U.S.S. Mariner wonders what will happen when the league adjusts to Ben Gamel‘s ability to hit the fast ball:

However, pitchers have been known to get a little tricky and throw things *other* than fastballs. When they’ve done so, Gamel’s…Gamel doesn’t like it when they do that. His xwOBA on something other than a fastball ranks 440th out of 506 batters. Instead of beating out Mike Trout or Nellie Cruz, he ranks just ahead of Robbie Ray, Matt Harvey and Ty Blach. Those are pitchers. If we go with actual, not estimated, production and let his good luck work for him, he pulls ahead of the pitchers, but still has a wOBA safely under .200. If we go back to pitch type run values, we see his production on sliders is like the inverse of his fastball production: he ranks 6th *worst* in baseball on sliders, and the same asterisk still applies: he ranks 6th worst in a counting stat despite racking up far fewer plate appearances than many players who began the year in the majors.

Have pitchers noticed? Eh, not really…not yet, anyway.

Pitchers might continue to throw him fastballs, because Gamel looks like someone who might not be able to hit the fastball. He is listed as 5-11, 187 pounds, so he’s not exactly a hulk at the plate. Pitchers like to throw their fastballs by batters, even when it might not be the best strategy. When pitchers look at Gamel at the plate, they see someone who might not be able to handle the the heater. As long as that persists, Gamel should do well.