https://gohatters.com/sports/baseball/roster/jacob-degrom/3594You are correct that DeGrom played shortstop in college, but he was a terrible hitter. 6'4" with one homerun in 3 years and a .303 career OBP at Stetson.
DeGrom is hitting well this year because he obviously put some time into it. That's my only point, I'd like to see more pitchers give effort rather than just stand there like a statue.
Your article is interesting, but I'd be interested in seeing data on swing rates for pitchers as well. My guess is it's a two headed problem of increasing velocity and decreasing effort to even try to hit. The decreasing effort could be shown via decreased swing rates at balls in the strike zone.