Chad Moriyama Dodgers, Sabermetrics, Scouting
As fans of the Dodgers, we’re always analyzing which pitchers have the best and worst pitches, but we normally base that on nothing but our own feelings at the moment, so I decided to take a more objective look at things.
For a pitch to qualify for these rankings, I used a 200-pitch minimum for starters and a 50-pitch minimum for relievers. The metric used to measure pitch effectiveness is True Average (TAv), which is basically like wOBA. League average performance is set at .260, and the metric doesn’t include baserunning.
Additionally, to prevent the post from being solely numbers-based, and one that would have been mind-numbingly boring, I decided to provide visual evidence as well.
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Worst Overall Pitches
Shawn Tolleson – Sinker – .395 TAv
Mike MacDougal – Sinker – .342 TAv
Matt Guerrier – Fastball – .320 TAv
Relief pitchers have smaller sample sizes, so they are prone to fluctuations, but they have the advantage of appearing in short bursts and limiting their arsenal to only their best pitches.
So … uh … this is TERRIBLE.
.395 is like 40 points higher than Mike Trout in 2012 for fucks sake.
H-h-how?
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Worst Individual Pitches
Fastball
Matt Guerrier – .320 TAv
*Visual Is Above*
Shawn Tolleson – .273
Javy Guerra – .256
Scott Elbert – .237
Ronald Belisario – .082
Ugh.
Sinker
Shawn Tolleson – .395 TAv
*Visual Is Above*
Mike MacDougal – .342
Brandon League – .280
Todd Coffey – .263
Randy Choate – .262
Jamey Wright – .258
Ronald Belisario – .225
No … just no.
Cutter
Jamey Wright – .258 TAv
Scott Elbert – .242
Javy Guerra – .208
Kenley Jansen – .187
Matt Guerrier – .139
Curve
Javy Guerra – .271 TAv
Jamey Wright – .171
Finishing last out of two isn’t bad, but giving up a .271 on a curve as a reliever is.
Slider
Kenley Jansen – .236 TAv
Jamey Wright – .215
Todd Coffey – .214
Shawn Tolleson – .206
Brandon League – .147
Ronald Belisario – .121
Randy Choate – .058
I actually think he could benefit from throwing this more often because it’s a quality pitch. Not hanging it is a different story, but how is he supposed to learn command of it if he never uses it?
Change
None Qualified
Splitter
Brandon League – .096 TAv
He’s the only reliever that qualified for this pitch, so I guess he’s technically the best and the worst, but considering his split was the second-most effective pitch by a reliever for the team in 2012, I’m pretty sure he gets a pass.
