Over at Beyond The Boxscore -- one of the top saber-slanted baseball sites online -- has tackled the issue of which pitchers get bigger strike zones and why they are so fortunate.
Derek Lowe is one of the pitchers mentioned. He gets a pretty big zone which is comparable to Livan Hernandez's. Both are contact pitchers who rely on movement more than arm deception or arm strength.
↵↵When we look back at the pitchers of record with this new information, the results start to make sense. Livan, Moyer and Lowe all throw fastballs with substantial movement, not the least of which is because they don't throw very hard in the first place. As contact pitchers, they also tend to pitch with runners on more than others.
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As a veteran with solid movement on all of his pitches, look for Lowe to get a bit bigger of a strike zone next year as well.