November 5, 20214 yr The pun is about how to turn the pitching into a group that can counter the weaknesses of different teams in the post-season. My feeling after the Astros series was that the Sox this year vs good teams struggled most in pitching because we were very one pitch. Or maybe, too two-pitch, in our offerings. I'll show the repertoires of our staff, but for good hitting teams, they seemed perfectly capable of avoiding the (sometimes great) secondary offerings which are often incapable of finding the zones to time the staff's fastballs. White Sox Staff, and top offerings (% usage) (this is using baseball savant): FB - 4seam CH - Changeup SL - Slider CT - Cutter SN - Sinker CU - Curveball Giolito - 44% FB, 32%CH, 21% SL Lynn - 42%FB, CT- 31%, 20% SN Rodon - 59% FB 28% SL Cease - 47% FB, 30% SL 15% CU Lopez - 58% FB, 34% SL Kopech - 64% FB, 30% SL Crochet - 64% FB, 28% SL Bummer - 62% SN, 30% SL Hendriks - 70% FB 21% SL 10% CU Kimbrel - 60% FB 40% CU Tepera - 45% SL, 33% FB, 10% SN, 10% CH Ruiz - 60% FB, 36% CU Obviously, this won't end up being a science, I don't know how many specifically X pitchers we'll need. The Braves had a lot of success with their bullpen. Here were some of their repertoires: Tyler Matzek, the star, 70% FB, incredible rise. FB is still a great pitch! Will Smith - 47% FB, 41% Slider Kyle Wright - 38% SN, 28% SL, 14% CU Luke Jackson - 53% SL, 36% FB, 11% CU Jacob Webb - 46% CH, 44% FB, 10% CU AJ Minter - 44% CT, 42% FB, 13% CH So, you have a FB guy (Matzek) a Slider guy (Smith, Jackson), a Changeup guy (Webb), a Sinker guy (Wright) and a Cutter guy (Minter). I like the idea of having some more guys that can come in and do a McCullers in 2017 - just throw curve after curve (diff pitch after diff pitch) for strikes - when the other team seems to be all over the fastballs that day. Especially if the velocity doesn't seem to bother them. Here are some targets, and because we have so little represntation of it, I especially wanted some curve ball guys. FA: Rich Hill - 47% FB, 44% CU FA: Collin McHugh - 53% SL, 33% CU, 11% FB FA: Marcus Stroman - 42% SN, 23% SL, 21% Splitter (I used to hate sinker slider guys, I think we need one. Obviously, this is expensive) FA: Drew Smyly - 47% FB, 42% CU, 12% CT (would like him in bullpen, which may not be an option) Trade: Chris Stratton - 48% FB 25% CU 14% SL 13% CH Trade: Pierce Johnson - 68% CU, 33% FB (assuming option picked up, but he could be a FA) (I really wanted Joe Kelly, but sounds like that injury may not make him an option, would love to know if anyone knows anything different) (Jimmy Nelson too ) Also, would love Tepera back for this reason. So, and yes, I know some of these guys aren't "better". I know, our guys aren't bad just because of this. I'm just looking to ADD with some more options. Add add add, don't subtract.
November 5, 20214 yr Eyeballing it, it seems like a lot of the guys you listed for the white sox as "2 pitch" guys have percentages that wind up at like 90. Rodon is 87. Lopez is 92. Kopech is 94. Crochet is 92. Bummer is 92. The guys you are listing as having a third pitch seem to throw it 10-14% of the time. Is that a really big difference?
November 5, 20214 yr Author 11 minutes ago, Balta1701 said: Eyeballing it, it seems like a lot of the guys you listed for the white sox as "2 pitch" guys have percentages that wind up at like 90. Rodon is 87. Lopez is 92. Kopech is 94. Crochet is 92. Bummer is 92. The guys you are listing as having a third pitch seem to throw it 10-14% of the time. Is that a really big difference? I don't care that much about third pitches, I want to add guys who have a non-fastball primary pitch, one that is a credible strike. Hence two-pitch pitcher Rich Hill. Our team is very fastball heavy in the bullpen, especially. Would love to have Tepera back. I decided to make a cut off at 10% because baseball savant picks up a lot of lower numbers that may just be misclassified, and at some point a pitch is thrown too low to really be something a hitter is scared of, and because i was recording it by hand.
November 5, 20214 yr Author 57 minutes ago, Harold's Leg Lift said: Target guys who throw the Dodger slider. I thought Joe Kelly needed TJS but it looks like a strain so far. Would f'n love Joe Kelly.
November 5, 20214 yr I don't think he throws it. It's called the Dodger slider because they were the first to really deploy it. Other teams call it the sweeper. It's pretty much a slurve with lots of horizontal break but being new school means you simply rename something old so the sweeper is born. The Dodgers, Astros, Yankees, Twins and Brewers are the teams that used it last season and they saw good results. Now it's all the rage.
November 5, 20214 yr Author 5 minutes ago, Harold's Leg Lift said: I don't think he throws it. It's called the Dodger slider because they were the first to really deploy it. Other teams call it the sweeper. It's pretty much a slurve with lots of horizontal break but being new school means you simply rename something old so the sweeper is born. The Dodgers, Astros, Yankees, Twins and Brewers are the teams that used it last season and they saw good results. Now it's all the rage. I thought that's what his curve was but whatever, if it's not on baseballsavant i can't tell a fastball from a knuckleball with my eyes.
November 5, 20214 yr Author 5 minutes ago, Harold's Leg Lift said: It looks like this. yeah I started looking it up after you mentioned it. I actually thought it was the complete opposite. It's interesting, I thought I could hone in on horizontal slider movement in b-s leaders but not sure it will capture it right. Hilariously sox had two of the top horizontal movement guys (Kyle Crick, Aaron Bummer) https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/leaderboard/pitch-movement?year=2021&team=&min=250&pitch_type=SL&hand=&x=diff_x_hidden&z=diff_z_hidden&sort=10&sortDir=desc
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