PITCHf/x data for Brackman and Betances

Finally, Andrew Brackman and Dellin Betances got to make their major league debuts.  They both pitched in Thursday’s 15-8 Yankees loss, with varying levels of success.  Brackman pitched an inning and a third scoreless with a few hits and a walk, while Betances walked four and hit a batter in just two thirds of an inning.  After plenty of hype, we can look at some PITCHf/x data for these guys.

ANDREW BRACKMAN
(charts are for horizontal/vertical movement and horizontal movement/velocity)

	mph	#	LHB	RHB	Ball	Called	Whiff	Foul	X
Cutter	91.5	24	11	13	7	4	3	4	6
Curveball	75.6	7	3	4	5	1	0	1	0
Slider	84.6	1	0	1	0	0	0	1	0

Brackman was definitely throwing a fastball with cutting action (both horizontal movement in on lefties and sink, a la Rivera).  This might be his cutter grip, but it's hard to tell on that photo.  There is photo evidence of a two-seam fastball as well, though he didn't throw one yesterday (also, that's an old pic).

DELLIN BETANCES

   

	mph	#	LHB	RHB	Ball	Called	Whiff	Foul	X
Fastball	93.3	22	13	9	16	2	0	2	2
Curveball	83.3	4	3	1	3	0	0	1	0

As you can see by the pitch distribution, Betances had no control.  Of his 26 pitches, 19 were balls.  He showed a straight four-seam fastball (grip) and a hard curveball that he throws with a knuckle grip.  In terms of velocity and movement, it's similar to A.J. Burnett's.  

I'll try to find some game photos from Thursday (doesn't look to be anything available at the time of this writing), particularly to see what Brackman's doing with his fastball. 

Moore pitch grips (with video!)

After yesterday's double-clinching celebration, the Yankees get to face one baseball's best prospects on the mound today, Matt Moore.  This will be Moore's first start; the 22 year old got two big league relief appearances under his belt last week.  I wrote about Moore at Fangraphs the other day, and since he hasn't pitched since then, everything there is still relevant today.  As something of an addendum to that, I've linked in this post to pitch grips of Moore's four-seam fastball, circle changeup, and spike curveball, courtesy of Four-Seam Images (taken during minor league games from this year).  When analyzing and researching pitchers, it's always good to get a look at how the pitch is actually held, so hopefully this is informative.  For future posts on specific pitchers, I'll include pitch grips whenever possible. 


**EDIT**: Mike Fast just sent me this video of Moore (from 2010) discussing his pitch grips and mechanics.  It's very interesting! 

A blip on the radar

We’ve grown accustomed to seeing David Robertson in the 93-94 mph range this year, more than 2 mph faster than he where he was at when he first came up in 2008.  In the 8th inning of yesterday’s game, he didn’t bring his velocity with him, averaging under 91 mph for the first time all year:

In Saturday’s one-run game, Joe Girardi opted to use Rafael Soriano in the 8th instead of Robertson, a technique he has not employed much this summer.  Is Robertson fatigued?  Injured?  Was Friday just an anomaly?  We’ll see.