tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24469908137927367522024-03-13T11:59:40.754-04:00Don't Bring In The LeftyA Baseball WeblogUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger170125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2446990813792736752.post-40563004030476859892011-11-20T00:16:00.001-05:002011-11-20T00:20:09.442-05:00O'Connor PITCHf/x<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The Yankees recently picked up southpaw Mike O'Connor on a minor league deal. O'Connor, who is now 31, has pitched in 35 major league games; he made appearances for the Nationals in 2006 and 2008 and spent some time with the Mets last year. Only one of his major league games since 2006 has been a start; the Yankees will look at him strictly as a reliever with Damaso Marte and Pedro Feliciano going down with injuries. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">We have 14 games and 14 2/3 innings' worth of PITCHf/x data on O'Connor. As little as overall performance metrics mean with this kind of sample, individual pitch type metrics mean even less, so I won't spend too much time on that stuff. </span><br />
<br />
<pre># Whiff% Ball% GB%
256 22% 46% 33%</pre><br />
<pre>Pitch # mph pfx_x pfx_z
FF 162 87 +7.6 +9.8
SL 35 81 +0.5 +3.0
CU 32 74 -5.1 -6.0
CH 27 77 +9.0 +9.4 </pre><br />
<br />
<ul><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">O'Connor's arsenal consists of a tailing fastball, a tight/cutter-ish slider, a curve, and a change that looks similar to his fastball but is 10 mph slower.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">He's been fastball/slider recently. He didn't throw any changeups this year, despite facing righties in 14 of his 29 plate appearances. He only threw two curves.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">He looks like an extreme flyball pitcher. His groundball rate in 105 2006 innings (BIS data) was 36%. </span></li>
</ul><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Soft-tosser, lots of walks, lots of flyballs. </span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2446990813792736752.post-4463379486148543922011-09-23T00:39:00.004-04:002011-09-23T12:43:49.193-04:00PITCHf/x data for Brackman and Betances<div style="background-color: transparent;"><span id="internal-source-marker_0.09845886146649718" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">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.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b> </b></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">ANDREW BRACKMAN</span></b></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>(charts are for horizontal/vertical movement and horizontal movement/velocity</i></span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>)</i></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i><br />
</i></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4GyPXk95CgucrVshkya5u1T7pTHz0f6cy6ExUC1LREOCV_U-b8MGKxtiKcJw8N6LwSbgfAI83g0LvP68tjiOoSbkxfUDZtP8RHIoI2scxgTaA0Zz0PZ8koAAKzymdQIv2WgUlVQaFg7g/s1600/brackman_spin.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="188" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4GyPXk95CgucrVshkya5u1T7pTHz0f6cy6ExUC1LREOCV_U-b8MGKxtiKcJw8N6LwSbgfAI83g0LvP68tjiOoSbkxfUDZtP8RHIoI2scxgTaA0Zz0PZ8koAAKzymdQIv2WgUlVQaFg7g/s640/brackman_spin.png" width="640" /></a></div><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i><br />
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</span> <br />
<table border="1" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="width: 300px;"><tbody>
<tr bgcolor="#EDF1F3"> <th align="center"></th> <th align="center"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">mph</span></span></th> <th align="center"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">#</span></span></th> <th align="center"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">LHB </span></span></th> <th align="center"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">RHB</span></span></th> <th align="center"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">Ball</span></span></th> <th align="center"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">Called</span></span></th> <th align="center"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">Whiff</span></span></th> <th align="center"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">Foul</span></span></th> <th align="center"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">X </span></span></th> </tr>
<tr onmouseout="this.bgColor='#FFFFFF'" onmouseover="this.bgColor='#C7D9EC'"> <td align="center"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Cutter</span></td> <td align="center"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">91.5</span></td> <td align="center"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">24</span></td> <td align="center"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">11</span></td> <td align="center"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">13</span></td> <td align="center"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">7</span></td> <td align="center"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">4</span></td> <td align="center"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">3</span></td> <td align="center"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">4</span></td> <td align="center"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">6</span></td> </tr>
<tr onmouseout="this.bgColor='#FFFFFF'" onmouseover="this.bgColor='#C7D9EC'"> <td align="center"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Curveball</span></td> <td align="center"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">75.6</span></td> <td align="center"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">7</span></td> <td align="center"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">3</span></td> <td align="center"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">4</span></td> <td align="center"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">5</span></td> <td align="center"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">1</span></td> <td align="center"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">0</span></td> <td align="center"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">1</span></td> <td align="center"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">0</span></td> </tr>
<tr onmouseout="this.bgColor='#FFFFFF'" onmouseover="this.bgColor='#C7D9EC'"> <td align="center"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Slider</span></td> <td align="center"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">84.6</span></td> <td align="center"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">1</span></td> <td align="center"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">0</span></td> <td align="center"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">1</span></td> <td align="center"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">0</span></td> <td align="center"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">0</span></td> <td align="center"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">0</span></td> <td align="center"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">1</span></td> <td align="center"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">0</span></td> </tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Brackman was definitely throwing a fastball with cutting action (both horizontal movement in on lefties and sink, a la Rivera). </span><a href="http://fourseamimages.photoshelter.com/image/I0000JUtf5a7YZX8"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">This</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> might be his cutter grip, but it's hard to tell on that photo. There is photo </span><a href="http://blog.prorumors.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/andrew_brackman.jpg"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">evidence</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> of a two-seam fastball as well, though he didn't throw one yesterday (also, that's an old pic).</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">DELLIN BETANCES</span></span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></b><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0lO9P3RRik1RfVN1tq6JpUJuXT3e0XqZcLJj4Oj7HvDTrvOdjwJwTPcnDnTyiZDami706CjkiqLvIrmFHnZYGjMxp87gOrJPvHVi6AODcHhIXKEIN09KZQJRB9Ebyvgf0d2Rc0p93ll0/s1600/betances_spin.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="188" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0lO9P3RRik1RfVN1tq6JpUJuXT3e0XqZcLJj4Oj7HvDTrvOdjwJwTPcnDnTyiZDami706CjkiqLvIrmFHnZYGjMxp87gOrJPvHVi6AODcHhIXKEIN09KZQJRB9Ebyvgf0d2Rc0p93ll0/s640/betances_spin.png" width="640" /></a></div><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></b></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span></div><table border="1" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="width: 300px;"><tbody>
<tr bgcolor="#EDF1F3"> <th align="center"></th> <th align="center"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">mph</span></span></th> <th align="center"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">#</span></span></th> <th align="center"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">LHB</span></span></th> <th align="center"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">RHB</span></span></th> <th align="center"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">Ball</span></span></th> <th align="center"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">Called</span></span></th> <th align="center"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">Whiff</span></span></th> <th align="center"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">Foul</span></span></th> <th align="center"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">X</span></span></th> </tr>
<tr onmouseout="this.bgColor='#FFFFFF'" onmouseover="this.bgColor='#C7D9EC'"> <td align="center"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Fastball</span></td> <td align="center"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">93.3</span></td> <td align="center"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">22</span></td> <td align="center"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">13</span></td> <td align="center"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">9</span></td> <td align="center"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">16</span></td> <td align="center"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">2</span></td> <td align="center"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">0</span></td> <td align="center"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">2</span></td> <td align="center"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">2</span></td> </tr>
<tr onmouseout="this.bgColor='#FFFFFF'" onmouseover="this.bgColor='#C7D9EC'"> <td align="center"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Curveball</span></td> <td align="center"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">83.3</span></td> <td align="center"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">4</span></td> <td align="center"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">3</span></td> <td align="center"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">1</span></td> <td align="center"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">3</span></td> <td align="center"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">0</span></td> <td align="center"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">0</span></td> <td align="center"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">1</span></td> <td align="center"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">0</span></td> </tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">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 (</span><a href="http://fourseamimages.photoshelter.com/image?&_bqG=19&_bqH=eJwzMM1Id3JJTXf3yzbwyDc0My33LrGotPAxz4q0MjO0MjWwMjQAAivPeJdgZ1tVI6OU1JyczDztpNSSxLzk1GKgiJpnfGiwa1C8p4ttKEhtlEmhqVdGVEVuaKRavKNziG1xamJRcgYAgJof.w--&GI_ID="><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">grip</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">) and a hard curveball that he throws with a </span><a href="http://fourseamimages.photoshelter.com/image/I0000a0RR7drJyBA"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">knuckle grip</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">. In terms of velocity and movement, it's similar to A.J. Burnett's</span>. </div><div><br />
</div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">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. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2446990813792736752.post-31373981931419086952011-09-22T15:18:00.003-04:002011-09-22T15:28:40.460-04:00Moore pitch grips (with video!)<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">After yesterday's double-clinching celebration, the Yankees get to face one baseball's best prospects on the mound today, <a href="http://www.fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playerid=1890&position=P">Matt Moore</a>. This will be Moore's first start; the 22 year old got two big league relief appearances under his belt last week. I </span><a href="http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/some-matt-moore-pitchfx/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">wrote</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> 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 </span><a href="http://fourseamimages.photoshelter.com/image/I000048zMz4SoNWI"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">four-seam fastball</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">, </span><a href="http://fourseamimages.photoshelter.com/image/I0000moYttK5FL2I"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">circle changeup</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">, and </span><a href="http://fourseamimages.photoshelter.com/image/I0000nuOk7WMnDj0"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">spike curveball</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">, 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. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #eeeeee; font-family: 'lucida grande', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: Times;"><br />
</span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #eeeeee; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">**EDIT**: Mike Fast just sent me this </span></span><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTPxqVtz0DE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">video</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> of Moore (from 2010) discussing his pitch grips and mechanics. It's very interesting! </span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #eeeeee; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span></span></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2446990813792736752.post-76232261714738616672011-09-17T17:31:00.003-04:002011-09-17T17:32:53.338-04:00A blip on the radar<span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">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:</span></span><br />
<div style="background-color: transparent;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> <span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKpYu6gphLoqocN_nQDGDJ4RZDH0hKFNOl0OS13jL6_NrvQMv8Pia1IrDTVbY_nJeV0SQWUibAH-sJt4DSWeLFVrhyphenhyphenmJeHANrtFjlNrmGSuT-QW6rKpv76uWuoGrSVJ-NvWp95RyjfCBo/s1600/robertson_velocity.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKpYu6gphLoqocN_nQDGDJ4RZDH0hKFNOl0OS13jL6_NrvQMv8Pia1IrDTVbY_nJeV0SQWUibAH-sJt4DSWeLFVrhyphenhyphenmJeHANrtFjlNrmGSuT-QW6rKpv76uWuoGrSVJ-NvWp95RyjfCBo/s640/robertson_velocity.png" width="450" /></span></a></div><div style="background-color: transparent;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span></div><div style="background-color: transparent;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">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.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span></span><br />
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</span></span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2446990813792736752.post-43070037611633928012011-08-25T10:00:00.002-04:002011-08-26T13:59:56.609-04:00What to make of Harden? Updated<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In July, before Rich Harden's last start against the Yankees, I briefly examined his 2011 whiff rates compared to his previous seasons. After a terrible 2010, his fastball was back to its normal excellence, but his changeup remained at/slightly under the league average after being one of the best bat-missers in the league in 2008 and 2009. The same chart is shown below, updated:</span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinQPBVZB47vc71-OKjHWj2dtVjdSGXkft5hOoRdhUu2iYaWXxPD8PapLyJAM2dWxC14Rw0c4Ol43F9Yc496Hpj7_QBkfUhK6VfkvKAr9a5uI7Ryq-RIuL-ibGjQWbkH76P4k7KDZaht9g/s1600/harden_whiff_rates_201108.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" height="228" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinQPBVZB47vc71-OKjHWj2dtVjdSGXkft5hOoRdhUu2iYaWXxPD8PapLyJAM2dWxC14Rw0c4Ol43F9Yc496Hpj7_QBkfUhK6VfkvKAr9a5uI7Ryq-RIuL-ibGjQWbkH76P4k7KDZaht9g/s400/harden_whiff_rates_201108.png" width="400" /></span></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">It looks like he's on the right track, as the changeup has climbed to just under 40% - not quite his peak, but that kind of rate is still more than 20% better than league average. As it was earlier in the season, his fastball is looking great. </span></div><br />
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2446990813792736752.post-66009150001394714472011-08-23T15:10:00.002-04:002011-08-23T15:14:49.341-04:00Athletics vs Yankees, game one: Brandon McCarthy<div style="font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Taking the mound for the Athletics tonight against the Yankees is righty Brandon McCarthy. You might remember him as a top prospect with the White Sox about seven or eight years ago or so. Back then he was a power pitcher with a four-seam/curveball combination, but he's completely made himself as a sinker/cutter groundball guy with much better control (career low 3.7% walks per plate appearance, fourth best among pitchers with 100+ innings pitched). Dave Allen had a good <a href="http://baseballanalysts.com/archives/2011/08/brandon_mccarth.php">look</a> at McCarthy a few weeks ago, so I'll make this brief. The charts and metrics that you often see on this site are applied below to McCarthy's pitches.</span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjI4P_HyJFmSRtO8yPVGopkXpETzZvtvNtsfrTiKQbbPl_nmBqc7K_SUuEP52sDGiTBjFfTBUpfVZPz1YOvxDAdwVHjbudSno_CWhzpZbqxbsYdzG8gYNfeMwtvsFI1oommmx4PBL3Tc0/s1600/mccarthy_spin.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="174" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjI4P_HyJFmSRtO8yPVGopkXpETzZvtvNtsfrTiKQbbPl_nmBqc7K_SUuEP52sDGiTBjFfTBUpfVZPz1YOvxDAdwVHjbudSno_CWhzpZbqxbsYdzG8gYNfeMwtvsFI1oommmx4PBL3Tc0/s640/mccarthy_spin.png" width="640" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span><br />
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</span></span></div><table border="1" bordercolor="#000000" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="0" id="cua_" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 1em; line-height: inherit;"><tbody>
<tr style="text-align: left;"><td bgcolor="#eeeeee" width="10%"><br />
</td><td bgcolor="#eeeeee" width="10%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">mph</span></td><td bgcolor="#eeeeee" width="10%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">#</span></td><td bgcolor="#eeeeee" width="10%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">LHB%</span></td><td bgcolor="#eeeeee" width="10%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">RHB%</span></td><td bgcolor="#eeeeee" width="10%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">Swing%</span></td><td bgcolor="#eeeeee" width="10%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">Whiff%</span></td><td bgcolor="#eeeeee" width="10%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">Ball%</span></td><td bgcolor="#eeeeee" width="10%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">nsCall%*</span></td><td bgcolor="#eeeeee" width="10%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">GB%</span></td></tr>
<tr style="text-align: left;"><td width="10%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">Sinker</span></td><td width="10%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">90.9</span></td><td width="10%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">697</span></td><td width="10%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">42%</span></td><td width="10%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">42%</span></td><td width="10%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">44%</span></td><td width="10%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">8%</span></td><td width="10%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">31%</span></td><td width="10%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">44%</span></td><td width="10%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">53%</span></td></tr>
<tr style="text-align: left;"><td width="10%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">Cutter</span></td><td width="10%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">89.9</span></td><td width="10%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">511</span></td><td width="10%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">25%</span></td><td width="10%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">37%</span></td><td width="10%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">58%</span></td><td width="10%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">20%</span></td><td width="10%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">28%</span></td><td width="10%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">35%</span></td><td width="10%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">37%</span></td></tr>
<tr style="text-align: left;"><td width="10%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">Curveball</span></td><td width="10%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">79.8</span></td><td width="10%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">368</span></td><td width="10%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">24%</span></td><td width="10%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">20%</span></td><td width="10%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">49%</span></td><td width="10%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">18%</span></td><td width="10%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">33%</span></td><td width="10%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">35%</span></td><td width="10%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">51%</span></td></tr>
<tr style="text-align: left;"><td width="10%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">Changeup</span></td><td width="10%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">83.7</span></td><td width="10%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">58</span></td><td width="10%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">7%</span></td><td width="10%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">0%</span></td><td width="10%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">28%</span></td><td width="10%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">19%</span></td><td width="10%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">62%</span></td><td width="10%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">14%</span></td><td width="10%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">50%</span></td></tr>
<tr style="text-align: left;"><td width="10%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">Fastball</span></td><td width="10%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">90.7</span></td><td width="10%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">35</span></td><td width="10%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">3%</span></td><td width="10%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">1%</span></td><td width="10%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">63%</span></td><td width="10%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">14%</span></td><td width="10%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">31%</span></td><td width="10%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">15%</span></td><td width="10%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">13%</span></td></tr>
<tr style="text-align: left;"><td width="10%"><br />
</td><td width="10%"><b><br />
</b></td><td width="10%"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">1669</span></b></td><td width="10%"><b><br />
</b></td><td width="10%"><b><br />
</b></td><td width="10%"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">49%</span></b></td><td width="10%"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">15%</span></b></td><td width="10%"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">32%</span></b></td><td width="10%"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">38%</span></b></td><td width="10%"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">47%</span></b></td></tr>
</tbody></table><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">*<i>non-swing called rate; called strikes divided by called strikes plus balls</i></span><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia;">The four-seamers are rare, and some may be misclassifications. The ones I identified were often thrown in two-strike counts.</span></i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px;"><br />
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<div style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia;">Strikes with everything but the changeup. McCarthy's not a bat-misser, but that's just fine. His sinker looks like a pretty good groundball pitch, as does the curve. </span></span></i></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px;"><i><br />
</i></span><br />
<div style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia;">The next graphs show plate locations split up into 5 by 5 quadrants (OZ = out of zone, IZ = in zone).</span></span></i><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifNLjMjQLGFc-VYawcJHX_dPxb-kK8kiR32iC7_FDuQfk05LOtBWnx8Nl7xFxP5OrNDpcow-hjl3hMM5SZVMnOpeFpdfXTPBFkTa26gZRYVgD5YU8MTEvohNJibantq6GFXO-0BZ6sLYo/s1600/mccarthy_vertical.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="237" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifNLjMjQLGFc-VYawcJHX_dPxb-kK8kiR32iC7_FDuQfk05LOtBWnx8Nl7xFxP5OrNDpcow-hjl3hMM5SZVMnOpeFpdfXTPBFkTa26gZRYVgD5YU8MTEvohNJibantq6GFXO-0BZ6sLYo/s400/mccarthy_vertical.png" width="400" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQlAcLga6e4YXtBNL5PUlW7UZRsy9OdjaUio89X1ThPqOG5nqBVLjVqTTtqYrwKB_t9WzArEaMbqBBzm4ZbHcHv_v9OPLSKP5YqteTjhLSq_xuaWv_Pb_gD9zEg8vS5lvL9dGyWBoqLwA/s1600/mccarthy_horizontal.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="172" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQlAcLga6e4YXtBNL5PUlW7UZRsy9OdjaUio89X1ThPqOG5nqBVLjVqTTtqYrwKB_t9WzArEaMbqBBzm4ZbHcHv_v9OPLSKP5YqteTjhLSq_xuaWv_Pb_gD9zEg8vS5lvL9dGyWBoqLwA/s640/mccarthy_horizontal.png" width="640" /></a></div><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia;">The sinker, cutter, and curve stay low, while the four-seamer is elevated. The cutter stays in on lefties and away from righties, while he's shown a propensity to keep the sinker away from both lefties and righties. </span></span></i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px;"><br />
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<div style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia;">This post wouldn't be complete without a mention of McCarthy's <a href="http://twitter.com/#!/BMcCarthy32">Twitter feed</a>. He seems like a really nice and thoughtful guy (with a sense of humor). He's been kind enough to respond to my questions/comments when they've come up, so I certainly appreciate that.</span></span></i><br />
<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia;"><br />
</span></span></i></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2446990813792736752.post-38166837209680533292011-08-15T18:37:00.003-04:002011-08-15T18:40:45.499-04:00Hit graphs<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">This is presented without much explanation. Below is a chart of the Yankees' starting lineup (and some prominent part-time players) in hit graph form.</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7xhzD8CrxR9wteTbifE1rQYitR-NiQIjhc62HPqc2PiapNW34vouXQHSxJxyTefUKgKUgHYbmdQMdbr0ywOO0z9dIJUGcm_xam8HDblCXZviYLCNY50GX68S_uT3lE4Gy75qNPzHSE-0/s1600/hit_graph.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" height="307" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7xhzD8CrxR9wteTbifE1rQYitR-NiQIjhc62HPqc2PiapNW34vouXQHSxJxyTefUKgKUgHYbmdQMdbr0ywOO0z9dIJUGcm_xam8HDblCXZviYLCNY50GX68S_uT3lE4Gy75qNPzHSE-0/s640/hit_graph.png" width="640" /></span></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
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<a href="http://www.fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playerid=826&position=SS" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Derek Jeter</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">'s obviously the king, as he reached 3,000 hits earlier this year. At 2,762 for his career, </span><a href="http://www.fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playerid=1274&position=3B/SS" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Alex Rodriguez</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> looks like he's got a handle on entering the 3K club as well. Two guys who have really leveled are </span><a href="http://www.fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playerid=906&position=3B" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Eric Chavez</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> and </span><a href="http://www.fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playerid=96&position=OF" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Andruw Jones</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">, who were on the fast track before being hit by injuries/general ineffectiveness. </span><a href="http://www.fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playerid=3269&position=2B" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Robinson Cano</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> is a hit-machine, though he he's not quite at Jeter's pace through his age 28 season. </span><a href="http://www.fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playerid=4599&position=OF" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Nick Swisher</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> and </span><a href="http://www.fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playerid=4747&position=OF" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Curtis Granderson</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> are similar in their hit profiles and aren't on any sort of special pace. <a href="http://www.fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playerid=841&position=C">Jorge Posada</a> is notable here as a good player who's been able to cut it for a long time (notice the slight bump at 2007, when he got a career best 171 hits). I put </span><a href="http://www.fangraphs.com/players.aspx?lastname=Eduardo%20Nunez" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Eduardo Nunez</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> on the graph since he's played a lot this year, but he's no more than a blip on the radar here as a second-year role player. </span><br />
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</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2446990813792736752.post-17765295684168037792011-08-10T12:54:00.001-04:002011-08-10T12:55:25.676-04:00Who is Garrett Richards?<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Honestly, I don't really know. The Angels' rookie is set to make his major league debut against the Yankees tonight, coming straight up from Double-A. The 23-year-old has seen his strikeout rate drop from over 1 per inning to about 6 and a half per 9 this year, but he should be a big-time ground ball guy. We actually have a little bit of PITCHf/x data on him from the 2010 Cactus League; Harry Pavlidis <a href="http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/article/first-round-cactus-league/">covered</a> it for The Hardball Times last year. In short, Harry found a 93 mph sinker, 93 mph cutter (maybe it's a four-seamer that gets natural cutting action), 87 mph slider, 85 mph changeup. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I asked Sam Miller, who writes about the Angels for the Orange County Register, if he could provide any further scouting on Richards:</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
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<blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>"4-seamer in mid/upper 90s to righties; 2-seamer to lefties gets tons of grounders; occasional plus slider; so-so curve and change ... strikeout rate nothing special, but he can get in a strikeout roll and do double-digits. Very loose comp: Chatwood w/control."</i></span></blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Tyler Chatwood, by the way, is set to make the start on Thursday against Bartolo Colon. As for Richards, his stuff looks pretty nasty. I'll probably have a post on THT Live tomorrow with a PITCHf/x recap of his debut. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>Also, read Miller's <a href="http://angels.ocregister.com/2011/08/10/happy-garrett-richards-day-heres-what-to-expect/91093/">post</a> on Richards from this morning. </i></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i><br />
</i></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2446990813792736752.post-78757507416400964842011-08-04T23:32:00.000-04:002011-08-04T23:32:26.907-04:00Pitch breakdown from Nova's gem<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia;">Fair to say that Ivan Nova doesn't want to go back to the minor leagues? With his back against the wall in a battle with Phil Hughes for the last rotation spot, Nova turned in the best start of his career. Over 7 2/3 innings, he allowed 1 run on 6 hits. Even more impressive is that he struck out 10 and walked not a single batter. Some quick math tells me that's a 73 game score. <br />
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<div style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia;">As he did in his two other superb 2011 starts (6/20 against Cincy, 7/30 against Baltimore), Nova relied on his new slider today. He threw 25, which was the most of any start aside from the start against the Reds, in which he threw 26 sliders. Pitch results for all of his four pitches are in the table below. </span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px;"><br />
</span><table border="1" bordercolor="#000000" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="0" id="vxej" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 1em; line-height: inherit;"><tbody>
<tr style="text-align: left;"><td bgcolor="#eeeeee" width="11.11111111111111%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;"><br />
</span></td><td bgcolor="#eeeeee" width="11.11111111111111%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">mph</span></td><td bgcolor="#eeeeee" width="11.11111111111111%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">vs LHB</span></td><td bgcolor="#eeeeee" width="11.11111111111111%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">vs RHB</span></td><td bgcolor="#eeeeee" width="11.11111111111111%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">Ball</span></td><td bgcolor="#eeeeee" width="11.11111111111111%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">Called</span></td><td bgcolor="#eeeeee" width="11.11111111111111%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">Whiff</span></td><td bgcolor="#eeeeee" width="11.11111111111111%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">Foul</span></td><td bgcolor="#eeeeee" width="11.11111111111111%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">In Play</span></td></tr>
<tr style="text-align: left;"><td width="11.11111111111111%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">Fastball</span></td><td width="11.11111111111111%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">93.9</span></td><td width="11.11111111111111%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">23</span></td><td width="11.11111111111111%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">37</span></td><td width="11.11111111111111%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">21</span></td><td width="11.11111111111111%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">12</span></td><td width="11.11111111111111%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">3</span></td><td width="11.11111111111111%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">8</span></td><td width="11.11111111111111%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">13</span></td></tr>
<tr style="text-align: left;"><td width="11.11111111111111%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">Slider</span></td><td width="11.11111111111111%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">87.1</span></td><td width="11.11111111111111%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">7</span></td><td width="11.11111111111111%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">18</span></td><td width="11.11111111111111%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">4</span></td><td width="11.11111111111111%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">2</span></td><td width="11.11111111111111%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">11</span></td><td width="11.11111111111111%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">5</span></td><td width="11.11111111111111%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">1</span></td></tr>
<tr style="text-align: left;"><td width="11.11111111111111%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">Curveball</span></td><td width="11.11111111111111%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">81.0</span></td><td width="11.11111111111111%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">8</span></td><td width="11.11111111111111%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">4</span></td><td width="11.11111111111111%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">5</span></td><td width="11.11111111111111%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">3</span></td><td width="11.11111111111111%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">0</span></td><td width="11.11111111111111%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">1</span></td><td width="11.11111111111111%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">2</span></td></tr>
<tr style="text-align: left;"><td width="11.11111111111111%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">Changeup</span></td><td width="11.11111111111111%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">88.2</span></td><td width="11.11111111111111%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">1</span></td><td width="11.11111111111111%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">1</span></td><td width="11.11111111111111%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">1</span></td><td width="11.11111111111111%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">0</span></td><td width="11.11111111111111%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">0</span></td><td width="11.11111111111111%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">1</span></td><td width="11.11111111111111%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">0</span></td></tr>
<tr style="text-align: left;"><td width="11.11111111111111%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;"><br />
</span></td><td width="11.11111111111111%"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;"><br />
</span></b></td><td width="11.11111111111111%"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">39</span></b></td><td width="11.11111111111111%"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">60</span></b></td><td width="11.11111111111111%"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">31</span></b></td><td width="11.11111111111111%"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">17</span></b></td><td width="11.11111111111111%"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">14</span></b></td><td width="11.11111111111111%"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">15</span></b></td><td width="11.11111111111111%"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">16</span></b></td></tr>
</tbody></table><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia;">For some more reference, I've included a color-coded chart of Nova's spin deflection (pitch movement) from tonight's game. His slider gets unusual movement (it actually moves armside or "backs up"), and because of this, Gameday often labels it as a fastball, change, or cutter. It really is looking like a typical cutter, since it has plenty of velocity and not a whole lot of break. Nova calls it a slider, so I'll stick with that label for now. </span></span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYr_1NMUcSFiubF71dTghXltfOtBzubmRGkwLeXd5c4Z8SfOSZAQvtkbxzuwhD-S-XP2AysZEIcX0KNcklj_XrXB_k7bnHWRf2z9yu71iTG1dqwObwAERg9Ui2T-FfdvRDcFafp_1rNCM/s1600/nova_spin_20110804.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="194" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYr_1NMUcSFiubF71dTghXltfOtBzubmRGkwLeXd5c4Z8SfOSZAQvtkbxzuwhD-S-XP2AysZEIcX0KNcklj_XrXB_k7bnHWRf2z9yu71iTG1dqwObwAERg9Ui2T-FfdvRDcFafp_1rNCM/s640/nova_spin_20110804.png" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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<div style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia;">Remember that these are from the catcher's perspective and are in inches of movement relative to a theoretical spinless pitch. </span></i></div><div style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia;"><br />
</span></i></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2446990813792736752.post-91196767117280893942011-08-03T13:09:00.001-04:002011-08-03T13:09:44.905-04:00Another new curveball from Hughes<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Phil Hughes had what was probably his best start of 2011 yesterday, throwing six shutout innings while walking none and striking out four. If it hadn't been for the rain during the seventh inning, Hughes certainly would have pitched more, since he only had 66 pitches in his outing. In addition to hitting 95 mph, something that we had not seen this year, Hughes unleashed a new variation on his curveball, which he seems to be constantly tweaking. The first one he threw was a nasty one with two strikes to A.J. Pierzynski that registered at 82 mph, which is harder than Hughes has ever thrown his curve in the majors. Hughes </span><a href="http://yankees.lhblogs.com/2011/08/03/postgame-notes-i-knew-i-could-be-better/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">confirmed</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> after the game that it was indeed a hard curveball, as opposed to the slider he incorporated in March and ditched after two starts. This is already the fourth time there's been some detectable change in Hughes' curveball:</span><br />
<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div><ul><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">During Hughes' dead-arm period in April, he was using the same spike grip on his curve that he had in 2010, but his lack of arm strength only allowed him to throw the ball in the low-70s, more than 4 mph softer than his 2010 average.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">After his reinstatement from the DL on July 7th, Hughes started throwing his curveball harder, though not as hard as he did in 2010.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Before his July 17th start against the Blue Jays, Hughes announced that he would be switching to a new grip without a spiked finger in order to get a tighter break and more velocity, though the velocity didn't change a whole lot over his next three starts.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Yesterday, Hughes showed a pitch that looks more like a power curve, averaging around 80 mph.</span></li>
</ul><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">This chart shows the vertical spin deflection (the number of inches the ball drops relative to a spinless pitch) plotted against velocity for Hughes's curveball this year. You can see that the new grip (starting July 17th) gave the pitch less movement without much added velocity until yesterday.</span></div></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
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</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">What's strange is that the pitch he was throwing yesterday looks like what he was trying to throw since the 17th, but the velocity spike didn't come until now. My guess is that Hughes sticks with this new variation of the curve, since he's said that he's been trying to add velocity to it.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2446990813792736752.post-69617775171686949782011-07-31T01:48:00.000-04:002011-07-31T01:48:50.718-04:00Arrieta PITCHf/x<div style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia;">25-year old Jake Arrieta will take the mound for the Orioles as they try to salvage a split against the Yankees. You can view Arrieta's season in a number of different ways: 10 wins on a terrible team is a good thing, 5.12 ERA is pretty frightening. Even more frightening is his 5.29 FIP, due to a monstrous home run rate. xFIP likes him more, pegging him at 4.32, which is serviceable. Arrieta has a full five pitch mix, with good velocity and a huge curveball. His slider can look like a cutter sometimes. Enjoy the charts and graphs.</span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQqd9sIvQavBL10A-J8zTRDQuWciL_-H0b5EO91lgAxS8IbbNg-4x4IF-TRIbByfAa5bmtiieYa8nGjHJFtkZScn3h8VbuSwj03FrOvjnzbkHqiV5olkn3fqXdR-uEp4S2JRj6IDQ-w0c/s1600/arrieta_spin.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="202" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQqd9sIvQavBL10A-J8zTRDQuWciL_-H0b5EO91lgAxS8IbbNg-4x4IF-TRIbByfAa5bmtiieYa8nGjHJFtkZScn3h8VbuSwj03FrOvjnzbkHqiV5olkn3fqXdR-uEp4S2JRj6IDQ-w0c/s640/arrieta_spin.png" width="640" /></a></div><div style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia;"><br />
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</span><div style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><table border="1" bordercolor="#000000" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="0" id="nm2w" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 1em; line-height: inherit;"><tbody>
<tr style="text-align: left;"><td bgcolor="#eeeeee" width="7.6923076923076925%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;"><br />
</span></td><td bgcolor="#eeeeee" width="7.6923076923076925%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">mph</span></td><td bgcolor="#eeeeee" width="7.6923076923076925%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">#</span></td><td bgcolor="#eeeeee" width="7.6923076923076925%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">LHB%</span></td><td bgcolor="#eeeeee" width="7.6923076923076925%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">RHB%</span></td><td bgcolor="#eeeeee" width="7.6923076923076925%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">Swing</span></td><td bgcolor="#eeeeee" width="7.6923076923076925%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">Whiff</span></td><td bgcolor="#eeeeee" width="7.6923076923076925%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">Zone</span></td><td bgcolor="#eeeeee" width="7.6923076923076925%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">Chase</span></td><td bgcolor="#eeeeee" width="7.6923076923076925%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">Watch</span></td><td bgcolor="#eeeeee" width="7.6923076923076925%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">Ball</span></td><td bgcolor="#eeeeee" width="7.6923076923076925%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">nsCall</span></td><td bgcolor="#eeeeee" width="7.6923076923076925%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">GB%</span></td></tr>
<tr style="text-align: left;"><td width="7.6923076923076925%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">Fastball</span></td><td width="7.6923076923076925%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">92.5</span></td><td width="7.6923076923076925%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">598</span></td><td width="7.6923076923076925%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.293</span></td><td width="7.6923076923076925%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.352</span></td><td width="7.6923076923076925%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.415</span></td><td width="7.6923076923076925%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.133</span></td><td width="7.6923076923076925%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.463</span></td><td width="7.6923076923076925%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.293</span></td><td width="7.6923076923076925%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.444</span></td><td width="7.6923076923076925%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.380</span></td><td width="7.6923076923076925%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.351</span></td><td width="7.6923076923076925%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.349</span></td></tr>
<tr style="text-align: left;"><td width="7.6923076923076925%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">Sinker</span></td><td width="7.6923076923076925%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">92.4</span></td><td width="7.6923076923076925%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">522</span></td><td width="7.6923076923076925%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.300</span></td><td width="7.6923076923076925%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.249</span></td><td width="7.6923076923076925%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.439</span></td><td width="7.6923076923076925%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.122</span></td><td width="7.6923076923076925%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.398</span></td><td width="7.6923076923076925%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.325</span></td><td width="7.6923076923076925%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.389</span></td><td width="7.6923076923076925%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.420</span></td><td width="7.6923076923076925%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.253</span></td><td width="7.6923076923076925%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.479</span></td></tr>
<tr style="text-align: left;"><td width="7.6923076923076925%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">Slider</span></td><td width="7.6923076923076925%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">86.1</span></td><td width="7.6923076923076925%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">318</span></td><td width="7.6923076923076925%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.094</span></td><td width="7.6923076923076925%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.267</span></td><td width="7.6923076923076925%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.519</span></td><td width="7.6923076923076925%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.273</span></td><td width="7.6923076923076925%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.428</span></td><td width="7.6923076923076925%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.357</span></td><td width="7.6923076923076925%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.265</span></td><td width="7.6923076923076925%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.355</span></td><td width="7.6923076923076925%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.261</span></td><td width="7.6923076923076925%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.483</span></td></tr>
<tr style="text-align: left;"><td width="7.6923076923076925%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">Curveball</span></td><td width="7.6923076923076925%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">77.5</span></td><td width="7.6923076923076925%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">297</span></td><td width="7.6923076923076925%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.193</span></td><td width="7.6923076923076925%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.113</span></td><td width="7.6923076923076925%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.374</span></td><td width="7.6923076923076925%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.324</span></td><td width="7.6923076923076925%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.455</span></td><td width="7.6923076923076925%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.296</span></td><td width="7.6923076923076925%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.533</span></td><td width="7.6923076923076925%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.357</span></td><td width="7.6923076923076925%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.430</span></td><td width="7.6923076923076925%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.469</span></td></tr>
<tr style="text-align: left;"><td width="7.6923076923076925%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">Changeup</span></td><td width="7.6923076923076925%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">86.6</span></td><td width="7.6923076923076925%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">144</span></td><td width="7.6923076923076925%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.120</span></td><td width="7.6923076923076925%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.020</span></td><td width="7.6923076923076925%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.368</span></td><td width="7.6923076923076925%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.208</span></td><td width="7.6923076923076925%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.271</span></td><td width="7.6923076923076925%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.276</span></td><td width="7.6923076923076925%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.385</span></td><td width="7.6923076923076925%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.507</span></td><td width="7.6923076923076925%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.198</span></td><td width="7.6923076923076925%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.409</span></td></tr>
<tr style="text-align: left;"><td width="7.6923076923076925%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;"><br />
</span></td><td width="7.6923076923076925%"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;"><br />
</span></b></td><td width="7.6923076923076925%"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">1879</span></b></td><td width="7.6923076923076925%"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;"><br />
</span></b></td><td width="7.6923076923076925%"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;"><br />
</span></b></td><td width="7.6923076923076925%"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.429</span></b></td><td width="7.6923076923076925%"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.190</span></b></td><td width="7.6923076923076925%"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.423</span></b></td><td width="7.6923076923076925%"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.312</span></b></td><td width="7.6923076923076925%"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.411</span></b></td><td width="7.6923076923076925%"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.393</span></b></td><td width="7.6923076923076925%"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.312</span></b></td><td width="7.6923076923076925%"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.430</span></b></td></tr>
</tbody></table> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXx3rWXRa3Db3rHR70kLj_Ihpg5-3jjJQIalhR7bQ2jaCevpGCEcmV5OHQaSbJz2vR4-b042LYEvj5XE9BYXwZJf0Xe6YG04shyOLeCByHNxHuAw_jUjmTnw81EWGtu9Q3n1kSlKEHAAY/s1600/arrieta_vertical.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="243" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXx3rWXRa3Db3rHR70kLj_Ihpg5-3jjJQIalhR7bQ2jaCevpGCEcmV5OHQaSbJz2vR4-b042LYEvj5XE9BYXwZJf0Xe6YG04shyOLeCByHNxHuAw_jUjmTnw81EWGtu9Q3n1kSlKEHAAY/s400/arrieta_vertical.png" width="400" /></a></div><div style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiznJD5672BF486SmO25ODD0WjMj46ped4mOJrPvJgeczmP8U1oYlASiAi96dREj8cNtH7PzN4mEzFyHFWMsX34jY_PyHx95IaMz5dQmSNuOQ50Cajx47fG5JnyYRd65B08ZHVXBSk_ffw/s1600/arrieta_horizontal.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="202" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiznJD5672BF486SmO25ODD0WjMj46ped4mOJrPvJgeczmP8U1oYlASiAi96dREj8cNtH7PzN4mEzFyHFWMsX34jY_PyHx95IaMz5dQmSNuOQ50Cajx47fG5JnyYRd65B08ZHVXBSk_ffw/s640/arrieta_horizontal.png" width="640" /></a></div><div style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2446990813792736752.post-84665769526056281392011-07-30T12:00:00.000-04:002011-07-30T12:00:07.661-04:00The midseason Nova profile<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia;">As Joe Girardi put it, Ivan Nova will make his return to the majors in the tonight "unless something freaky happens." Nova's had his ups and downs in his time as the Yankees' nominal fourth starter in 2011, and overall it would be fair to say that he did a serviceable job in the back-end of the rotation. As a little refresher on Nova, here are the charts and graphs that you typically see around these parts. </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia;"><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0HGB61u_dnECgR10e1PCjonnfQvETwPOE9GsJm8SFR1glU3HVkHZoYhKU8iFf8YqU3_OdF_2mWo6Acba69Z96mH3QOuaaGM9O__HH8yjgVTMDP3bYJ8AoqtstZiwJ92frYqOf56z8N-8/s1600/nova_spin.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0HGB61u_dnECgR10e1PCjonnfQvETwPOE9GsJm8SFR1glU3HVkHZoYhKU8iFf8YqU3_OdF_2mWo6Acba69Z96mH3QOuaaGM9O__HH8yjgVTMDP3bYJ8AoqtstZiwJ92frYqOf56z8N-8/s640/nova_spin.png" width="640" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia;"><br />
</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px;"><br />
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<table border="1" bordercolor="#000000" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="0" id="tie:" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 1em; line-height: inherit;"><tbody>
<tr style="text-align: left;"><td bgcolor="#eeeeee" width="7.6923076923076925%"><br />
</td><td bgcolor="#eeeeee" width="7.6923076923076925%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">mph</span></td><td bgcolor="#eeeeee" width="7.6923076923076925%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">#</span></td><td bgcolor="#eeeeee" width="7.6923076923076925%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">LHB%</span></td><td bgcolor="#eeeeee" width="7.6923076923076925%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">RHB%</span></td><td bgcolor="#eeeeee" width="7.6923076923076925%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">Swing</span></td><td bgcolor="#eeeeee" width="7.6923076923076925%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">Whiff </span></td><td bgcolor="#eeeeee" width="7.6923076923076925%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">Zone</span></td><td bgcolor="#eeeeee" width="7.6923076923076925%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">Chase</span></td><td bgcolor="#eeeeee" width="7.6923076923076925%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">Watch</span></td><td bgcolor="#eeeeee" width="7.6923076923076925%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">Ball</span></td><td bgcolor="#eeeeee" width="7.6923076923076925%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">nsCall</span></td><td bgcolor="#eeeeee" width="7.6923076923076925%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">GB Rate</span></td></tr>
<tr style="text-align: left;"><td width="7.6923076923076925%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">Fastball</span></td><td width="7.6923076923076925%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">92.3</span></td><td width="7.6923076923076925%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">942</span></td><td width="7.6923076923076925%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.623</span></td><td width="7.6923076923076925%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.650</span></td><td width="7.6923076923076925%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.469</span></td><td width="7.6923076923076925%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.084</span></td><td width="7.6923076923076925%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.486</span></td><td width="7.6923076923076925%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.269</span></td><td width="7.6923076923076925%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.319</span></td><td width="7.6923076923076925%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.355</span></td><td width="7.6923076923076925%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.332</span></td><td width="7.6923076923076925%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.564</span></td></tr>
<tr style="text-align: left;"><td width="7.6923076923076925%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">Curveball</span></td><td width="7.6923076923076925%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">79.9</span></td><td width="7.6923076923076925%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">371</span></td><td width="7.6923076923076925%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.257</span></td><td width="7.6923076923076925%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.243</span></td><td width="7.6923076923076925%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.369</span></td><td width="7.6923076923076925%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.234</span></td><td width="7.6923076923076925%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.372</span></td><td width="7.6923076923076925%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.275</span></td><td width="7.6923076923076925%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.471</span></td><td width="7.6923076923076925%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.434</span></td><td width="7.6923076923076925%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.312</span></td><td width="7.6923076923076925%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.560</span></td></tr>
<tr style="text-align: left;"><td width="7.6923076923076925%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">Slider</span></td><td width="7.6923076923076925%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">84.1</span></td><td width="7.6923076923076925%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">88</span></td><td width="7.6923076923076925%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.026</span></td><td width="7.6923076923076925%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.098</span></td><td width="7.6923076923076925%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.398</span></td><td width="7.6923076923076925%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.514</span></td><td width="7.6923076923076925%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.193</span></td><td width="7.6923076923076925%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.366</span></td><td width="7.6923076923076925%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.471</span></td><td width="7.6923076923076925%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.466</span></td><td width="7.6923076923076925%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.226</span></td><td width="7.6923076923076925%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.625</span></td></tr>
<tr style="text-align: left;"><td width="7.6923076923076925%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">Changeup</span></td><td width="7.6923076923076925%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">85.8</span></td><td width="7.6923076923076925%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">81</span></td><td width="7.6923076923076925%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.094</span></td><td width="7.6923076923076925%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.009</span></td><td width="7.6923076923076925%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.469</span></td><td width="7.6923076923076925%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.158</span></td><td width="7.6923076923076925%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.506</span></td><td width="7.6923076923076925%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.225</span></td><td width="7.6923076923076925%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.293</span></td><td width="7.6923076923076925%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.395</span></td><td width="7.6923076923076925%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.256</span></td><td width="7.6923076923076925%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.412</span></td></tr>
<tr style="text-align: left;"><td width="7.6923076923076925%"><b><br />
</b></td><td width="7.6923076923076925%"><b><br />
</b></td><td width="7.6923076923076925%"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">1482</span></b></td><td width="7.6923076923076925%"><b><br />
</b></td><td width="7.6923076923076925%"><b><br />
</b></td><td width="7.6923076923076925%"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.440</span></b></td><td width="7.6923076923076925%"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.143</span></b></td><td width="7.6923076923076925%"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.441</span></b></td><td width="7.6923076923076925%"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.277</span></b></td><td width="7.6923076923076925%"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.277</span></b></td><td width="7.6923076923076925%"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.383</span></b></td><td width="7.6923076923076925%"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.316</span></b></td><td width="7.6923076923076925%"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.557</span></b></td></tr>
</tbody></table><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px;"><br />
</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg08w6y1oSQNGqc8tsnznWx6tDrt00aOvuxXNay8oD8qd6nqthlTimrqz4wW6Ui34TucGHuU7N6ecB8K0gBoIF1PTCNEOwTXbkqwf2feXrm5_tuJARs6pOf5tV_0MnbWTrgmRGyChKqr9c/s1600/nova_vertical.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="223" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg08w6y1oSQNGqc8tsnznWx6tDrt00aOvuxXNay8oD8qd6nqthlTimrqz4wW6Ui34TucGHuU7N6ecB8K0gBoIF1PTCNEOwTXbkqwf2feXrm5_tuJARs6pOf5tV_0MnbWTrgmRGyChKqr9c/s400/nova_vertical.png" width="400" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px;"><br />
</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgXOMepB9M5kX356pHbNr0QPJuPm5K85dnaiE7ISSnEsdgAwioOgowSJK-Aa8gB8a1B2jFcKwnVpVHBZoeSNcFovbwdsfxNtpzbWQgBSLs-mOxHC89DzzKTsIJaRm9RbZusr2Trnk1ZEM/s1600/nova_horizontal.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="182" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgXOMepB9M5kX356pHbNr0QPJuPm5K85dnaiE7ISSnEsdgAwioOgowSJK-Aa8gB8a1B2jFcKwnVpVHBZoeSNcFovbwdsfxNtpzbWQgBSLs-mOxHC89DzzKTsIJaRm9RbZusr2Trnk1ZEM/s640/nova_horizontal.png" width="640" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia;">Nova has good tools, with his primary offering being a four-seam fastball that can get into the mid-90s with natural sink. Despite his cross-seam grip and propensity to keep it up in the zone, the four-seamer generates plenty of ground balls. His curveball is hard and has plenty of break, but it doesn't elicit nearly enough swings and whiffs for the amount of times it's thrown for a ball. His changeup is pretty much a show-me pitch at this point. I've mentioned his slider a few times on this site, and it still looks like an intriguing pitch with plenty of potential given that he keeps it down and has been able to miss bats with it. He's brought it back into his repertoire after exiling it from April 19th to May 28th, though he still prefers the curve as his main offspeed pitch. <br />
</span></span><br />
<div style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia;">No doubt, this will be a big start for Nova. Phil Hughes does not look like the pitcher he was last year, and if Nova makes a good impression tonight, he could be looked at as someone to take Hughes's rotation spot.</span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2446990813792736752.post-74301371895936598132011-07-30T02:28:00.001-04:002011-07-30T02:29:14.273-04:00Burnett's adjustment on the mound<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">After yesterday's game, the Star Ledger's Marc Carig </span><a href="http://twitter.com/#!/Ledger_Yankees/status/97160434049757184"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">noted</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> on Twitter that A.J. Burnett had shifted towards the third base side of the rubber in order to get a better angle to the plate. The chart below, with "release" indicating the location of the ball at 50 feet from home plate, confirms this:</span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgt1_aGeW54Jw5WpvoPPRNWtx-1tB0VZg2TTq6vyfTekTu1MNalWLwfG8mk7IMUFR0DqsNZvips3_w5NJtuN6azfshS_kb-KQheqzV-cxGRojw3Pu-NTNKqO19FPOcsXv9bHwm9iGKXug/s1600/burnett_release.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="210" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgt1_aGeW54Jw5WpvoPPRNWtx-1tB0VZg2TTq6vyfTekTu1MNalWLwfG8mk7IMUFR0DqsNZvips3_w5NJtuN6azfshS_kb-KQheqzV-cxGRojw3Pu-NTNKqO19FPOcsXv9bHwm9iGKXug/s400/burnett_release.png" width="400" /></a></div><br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Only 2011 home games were used in order to limit the amount of park calibration variation. You can see that his most recent start is a big horizontal release outlier, as he's shifted about a foot towards third base (or "negatively," since this is from the catcher's perspective) from where he usually is.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2446990813792736752.post-43953980076373793952011-07-26T10:26:00.000-04:002011-07-26T10:26:21.178-04:00Hey, Doug Fister<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia;">The Mariners haven't won since July 5th. They stumbled into New York and now are owners of a sixteen game losing streak. Tonight, they will turn to Doug Fister, who has pitched well but has not much to show for it - he has a 3.30 ERA, but only a 3-11 record. His best skill is his ability to prevent free passes, as his 2 walks per 9 innings is one of the best rates in the league. He's striking out a few more guys this year than last year, but that's not really his game. Isolated metrics for his five pitches are below.</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6yRmcf-TQ0NGVim2vyGbsQ4husUZDXPT2ZEDaASd2o3eVJ15n-dOxzKUB_wqhpeN04ICtS_GHsl9aoSQt42-ETievIMmxanqfyuiojMJCCktnUZoVUvdFuhkKM44AAPNqVCJO6u2dIUE/s1600/fister_spin.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6yRmcf-TQ0NGVim2vyGbsQ4husUZDXPT2ZEDaASd2o3eVJ15n-dOxzKUB_wqhpeN04ICtS_GHsl9aoSQt42-ETievIMmxanqfyuiojMJCCktnUZoVUvdFuhkKM44AAPNqVCJO6u2dIUE/s640/fister_spin.png" width="640" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<div style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia;">He's primarily a sinkerballer these days, reserving the four-seam cheese for only a few occurrences per game. </span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px;"><br />
</span><table border="1" bordercolor="#000000" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="0" id="xr.9" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 1em; line-height: inherit;"><tbody>
<tr style="text-align: left;"><td bgcolor="#eeeeee" width="8.333333333333334%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;"><br />
</span></td><td bgcolor="#eeeeee" width="8.333333333333334%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">mph</span></td><td bgcolor="#eeeeee" width="8.333333333333334%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">#</span></td><td bgcolor="#eeeeee" width="8.333333333333334%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">LHB%</span></td><td bgcolor="#eeeeee" width="8.333333333333334%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">RHB%</span></td><td bgcolor="#eeeeee" width="8.333333333333334%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">Swing</span></td><td bgcolor="#eeeeee" width="8.333333333333334%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">Whiff </span></td><td bgcolor="#eeeeee" width="8.333333333333334%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">Zone</span></td><td bgcolor="#eeeeee" width="8.333333333333334%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">Chase</span></td><td bgcolor="#eeeeee" width="8.333333333333334%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">Ball</span></td><td bgcolor="#eeeeee" width="8.333333333333334%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">nsCall</span></td><td bgcolor="#eeeeee" width="8.333333333333334%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">GB Rate</span></td></tr>
<tr style="text-align: left;"><td width="8.333333333333334%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">Sinker</span></td><td width="8.333333333333334%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">89.4</span></td><td width="8.333333333333334%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">1025</span></td><td width="8.333333333333334%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.442</span></td><td width="8.333333333333334%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.609</span></td><td width="8.333333333333334%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.471</span></td><td width="8.333333333333334%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.093</span></td><td width="8.333333333333334%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.508</span></td><td width="8.333333333333334%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.357</span></td><td width="8.333333333333334%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.293</span></td><td width="8.333333333333334%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.446</span></td><td width="8.333333333333334%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.509</span></td></tr>
<tr style="text-align: left;"><td width="8.333333333333334%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">Fastball</span></td><td width="8.333333333333334%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">89.3</span></td><td width="8.333333333333334%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">149</span></td><td width="8.333333333333334%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.073</span></td><td width="8.333333333333334%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.077</span></td><td width="8.333333333333334%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.349</span></td><td width="8.333333333333334%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.212</span></td><td width="8.333333333333334%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.403</span></td><td width="8.333333333333334%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.258</span></td><td width="8.333333333333334%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.503</span></td><td width="8.333333333333334%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.227</span></td><td width="8.333333333333334%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.261</span></td></tr>
<tr style="text-align: left;"><td width="8.333333333333334%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">Cutter</span></td><td width="8.333333333333334%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">86.1</span></td><td width="8.333333333333334%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">337</span></td><td width="8.333333333333334%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.183</span></td><td width="8.333333333333334%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.154</span></td><td width="8.333333333333334%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.570</span></td><td width="8.333333333333334%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.177</span></td><td width="8.333333333333334%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.418</span></td><td width="8.333333333333334%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.413</span></td><td width="8.333333333333334%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.341</span></td><td width="8.333333333333334%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.207</span></td><td width="8.333333333333334%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.398</span></td></tr>
<tr style="text-align: left;"><td width="8.333333333333334%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">Curveball</span></td><td width="8.333333333333334%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">74.9</span></td><td width="8.333333333333334%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">285</span></td><td width="8.333333333333334%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.163</span></td><td width="8.333333333333334%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.125</span></td><td width="8.333333333333334%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.323</span></td><td width="8.333333333333334%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.283</span></td><td width="8.333333333333334%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.512</span></td><td width="8.333333333333334%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.266</span></td><td width="8.333333333333334%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.344</span></td><td width="8.333333333333334%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.492</span></td><td width="8.333333333333334%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.385</span></td></tr>
<tr style="text-align: left;"><td width="8.333333333333334%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">Changeup</span></td><td width="8.333333333333334%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">82.5</span></td><td width="8.333333333333334%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">186</span></td><td width="8.333333333333334%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.143</span></td><td width="8.333333333333334%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.036</span></td><td width="8.333333333333334%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.557</span></td><td width="8.333333333333334%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.233</span></td><td width="8.333333333333334%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.405</span></td><td width="8.333333333333334%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.436</span></td><td width="8.333333333333334%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.341</span></td><td width="8.333333333333334%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.232</span></td><td width="8.333333333333334%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.479</span></td></tr>
<tr style="text-align: left;"><td width="8.333333333333334%"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;"><br />
</span></b></td><td width="8.333333333333334%"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;"><br />
</span></b></td><td width="8.333333333333334%"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">1954</span></b></td><td width="8.333333333333334%"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;"><br />
</span></b></td><td width="8.333333333333334%"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;"><br />
</span></b></td><td width="8.333333333333334%"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.467</span></b></td><td width="8.333333333333334%"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.152</span></b></td><td width="8.333333333333334%"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.479</span></b></td><td width="8.333333333333334%"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.358</span></b></td><td width="8.333333333333334%"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.327</span></b></td><td width="8.333333333333334%"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.385</span></b></td><td width="8.333333333333334%"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">.455</span></b></td></tr>
</tbody></table><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia;">Grounders come from the sinker, which is located higher in the zone than the typical sinker:</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNArJMSRUHCmPh0KkbgscV6g7RKFT53UWVd6gVeUYsuAPRgV5owAswiZcqjzeeqqAmd3hcoWhCH1Jk6WqKvWiHJtqj-RhiURopjP_V_RUEOGMYtsHlP1BH2vwwWnxvbUl70RL1lqUvNLs/s1600/fister_vertical.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="238" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNArJMSRUHCmPh0KkbgscV6g7RKFT53UWVd6gVeUYsuAPRgV5owAswiZcqjzeeqqAmd3hcoWhCH1Jk6WqKvWiHJtqj-RhiURopjP_V_RUEOGMYtsHlP1BH2vwwWnxvbUl70RL1lqUvNLs/s400/fister_vertical.png" width="400" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<div style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia;">As for horizontal locations, the sinker, curve, and change are aimed gloveside, while the four-seamer and cutter go armside:</span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAJJLpjcHCF_o0J1doK1isyNG_XdCDgAQ784Iuq3j1gBTGrYijKt9Cl0qIii1cMAurroti861ZY0qKIQb0cT_dq81r7UzLlLtsNQ257lGZXZqGLEcIVxt8mg2wt-b3LNx3x5rQdtnOsj0/s1600/fister_horizontal.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="187" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAJJLpjcHCF_o0J1doK1isyNG_XdCDgAQ784Iuq3j1gBTGrYijKt9Cl0qIii1cMAurroti861ZY0qKIQb0cT_dq81r7UzLlLtsNQ257lGZXZqGLEcIVxt8mg2wt-b3LNx3x5rQdtnOsj0/s640/fister_horizontal.png" width="640" /></a></div><div style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia;"><br />
</span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia;"><br />
None of his pitches stand out as plus offerings, but his ability to get the ball over the plate consistently makes him at the very least a league average starter.</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia;"><br />
</span></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2446990813792736752.post-63289772791110357652011-07-23T10:53:00.002-04:002011-08-25T00:46:06.283-04:00What to make of Harden?<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Rich Harden is back with the Athletics, and he will take on A.J. Burnett and the Yankees this afternoon. After beginning the year on the DL, he's made three July starts, pitching to a 5 ERA but with much better peripherals. He's coming off of a terrible year in Arlington in which he lost his ability to strike hitters out while issuing a career high walk rate. He's looking a lot better in his first three starts this year, but his patented changeup is not fooling hitters like it once was. Considering the strikeout is such a huge part of Harden's game, here are the whiff rates on his two-pitch* arsenal dating back to 2008.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4SbttvRVw_HFKXzSIoFA9FmCeOwZHL27FH6JSut_HJCCdCuXXP_c6cIxkHvTyOsaDD-R_0G2n9FDQzuMT9FYoEfh2UyfaPovP5aXZ4zB01fcXP5zEzU_cdri9uHf0Ptwhdg-P6atBcHs/s1600/harden_whiffs.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="220" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4SbttvRVw_HFKXzSIoFA9FmCeOwZHL27FH6JSut_HJCCdCuXXP_c6cIxkHvTyOsaDD-R_0G2n9FDQzuMT9FYoEfh2UyfaPovP5aXZ4zB01fcXP5zEzU_cdri9uHf0Ptwhdg-P6atBcHs/s400/harden_whiffs.png" width="400" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<div style="font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>*he sometimes throws a two-seamer, but it's rare. Also of note is that his changeup looks more like a traditional slider than a changeup.</i></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Through his first three starts, the fastball is back to its 2008-2009 rate, but the changeup is still about where it was last year. In response to the question posed as the title of this post: it's impossible to know this early in his season. We'll need more data to determine whether the A's are getting the 2008-2009 Rich Harden or the 2010 one. </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;"><br />
</span></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2446990813792736752.post-81940880183764544232011-07-19T14:09:00.001-04:002011-07-19T14:20:38.580-04:00Musing on David Robertson's changeup<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia;">For the 8th inning of the Yankees' 5-4 win over the Rays on Monday, David Robertson came on and struck out two batters, something that is fairly typical for him. However, both strikeouts came on a changeup, which is the least frequently used of Robertson's three pitches. Given that his shutdown eighth was a big moment in the game and many people were watching, now is probably a good time to discuss D-Rob's change: <br />
</span></span><br />
<ul style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><li style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia;">Robertson has thrown 20 changeups this year, and 19 of them have been to left-handed batters (the exception was to Nelson Cruz on April 15th).</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia;">It might not sound like a lot, but it's plenty more than he threw last year (five all year, and just one from June through August). </span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia;">At just under 87 mph, it's only about six off of his fastball, but it does have about eight inches more armside tail (something batters are not used to seeing from Robertson, who throws a cutting four-seam fastball and does not use a sinker).</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia;">He doesn't like using it in save situations; he usually only throws the change when behind, tied, or with a big lead (more on this later).</span></li>
</ul><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px;"><br />
</span><br />
<div style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia;">Like I said, Robertson has only thrown 20 changeups this year, so take the numbers below for what they're worth; basically, he misses with it a lot, and when he doesn't, batters do.</span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px;"><br />
</span><br />
<table border="1" bordercolor="#000000" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="0" id="xw4r" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 1em; line-height: inherit;"><tbody>
<tr style="text-align: left;"><td bgcolor="#eeeeee" width="10%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">mph</span></td><td bgcolor="#eeeeee" width="10%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">#</span></td><td bgcolor="#eeeeee" width="10%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">LHB</span></td><td bgcolor="#eeeeee" width="10%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">RHB</span></td><td bgcolor="#eeeeee" width="10%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">Ball</span></td><td bgcolor="#eeeeee" width="10%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">Called</span></td><td bgcolor="#eeeeee" width="10%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">Swinging</span></td><td bgcolor="#eeeeee" width="10%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">Foul</span></td><td bgcolor="#eeeeee" width="10%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">In Zone</span></td><td bgcolor="#eeeeee" width="10%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">In Play</span></td></tr>
<tr style="text-align: left;"><td width="10%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">86.8</span></td><td width="10%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">20</span></td><td width="10%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">19</span></td><td width="10%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">1</span></td><td width="10%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">11</span></td><td width="10%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">1</span></td><td width="10%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">5</span></td><td width="10%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">3</span></td><td width="10%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">5</span></td><td width="10%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">0</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia;">Now returning to the fourth bullet-point: Robertson has shown an unwillingness to stray from his two more comfortable pitches in save situations. The chart below shows the situation in which he threw each of his changeups.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px;"><br />
</span><br />
<table border="1" bordercolor="#000000" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="0" id="n8jf" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 1em; line-height: inherit;"><tbody>
<tr style="text-align: left;"><td bgcolor="#eeeeee" width="20%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">Date</span></td><td bgcolor="#eeeeee" width="20%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">Inning</span></td><td bgcolor="#eeeeee" width="20%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">Balls</span></td><td bgcolor="#eeeeee" width="20%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">Strikes</span></td><td bgcolor="#eeeeee" width="20%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">Score (ahead/behind)</span></td></tr>
<tr style="text-align: left;"><td width="20%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">4/2</span></td><td width="20%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">6</span></td><td width="20%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">0</span></td><td width="20%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">0</span></td><td width="20%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">A-6</span></td></tr>
<tr style="text-align: left;"><td width="20%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">4/2</span></td><td width="20%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">6</span></td><td width="20%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">1</span></td><td width="20%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">0</span></td><td width="20%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">A-6</span></td></tr>
<tr style="text-align: left;"><td width="20%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">4/15</span></td><td width="20%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">5</span></td><td width="20%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">2</span></td><td width="20%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">0</span></td><td width="20%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">B-3</span></td></tr>
<tr style="text-align: left;"><td width="20%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">5/7</span></td><td width="20%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">7</span></td><td width="20%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">0</span></td><td width="20%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">1</span></td><td width="20%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">B-2</span></td></tr>
<tr style="text-align: left;"><td width="20%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">5/7</span></td><td width="20%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">7</span></td><td width="20%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">1</span></td><td width="20%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">0</span></td><td width="20%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">B-2</span></td></tr>
<tr style="text-align: left;"><td width="20%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">5/7</span></td><td width="20%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">7</span></td><td width="20%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">2</span></td><td width="20%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">1</span></td><td width="20%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">B-2</span></td></tr>
<tr style="text-align: left;"><td width="20%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">5/7</span></td><td width="20%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">7</span></td><td width="20%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">3</span></td><td width="20%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">2</span></td><td width="20%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">B-2</span></td></tr>
<tr style="text-align: left;"><td width="20%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">5/14</span></td><td width="20%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">7</span></td><td width="20%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">1</span></td><td width="20%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">0</span></td><td width="20%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">B-6</span></td></tr>
<tr style="text-align: left;"><td width="20%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">5/15</span></td><td width="20%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">7</span></td><td width="20%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">0</span></td><td width="20%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">0</span></td><td width="20%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">B-1</span></td></tr>
<tr style="text-align: left;"><td width="20%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">5/15</span></td><td width="20%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">7</span></td><td width="20%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">0</span></td><td width="20%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">1</span></td><td width="20%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">B-2</span></td></tr>
<tr style="text-align: left;"><td width="20%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">5/17</span></td><td width="20%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">7</span></td><td width="20%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">1</span></td><td width="20%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">0</span></td><td width="20%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">A-3</span></td></tr>
<tr style="text-align: left;"><td width="20%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">5/28</span></td><td width="20%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">7</span></td><td width="20%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">0</span></td><td width="20%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">1</span></td><td width="20%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">Tie</span></td></tr>
<tr style="text-align: left;"><td width="20%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">5/28</span></td><td width="20%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">7</span></td><td width="20%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">1</span></td><td width="20%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">0</span></td><td width="20%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">Tie</span></td></tr>
<tr style="text-align: left;"><td width="20%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">5/28</span></td><td width="20%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">7</span></td><td width="20%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">0</span></td><td width="20%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">0</span></td><td width="20%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">Tie</span></td></tr>
<tr style="text-align: left;"><td width="20%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">5/28</span></td><td width="20%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">8</span></td><td width="20%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">0</span></td><td width="20%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">0</span></td><td width="20%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">Tie</span></td></tr>
<tr style="text-align: left;"><td width="20%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">6/16</span></td><td width="20%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">8</span></td><td width="20%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">1</span></td><td width="20%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">1</span></td><td width="20%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">Tie</span></td></tr>
<tr style="text-align: left;"><td width="20%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">6/29</span></td><td width="20%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">8</span></td><td width="20%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">0</span></td><td width="20%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">0</span></td><td width="20%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">A-3</span></td></tr>
<tr style="text-align: left;"><td width="20%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">7/18</span></td><td width="20%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">8</span></td><td width="20%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">1</span></td><td width="20%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">2</span></td><td width="20%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">Tie</span></td></tr>
<tr style="text-align: left;"><td width="20%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">7/18</span></td><td width="20%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">8</span></td><td width="20%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">0</span></td><td width="20%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">2</span></td><td width="20%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">Tie</span></td></tr>
<tr style="text-align: left;"><td width="20%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">7/18</span></td><td width="20%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">8</span></td><td width="20%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">1</span></td><td width="20%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">2</span></td><td width="20%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">Tie</span></td></tr>
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<div style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia;">Only two of his changeups have been thrown in save situations, though that doesn't necessarily mean that he's not comfortable using it in big spots, given his reliance on it in tied games such as yesterday's. He's proven that he really doesn't need more than two pitches to be lights-out as a reliever, but being able to show the changeup to lefties, as he did yesterday, will make him nastier than he already is.</span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia;"><br />
</span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2446990813792736752.post-62234161938917383022011-07-18T10:58:00.000-04:002011-07-18T10:58:42.202-04:00Cobb f/x<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">After getting beaten up in the first two games of the second half, the Yankees were able to salvage a series-split with Blue Jays in Canada. They'll now begin an important four-game series with the Rays at Tropicana Field - if Tampa has a poor week, they could be forced to become sellers at the trade deadline. The set will kick off with A.J. Burnett getting the ball against Rays' rookie Alex Cobb. Cobb, who will be 24 in October, has been posting good minor league numbers, including a strikeout rate over 9 per 9 innings and a walk rate at about 2 and a half per 9 innings since 2010. He's been in Triple A for most of this year, but has made five of his starts for the big club. </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
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<div style="font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Cobb is working with four pitches this year. He'll throw two types of 91 mph fastballs, one that's pretty straight (four-seam grip) and another that sinks and tails (two-seam grip). His primary offspeed pitch is a mid-80s splitter (picture <a href="http://www.daylife.com/photo/07XF1Ti10R0Dl?">here</a>) that often dives straight down but sometimes moves more like a sinker (the few that appear to be cutting are due to some calibration offsets at Tropicana Field). He also has a high 70s curveball in his arsenal. He hasn't been great at missing bats, and his control is suspect. He will, however, get the ball on the ground with all of his pitches but the four-seamer. Charts and graphs are below; click the graphs to enlarge them.</span></div><div style="font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3ASDgjSSKi1qdalV3ZC4gH2oWGWbm4uRZkKyAN8QCaj107HVMSEJrg6ZILCE0NZSGWIusfbM5f6qCpGpLKmcDqRhjTEIpgAEp87Qd2pMWRpKLjIAVzSyHp2DIKGWhX7jyIJY1Aiqxz2g/s1600/cobb_spin.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="196" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3ASDgjSSKi1qdalV3ZC4gH2oWGWbm4uRZkKyAN8QCaj107HVMSEJrg6ZILCE0NZSGWIusfbM5f6qCpGpLKmcDqRhjTEIpgAEp87Qd2pMWRpKLjIAVzSyHp2DIKGWhX7jyIJY1Aiqxz2g/s640/cobb_spin.png" width="640" /></a></div><div style="font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
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</span><table border="1" bordercolor="#000000" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="0" id="ss9a" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 1em; line-height: inherit;"><tbody>
<tr style="text-align: left;"><td bgcolor="#eeeeee" width="9.090909090909092%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></td><td bgcolor="#eeeeee" width="9.090909090909092%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">mph</span></td><td bgcolor="#eeeeee" width="9.090909090909092%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">#</span></td><td bgcolor="#eeeeee" width="9.090909090909092%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">LHB%</span></td><td bgcolor="#eeeeee" width="9.090909090909092%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">RHB%</span></td><td bgcolor="#eeeeee" width="9.090909090909092%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Swing </span></td><td bgcolor="#eeeeee" width="9.090909090909092%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Whiff</span></td><td bgcolor="#eeeeee" width="9.090909090909092%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Zone</span></td><td bgcolor="#eeeeee" width="9.090909090909092%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Ball</span></td><td bgcolor="#eeeeee" width="9.090909090909092%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">nsCall</span></td><td bgcolor="#eeeeee" width="9.090909090909092%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">GB%</span></td></tr>
<tr style="text-align: left;"><td width="9.090909090909092%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Fastball</span></td><td width="9.090909090909092%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">91.2</span></td><td width="9.090909090909092%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">150</span></td><td width="9.090909090909092%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">.275</span></td><td width="9.090909090909092%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">.372</span></td><td width="9.090909090909092%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">.347</span></td><td width="9.090909090909092%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">.096</span></td><td width="9.090909090909092%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">.427</span></td><td width="9.090909090909092%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">.420</span></td><td width="9.090909090909092%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">.357</span></td><td width="9.090909090909092%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">.269</span></td></tr>
<tr style="text-align: left;"><td width="9.090909090909092%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Sinker</span></td><td width="9.090909090909092%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">91.0</span></td><td width="9.090909090909092%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">78</span></td><td width="9.090909090909092%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">.183</span></td><td width="9.090909090909092%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">.157</span></td><td width="9.090909090909092%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">.436</span></td><td width="9.090909090909092%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">.118</span></td><td width="9.090909090909092%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">.397</span></td><td width="9.090909090909092%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">.359</span></td><td width="9.090909090909092%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">.364</span></td><td width="9.090909090909092%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">.529</span></td></tr>
<tr style="text-align: left;"><td width="9.090909090909092%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Splitter</span></td><td width="9.090909090909092%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">85.0</span></td><td width="9.090909090909092%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">155</span></td><td width="9.090909090909092%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">.381</span></td><td width="9.090909090909092%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">.298</span></td><td width="9.090909090909092%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">.587</span></td><td width="9.090909090909092%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">.242</span></td><td width="9.090909090909092%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">.381</span></td><td width="9.090909090909092%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">.329</span></td><td width="9.090909090909092%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">.203</span></td><td width="9.090909090909092%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">.472</span></td></tr>
<tr style="text-align: left;"><td width="9.090909090909092%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Curveball</span></td><td width="9.090909090909092%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">77.8</span></td><td width="9.090909090909092%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">77</span></td><td width="9.090909090909092%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">.161</span></td><td width="9.090909090909092%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">.174</span></td><td width="9.090909090909092%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">.338</span></td><td width="9.090909090909092%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">.115</span></td><td width="9.090909090909092%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">.481</span></td><td width="9.090909090909092%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">.416</span></td><td width="9.090909090909092%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">.373</span></td><td width="9.090909090909092%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">.667</span></td></tr>
<tr style="text-align: left;"><td width="9.090909090909092%"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></b></td><td width="9.090909090909092%"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></b></td><td width="9.090909090909092%"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">460</span></b></td><td width="9.090909090909092%"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></b></td><td width="9.090909090909092%"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></b></td><td width="9.090909090909092%"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">.441</span></b></td><td width="9.090909090909092%"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">.167</span></b></td><td width="9.090909090909092%"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">.415</span></b></td><td width="9.090909090909092%"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">.378</span></b></td><td width="9.090909090909092%"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">.323</span></b></td><td width="9.090909090909092%"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">.457</span></b></td></tr>
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</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Looking at pitch heights split into five different zones (below the zone, low in the zone, middle, high in the zone, above the zone), we can see that Cobb keeps his four-seamer up, his sinker a little lower, and his offspeed stuff low</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px;">. </span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiN286mytgW2P6Y46ZNrsneZM-CC53B626YjcwEhtJ_OVfxDAdGnwRlNAN8YBQlWOMY5z_S53d9aJ69aKCAeOlWOvPcSX0zu5eq1NnDHxEs-em6-JQPG0R0g2Qtzxedbk4EMlfUB_SeM7E/s1600/cobb_pitch_height.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="223" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiN286mytgW2P6Y46ZNrsneZM-CC53B626YjcwEhtJ_OVfxDAdGnwRlNAN8YBQlWOMY5z_S53d9aJ69aKCAeOlWOvPcSX0zu5eq1NnDHxEs-em6-JQPG0R0g2Qtzxedbk4EMlfUB_SeM7E/s400/cobb_pitch_height.png" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</span></span></span></span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2446990813792736752.post-20732050121180358622011-07-08T11:03:00.003-04:002011-07-08T21:18:14.359-04:00Hellickson stuff preview<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia;">Tonight, Jeremy Hellickson will take on the Yankees, who are enduring something of a mini-slump before the break. Hellickson is a rookie with a great minor league track record and a good ERA this year despite unspectacular peripherals. You could call him a three-pitch pitcher, but more accurately, he throws six. I have five ID'd: a four-seam fastball, a straight change, a curve, and some rare sinkers and cutters. His fastballs are extremely difficult to distinguish; there are probably some inaccuracies surrounding the splits I made between four-seam/sinker/cutter. He's predominately four-seamers, though. The other gray area is around his curveball, which is slurvey and often ranges in movement and velocity. Hellickson has said that he throws a harder version of the curve with two strikes; for now, I'm lumping all of breaking pitches into a curve group.<br />
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<div style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia;">Onto the details of his stuff ...</span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGliTZ_PAj4E-PVRYOS9iOXYl6912aRbUydDme4GA0FxWaeYhHLKcJ44QVhc5PQr-ioB98HyAvbrTzG0r4c3Sz-VntrJjSN8mFW8kWi3-FQ9hwZC2lKCQwLOxbdLI4rE651VMhzdCyooo/s1600/hellickson_spin.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGliTZ_PAj4E-PVRYOS9iOXYl6912aRbUydDme4GA0FxWaeYhHLKcJ44QVhc5PQr-ioB98HyAvbrTzG0r4c3Sz-VntrJjSN8mFW8kWi3-FQ9hwZC2lKCQwLOxbdLI4rE651VMhzdCyooo/s640/hellickson_spin.png" width="640" /></a></div><div style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia;"><br />
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<tr style="text-align: left;"><td bgcolor="#eeeeee" width="9.090909090909092%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></td><td bgcolor="#eeeeee" width="9.090909090909092%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">mph</span></td><td bgcolor="#eeeeee" width="9.090909090909092%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">#</span></td><td bgcolor="#eeeeee" width="9.090909090909092%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">LHB%</span></td><td bgcolor="#eeeeee" width="9.090909090909092%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">RHB%</span></td><td bgcolor="#eeeeee" width="9.090909090909092%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Swing </span></td><td bgcolor="#eeeeee" width="9.090909090909092%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Whiff </span></td><td bgcolor="#eeeeee" width="9.090909090909092%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Zone </span></td><td bgcolor="#eeeeee" width="9.090909090909092%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Ball </span></td><td bgcolor="#eeeeee" width="9.090909090909092%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Called </span></td><td bgcolor="#eeeeee" width="9.090909090909092%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">GB%</span></td></tr>
<tr style="text-align: left;"><td width="9.090909090909092%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Fastball</span></td><td width="9.090909090909092%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">90.6</span></td><td width="9.090909090909092%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">822</span></td><td width="9.090909090909092%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">.592</span></td><td width="9.090909090909092%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">.472</span></td><td width="9.090909090909092%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">.316</span></td><td width="9.090909090909092%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">.135</span></td><td width="9.090909090909092%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">.398</span></td><td width="9.090909090909092%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">.416</span></td><td width="9.090909090909092%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">.210</span></td><td width="9.090909090909092%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">.296</span></td></tr>
<tr style="text-align: left;"><td width="9.090909090909092%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Changeup</span></td><td width="9.090909090909092%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">80.1</span></td><td width="9.090909090909092%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">519</span></td><td width="9.090909090909092%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">.317</span></td><td width="9.090909090909092%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">.351</span></td><td width="9.090909090909092%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">.520</span></td><td width="9.090909090909092%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">.359</span></td><td width="9.090909090909092%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">.370</span></td><td width="9.090909090909092%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">.316</span></td><td width="9.090909090909092%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">.079</span></td><td width="9.090909090909092%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">.285</span></td></tr>
<tr style="text-align: left;"><td width="9.090909090909092%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Curveball</span></td><td width="9.090909090909092%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">74.7</span></td><td width="9.090909090909092%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">195</span></td><td width="9.090909090909092%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">.074</span></td><td width="9.090909090909092%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">.174</span></td><td width="9.090909090909092%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">.354</span></td><td width="9.090909090909092%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">.362</span></td><td width="9.090909090909092%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">.369</span></td><td width="9.090909090909092%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">.467</span></td><td width="9.090909090909092%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">.149</span></td><td width="9.090909090909092%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">.103</span></td></tr>
<tr style="text-align: left;"><td width="9.090909090909092%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></td><td width="9.090909090909092%"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></b></td><td width="9.090909090909092%"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">1551</span></b></td><td width="9.090909090909092%"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></b></td><td width="9.090909090909092%"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></b></td><td width="9.090909090909092%"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">.391</span></b></td><td width="9.090909090909092%"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">.259</span></b></td><td width="9.090909090909092%"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">.386</span></b></td><td width="9.090909090909092%"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">.389</span></b></td><td width="9.090909090909092%"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">.157</span></b></td><td width="9.090909090909092%"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">.275</span></b></td></tr>
</tbody></table><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia;">He's an extreme fly-ball guy. Some changeups are very good at getting ground balls; Hellickson's is not. It's slow and doesn't sink a whole lot, which leads to plenty of missed bats but not many ground balls. The change is certainly his best pitch, regardless, as he can throw it for strikes and pick up whiffs. Hellickson is very comfortable using the change against right-handed batters. The slurve has a nice swing-and-miss rate, but it's thrown for a ball quite a bit. His fastball doesn't look too impressive; it's probably best used to get over the plate early in the count to set up the changeup, but it is worse than average in zone rate and balls per pitch. <br />
<br />
Hellickson's K/BB ratio is down to 1.7 after being consistently above 3 in the minor leagues. He's having trouble locating his fastball, and it's leading to way too many free passes (3.4 per 9 this year, with an unspectacular strikeout rate of 5.9). His changeup does look very good, though.</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<div style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia;">Here is a </span><a href="http://www.indyweek.com/triangleoffense/archives/2010/04/19/jeremy-hellickson-durham-bulls-whip-norfolk-tides-the-silent-cyclone" id="ch_s" title="link"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia;">link</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia;"> to a 2010 article about Hellickson's repertoire. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia;"><br />
</span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2446990813792736752.post-43805851731954813482011-06-29T10:34:00.002-04:002011-06-29T10:35:55.013-04:00Putting Greinke's clunker in context<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The Yankees knocked around Zack Greinke last night, scoring seven runs against him in only two innings. Probably the most unusual thing about Greinke's brief (shortest start since 2007) outing was the number of free passes he allowed. In his 2 innings and 16 batters faced, Greinke allowed three walks and hit a batter - all of this without striking out a single batter. This coming from a pitcher with a K/BB near 9 coming into yesterday's game. Strikeouts and free passes are two things that are directly in the pitcher's control, so it's a good (albeit incomplete) thing to look at for evaluating a pitcher's success. Tom Tango's kwERA (strikeout-walk ERA) is an ERA estimator that only uses strikeouts and free passes (walks - intentional walks + hit batsmen) as inputs and converts the differential into an ERA-like number. The chart below shows Greinke's kwERA by start, with the horizontal axis being the NL average ERA.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqiI9UdiR_uhHebwWm2T3lsZqSGXL_E_ViU8AshJPWaA5Rv3ow4SqdcMlfGEiQ-XiiQGR38bUOBGBWt6oF9RgX9crttezwhV_dh3-4svCU5zojRHfeiEFuqN2n42tHVUsD297dolpgkMw/s1600/greinke_kw.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" height="206" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqiI9UdiR_uhHebwWm2T3lsZqSGXL_E_ViU8AshJPWaA5Rv3ow4SqdcMlfGEiQ-XiiQGR38bUOBGBWt6oF9RgX9crttezwhV_dh3-4svCU5zojRHfeiEFuqN2n42tHVUsD297dolpgkMw/s400/greinke_kw.png" width="400" /></span></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">You can see that before yesterday, Greinke hadn't had a worse-than-average game by this measurement all season. Greinke's still leads his league in kwERA by a lot at 2.12; Clayton Kershaw is next at 2.54.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2446990813792736752.post-78959067334037161742011-06-20T23:35:00.003-04:002011-06-21T10:04:05.883-04:00Nova slides to success<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Ivan Nova just wrapped up the best start of his career a little while ago. He pitched eight shutout innings (a career best), striking out seven (tying a career best), and most impressively, not allowing a single free pass (another career best). In addition, he allowed 16 of his 21 balls in play on the ground (the other five were line drives). He went to work with a different approach than in previous starts - for only the second time all year (and the first time since April 9th), Nova used his slider as his primary off-speed pitch. He threw 26 sliders this evening, making up 25% of his 105 total pitches. He used it in different situations, throwing it on the first pitch (five times) and in strikeout counts (eight times, including once on a full count). Most of them were thrown to righties, though lefties saw two. The breakdown for all of Nova's pitches is below:</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> Ball Called Foul Swinging In Play </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">FF 17 11 15 1* 15</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">SL 11 6 3 6 0</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">CU 7 0 3 3 1</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">CH 0 0 1 0 5</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>*missed bunt</i></span> <br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">What's very encouraging is that Nova was able to get both called and swinging strikes with his slider. After tonight's performance, Nova's slider whiff rate (per swing) for the year is at a gaudy 60%. That will almost certainly go down, but while it's working, it's good to see him increase usage of it. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2446990813792736752.post-75144936028206404562011-06-16T14:14:00.001-04:002011-06-16T14:14:46.508-04:00A slightly different Ramiro Pena?<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Ramiro Pena was recalled from Triple-A on Tuesday following Derek Jeter's calf injury, and got his first start of the season at third base on Wednesday. He had a big day, collecting two hits and a no-doubt, <a href="http://www.hittrackeronline.com/detail.php?id=2011_1782&type=hitter">401-foot</a> home run, his first homer since September of 2009. You might have noticed that he looked different this year than in previous years - mostly, that's due to a new batting stance. Click the links (<a href="http://newyork.yankees.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=6901319">2009</a>, <a href="http://mlb.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=15930035">2011</a>) to see how Pena's stance has changed since his last major league home run. You can see that previously, Pena had a much more open batting stance, and now both feet are pretty much equidistant from the plate; he might even be a little bit closed. This is much more speculation, but Pena looks like he's gained some weight since last year, adding to the feeling of "who is that guy?" when he stepped up to the plate yesterday.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I don't know enough about batting stance and mechanics to qualify my comments on this, but one can't help but wonder if this new stance is paying previously unseen dividends for Pena. In 215 plate appearances at Triple-A Scranton this year, Pena hit 4 home runs - by no means a big number, but interesting considering he'd never hit more than two in a full season. His isolated power of .135 is also career high; he's never been above .100 for a professional season. I don't think it's logical to make a big deal out of it yet, but combined with Pena's new swing, the power increase is certainly something to keep an eye on.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2446990813792736752.post-64470441704631371552011-06-15T13:45:00.002-04:002011-06-15T13:47:00.470-04:00Yanks face Holland in game two<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Southpaw <a href="http://www.fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playerid=4141&position=P" target="_blank">Derek Holland</a> will be on the mound for the Rangers tonight. Like yesterday's starter, <a href="http://www.fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playerid=10261&position=P" target="_blank">Alexi Ogando</a>, Holland is young and throws hard. After being with the team in different roles since 2009, Holland, who is now 24, is finally getting his first chance to start consistently. He's had mixed results, posting a 4.41 ERA but a much more impressive 3.52 xFIP in his 81 2/3 innings so far. Graphs and metrics for his five pitches are below.</span><br />
<div style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5wEpk0cXQ8v8K8q-kS2S2kbsJO8SeG7xeQnhsMMiPuzk_Sy7rS262Te4db2QPYnLwPtWu19EsWO9HfrErCgUGHXlmft_x1Q4BhfSi2Sb1YDHtMcgrw2B4kbSthYQe4l-m_f68CXIb71M/s1600/holland_spin.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="192" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5wEpk0cXQ8v8K8q-kS2S2kbsJO8SeG7xeQnhsMMiPuzk_Sy7rS262Te4db2QPYnLwPtWu19EsWO9HfrErCgUGHXlmft_x1Q4BhfSi2Sb1YDHtMcgrw2B4kbSthYQe4l-m_f68CXIb71M/s640/holland_spin.png" width="640" /></a></div><div style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
<table border="1" bordercolor="#000000" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="0" id="oy:s" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 1em; line-height: inherit;"><tbody>
<tr style="text-align: left;"><td bgcolor="#f3f3f3" width="10%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></td><td bgcolor="#f3f3f3" width="10%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">mph</span></td><td bgcolor="#f3f3f3" width="10%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">#</span></td><td bgcolor="#f3f3f3" width="10%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">LHB%</span></td><td bgcolor="#f3f3f3" width="10%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">RHB%</span></td><td bgcolor="#f3f3f3" width="10%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Swing</span></td><td bgcolor="#f3f3f3" width="10%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Whiff</span></td><td bgcolor="#f3f3f3" width="10%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Zone</span></td><td bgcolor="#f3f3f3" width="10%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">nsCall</span></td><td bgcolor="#f3f3f3" width="10%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">GB</span></td></tr>
<tr style="text-align: left;"><td width="10%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Fastball</span></td><td width="10%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">93.4</span></td><td width="10%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">522</span></td><td width="10%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">.477</span></td><td width="10%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">.476</span></td><td width="10%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">.395</span></td><td width="10%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">.184</span></td><td width="10%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">.475</span></td><td width="10%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">.377</span></td><td width="10%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">.479</span></td></tr>
<tr style="text-align: left;"><td width="10%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Sinker</span></td><td width="10%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">93.4</span></td><td width="10%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">239</span></td><td width="10%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">.277</span></td><td width="10%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">.196</span></td><td width="10%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">.531</span></td><td width="10%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">.157</span></td><td width="10%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">.527</span></td><td width="10%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">.339</span></td><td width="10%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">.623</span></td></tr>
<tr style="text-align: left;"><td width="10%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Slider</span></td><td width="10%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">82.8</span></td><td width="10%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">181</span></td><td width="10%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">.223</span></td><td width="10%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">.143</span></td><td width="10%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">.564</span></td><td width="10%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">.353</span></td><td width="10%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">.309</span></td><td width="10%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">.152</span></td><td width="10%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">.514</span></td></tr>
<tr style="text-align: left;"><td width="10%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Changeup</span></td><td width="10%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">85.4</span></td><td width="10%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">154</span></td><td width="10%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">.023</span></td><td width="10%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">.185</span></td><td width="10%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">.468</span></td><td width="10%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">.125</span></td><td width="10%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">.597</span></td><td width="10%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">.341</span></td><td width="10%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">.314</span></td></tr>
<tr style="text-align: left;"><td width="10%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Curveball</span></td><td width="10%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">75.7</span></td><td width="10%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">128</span></td><td width="10%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">.037</span></td><td width="10%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">.147</span></td><td width="10%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">.313</span></td><td width="10%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">.175</span></td><td width="10%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">.492</span></td><td width="10%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">.386</span></td><td width="10%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">.316</span></td></tr>
<tr style="text-align: left;"><td width="10%"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span> </b></td><td width="10%"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span> </b></td><td width="10%"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">1224</span></b></td><td width="10%"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span> </b></td><td width="10%"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span> </b></td><td width="10%"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">.447</span></b></td><td width="10%"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">.201</span></b></td><td width="10%"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">.478</span></b></td><td width="10%"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">.341</span></b></td><td width="10%"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">.479</span></b></td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Holland's slider is probably his best strikeout pitch, though is fastball looks pretty good too. Some of this is camera issues (pfx_x in Texas is shifted by a few inches), but the slider does appear to back-up most of the time (it moves gloveside as opposed to armside). His curve moves more like a typical slider but is thrown in the 70s; it doesn't get whiffs, but he can drop it in for a called strike. Also noticeable is that while he throws all five pitches to righties, he's really only four-seam/two-seam/slider against lefties.</span></span><br />
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</span></span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2446990813792736752.post-62562745102230051182011-06-14T12:42:00.002-04:002011-06-14T12:45:22.934-04:00Ogando preview<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">After a successful series against the Indians, the Yankees will welcome the Texas Rangers to town for a three-game series beginning tonight. For the second time this year, the pitching matchup will be </span><a href="http://www.fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playerid=10261&position=P" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Alexi Ogando</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> versus </span><a href="http://www.fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playerid=404&position=P" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">CC Sabathia</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">. Ogando's story has probably been told a lot by now - converted outfielder, debuted in the bullpen last year, moved to the rotation, and has yet to lose a game all year. He seems like a pretty tough customer. Some bulletpoints on his stuff and pitching style:</span><br />
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<ul><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Ogando is one of the hardest throwers in the game, averaging about 94.4 with his four-seam fastball. This puts him behind </span><a href="http://www.fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playerid=5372&position=P" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Michael Pineda</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">, </span><a href="http://www.fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playerid=8700&position=P" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Justin Verlander</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">, and </span><a href="http://www.fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playerid=3184&position=P" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">David Price</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> as the hardest-throwing starter in the game. </span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">He's all about that four-seamer, as he'll throw it a little under two-thirds of the time (62% against lefties, 66% against righties). He'll throw an 80 mph slider as his offspeed pitch (26% LHB, 32% RHB) as well as the occasional changeup or two-seam sinker.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">He'll get swings-and-misses on his fastball about 15% more often than the league average pitcher would. However, his slider whiff rate of .264 is well below the league average of about 32%. </span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">He's below average at getting groundballs with both his fastball (36%) and his slider (32%), so he's prone to the home run ball.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">His control is excellent, as he's maintained a walk rate of 2 per 9 innings by being able to throw strikes consistently with both his fastball (35% balls per pitch) and slider (37%). </span></li>
</ul><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Given his power arm, Ogando might seem like he'd be more of a strikeout pitcher, but he's making the control thing work well for him so far. His BABIP is .210, so his ERA probably won't stay in the low 2s for long. Even if you throw in some regression, he still looks like a top-flight starting pitcher. </span></div><div><br />
</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2446990813792736752.post-18236209249558072622011-06-10T16:45:00.000-04:002011-06-10T16:45:00.132-04:00Joba, I'm gonna miss you<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The news is official now, and Joba Chamberlain will have Tommy John surgery next Thursday with Dr. James Andrews. I don't really have a whole lot to say on the subject, but I thought I shouldn't just let it go by without saying anything here. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I'm sure most of you have some sort of "special connection" to a ballplayer, whether it be somebody from your hometown, somebody you've watched from early on in his career, etc. I've been following the Yankees for ten years, but I only really got into all the minutiae a few years ago. Joba Chamberlain might've been the first guy that I really studied closely from his first major league season. Between that, my love of pure power pitchers, and his fun personality, I became a huge fan of Joba's, while being wary of the occasional <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aK9AZ9RycFD8&refer=home">transgression</a>. Even after his move to the bullpen in 2010, I'd make attempts to arrange my schedule so that I could see him pitch (such as asking myself, can I get home in time to watch the last three innings of the game?). It goes without saying that it won't be the easiest thing for me to not see him out there for at least another year. For him, I hope he has a flawless recovery and can get back out there as soon as possible. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Get well soon, Joba; we'll be pulling for you. </span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2446990813792736752.post-44712502995906905812011-06-09T15:22:00.000-04:002011-06-09T15:22:01.416-04:00Hello again, Jeffrey<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>This was supposed to go up yesterday, but the Joba Chamberlain news pushed me back a bit.</i> </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Jeff Marquez was claimed off waivers by the Yankees on Wednesday, making that Nick Swisher deal look even more silly. This is kind of a blast-from-the-past, as Marquez was making his way through the Yankees' system as a starter (along with Chamberlain, Phil Hughes, and Ian Kennedy) in the mid-2000s. Now 26, Marquez's stock has fallen a lot in the past five years, and this acquisition is nothing more than a depth move. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Marquez was touted as a sinker-ball pitcher, though his groundball rates dropped a lot from his early professional career (mid 50% ground ball rate 2005-2007, down about 10 percentage points 2008-2010). From his one inning, 18-pitch stint with the White Sox last year, we have some PITCHf/x data on Marquez. He showed five pitches that formed five distinct clusters; below is horizontal spin deflection plotted against vertical spin deflection (in inches):</span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjJDtdny-x_A2X6ejtUQNNNv3dXuSPwNDJI9xaZseu51zP-SUQ-uOU-TGWqIZs-skrBHgjWtt27LxNUBF5dfAhse1rPX4mS0u6ef1Z5iGY0cqZffViXeDfVfEkQ-8wHs-ZTYVnA70zTHw/s1600/marquez_spin.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="252" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjJDtdny-x_A2X6ejtUQNNNv3dXuSPwNDJI9xaZseu51zP-SUQ-uOU-TGWqIZs-skrBHgjWtt27LxNUBF5dfAhse1rPX4mS0u6ef1Z5iGY0cqZffViXeDfVfEkQ-8wHs-ZTYVnA70zTHw/s400/marquez_spin.png" width="400" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">This one shows horizontal spin deflection and speed:</span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTg7xnCJbNcRTQJGZffHAwpS1iitn_dmbxV6n8FxBnZdpQ-_gJj-Ff1Nhg_iM137cCItEtxz66QqtTQaffdA-160PW-XQ8uiKXDd8Kyr_gNKvhUogXkIp1Ty_oO4oe-wcIjJGokmMQg74/s1600/marquez_speed.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="261" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTg7xnCJbNcRTQJGZffHAwpS1iitn_dmbxV6n8FxBnZdpQ-_gJj-Ff1Nhg_iM137cCItEtxz66QqtTQaffdA-160PW-XQ8uiKXDd8Kyr_gNKvhUogXkIp1Ty_oO4oe-wcIjJGokmMQg74/s400/marquez_speed.png" width="400" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I don't know how (if at all) Joe Girardi plans to use Marquez in the now-depleted bullpen, but it sure would be nice for him to contribute and get his career going again.</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0