July 7, 201114 yr 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).
July 7, 201114 yr QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jul 7, 2011 -> 03:52 PM) http://espn.go.com/blog/chicago/white-sox/...s-top-out-pitch Sergio is a beast!
July 7, 201114 yr 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.
July 7, 201114 yr 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.
July 7, 201114 yr QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Jul 7, 2011 -> 04:58 PM) And also worked at a Cinnabon as an assistant manager. Mmmmmm
July 7, 201114 yr 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.
July 7, 201114 yr 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?
July 7, 201114 yr 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.
July 7, 201114 yr 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.
July 7, 201114 yr 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.
July 7, 201114 yr 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.
July 7, 201114 yr 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.
July 7, 201114 yr 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
July 8, 201114 yr 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.
July 8, 201114 yr Author 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...
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