets fooled. As all players do when fooled on an off-speed pitch, he attempts to slow the bat down to hit the ball. This is frequently called "waving" at a pitch, and it's not a sign of slow bat speed, but a sign of poor timing or poor pitch recognition.

The real question is this:

Has Piazza's ability to recognize a pitch completely dwindled to a point where he can no longer be productive, or is this merely a slump? 5 Years ago no one would have been concerned if Mike Piazza started off a season hitting .130 after 8 games ... but now that he's up in years (much like the situation with Bernie Williams), every little slump is magnified and proclaimed "the end".

On a side note, the Yankees moved Bernie Williams to the #9 spot in the order last night as a result of his slow start. The result? He was 3-for-4 with a homerun. One or two solid nights for Piazza would erase all of this discussion and bring his average right up to normal levels. It's early folks.