Bullpen Look: One Series Down (Part 2)

by rglass44 on Apr 10, 2009 1:17 PM EDT

We have an idea of what each pitcher was throwing and from where, so let's see what it looked like. So we can take a look at the flight-paths of each relief pitcher's pitches (thanks to BrooksBaseball.net). There are two graphs for each pitcher. The first is a bird's eye view showing how the pitch moves from left to right as it moves toward the plate. The second is the side-view that shows the vertical movement.

We'll go by game by game, and only look at Nelson's second appearance because it offers a bigger sample (14 pitches rather than 10).

9/7/09: Lance Cormier

via brooksbaseball.net

4/8/09: Wheeler

via brooksbaseball.net

4/8/09: Balfour

via brooksbaseball.net

4/8/09: J.P. Howell

via brooksbaseball.net

4/9/09: Percival

via brooksbaseball.net

4/9/09 Shouse

via brooksbaseball.net

4/9/09: Nelson

via brooksbaseball.net

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Comments

So what’s the relevancy of these charts anyways?

I’m guessing the different pitches for a pitcher should be close to each other from about 40 to 50 feet; certainly the release point for the different pitches should be fairly consistent (on average at least). At 0 feet from the plate the pitches should be at different points. That would allow the pitcher to fool the batter and enable the pitcher to get swinging strikes, called strikes, and weak contact.

Other variables for success would be whether the pitcher can actually throw strikes, whether they can command the pitch within the strike zone, and whether the pitch selection is predictable. Varying the movement of a pitch type could also fool the batter and prevent solid contact (see Mariano Rivera’s fastball/cutter).

by ultxmxpx on Apr 10, 2009 3:10 PM EDT reply actions