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Barry Zito and PITCHf/x Article

by xanthan on Jan 22, 2008 8:36 PM PST Comment 31 comments

I don't know about you guys, but I really think PITCHf/x data is pretty cool. I've been working on and off lately with the data to write pieces on each of the Giants 5 starters.

I posted my first peice online tonight about Barry Zito which you can find here.

http://www.baycityball.com/2008/01/23/pitchfx-examing-barry-zitos-2007-season/

Sorry for the blog-whoring but I thought some people here might enjoy it.

Feel free to discuss it here or at my blog.

Thanks, and if this is breaking the rules or something (for self-whoring) feel free to hijack this post and talk about dinosaurs or kittens or something.

This FanPost is reader-generated, and it does not necessarily reflect the views of McCovey Chronicles. If the author uses filler to achieve the minimum word requirement, a moderator may edit the FanPost for his or her own amusement.

0 recs | Comment 31 comments

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Comments

Re: Barry Zito and PITCHf/x Article

Good read. I'm looking forward to the Matt Cain breakdown.

by Cainer on Jan 22, 2008 9:39 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

Re: Barry Zito and PITCHf/x Article

Thanks Cainer, I'll let you know when it's up. It might be a week or so, work has me busy and I'll be out of town this weekend.

by xanthan on Jan 22, 2008 9:57 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Re: Barry Zito and PITCHf/x Article

I'm really enjoying your blog, first time I've seen it.

This quote from your rule 5 run down topic is most enjoyable.

Threet has impressive stuff but he walks everything on the planet. I just had a thought, what would happen if Pedro Feliz took an AB against Threets? Would the universe fold inside out? Would the sky turn purple? Would Dodger fans grow souls? We'll probably never know. Especially that Dodger thing.

by Cainer on Jan 22, 2008 11:13 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Dude

McC is all about self-whoring! Anyhoo, looks like an interesting read. I'll check it out in full later.

Nattowear | comics | Durham? I hardly know 'im!

by Natto on Jan 22, 2008 10:15 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

Re: Barry Zito and PITCHf/x Article

Really nice work !! Please make sure to link Matt Cain and others as they are completed.

My adopted son Matt Downs. Because face it, everybody else was already taken by the time I got here.

by nvsfg on Jan 22, 2008 10:37 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

It's about loyalty, and cheap rent

I am a McCovey site purist, and never venture outside the bedroom (plus shared bath) that Grant leases to me.

by Moggeee on Jan 22, 2008 11:27 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

Re: It's about loyalty, and cheap rent

So its you, who leaves the toilet seat down!!

by E Ticket on Jan 23, 2008 9:53 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Re: It's about loyalty, and cheap rent

When did our slumlord replace our bucket with a toilet?

by Moggeee on Jan 23, 2008 3:22 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Re: Barry Zito and PITCHf/x Article

Great job, Chris!

"I think I'd trust Amy Winehouse to guard my bag of coke before I'd trust Sabes to build my offense." -Dan Szymborski, Baseball Think Factory

by Lyle on Jan 23, 2008 2:52 AM PST reply actions 0 recs

Re: Barry Zito and PITCHf/x Article

Good stuff. Thanks.

by em3 on Jan 23, 2008 7:42 AM PST reply actions 0 recs

Re: Barry Zito and PITCHf/x Article

I think you should print this out and send a copy to Zito, c/o SF Giants, 24 Willie Mays Plaza...

2002? I'm over it. But I'll never be over Rich Aurilia.

by wjackalope on Jan 23, 2008 9:37 AM PST reply actions 0 recs

Re: Barry Zito and PITCHf/x Article

Thanks for all the comments!

by xanthan on Jan 23, 2008 3:13 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

Re: Barry Zito and PITCHf/x Article

I tried to leave a comment over there, but couldn't get registered and started to feel retarded and gave up in frustration. Great analysis, though.

I wonder if the problem is not so much that he can't command his fastball as that he's scared of leaving it over the plate. Which is reasonable, since it's not much of a pitch. But on a team built for speed and defense, in a big park, he'd probably be better served by throwing more strikes with it and trusting his defense to run 'em all down. His second-half surge is overblown (it was mostly the result of low babip and high LOB%, which are fluky), but one thing he did do right was cut his walk rate sharply. Let's hope he keeps that up.

I'm still holding out hope that the fabled "offseason change to his delivery!" will make a comeback and give him an extra few mph on the fastball.

by Evan on Jan 24, 2008 8:22 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Registration Blues

Did the catcpha give you trouble? I hate having to use it but if I don't, I get a spam queue that's full of 400 comments about Cialis.

If you have trouble reading the catcpha, I do sometimes, you can keep clicking it until one pops up that you read.

by xanthan on Jan 24, 2008 8:56 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Re: Registration Blues

Yes, that's what it was. But now you've made me feel doubly retarded, because I've never seen the term "catcpha" before. But on the other hand, a little googling shows me that in fact the term is "captcha," so ha!

by Evan on Jan 24, 2008 10:14 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Re: Registration Blues

Remember, it's case sensitive, so that might have been tripping you up, too.

Captcha, it's fun to say!

by xanthan on Jan 24, 2008 10:17 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Speculation

I'm curious. Does Zito throw his fastballs high to mask his curve? Considering how bendy his curve is, it would seem that one thrown for a strike would start out looking high. Now a fast ball that starts on the same trajectory would be above the strike zone because of less downward break. What does everyone think of this?

-- Born Yesterday

by thatdog on Jan 23, 2008 3:26 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

Deep Thoughts

When I really need to think, I go down the hall with a Sports Illustrated and sit on my shared bucket.

by Moggeee on Jan 23, 2008 3:33 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

I dunno about "This"...

...but here's what I think about that (The graph).

Barry's fastball has more vertical break than his change...(huh?) because gravity overcomes the (chuckle) velocity.

I'm going to puzzle for about 2 nanoseconds on the disparity of the respective pitching breaks , then I'm headed for the sauna to ease the soreness.

NL West TempestTeapot...the AL doesn't care WHO you sign.

by victor frankenstein on Jan 23, 2008 6:58 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Re: Barry Zito and PITCHf/x Article

xanthan, your article made Rob Neyer's blog today. Congrats!

Remember the Mooseman.

by ryderball55 on Jan 23, 2008 4:29 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

Re: Barry Zito and PITCHf/x Article

Wow, I just heard about that on another forum I post on, pretty cool stuff as I've always liked Rob Neyer's work.

Very flattering to get the link from him.

It's Insider Only but this was copy-pasted on the other sports forum I like to read.

>> * Bay City Ball uses PITCHf/x data to analyze Barry Zito's 2007. Takeaway: It's not easy to retire major league hitters when you're throwing 86 with limited command of the strike zone. At this point it's only Zito's outstanding curveball that allows him to post a league-average ERA. No problem, though: The Giants only owe him another $116 million.

by xanthan on Jan 23, 2008 6:23 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Re: Barry Zito and PITCHf/x Article

Xanthan,
One of the truly riveting posts of the winter. Not amusing, sadly, which we need with this team, but great reading. Keep it up.

by NearestNorwich on Jan 23, 2008 7:06 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

Re: Barry Zito and PITCHf/x Article

That was a good read. I hope next year we have more data. Does anyone know what percentage of parks have PITCHf/x?

Southern California: Water thieves and Dodgers fans.

by jasomack on Jan 23, 2008 10:40 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

Re: Barry Zito and PITCHf/x Article

Excellent post.

OK, one minor quibble (if I can get my English teacher on for a sec): it's contributors, not contributers.

I only point this out because, otherwise, the blog seems very polished and professional in both appearance and content. And if the Neyers of the world are linking, you don't want to have a piece of food stuck in your teeth.

Great work.

I still have soft-focus, string-soundtracked dreams of a Lowry for Encarnacion swap.

by juanboy on Jan 24, 2008 7:25 AM PST reply actions 0 recs

Re: Barry Zito and PITCHf/x Article

Thanks jaunboy! I've edited the link but could you explain to me what the distinction between the two are?

The definitions for each are very similar, just curious. I'm always looking to become at writing (one of the reasons I started to blog in the first place).

by xanthan on Jan 24, 2008 7:31 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Re: Barry Zito and PITCHf/x Article

That's supposed to be *better at writing.

by xanthan on Jan 24, 2008 7:32 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

I see your improvement already

practice makes asterisk

by Moggeee on Jan 25, 2008 12:22 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Re: Barry Zito and PITCHf/x Article

ah, but now we all know about the food in the teeth, when before I was focused on what he was saying. you've brought shame to us all!

great blog posting by the way xanthan, and good catch jb.

by kennv on Jan 24, 2008 7:36 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Re: Barry Zito and PITCHf/x Article

Awesome read. The Pitchers Cards from "from small ball to the long ball" blog are awesomer.

If I owned this place and Hell, I'd rent this out and live in Hell...

by ilselu1 on Jan 24, 2008 10:01 AM PST reply actions 0 recs

Re: Barry Zito and PITCHf/x Article

Xanthan I am not the type to be easily quieted (a shocker I know) but damn if that article did not put me in quiet awe. Great work.

I was bummed when you said that not enough data from his A's years was available. I thought it would be a great test case to see how Kendall called a Zito game compared to Molina calls a Zito game. One thing , totally antidotal I admit, is it seemed that Molinia would be stubborn with Hennessy's & Correia's fast balls in the late inning outings when they were less then stellar and thought might be able to compare Zito's fastball situation to theirs. Any obvious flaws in that line of thought?

by daveinexile on Jan 24, 2008 10:49 AM PST reply actions 0 recs

Re: Barry Zito and PITCHf/x Article

That line of thought is seriously ill, and we're searching for an anecdote to cure it.

;-)

by Moggeee on Jan 25, 2008 12:27 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

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