Part 5/5 of our evaluation of the Giants starting pitching is a look at the big unit which I am sure will make you SWELL with anticipation.  Johnson has proved something of a disappointment  1/3 of the way through this season.   After all, at the time of his signing, many of us hoped for a repeat of his successful 2008 campaign in which he posted a 3.76 FIP.    His FIP this season is a full run worse than last year (4.68).  That said, little evidence exists that he has lost the ability to be an above average starter as he has maintained a great K rate (9.35/G) and experienced almost no change in his velocity. 

How have Johnson's individual pitches changed since 2002?  Read on to find out.

Observations.

1.  Johnson is the only Giants pitcher that, at least from a historical perspective, I would have loved to see data extending back beyond 2002.   Johnson clearly was a very different pitcher in his earlier years and this data set fails to capture his prime.    Since 2002,  Johnson's major change has been a not unexpected drop in velocity.  From a terrifying  94.5 MPH in 2002, he has since declined to a much more human 90.7 in 2009.

2.  Much like Jonathan Sanchez,  Randy Johnson personifies the benefits of being a left-hander who can break 90.  Similar to Sanchez, Johnson relies on a fewer number of pitch types than his right-handed brethren requires.   He, in fact, only throws 2 1/2 pitches  (his third pitch, the split finger, is really just a variation on a fastball).

3.  The value of Johnson's fastball really surprised me.    For the past 5 seasons, his fastball has actually been a slightly below average pitch.  Now some of this can be attributed to his decline in velocity; however, even in 2002 (94.5 MPH) this pitch was shockingly mediocre.  

4.  Once again the data, at least ostensibly, supports subjective evaluation.   As a spectator, I have noticed hitters absolutely crushing hanging "fastballs" left up in the zone by Johnson.   I suspect these pitches are splitters that fail to sink.

Well, I hope you enjoyed our tour of linear weight pitch values made possible by fangraphs.   It was a blast to write and, for me at least, quite enlightening.

Part 1 (Lincecum)

Part 2 (Cain)

Part 3 (Zito)

Part 4 (Sanchez)