Brutus
04-29-2010, 01:11 PM
It's interesting that in another thread, I was having a debate with traderumor on the merits of Bryan Price's pitching philosophy. Specifically, whether he's been instructing his pitchers to work the corners.
Personally, if that's the case, I feel it's the way you should pitch. You have to work in-out, mix speeds, locations and change the eye levels on hitters. If you work the middle third of the plate, you won't often live to tell about it - unless you have overpowering stuff.
But in my back-and-forth, I came across some very interesting data.
I was examining the zone%, i.e. percent of pitches thrown in the strike zone, of Aaron Harang.
It was a career-low 42%. His previous low was 50% way back in 2003. Now on the bright side, he's got a 77% contact percentage, which is actually second only to his 2006 season (75%).
But it gets more interesting.
Bronson Arroyo has a career-low 41.5% zone percentage. His previous low was 50.5% in 2008.
Homer Bailey is throwing 50.5% of his pitches in the zone - essentially the same as last year's 50.6%, though down a bit from 52% two years ago.
Johnny Cueto is at 50.6% of his pitches - which is in between 2008 (51.2%) and 2009 (47.6%) - though 2009, he was dealing with some injuries.
Mike Leake has no prior history, but he's just below 50 (49.7%).
On to the pen...
Francisco Cordero has a career-low 43% zone rate going right now. His previous low was 44.9%.
Nick Masset has a career-low 38.7% zone rate right now. His previous low was 43.1%.
Arthur Rhodes has a career-low 43.3% zone rate. His previous low? 50.1% (note: the zone% only goes back to 2002 so it's not all of his career is accounted for)
Danny Hererra is tied for last season at 47.1%. He was at 52% in 2008.
In the storied career of Mike Lincoln, he's having his second-lowest season (49.7%).
Logan Ondrusek was 45.6%.
In a sense of irony, Micah Owings is actually the only Red above his average (he's at 51.9%).
The Major League average this year is 48.3%.
It does seem, then, that Price is putting a high emphasis on throwing on the corners and out of the zone. The question, now, is what do we take from this? I personally like it. While the results haven't been good thus far, and could explain for getting behind in the counts so often, if the pitchers get accustomed to this new style, perhaps it will pay dividends as the year goes on. Or perhaps that's not what's happening and it's simply a matter of coincidence. Adjusting to a new pitching coach, I imagine, can be difficult sometimes.
I do find it very interesting though that all three backend relievers and the top two starters all are well below their career norms.
Personally, if that's the case, I feel it's the way you should pitch. You have to work in-out, mix speeds, locations and change the eye levels on hitters. If you work the middle third of the plate, you won't often live to tell about it - unless you have overpowering stuff.
But in my back-and-forth, I came across some very interesting data.
I was examining the zone%, i.e. percent of pitches thrown in the strike zone, of Aaron Harang.
It was a career-low 42%. His previous low was 50% way back in 2003. Now on the bright side, he's got a 77% contact percentage, which is actually second only to his 2006 season (75%).
But it gets more interesting.
Bronson Arroyo has a career-low 41.5% zone percentage. His previous low was 50.5% in 2008.
Homer Bailey is throwing 50.5% of his pitches in the zone - essentially the same as last year's 50.6%, though down a bit from 52% two years ago.
Johnny Cueto is at 50.6% of his pitches - which is in between 2008 (51.2%) and 2009 (47.6%) - though 2009, he was dealing with some injuries.
Mike Leake has no prior history, but he's just below 50 (49.7%).
On to the pen...
Francisco Cordero has a career-low 43% zone rate going right now. His previous low was 44.9%.
Nick Masset has a career-low 38.7% zone rate right now. His previous low was 43.1%.
Arthur Rhodes has a career-low 43.3% zone rate. His previous low? 50.1% (note: the zone% only goes back to 2002 so it's not all of his career is accounted for)
Danny Hererra is tied for last season at 47.1%. He was at 52% in 2008.
In the storied career of Mike Lincoln, he's having his second-lowest season (49.7%).
Logan Ondrusek was 45.6%.
In a sense of irony, Micah Owings is actually the only Red above his average (he's at 51.9%).
The Major League average this year is 48.3%.
It does seem, then, that Price is putting a high emphasis on throwing on the corners and out of the zone. The question, now, is what do we take from this? I personally like it. While the results haven't been good thus far, and could explain for getting behind in the counts so often, if the pitchers get accustomed to this new style, perhaps it will pay dividends as the year goes on. Or perhaps that's not what's happening and it's simply a matter of coincidence. Adjusting to a new pitching coach, I imagine, can be difficult sometimes.
I do find it very interesting though that all three backend relievers and the top two starters all are well below their career norms.