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Around SBN: Blogger Q&A - And The Valley Shook

Matt Garza's Slider is Filthy

These are all pitches thrown at least 200 times (except in Wade Davis' case, the limit was 50). Note: Whiff% is (Swinging Strikes/Total Pitches)*100 and rounded to two decimal points.

Whiffrate1_medium

To avoid making this a data dump, here's some commentary:

  • James Shields doesn't have wowing stuff. If you've watched him since 2006 then the newness factor has also wore off. In ways he's undervalued by his own fan base because when watching him few things amaze you. He's a workhouse, a pretty dependable one, but he throws a fastball that averages a little over 90 MPH and an assortment of other pitches. Somehow, someway, Shields has three pitches within the top six. The change-up that made him, a curve, and his cutter. His slider and other fastballs rank far lower and seem to contribute to his so-so reputation. It doesn't help that when he seems to miss with those pitches they wind up in the sky and land far away either.
  • Matt Garza has the most contactless pitch on staff. The pitches people really know him for - his hard heat and knee-buckling curve - are less impressive. This seems odd.
  • Wade Davis is just as human as anyone else in this list, he just looks better while pitching. Small sample size and all, I'm not sure how he can possess this stuff and have such mediocre whiff rates in Durham.
  • Jeff Niemann uses his fastball something like 70% of the time. This is bad because A) he becomes predictable and B) it's his worst pitch. Unsurprisingly, it rates near the bottom of the list. Shields has probably never heard of DRB, but please, James, if you're somehow reading this, teach Niemann the ways of working around your fastball.
  • David Price's change-up was his least hittable pitch. What?

1 recs  |  Comment 19 comments |

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Yeah I was thinking that

Whenever Garza is on his game, the batters just watch his curve ball drop in & walk away.

by Transplanted on Oct 25, 2009 9:50 PM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

Good eye.

Garza Pitch/Called Strike%
CU 26.9
FF 16.9
SL 10.2

by R.J. Anderson on Oct 25, 2009 9:58 PM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

Wow 26.9% sounds like a huge #

34% of curves go for non-foul strikes

Follow Me on Twitter @FreeZorilla

by FreeZorilla on Oct 25, 2009 10:09 PM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

Is there a link to a specific article?

Curious what the whiff/called breakdown is

Follow Me on Twitter @FreeZorilla

by FreeZorilla on Oct 25, 2009 10:40 PM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

No, he just gave me the relievers data.

I’d have to run the called numbers. Might do that tomorrow.

by R.J. Anderson on Oct 25, 2009 10:42 PM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

Its really, really

sad to see Price and his slider go down like dat.

T-Jack is back, J.J has went back to sucking, Bates won't blitz, Raheem's bored.

by Some other guy who does not care on Oct 25, 2009 10:27 PM EDT reply actions   0 recs

It's still lost...

www.draysbay.com

by Tommy Rancel on Oct 26, 2009 8:45 AM EDT via mobile up reply actions   0 recs

Niemann's split is the best

Although Niemann didn’t throw 200 split fingers (120 to be exact), but he got 30 swinging strikes for nice round 25% Whiff rate.

I’ll throw out some more numbers in just a bit

by therayspartyleader on Oct 26, 2009 12:58 PM EDT reply actions   0 recs

in his last five starts, niemann threw 63 splits

21 were swinging strikes or 33.3% whiff rate. Small sample size I’m sure but otherwise very nasty (ask Mark Teixeira).

by therayspartyleader on Oct 26, 2009 1:01 PM EDT reply actions   0 recs

I didn't normalized it

but the average vertical location of Niemann’s September whiffed splits is about 1.42 feet. Compare that same time period with an average vertical split finger height of 1.66 feet.

2.26 feet was splits before September with Whiffs averaging about 1.98 feet.

by therayspartyleader on Oct 26, 2009 1:12 PM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

I wonder how the whiff rate would look if he throws it 10 or so times a game.

You’d figure the diminishing law of returns, but I don’t know how much that applies if the pitch is absolutely disgusting.

by R.J. Anderson on Oct 26, 2009 1:30 PM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

I thought that they had told him to stop throwing the split to preserve his arm

so would more splits ever realistically happen or do you think there might be a change of heart?

by Navi's_Navy on Oct 26, 2009 2:34 PM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

around 10 a game shouldn't kill his arm

it is basically his changeup which a pitcher should throw at least 10% of the time.

Staats was talking about his splitter on TV during his start in Yankee Stadium and basically Niemann learned how to throw it better through Dan Wheeler. And that teaching session must have been around the start of September so it was not like he had a good splitter all year.

by therayspartyleader on Oct 26, 2009 3:18 PM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

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