St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Adam Wainwright became the subject of controversy when he said he deliberately threw New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter a fastball over the plate during Tuesday's MLB All-Star Game. Not long after Jeter hit Wainwright's pitch for a first-inning double, Wainwright said, "I was going to give him a couple pipe shots. He deserved it."

But lost in the debate over the merits of "grooving" a fastball to Jeter, in baseball parlance, was this: Pitchers have been throwing Jeter fastballs over the plate all season.

According to Inside Edge, a professional scouting service, 39.7% of pitches seen by Jeter this year have been fastballs in the strike zone, the second-highest percentage among qualified hitters. Only Philadelphia Phillies outfielder Ben Revere has seen fastballs in the strike zone at a higher rate, at 41.6%.

Though Wainwright may have been honoring Jeter (he later backtracked on his comments), pitchers have a better reason to groove a fastball to the retiring Yankee captain: Chances are, he won't make them regret it. According to Inside Edge, Jeter's slugging percentage against fastballs in the strike zone this year is .342, which ranks 265th out of 289 hitters who have seen at least 200 in-zone fastballs.

Taking away the noncompetitive aspect of what Wainwright might have done, the surprising thing wasn't that Wainwright threw Jeter a fastball over the plate. It was that Jeter smacked it into right field for an extra-base hit.