Jul

Burnett’s curve among the toughest pitches to hit

In the Wall Street Journal, Darren Everson takes a look at the toughest pitches to hit in baseball, based on the swing and miss percentage on them. Strangely, A’s reliever MIchael Wurtz holds the highest percentage with his slider, which batters miss almost half the time when he buries it low and away. Zach Grienke’s slider and Rich Harden’s changeup are next up, and fourth on the list is A.J. Burnett‘s curve, low and in. The article’s pretty short, but make sure to check out the expanded data at Beyond the Boxscore. CC Sabathia generates plenty of swings and misses on his changeup, but in all the other analyses they run the Yanks don’t show up. Both are neat reads on some of the nastiest (and easiest-to-hit) pitches in the game.

Categories : Asides

11 Comments»

Jamal G. says:

July 11, 2009 at 1:41 pm

God damn, I really miss Javier Vazquez.

pat says:

July 11, 2009 at 2:00 pm

And his 92 ERA+?

Reply
- andrew says:
  
  July 11, 2009 at 2:06 pm
  
  He has a career ERA+ of 106, he’s pretty much never missed a start in his career while going 200 innings essentially every year… he even made the all star game with the Yankees and just had a rough second half. Let’s not pretend the guy’s a slouch.
  
  Reply
- Benjamin Kabak says:
  
  July 11, 2009 at 2:18 pm
  
  If the Yankees had half as much patience with Javy Vazquez as they have with the young arms, we’d still have Vazquez.
  
  (That’s not an indictment of the young arms. Rather, it’s a comment on how quickly they dumped Javy after a bad second half.)
  
  Reply
Stryker says:

July 11, 2009 at 2:08 pm

indeed. it’s a shame he was the odd man out there. not really sure if it was the “pressure” or if he just couldn’t adjust or what — but taking a look at what he’s done after he was traded (arizona, now in atlanta and ESPECIALLY in chicago): damn i miss the guy.

Reply
The Fallen Phoenix says:

July 11, 2009 at 2:15 pm

+1.

Reply

Drew says:

July 11, 2009 at 2:17 pm

It’s so much fun watching the left-handers swing right over the top of that pitch.

Simon B. says:

July 11, 2009 at 2:53 pm

In terms of raw power stuff, I think Burnett’s curve is the best breaking ball in baseball. It moves as much as a big slow curveball, but is as fast as a power-curve.

Mike bk says:

July 11, 2009 at 3:09 pm

sorry for the OT comment but the mets signed berroa…they really are desperate

King of Fruitless Hypotheticals says:

July 11, 2009 at 4:20 pm

Whew. Glad you said sorry instead of just submitting the tip in that stupid box up there.

Also sorry for the also offtopic, but they’re stopping the search fir the Air France black box…WTF?!?!

Reply