Thursday, September 16, 2010

Well That was Exhilarating


Maybe not quite exhilarating, but it was certainly something. Working quickly, Kyle Drabek at least made some friends in the press box. Though he was thoroughly "outpitched" by Brad Bergesen and got hit pretty hard (it seemed), there is a lot to be excited about when number 4 takes the hill.

Enough exposition; make with the colored dots, monkey! (click to enlarge)



Before I get started, I should note that these are the pitch f/x designations. During the broadcast (h/t Mop Up Duty) the pitch described below as a slider was outed as a cutter. You could then assume what I have labelled as a cutter is a four-seam fastball, making the final fastball a two-seamer. Let's just work with what we've got, yeah?

I'll be honest, I'm quite surprised the difference between the curve and "slider" is so pronounced. The curve is thrown hard and breaks dramatically, while the slutter breaks enough to confuse everybody (myself included.) The little-used change up is a "work in progress" as described by Bruce Walton.

If my willy nilly circles are to be believed, it looks like Drabek goes to his fastballs a lot. And so he should, if he's rushing two different-style fastballs up there at the same speed. Most Drabek scouting reports tout his "late life" and some of the chatter on Twitter confirmed this. The Pitch F/X algorithm didn't view the pitch as a two seam fastball but it takes time to get a grasp on pitchers.

How about a look at the strike zone? Swinging strikes make the grass grow.


Again, these are the automatically generated pitch types. What you can see is that Drabek does have the ability to throw that nasty curve for strikes. Always a good thing, especially when you're throwing a pitch nobody really has a hope against. The slutter gets tonnes of whiffs too. Never a bad thing, two bat missing pitches.

Good to see that the bulk of the offspeed stuff is down in the zone. Drabek did a great job getting the Orioles to keep the ball on the ground (11 grounders on the night) though they certainly found their share of holes (9 hits on 18 balls in play.)

Overall, a pretty successful nights work. Maybe the Orioles took advantage of the first-time starter wanting to get ahead by swinging early in the count, but the skills are clearly there. I don't think many of us could ask for much more.

Data via Brooks Baseball, image from TV Addict.

16 comments:

  1. The Xs on those curves and sliders had me cooing. Swinging strikes do indeed make the grass grow. Brilliant, as always, Drew. Thanks for the nerditry.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I didn't see the game (thanks Shaw, I'm sure someone will get around to flicking the Manitoba switch soon enough) but I saw the replay of a ball four in the third inning that had to be a two seamer. It was 94 on the sportsnet gun and moved down and away from the left handed hitter.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Ummm, hey Anon, I am pretty sure that it was announced yesterday that Shaw was picking up SN1 in time for the game...

    http://www.theprovince.com/entertainment/Sportsnet+available+through+Jays+season+finale/3531532/story.html

    Yep, they definitely did.

    ReplyDelete
  4. They definitely didn't in Manitoba. Hence my swipe.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Here's the thing though...despite announcing only Vcr, Edm, Cgy...and me getting a twitter message from a Shaw marketing dude saying only Winnipeg would come "soon - wait for details"....I had the game on ch 225.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Why are you only telling me this now?

    ReplyDelete
  7. I want to say that the 5-6 "sliders" that are closest to the curves in the first graph are curves that he threw too hard and didn't spin.

    It could be that the rest of the "sliders" are cutters and that the two fastballs are four seamers and two seamers, thown in the same quantum and oddly enough, at the same speed.

    Hopefully we'll learn a little more in next two starts and be all prepped for next year (when he adds a few new wrinkles).

    ReplyDelete
  8. Who was the guy who swung at a 4-seamer 10 miles off the plate?

    ReplyDelete
  9. Maybe young Matt should spend more time on the bench with the hitting coach.

    ReplyDelete
  10. WIETERS: AHHAAHAHHAHAHAAHHAAHHHAAHAHAHHHAHAHA

    ReplyDelete
  11. Hey Anon, are you sure about definitely not in Manitoba? Because Winnipeg is in Manitoba.

    http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/sports/baseball/shaw-picks-up-free-preview-of-sportsnet-one-easing-networks-isolation-102988499.html

    ReplyDelete
  12. Hey Matt CC, I was the anon above. I know where Winnipeg is - I live here. The article you reference is just a Canadian Press article picked up by the Free Press. Shaw did not commit to making it available in Winnipeg. For more information on it, read Ack's post.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Wow, I apologize. I just figured that if the Winnipeg press was announcing it, it was available. Sorry for kicking you while you were down Bro!

    ReplyDelete
  14. No problem, it's fun kicking people when they're down.

    ReplyDelete
  15. And there's a reason the Winnipeg Free Press still makes money this day and age, and it isn't because of the work they put into their product.

    ReplyDelete

Send forth the witticisms from on high