Quite a lot, actually. And, I think it’s been one of the main reasons why Ryan Vogelsong has had such an amazing year. Entering today, Ryan Vogelsong has thrown 84.1 innings while striking out 68 batters to just 27 walks. If you like the per-nine-innings ratios, that’s a 7.26 K/9 and a 2.88 BB/9. If you total things by WAR,… Read more →
This will be quick. I just wanted to attempt to alleviate any concerns about Tim Lincecum throwing 133 pitches last night. He was lighting the gun up (at 95 to 96 mph) in the ninth inning, his best readings of the night. Not only that, his velocity was impressive and consistent the whole night long: He’s The Freak.
Tonight the Giants will face off against Colby Lewis and the Texas Rangers. Lewis is a fascinating story in the realm of baseball redemption. He’s a former 1st round draft pick (#38 overall in ’99) that struggled to put things together in the majors. Prior to this season, Lewis had thrown a sum of 217.1 innings in major league baseball… Read more →
As Pablo Sandoval continues to struggle this season — currently hitting a wOBA of .326 — it seems that everyone is in search for an answer. Two major things stick out to me: (1) His power, as determined by ISO — which remember, league average is around .150 — has plummeted. Pablo’s 2010 ISO of .145 is about 80 points… Read more →
Outside of on-field performance, there’s a few things that will always endear me to a pitcher. Stirrups, check. Weird facial hair, check. Funky pitching motions, double-check. As a fan of the Giants and their farm system, sometime around 2007 Sergio Romo caught my eye when he completely devastated the California League. If you ever read any scouting report on Romo,… Read more →
There’s been a lot written about Jonathan Sanchez and what he’ll have to do this year for the Giants to have a shot in the NL West. In yesterday’s start against the Pittsburgh Pirates, Sanchez gave us another glimpse of what he’s capable of when he’s pitching well. Sanchez’s final line on the day was: 8 IP, 3 H, 0… Read more →
A quick graph. I’m trying something new — let me know if it’s helpful or not. What you’re looking at is Tim Lincecum’s fastball velocity by inning. The game data is from his first start — and victory — of the year against the Houston Astros. Each red dashed-line indicates the end of an inning. So, you’ve got 7 dashed-lines… Read more →
Playing around with some PFX tonight. I wanted to plot a graph of fastball height location vs. frequency thrown. I selected Matt Cain and Jeremey Affeldt as comparisons. Big thanks to Joe Lefkowitz’s Pitch F/X Tool for providing the data. My deskstop is still packaged away, and with it my database. All numbers from the 2009 season. The two horizontal… Read more →
How many times this past season did Aaron Rowand swing at a slider and miss completely? Thanks to the magic (and nerdery) of PitchF/X we can answer that question. In 2009, Rowand swung at, and missed, the slider 63 separate times. Seems more than that, doesn’t it? For most of the season, the slider seemed to give Rowand a good… Read more →
In a September game against the San Diego Padres, prized Giants’ prospect, Madison Bumgarner, made his major league debut at the age of 20-years-old. After being drafted in the 2007 draft, Bumgarner has made quick work of minor league hitters. In just two years, Bumgarner has thrown 273 innings, struck out 256 batters, and posted a cumulative ERA of 1.65… Read more →