southsider2k5 Posted July 7, 2011 Share Posted July 7, 2011 http://espn.go.com/blog/chicago/white-sox/...s-top-out-pitch One of the pitches for Thursday's "Baseball Tonight" is a segment on the best strikeout pitches in baseball, and Chicago White Sox reliever Sergio Santos' slider rates the best of the best. ESPN's Stats & Information Group broke down its pitch performance data and looked at strikeouts by pitch type, compared to the number of two-strike pitches thrown with that particular pitch. A good "putaway rate" with a pitch is upwards of 30 percent. The major league average for all pitches is just below 20 percent. In Santos' case, he's thrown the slider 101 times with two strikes this season and netted 47 strikeouts, most recently whiffing Royals rookie Mike Moustakas in the ninth inning on Monday. Santos' "putaway rate" with the slider is 47 percent (47 divided by 101). No pitcher in baseball has a better putaway rate with any pitch than that. The next closest is Braves reliever Jonny Venters, whose slider putaway rate is 44 percent. The image above shows where Santos most-frequently locates his two-strike slider to right-handed hitters. Basically it's an untouchable pitch when he's in a favorable situation. Opposing right-handed hitters are 0-for-36 with 32 strikeouts when in a two-strike situation against Santos this season. Lefties have a better chance to get a two-strike hit against the slider, but not much. They have three two-strike hits against the slider, but also have 15 strikeouts. In fact, though he doesn't throw the pitch anywhere near as frequently to lefties with two strikes, Santos' putaway rate with the slider is actually better against lefties (54 percent) than righties (44 percent). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigSqwert Posted July 7, 2011 Share Posted July 7, 2011 QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jul 7, 2011 -> 03:52 PM) http://espn.go.com/blog/chicago/white-sox/...s-top-out-pitch Sergio is a beast! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hogan873 Posted July 7, 2011 Share Posted July 7, 2011 Nice to see the recognition. It's amazing the number of batters that swing at that pitch when it's so far out of the zone. It must break so late. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoSox05 Posted July 7, 2011 Share Posted July 7, 2011 Pretty impressive for a guy who was playing SS a couple of years ago. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigSqwert Posted July 7, 2011 Share Posted July 7, 2011 QUOTE (GoSox05 @ Jul 7, 2011 -> 03:57 PM) Pretty impressive for a guy who was playing SS a couple of years ago. And also worked at a Cinnabon as an assistant manager. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChiSox_Sonix Posted July 7, 2011 Share Posted July 7, 2011 QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Jul 7, 2011 -> 04:58 PM) And also worked at a Cinnabon as an assistant manager. Mmmmmm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigSqwert Posted July 7, 2011 Share Posted July 7, 2011 QUOTE (ChiSox_Sonix @ Jul 7, 2011 -> 04:00 PM) Mmmmmm Factoid of the day: Cinnabon was my first job when I was 15. Worked there for 2 years. I must have eaten 2 of those things a day for 2 years. Ah the memories. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoSox05 Posted July 7, 2011 Share Posted July 7, 2011 QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Jul 7, 2011 -> 04:02 PM) Factoid of the day: Cinnabon was my first job when I was 15. Worked there for 2 years. I must have eaten 2 of those things a day for 2 years. Ah the memories. Did you work with Santos? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigSqwert Posted July 7, 2011 Share Posted July 7, 2011 QUOTE (GoSox05 @ Jul 7, 2011 -> 04:03 PM) Did you work with Santos? LOL. He was my boss. He would throw Cinnabons at me and I'd try to catch them with my mouth. Definitely had a late break as they would mostly hit my ear. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hogan873 Posted July 7, 2011 Share Posted July 7, 2011 QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Jul 7, 2011 -> 04:05 PM) LOL. He was my boss. He would throw Cinnabons at me and I'd try to catch them with my mouth. Definitely had a late break as they would mostly hit my ear. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigSqwert Posted July 7, 2011 Share Posted July 7, 2011 Sorry for derailing the thread. Carry on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoSox05 Posted July 7, 2011 Share Posted July 7, 2011 I wonder if a Cinnabon at 96mph would hurt? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RockRaines Posted July 7, 2011 Share Posted July 7, 2011 QUOTE (pittshoganerkoff @ Jul 7, 2011 -> 03:56 PM) Nice to see the recognition. It's amazing the number of batters that swing at that pitch when it's so far out of the zone. It must break so late. The feedback is that is breaks ridiculously late, and he also has the big breaker that looks almost like a straight change then takes a left turn. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caulfield12 Posted July 7, 2011 Share Posted July 7, 2011 QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jul 7, 2011 -> 02:52 PM) http://espn.go.com/blog/chicago/white-sox/...s-top-out-pitch Great, maybe Sergio and Cooper can teach it to Edwin Jackson, as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uman85 Posted July 7, 2011 Share Posted July 7, 2011 I faced a couple pitchers in high school who had some really nasty breaking pitches. They would look like they were headed right down the middle and then drop at the last second. Nearly impossible to hit. Sergio's slider is filthy. That's for sure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve9347 Posted July 7, 2011 Share Posted July 7, 2011 Sergio Santos + Phil Humber = only happy things ever. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elrockinMT Posted July 7, 2011 Share Posted July 7, 2011 QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jul 7, 2011 -> 10:37 PM) Great, maybe Sergio and Cooper can teach it to Edwin Jackson, as well. He just has to avoid those 9th inning homers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quin Posted July 7, 2011 Share Posted July 7, 2011 Sergio is awesome. I still need to get my Santos shirt. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Texsox Posted July 8, 2011 Share Posted July 8, 2011 QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Jul 7, 2011 -> 04:05 PM) LOL. He was my boss. He would throw Cinnabons at me and I'd try to catch them with my mouth. Definitely had a late break as they would mostly hit my ear. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
southsider2k5 Posted July 8, 2011 Author Share Posted July 8, 2011 QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Jul 7, 2011 -> 04:05 PM) LOL. He was my boss. He would throw Cinnabons at me and I'd try to catch them with my mouth. Definitely had a late break as they would mostly hit my ear. There are just too many ways this one could go... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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