Release points (focus on sidewinders and submariners)

I've started taking a more detailed look at release points. That's usually the first identification when watching a pitcher on television, before we can make any judgments on his stuff --- does he come from over the top? Three-quarters? Side-winding? Submarine? But while noting this when watching games, I for some reason didn't really take much time to observe release points as catalogued by PITCHf/x data (which, clearly, I am fascinated by). So, I will dedicate this post to data representations of release points. Before I get into the graph stuff, I'd like to note that what we consider the release point in the data to be is an approximation based on where the PITCHf/x cameras first detect the ball out of the pitcher's hand. So while it's not an exact representation of where the pitcher's arm is, it's the closest thing we have now.

The above chart (my apologies for the cluttered-ness) shows the release points for the pitchers who have thrown in 2010. It's from the catcher's perspective, so the points on the positive side of the horizontal axis are from left-handers, and the points on the negative side are from right-handers (with what is to my knowledge one exception, which I'll get to in a bit). There are also some stray marks outside of the clusters, which represent the arm-angles of the sidewinders/submariners. For the right-handers, the guys that are outside of the general cluster are Cla Meredith, Darren O'Day, Peter Moylan, Sean Green, Joe Smith, and Brad Ziegler. Green throws from about a foot more to the side than any of the other righties. Ziegler, who appears to be the only true right-handed "submarine" specialist, has the lowest vertical angle but releases the ball only about two and a half feet from the side. For the lefties, the outliers are Randy Choate, Javier Lopez, James Houser, Pedro Feliciano, Joe Thatcher, and Mitch Stetter. Choate looks like a submariner, while Stetter comes from a higher angle but releases the ball a remarkable four and a half feet away from the center of the plate.

The cluster to the right is for left-handers, and the cluster to the left is for right-handers, with the one exception that I alluded to before. This exception is Hideki Okajima, whose release point PITCHf/x picks up as being to the side of home plate where right-handers work from. As far as I know, Okajima works from the extreme 3rd base side of the rubber; he also has a straight over-the-top delivery, which would probably account for this anomaly. By the way, at the end of this post I will include links to video clips of Okajima and the other pitchers I've mentioned here.

One other thing that's important to note - this post was pretty "quick 'n' dirty," as the release points on the chart were determined simply by taking the average release point on all of the pitcher's pitches. That means that the pitchers who have at least one distinct release point (Jose Contrereas, for example) or pitch from both sides of the rubber (Ben Sheets) will be misrepresented. There are only a few pitchers I know of that vary their release points significantly, but at some point I'll go back and do some refining.

Gameday PITCHf/x data is from MLB Advanced Media, and can be accessed easily via Joe Lefkowitz's site. Here is some video, courtesy of mlb.com and YouTube, of the sidearmers and submariners I identified (as well as Okajima):

Cla Meredith

Darren O'Day

Peter Moylan

Sean Green

Joe Smith

Brad Ziegler

Randy Choate

Javier Lopez

James Houser (limited MLB experience - the video is from YouTube and is of poor quality)

Pedro Feliciano

Joe Thatcher

Mitch Stetter

Hideki Okajima

Durability from the Rays' rotation

Clearly, the Tampa Bay Rays are having an excellent season so far. They're now just a game out of first place (and the majors' best record) behind the Yankees. They are unique in that they've gotten starts from only five guys --- James Shields, Matt Garza, David Price, Jeff Niemann, and Wade Davis. They are the only team in the majors with this distinction. Next in line are the Braves, Cubs, and Marlins, who have each used 6 starters this year. On the other end of the spectrum, the Nationals lead the major leagues in starters used with 12.

Andy Marte pitches in

Who was the Indians' best pitcher in today's 11-4 loss to the Yankees? Undoubtedly, that honor belonged to third baseman Andy Marte. With the game out of hand, Marte pitched a 1-2-3 9th inning, picking up a swinging strikeout of Nick Swisher along the way. Marte looked pretty solid after falling behind leadoff hitter Robinson Cano 3-0. In addition to his third strike on Swisher, he picked up another swing and miss off of the third batter he faced, Marcus Thames. He threw his pitch (I guess you'd call it a fastball?) in the 80s, maxing at 89.2 mph on his final pitch to Thames.

What fun things you'll see in a sloppy blowout. Some time before the end of the season, I'm going to prepare a post dedicated to all of the position players who have pitched recently.

Gameday PITCHf/x data is from MLBAM.

**EDIT** Apparently, Marte was intentionally throwing a sinker; he learned the grip on the fly from Fausto Carmona. Here's the video of Marte's appearance. His pitches had nice downward action and arm-side tail.

Acquiring Scott Downs

As we head into the last two months of the season, it's becoming pretty clear which teams are willing to buy and which are willing to sell; the teams that believe they're "in it" then have to decide whether or not to make a big push at the trade deadline. The Rangers, who now have the fourth best record in baseball, decided to make a splash earlier this month when they acquired Cliff Lee, and that trade has undoubtedly paid huge dividends so far. The Angels, who are now hovering around .500 and are 8 1/2 games out of a playoff spot, were also aggressive, trading for Dan Haren last weekend. The Red Sox are five games behind the Rays for the wildcard lead in the AL and would seem like the type of team that would be big-time buyers at the trading deadline, but it's also important to remember that they now have Victor Martinez, Josh Beckett, and Mike Cameron back on the team; all three missed many weeks during the season. The team could also have Dustin Pedroia back at second base within a month. Basically, the point is that they may have enough players returning from injury that they don't feel they need to make a big move at the trading deadline. The Yankees are currently in first place and have the best record in the majors. Depending on how long Andy Pettitte's groin injury sidelines him for, the team may be looking at another starting pitcher. With Lee and Haren off the market, it's realistic to figure that they would go after someone like Ted Lilly or Jake Westbrook.

What the Red Sox and Yankees seem most interested in is relief help; the Red Sox have a bullpen ERA/FIP/xFIP triple slash line of 4.45/4.81/4.68, and the Yankees' is 4.03/4.06/4.20. For the Sox, Hideki Okajima in particular has been a disappointment; his combination of increased walks (4.06 BB/9, a career high), decreased strikeouts (6.97 K/9, a career low), and an inability to get big outs (-1.18 WPA) has helped make him a below replacement level reliever so far. As for the Yankees, Damaso Marte's shoulder injury and Joba Chamberlain's habit of giving up a lot of hits have made them investigate the market for bullpen pitchers. The player that both teams are very interested in is Scott Downs. As of Sunday, they were considered by Fox Sports to be the front-runners in acquiring Downs. However, trading for him will certainly be difficult for both teams, as Blue Jays GM Alex Anthopoulos has demaded a very strong return package. From the Red Sox, Anthopoulos said that he would trade Downs for no less than either Casey Kelly or Jose Iglesias, who are both currently in Double A (click on the links for minor league stats from Baseball-Reference). As for the Yankees, the Blue Jays seemed to be in fierce pursuit of Chamberlain, and have reportedly given the Yankees the option of substituting Jesus Montero in the deal.

Personally, I have a hard time imagining either team saying yes to the Blue Jays. Kelly and Igleias are considered two of Boston's top prospects, and Montero is viewed the same way in New York. Chamberlain is obviously having his share of struggles this year, but the Yankees seem unwilling to part with a 24 year old who can throw in the upper 90s. Scott Downs is an excellent reliever: he has both strikeout and groundball tendencies while keeping walks to a minimum (he's posted an xFIP under 4 in all of his five previous seasons with the Blue Jays). But combine his age of 34 and his free agency at the end of the season with the fact that relievers are less valuable than starters, and you get a mismatch in terms of what the buyers and sellers want.

Stats are from Fangraphs and Baseball-Reference.

"One and done" for Mitre as Moseley heads to the rotation

Before Monday's game, Joe Girardi announced that Dustin Moseley, and not Sergio Mitre, will be starting against the Indians on Thursday night. Mitre pitched poorly in his return from the DL last Saturday, while Moseley threw zeros for 4 2/3 innings in relief that game. Girardi said that given Mitre's current health, a return to the bullpen seemed more reasonable than starting every fifth day. This switch gives me the opportunity to examine Moseley's season thus far.

I'll make it quick, because there's only so much you can say about a 157 pitch sample over 4 appearances. Over 10 2/3 innings, Moseley has allowed 4 walks and has struck out 5, which are unimpressive numbers. He had a 2.2 BB/9 in 12 starts at Scranton this year, so I wonder if the walks will start returning to his minor league levels or if facing major league hitters will hurt his control. Early on, Moseley has a spectacular .625 ground ball rate, which matches up nicely with his .594 mark in the minors. Moseley's repertoire features a two-seam fastball (a bit less than 50% of the time), a cutter, a curveball, a changeup, and maybe a few four-seam fastballs. Over his four games, the fastball has averaged 89-90 mph, the cutter around 86, the change 83-84, and the curve 78. He fits a similar bill as Mitre as a ground-ball specialist with solid control; the Yankees are certainly hoping that he can perform better than Mitre has in the rotation.

Gameday data is from MLB Advanced Media; it can be easily accessed through Joe Lefkowitz's invaluable tool.

Other stats are from Baseball-Reference and Minor League Splits.

Garza pitches a no-hitter

Congratulations to the Rays' Matt Garza, who just completed the 5th no-hitter of 2010 and the first in Rays' franchise history. Garza made easy work of the Detroit Tigers, allowing only one baserunner on a second-inning walk; a double play immediately followed, and Garza wound up facing the minimum 27 over 9 innings. He also struck out six along the way. Hats off to him on his piece of history.

Interestingly, the Rays have now been involved in an astounding four no-hitters over the past two seasons. Last July, they were no-hit in the perfect game by Mark Buehrle; this past May, they were once again on the losing end of a perfect game, this one by Dallas Braden; in June, they were victimized by Edwin Jackson in his no-hitter.

Haren to the Angels

This deal just went down: Dan Haren, one of the top chips on the market, has been traded to the Angels. I find the package in return - Joe Saunders, Rafael Rodriguez, Patrick Corbin, and a player to be named - a bit curious, given Haren's caliber. (Did you know that he's 5th all time in K/BB ratio?) Saunders, who is 29, has been an unspectacular starter, for the most part; Rodriguez, 26 in September, has put up pedestrian numbers as a minor league starter and reliever since 2002; Corbin is 21 and, while he has posted excellent strikeout and walk rates, is only in Class A. I suppose that if the player to be named is a top prospect, the deal could look better for the Diamondbacks, but right now, it looks like kind of a steal for the Angels.