Remember when I posted this chart following Andy Sonnanstine's gem against Boston?
I decided to do the same thing again for his start Tuesday night.
They look at least a bit similar, no? Here's the breakdown in table form:
| Sonnanstine v. Boston | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pitch | AVG MPH | H-Break | V-Break | % Thrown | Strike% |
| FA | 89.39 | -3.28 | 8.52 | 37 | 52.78 |
| SL | 78.47 | 5.25 | 2.16 | 15 | 78.57 |
| CU | 76.55 | 6.73 | -1.32 | 21 | 60 |
| FC | 88.53 | -0.85 | 8.28 | 27 | 84.62 |
| Sonnnanstine v. Boston (Take 2) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pitch | AVG MPH | H-Break | V-Break | % Thrown | Strike% |
| FA | 87.69 | -2.85 | 7.36 | 14 | 53.85 |
| SL | 84.78 | 4.49 | 5.17 | 18 | 64.71 |
| CU | 76.18 | 10.14 | -1.63 | 30 | 67.86 |
| FC | 87.75 | 1.56 | 8.95 | 38 | 65.71 |
(FA: fastball, SL: slider, CU: curve, FC: cutter)
A few observations:
1. Whether intentional or not, Sonnanstine threw his fastball with less velocity.
2. Again, whether intentional or not, Sonnanstine's cutter actually changed horizontal break directions. Going away from righties rather than inside.
3. Sonnanstine' s curve broke away from righties more and harder.
4. His slider completely changed amount of vertical break.
5. He mixed up his selection quite a bit.
Whether or not some of those points are simply due to errors by the classification is beyond me. Either way Sonnanstine is the only of the three starters who avoided the long-ball against perhaps the best hitting team in the majors and only gave up one line drive in 13 innings with eight swinging strikes, 19 groundballs, 12 strikeouts, and two walks.
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