Looking at Joba Chamberlain’s slider

When Joba Chamberlain burst onto the scene in 2007, he did so with a hellish slider that got swings-and-misses more than half the time. That same slider has since regressed from outstanding to merely pretty good, still checking in at more than one run above average per 100 thrown in 2010. Lucas Apostoleris at Beyond The Box Score used some PitchFX Data to break down Joba’s slider, noting that not only did he throw it harder than ever before this season, but it also had less movement. Consequently, he left a lot more up in the strike zone, and spinning offspeed stuff that doesn’t break and is left up in the zone tends to get hit real hard. Check it out, there’s lots of neat and interesting graphs in there. Hopefully Larry Rothschild can get Joba figured out.