hitting statistics by pitch type (fastball, curveball, etc)

[frankadelic]

Really interesting article discussing various hitters and how well they hit various types of pitches:
http://www.sny.tv/news/article.jsp?ymd= ... _f&vkey=42

Some notes from last year's data:
Grady Sizemore had only .412 BPS (avg+slg) against curveballs
Thome lead the league against changeups, hitting 1.424 BPS
Ryan Howard hit 1.119 BPS against fastballs last year

Amongs pitchers:
Best changeup belonged to Johan, with .352 BPS against.
Pat Neshek's slider had a league-leading .162 BPS against.

Anyone know where to get more [free] data on this? It would be fun for micro-managing my fantasy team - perhaps I shouldn't start AJ Burnett against curveball-crusher Vladimir Guerrero.

[LiveForever]

Thats really cool stuff. However, as far as I know, this type of information is usually very very pricey. I think I remember reading in Fantasyland that a lot of major league teams buy these type of stats from some company for thousands of dollars.

[buffalobillsrul2002]

This type of data would be really really cool. However, it would be extremely pricey, as well as "i would think" have a high variation. It would be very possible that a few pitches here or there could change a BPS a good amount when we are talking about Pat Neshek's slider.....

[Chrisy Moltisanti]

Can people really differential between Rich Harden's "splitter" and the other pitches it might represent? or Matsuzaka's gyro vs shuto?

[tianyi86]

Can people really differential between Rich Harden's "splitter" and the other pitches it might represent? or Matsuzaka's gyro vs shuto?

Gyro and shuuto are very different. Shuuto is like a fastball that curves down and in onto right handed hitters. Gyroball is a pitch that has alot of spin but doesn't break anywhere. This is important because MLB hitters are adept to see spin and determine where the ball will go based on the spin. Since a gyroball spins but doesn't break, the hitters will get confused and miss.

Idk where the confusion regarding shutto and gyroball came from.

[Chrisy Moltisanti]

Can people really differential between Rich Harden's "splitter" and the other pitches it might represent? or Matsuzaka's gyro vs shuto?

Gyro and shuuto are very different. Shuuto is like a fastball that curves down and in onto right handed hitters. Gyroball is a pitch that has alot of spin but doesn't break anywhere. This is important because MLB hitters are adept to see spin and determine where the ball will go based on the spin. Since a gyroball spins but doesn't break, the hitters will get confused and miss.

Idk where the confusion regarding shutto and gyroball came from.

I just mean telling the differences between pitches. There is so much gray area I've heard about and observed, it would seem "by pitch" analysis would have such a level of inaccuracy that they would not be very useful except in extreme cases including large sample sizes.

[frankadelic]

Can people really differential between Rich Harden's "splitter" and the other pitches it might represent? or Matsuzaka's gyro vs shuto?

There are scouts at games that keep track of these things. After Matsuzaka's start, articles summarized all the different pitches he threw. (I think there were 7 different types)

There may be the occasional pitch that is "unclassifiable" but I don't that takes away from the value of analyzing the other 99% thrown.