Very fast fastballs that don't move? I'd always heard those were the pitches that major league hitters hit particularly well.....
Overall batting hasn't become harder. The overall league average has changed little since 1900! There are lows and highs, but the lows are in the .240's and the highs in the .270's with .260's being typical.
National league 1921-1930 was the peak, being mostly over .280, 1930 the league average was over .300 - DARN GUYS IN THE 20'S MUSTA BEEN ON SOMETHING! - (probably booze and a diffferent attitude twoards batting brought on by Ruth)
We maybe have a right to suspect anyone hitting at a rate better than 10ab/hr. Very few batters have done it for a full season, fewer still that are assumed to be clean. (Ruth and Thome) We should really revisit this maybe at the AS break, and again near the end of the season. My prediction? Either a season around 47HR with an injury or a major slump late in the year, or positive test sometime after the AS break. (Or after the season if he's in the HR derby)
Some interesting stuff here
http://www.baseball-almanac.com/recbooks/rb_hr3.shtml
Still a lot of guys that supposedly weren't on anything who hit a ton of HR in a month. Rudy york had 18 in August of 37 Mantle had 16 in May of 56. Both months were probably in the low 7ab/hr range.
Steve B