More on Matt Harrison's Turnaround

by rooster on May 10, 2009 7:58 AM CDT Comment 10 comments

Brooksbaseball.net has a great Pitch F/X tool. So, building on the fanpost by Desert Ranger, I've copied some of the information from the Brooksbaseball.net site that shows Harrison's four-seam fastball has a lot different movement on it now than in the early part of the season. In fact, his four-seam fastball movement is looking quite a bit like Holland's, though without the velocity.

Another difference between Holland and Harrison is that Holland's slider follows a path similar to his fastball until about 20 feet from home plate. Harrison has no pitches that follow a similar path.

Matt Harrison's Four-Seam Fastball Statistics
Date of Start	Average Speed	Max Speed	Average H-Break	Average V-Break	Number Thrown	Strike Percentage	Nibbleness	Time to Plate
4/17/2009	89.56	91.8	5.82	9.52	53	60.38	5.49	0.411
4/22/2009	91.73	94.8	5.88	9.45	44	59.09	4.60	0.410
5/3/2009	89.92	94	8.94	7.88	45	62.22	5.37	0.408
5/8/2009	93.15	97.7	9.18	7.66	92	67.39	5.77	0.433

Derek Holland's Four-Seam Fastball Statistics
Date of Start	Average Speed	Max Speed	Average H-Break	Average V-Break	Number Thrown	Strike Percentage	Nibbleness	Time to Plate
4/22/2009 (2.1 IP)	94.40	97.1	7.37	9.45	36	69.44	7.94	0.399
4/25/2009 (3.0 IP)	93.57	97.1	8.45	7.76	39	53.85	6.14	0.402
5/6/2009 (2 IP)	94.05	95.4	9.45	7.53	15	80.00	3.77	0.400

Brooksbaseball.net Pitch F/X tools for Matt Harrison starts:
4/11/2009
4/17/2009
4/22/2009
4/27/2009
5/3/2009
5/8/2009

Brooksbaseball.net Pitch F/X tools for Derek Holland's outings:
4/22/2009
4/25/2009
5/1/2009
5/6/2009
5/9/2009

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I have not been able to see much

of Harrison’s recent starts, missed most of those games. But I have to suspect that (like with Millwood) there is some better pitching gonig on combined with some luck. That difference in location/movement matches some of what Harrison and Teagarden have been saying and seems as likely an explanation as any. But luck has played a part. Looking at his daily graphs over at fangraphs, his BaBIP started the season very high, but has come down a lot lately.
http://www.fangraphs.com/graphs.aspx?playerid=5551&position=P&page=1&type=mini

Aside on Millwood. One stat in 2009 very similar to his 2005 awesomeness with Cleveland: a left on base rate near 80%. Some of that is luck and some if probably attributable to better defense.

G G G E-flat_______ F F F D__________....

by t ball on May 10, 2009 10:20 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Maybe he's been a little lucky

But he’s broken an awful lot of bats. He’s coming inside more, and his fastball has more velocity and has come alive. I’ve always heard the knock on him was no out pitch, but his fastball command is really helping his secondary stuff. It’ll balance out by the end of the year.

That's why they call them business sox

by egriffey on May 12, 2009 2:41 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

I wonder if Matty tweaked his grip,

or the increased movement is a result of the increased velo?

"Back on the scene, with a gangsta lean" RW
"you gonna lose your horse. seriously." FX2
Yes we can! November 04, 2008

by Rodney on May 10, 2009 11:41 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs

I think the movement is evident in the number of bats he broke

on friday, especially against the lefties with the ball tailing in on them. I know Thome broke his bat several times against Harrison.

Just an observation i made while seeing one or two catchers cam views of Harrison pitching:
The ball was obviously tailing a ton on his FB, in fact it almost looked like a changeup with the way he was throwing. Im not sure if this is the right way to describe it, but Harrison really looked like he was pronating on his FB and getting the most out of that tailing action on his FB that comes naturally to a LHP… This, to me, seems like the reason for Harrison’s increased success along with more aggressiveness.

"The House That Ruth Built, 85 years old, goes out as The House That Hamilton Knocked Down"

by blalock84 on May 10, 2009 12:04 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

What is the effect of working faster as a pitcher?

We’ve seen it all year from our pitchers. They’ve been working much faster which should keep the hitters off balance and not give them much time to think about what’s coming next. Before Maddux came out to talk to Harrison a few games ago, Harrison hadn’t been working quickly at all. So I’m wondering exactly how much of an effect this has on a pitcher’s effectiveness.

By 2028, Mark Teixeira will be in the HOF.
-The Outlaw

by Gdawg on May 10, 2009 5:53 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Concentration:

50% pitcher, 50% fielders?

"Back on the scene, with a gangsta lean" RW
"you gonna lose your horse. seriously." FX2
Yes we can! November 04, 2008

by Rodney on May 10, 2009 6:21 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

I think it just gives them...

less time to think. Less time to question themselves. Also, as you said, keeps the hitters a little off balance. Just get the ball, get the sign, and throw. Trust your stuff. I really think for Millwood and Harrison speeding up their delivery has been a big part of their success. Of course this is all just speculation on my part. Perhaps one of our more knowledgeable LSBers on pitching can weigh in.

"The only good is knowledge and the only evil is ignorance."-Socrates

by slc ranger on May 10, 2009 10:26 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

That's what I'm thinking

I’d like to know if there is someone that has data on time between pitches.

By 2028, Mark Teixeira will be in the HOF.
-The Outlaw

by Gdawg on May 10, 2009 11:21 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

From last year

Here’s a pretty basic look at it done by Mike Fast over at THT:

Basically he found that there doesn’t seem to be any correlation between time between pitches and BABIP, but he does leave it open to some more investigation. It could have more of an effect on the pitcher and hitter matchup than just defense.

"Embarrassing admission: I have never, ever, ever been able to see a guy's aura. That's right. I...am an aura-blind American." -Junior, FJM

by Desert Ranger on May 10, 2009 11:56 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs