Pitching Mechanics Voiceover: Andy Sonnanstine

by Driveline Mechanics on May 21, 2008 5:18 AM EDT Comment 10 comments

Ohio’s own (I’m from Cleveland), Andy Sonnanstine hails from Barberton and attended college at Kent State University. Though Sonnanstine posted a 5.85 ERA last year and currently has a 4.53 ERA, his Fielding Independent Pitching (FIP) stats are 4.26 and 3.89, respectively. That indicates he is the recipient of some poor defense behind him and is simply getting unlucky instead of him being a subpar pitcher.

Sonnanstine throws a ton of different pitches for strikes. Here’s his 2007 Pitch f/x data, courtesy of Josh Kalk’s site:

type	Speed (MPH)	Break x (inches)	Break z (inches)	Balls	Strikes Called	Strikes Swinging	Foul/Foul tip	In play outs	Singles	Doubles	Triples	Home Runs
Fastball	87.93	0.33	8	135	101	32	72	55	17	6	0	2
Curveball	72.64	10.74	-1.67	27	7	9	4	6	1	1	0	0
Slider	77.71	7.61	0.49	41	19	26	25	25	7	5	0	2
Change	81.39	-7.12	4.39	23	9	7	4	10	1	0	0	2
Cutter	87.73	-6.86	5.35	53	27	9	26	14	8	3	0	0
Splitter	81.46	5.27	7.94	23	10	3	18	5	3	1	0	1

If that doesn’t get you excited, I don’t know what will. Read on!

Sonnanstine’s peripherals are great, for the most part. He walks less than 2 batters per game, allows less than 1 home run per game, but his strikeout rate is below 5. Regardless, his k/bb ratio is quite good and his GB/FB/LD rates are improving as well:

Sonnanstine also throws from various different arm angles, which adds to his deception. In theory, it should make his control worse, but it doesn’t seem to affect him due to his very good walk rates.

And now, on to the video! I wanted to keep it shorter that Scherzer’s analysis, but it looks like it clocks in at just over 17 minutes. Sorry! There’s a bunch of good stuff in there about Sonnanstine compared to Roy Oswalt, though!

Click the link above to see the video, as I couldn't embed it into DRays Bay.

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Awesome work

If I could find a better adjective, I’d use it.

Very nicely done and informative.

by Jacob Larsen on May 21, 2008 10:20 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

This is cooler than cool

I’m a big fan of your site although I don’t check it as often as I should. Have you done anything on Ian Snell this year? I’d love to see if there is anything mechanically wrong with him that is leading to his poor performance this year.

by Jason Collette on May 21, 2008 2:43 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs