A few weeks ago, I watched a game, which two AL West teams were playing. A pitcher threw several borderline pitches, most of the time, the umpire called balls. I can see that the pitcher was frustrated. But, that makes me think of a question, which pitchers throw more pitches on the edge of the strike zone?
Duffy made 7 starts this season with an ERA of 1.94 and a 1.13 WHIP, but he is currently on the injured list. By far this season, Danny Duffy throws pitches at the border of the strike zone 48.7% of the time. Duffy uses 5 pitches, 4-seamer, slider, changeup, sinker and curveball. His 4-seam fastballs and sinkers are on the edge of the strike zone more than 50% of the time.
Jonathan Loaisiga has been very reliable in the Yankees bullpen this season with a 1.70 ERA and a 0.97 WHIP. Loaisiga located his pitches on the edge of the strike zone 40.9% of the time in 2020 and this season, the number goes up to 48.7%. In particular, the edge percentage of his changeup is 57.1%.
Zach Eflin had 13 starts so far and he earned 2 wins with an ERA of 3.99 and a 1.24 WHIP. Eflin relies on sinker, slider, changeup, curveball and 4-seamer. His sliders are at the border of the strike zone nearly 51% of the time and the edge % of his sinker is 48.1%.
It’s not a big surprise to see Kyle Hendricks on the list. He’s known as a pitcher with great command and he often locates his pitches well. Normally, Hendricks effectively uses sinker, changeup, 4-seamer and curveball. While looking at the edge percentage of his pitches, his sinkers, changeups and 4-seamers are each at the border of the strike zone more than 48% of the time. However, his curveballs are on the edge of the strike zone 36.4% of the time in 2021 and the edge percentage of his curveball was nearly 40% last season.
Joe Ross decided to opt out of the 2020 season, but he returned in 2021. Ross made 12 starts for the Nationals so far, posting a 4.19 ERA and a 1.25 WHIP. He relies on sinker, slider, 4-seamer and changeup. Ross’ changeups are at the border of the strike zone more nearly 60% of the time.
In addition, Alex Cobb throws pitches at the border of the strike zone more than 47% of the time.
And when we look back at the past 3 seasons, Kyle Hendricks frequently threw borderline pitches and the edge percentage was 46.8%. Marco Gonzales has good command and threw pitches on the edge of the strike zone 46.5% from 2018 to 2020. Dallas Keuchel won the 2015 AL Cy Young award and his command is good without doubt. As we can see, Keuchel often threw borderline pitches and another southpaw Martin Perez also threw pitches on the edge of the strike zone 45.6% of the time. J.A. Happ doesn’t have a good 2021 so far with an over 6 ERA. He located his pitches on the edge of the strike zone 45.2% of the time in the last three seasons, and this season, it’s 43.2%. Masahiro Tanaka went back to Japan and now plays for the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles this season, he also frequently located his pitches on the edge of the strike zone in the last three seasons, while pitching for the Yankees.
No comments:
Post a Comment