Yankees' whiff rates

I was curious to see what the hardest pitches to hit were in 2010, and I posted my findings on Beyond the Box Score a few days ago.  The only Yankee to make the list was CC Sabathia, whose slider had the 16th highest whiff rate in the 250+ swing department.  The tables below show how the Yankees fare in both the 100-249 and 250+ swing categories.  The column furthest to the left is league-wide rank.  The column furthest to the right is whiff rate compared to league average for pitch type, in which average = 100.  406 pitch types qualified for the 250+ bucket; 586 qualified for the 100-249 bucket.  


250+ SWINGS

Rank	Pitcher	Pitch Type	Whiff Rate	Whiff+
16	CC Sabathia	Slider	.405	129
30	A.J. Burnett	Curveball	.366	130
73	CC Sabathia	Changeup	.296	103
139	David Robertson	Four-seam fastball	.207	128
164	Phil Hughes	Four-seam fastball	.193	119
170	Phil Hughes	Cutter	.188	90
194	Mariano Rivera	Cutter	.173	83
197	Javier Vazquez	Four-seam fastball	.172	106
251	A.J. Burnett	Two-seam fastball	.146	120
262	CC Sabathia	Four-seam fastball	.140	87
266	CC Sabathia	Two-seam fastball	.139	114
281	A.J. Burnett	Four-seam fastball	.134	83
287	Joba Chamberlain	Four-seam fastball	.131	81
368	Javier Vazquez	Two-seam fastball	.094	77
397	Andy Pettitte	Four-seam fastball	.072	45

     
100-249 SWINGS

Rank	Pitcher	Pitch Type	Whiff Rate	Whiff+
36	Andy Pettitte	Slider	.399	127
40	Joba Chamberlain	Slider	.394	126
62	Javier Vazquez	Changeup	.368	128
107	David Robertson	Curveball	.324	115
199	Javier Vazquez	Curveball	.262	93
284	Javier Vazquez	Slider	.216	69
291	Phil Hughes	Curveball	.213	76
326	Andy Pettitte	Curveball	.196	70
385	Boone Logan	Four-seam fastball	.168	104
500	Sergio Mitre	Two-seam fastball	.117	96
569	Ivan Nova	Four-seam fastball	.077	47
573	Dustin Moseley	Two-seam fastball	.073	60
584	Andy Pettitte	Two-seam fastball	.045	37

A few things that caught my eye ...

• Hitters didn't have too much trouble making contact with Pettitte's fastball, but his breaking pitch was excellent.  Most people call it a cutter, but it had enough movement and velocity difference from his fastball to be a fairly typical slider, so at least for this analysis, that's what I'll call it.    
• Chamberlain's slider might not be as insane as it used to be, but it's still awesome.  
• Mariano is definitely declining in the swing-and-miss department, but that's not really his thing anyway.  Consider me unconcerned.
• Hughes' curveball wasn't the out-pitch we were looking for.  His fastball was only a bit easier to hit, and relative to pitch-type averages, the fastball was a *lot* more impressive.
• I have to show some respect for Boone Logan and his slider.  Boone's slide-piece doesn't make the cut since it was only swung against 83 times, but on those swings, it garnered a whiff rate of .542.  Very impressive.