We’re finally here. Pitcher List 5.0 has officially launched and there is a lot to go over.

It’s such an exciting day and I hope you enjoy what we’ve done with the place. What you’re seeing today is the hard work and effort put into by dozens and dozens of Pitcher List staffers over the past year (and longer even!) and it means so much to us that you’re here to experience it.

It’s also just the start. With this new foundation, we have much more we want to create and build. We hope you stick around through the journey and help us get to where we want to go. There’s a lot of fun ahead.

Alright, if you missed it here’s a quick video of the major changes to the website:

There’s a lot to unpack here. Let’s get to it.

New Design

This text is being presented on this new website built from the ground up on what we’re calling the “ButterScotch engine” because it’s super sweet and smooth as hell. The new site is more than just a coat of paint, though. Here’s what we’ve changed and added:

• New Logo
  • Hey, we have a new logo! Big thanks to Zach Ennis for our updated look.
• New Homepage
  • The regular season will have a “Daily Fix” section near the top featuring all of our daily content (SP Roundup, Nastiest Pitches, Batter’s Box, etc.) in a spot that never moves.
  • The “Fantasy Rankings” section will transform into “Weekly Rankings” and auto-update as each ranking article is posted each week.
  • Easier to access our recent articles while also giving special pieces the spotlight they deserve.
  • Better navigation to all the different sections on the site.
• New Written Sections
  • We have a ton of incredible writing teams focused on bringing different types of content through the year including but not limited to:
    • Dynasty focused team with monthly ranking updates throughout the year.
    • “We Love Baseball” for all the fun parts of the game, like our video game tournament and daily nastiest pitches.
    • “Across The Seams” as our op-ed baseball discussion.
  • We’ve given each section their own replication of the homepage to easily follow them through the year.
• Buffed Posts
  • We’re able to now group articles together as a series with links at the top of posts auto-updated as they come out (helps a ton with our rankings articles through the year).
  • Cleaner overall design as we’ve removed the sidebar because it just got in the way. The List can always be found on the home page (and looking cleaner!), don’t worry.
  • Better comment system.
• Player Pages
  • We felt we needed to do more on player pages, and we revamped the full look – There’s a lot more we’re going to add to these pages as we near opening day.
  • The regular season will have an SP Roundup archive AND Nastiest GIFs archive. No more random searching SP Roundups!
  • Oh, and you know, the yearly GIF Database update with 2,500+ NEW GIFS CREATED. Enjoy :)
    • We’ve also kept our 2018 GIFs intact, and in the beautiful GIF module, you can cycle between 2018 GIFs/blurbs and 2019’s updates.
  • We will be updating this within the next few weeks to feature our projections, quick outlooks and individual pitcher and pitch type stats. We’ll announce when this is live.
• New Merch
  • Check out our store for updated merch options, I personally dig the royal blue P.
    • Those looking for our old designs, they may show up again here and there. For now, we’ve elected to simplify the store.
• Search
  • Our search doesn’t suck now. YES. A quick search will return articles and players, and articles are finally sorted by most recent.

 

Pitcher List Plus

We’ve officially moved on from Patreon and can now offer a better service directly on the website.

THIS IS NOT A PAYWALL. No articles will ever be hidden behind PL+. Seriously, never. What we’re offering is a better overall experience, including access to our incredible community Discord server.

We wouldn’t make this change without offering a better experience for everyone and here’s what we’ve added to the $10 tier:

• Ad-Free experience on the Pitcher List website (through a new account system on the site)
  • It was one of our most requested features and we’re excited to have an easy way to make the site look as it should.
• Free 500+ page eBook compiling all of our Fantasy 101 articles with SP, Reliever, and Hitter profiles from the off-season. It’s GORGEOUS.
  • JR Caines did an incredible job designing this and it’s such a convenient way to quickly lookup player analysis instead of diving into each article individually
• Weekly merch giveaways exclusive to PL+ members
  • We’ll have limited designs just to give away to everyone as we hold fun contests to give back to our supporters
• Daily scheduled live chats with staff members
  • One staffer a day, if not two, will have a daily Q&A scheduled inside the Discord to answer everyone’s questions
• Discord Livestreams from mock drafts to Q&As and hanging with me as I create The List each week
  • Yes, you’ll understand the pain I go through debating where tiers should go and constantly swapping #77/78

In addition to PL+, we’re also offering a $5 tier for those that want just an Ad-Free Pitcher List website

We have a few ideas in the pot to keep improving the bang for your buck with PL+ and we’ll have more to reveal through the year about PL+ benefits.

Head to Pitcherlist.com/plus to sign-up and see what the fuss is about.

 

Pitch Type Leaderboard Beta

This has been in the works for a long time and I’m thrilled that we have something to show off.

We have a grand vision for what we want this to be, and for now we felt it was ready to release as a Beta. It’s stripped-down at the moment – basic filters are on their way – and we wanted to reveal to everyone that this is a major priority for Pitcher List moving forward.

Huge thanks to Alex Chamberlain acting as a consultant, helping us figure out the data architecture and how to make this leaderboard as user-friendly as possible.

Just a small example of the stats we’re showcasing in this leaderboard by pitch type, pitchers, and hitters:

• CSW % – You know, a proper leaderboard for Called Strikes + Whiffs.
• Plus % – The % of pitches thrown that result in a CSW, non-two strike foul ball, or super weak contact.
• An excellent “Approach” tab – details where pitches are thrown and when during at-bats.
• Exit Velocity / Launch Angle / Barrel % – Just hitters/pitchers for now, and we know how important it is.

Special thanks to MLB Inside Edge as well for working with us to present this data publicly for the first time. We wanted to do this right and they’ve been incredible making this dream come to fruition.

There is so much that we want to add still as this is a more of a proof of concept that the true vision we have for this leaderboard. Here are some of things we want to add to the leaderboard and we’ll be doing mini-updates through the year including:

• A granular breakdown of every pitch thrown since 2015 – this is a lot of data and we’ll be working to get it as precise as possible to help us mold it as we’d like.
• A filter system to find exactly the data you were looking for – we have a sleek design made for this and we’re excited to show this off later this year
• A landing page showcasing the key changes from last night’s game – also ready for the 2020 season. You’ll be able to know who had a velocity spike last night, or who is throwing more sliders suddenly.
• Fluid date ranges, including stats based on starts, not days, and being able to deselect games inside game logs.

We’re incredibly excited to begin creating the ultimate pitching resource tool and please don’t hesitate to leave us feedback regarding its functionality, stats you’d like to see, and what you’d change for a better experience.

 

Everything Else

There are plenty of other little elements that have improved along the way, from our expanded team to 100+ staffers, to Twitch streams, and improved Discord experience, and we couldn’t be more thrilled to finally show it off to everyone here.

This massive update would not be possible without everyone’s feedback over the years, the incredible community we’ve created not just in Discord but in the comments, Reddit, and Twitter as well, pushing me and this team to continue working hard across the last six years since I launched Pitcher GIFs. Truly, thank you so much for your support, Pitcher List 5.0 in many ways is a love letter to you, yes you, as it’s been created by your support.

We have much more work to do, but for now enjoy exploring this new Pitcher List experience, and I hope to see you on the Discord.

Best,

-Nick Pollack