Statcast doesn’t like Mikolas 2023 at all, Brian. All the wonky stuff like barrel to ball, hard hit rates, inability to miss bats.
He’s changing his pitch types usage too. More sinkers and changes down. I like who he is surrounded by this season in the rotation. There will be veteran opinions and ideas to draw from.
I think it would be a mistake to assume that there is only one factor in a pitcher’s decline (or improvement), because in the real world, it is impossible to separate the impact of a wide variety of variables, some which are invisible to us and as noted, many of which are constantly changing.
It can feel comforting to find “the answer” but it just might not be.