Arrieta's curveball dominance

[Say O!]

From today's Buster Olney insider article (http://insider.espn.go.com/mlb/blog?name=olney_buster&id=6076120)on baseball's toughest pitches according to OPS against.


Toughest curveballs in AL/OPS against:
Brett Anderson .316
Justin Verlander .353
CC Sabathia .358
Rickey Romero .366
Gio Gonzalez .386
Jake Arrieta .391
Jamey Wright .393
Jon Lester .393
Bruce Chen .413
Gavin Floyd .418

Minimum 200+ thrown. Methodology = OPS against in at bats ended in curveball.

Olney also reviews other pitches (fastball, cutter, slider), but no other Orioles appear on the list.

Never realized how effective Jake's curveball was in 2010. From fangraphs pitch f/x data (http://www.fangraphs.com/pitchfx.aspx?playerid=4153&position=P),

14.9% of Jake's pitches were curveballs
76.7 mph was the average speed.

[O-The-Memories]

Good post. That should bear well for him in the future, and when you look at the company he has in the list, the future is looking pretty bright for Arrieta. I'm quite a bit more confident in him than Tillman, who doesn't have a put away pitch.

[crissfan172]

I love his curve. It's very effective when coupled with his fastball and slider.

[byrdz]

What, no Rich Hill?? ;)

[Say O!]

Hot off the presses today....fangraphs adds customizable heat maps to its impressive pitch f/x stable.

Thought I'd add them for Jake's curveball. Observations:

Greater number thrown to left-handers, true to the preferred method of curves for lefties, sliders against righties.
Not too many "hung" curves. Jake's misses (or perhaps intentions) were up and in on the hands to lefties, down and away to lefties, or up and away to righties.
Surprised not more low and away for righties, but again, I think he substitutes the slider for those situations.


http://www.fangraphs.com/hgraphs/453562_L_CU_2010_40_14_2_20100914.png

http://www.fangraphs.com/hgraphs/453562_R_CU_2010_40_14_2_20100914.png

[Hallas]

Looking at the graphs, it appears he has better command with his curveball than he does with his fastball, which is really unusual. His fastball heatmap is all over the place.

Arrieta really needs to work on his fastball command. I guess the bright side to that is that once he can do that, it sure looks like he'll be able to destroy people with his curveball.

[Say O!]

Looking at the graphs, it appears he has better command with his curveball than he does with his fastball, which is really unusual. His fastball heatmap is all over the place.

Arrieta really needs to work on his fastball command. I guess the bright side to that is that once he can do that, it sure looks like he'll be able to destroy people with his curveball.

Could be that he is "max effort" with the fastball, generating velocity but not command. People have also speculated that his stride length is not conducive to command either.

Pasting the heat maps for his 4 seamer below. He definitely works a little up in the zone, and I'd prefer more pitches on the corners. (FYI, his 2 seamer is not consistently low in the zone either, although he does come low and in quite frequently against LHs).

http://www.fangraphs.com/hgraphs/453562_L_FA_2010_40_14_2_20100914.png
http://www.fangraphs.com/hgraphs/453562_R_FA_2010_40_14_2_20100914.png

[centralpaosfan]

Those pictures look like something a doctor from Johns Hopkins should be reading and giving a diagnosis.

[BRob51]

Looking at the graphs, it appears he has better command with his curveball than he does with his fastball, which is really unusual. His fastball heatmap is all over the place.

Arrieta really needs to work on his fastball command. I guess the bright side to that is that once he can do that, it sure looks like he'll be able to destroy people with his curveball.

A lot of times throwing a breaking ball forces a pitcher to refine their delivery. That's why if a pitcher is missing with his fastball, a breaking ball will be called to self-correct the delivery.

[cindyluvsbrady]

Those pictures look like something a doctor from Johns Hopkins should be reading and giving a diagnosis.

LOL!!!!!!!!!!!:laughlol:
I love Jake!:002_sdrool: