Pitcher Comparisons: Pedro Martinez vs A.J. Burnett

World Series Game 2 was a very good game. It marked Pedro Martinez’s return to Yankee Stadium (or, more accurately, the return of the “who’s your daddy” chant, since this was Pedro’s first game in the New Yankee Stadium). It also marked what could be considered A.J. Burnett’s “defining moment as a Yankee,” as he pitched 7 brilliant innings when his team needed him most. Martinez pitched well, but Burnett pitched better. Here are the pitcher line scores from yesterday:

Pedro Martinez: 6 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 HR, 2 BB, 8K, 54 Game Score
A.J. Burnett: 7 IP, 4 H, R, ER, 0 HR, 2 BB, 9 K, 72 Game Score

Although Burnett was more effective, the two actually pitched quite similarly. Here are pitch results from Burnett, who mixed his “power curveball” in with a combination of four-seam fastballs and two-seam fastballs. I classified two of his pitches as changeups, although it’s possible that they were just two seamers with slightly less velocity.

	Pitch#	Pitch%	Swing%	Whiff%	IWZ%	Chase%	Watch%
FF	25	23.4%	32%	0%	60%	12.5%	53%
FT	35	32.7%	45.7%	25%	77.1%	31.3%	48.1%
CU	45	42.1%	37.8%	41.2%	17.8%	70.6%	37.5%
CH	2	1.9%	0%	0%	0%	0%	0%
	107	99.1%	38.3%	26.8%	46.7%	43.9%	48%

Martinez worked with a four-seamer, changeup, slider, and curveball. He threw a fifth pitch that looked kind of like it was somewhere between his changeup and fastball, both in terms of velocity and movement. I classified it as a two-seam fastball.

	Pitch#	Pitch%	Swing%	Whiff%	IWZ%	Chase%	Watch%
FF	47	43.9%	31.9%	66.7%	55.3%	26.7%	57.7%
FT	9	8.4%	44.4%	0%	44.4%	50%	50%
CH	22	20.6%	63.6%	50%	40.9%	42.9%	11.1%
SL	16	15%	50%	0%	62.5%	0%	20%
CU	13	12.1%	61.5%	25%	30.8%	75%	50%
	107	100%	45.6%	20.4%	49.5%	36.7%	41.5%

Burnett had the better whiff and chase rates, which makes sense considering he’s more of a strikeout guy than Pedro is these days. Pedro was able to miss bats as well, just not to the extent that Burnett could. Pitch movement data and graphs from both pitchers:

Pedro Martinez

Pitch	Average Speed	Max Speed	Pfx_x	Pfx_z
FF	88.3	90.7	-6.54	8.2
FT	84.53	85.7	-9.58	2.83
CH	76.05	79.1	-11.91	0.38
SL	79.73	81.7	2.7	2.43
CU	71.22	73.8	9.39	-8.75

A.J. Burnett

Pitch	Average Speed	Max Speed	Pfx_x	Pfx_z
FF	93.74	96	-6.72	8.22
FT	93.57	96.2	-10.21	3.38
CU	82.33	84.7	5.68	-6.95
CH	90.35	90.5	-8.99	3.18

It was an impressive performance from both pitchers. Pedro was able to mix up his pitches well enough to keep the Yankees off-balance, even without having nearly as much velocity as Burnett. But, as I said, Burnett was better, and so the World Series will head to Philadelphia tied one game apiece.