What pitches do the Brewers pitchers throw?

[Harold Hutchison]

I just got Baseball Mogul 2009.

 

What pitches do the Brewers pitchers throw?

 

Here's what I know for sure:

Sheets: 4-seam, 2-seam, curve, change-up

Parra: 4-seam, 2-seam, curve, cutter, splitter, change, (eephus?)

Turnbow: fastball, slurve

Bush: fastball, (?), slider, change-up

[Oldcity]

Bush definitely has a curve.

[Harold Hutchison]

Bush definitely has a curve.

Thanks.

[twobrewers]

Villanueva obviously has a change-up.

And I like to call Turnbow's pitch "The Nasty" or "The Ugly" depending on where it goes.

Gagne has a really big breaking ball (must be a curve) around 69 MPH.

[Menotti80]

Soup:

Fastball, Cutter, Curve, Change-up

 

Yo:

Fastball, Curve, Change-up

 

Shouse:

Fastball, Slider, Change/Sinker

[Loopee]

Gagne has a 4 seam, an excellent change-up, a big curve, and a slider.

 

Suppan has a 4 seam, 2 seam, slider, and curve.

[sheetswannabe]

Bill Hall throws a Curve, Slider, Slurve, Changeup, knuckleball, knucklecurve, gyro ball, screwball, 2 seamer, 4 seamer, sinker, epphus, circle change, Shuuto, Knuckle slider, spitball, and of course, a palm ball

[Kpanz20]

Bush just introduced the slider and changeup this spring. previously he only threw the cut-fastball and the sweeping curve.

[Kpanz20]

Mota learned a changeup from Gagne with the Dodgers in '02. I think he mostly throws fastballs though.

[davego]

Sheets has messed around with a cutter this spring. Not sure if we will see it once the season starts.

[Patrick425]

Are there any pitchers in MLB, besides maybe knucklballers, that don't throw some sort of fastball? Also, I would tend to believe that only a small percentage don't have a change up. Generally, in youth baseball, the first pitch you learn to throw after a four or two seam fastball is the change up.

[BrewCrewForever]

Gagne has a 4 seam, an excellent change-up, a big curve, and a slider.

 

His change-up and curve can be very, very nasty. When he threw those pitches during the Dodger games it was so filthy, hope he can repeat that this season.

[sheetskout]

How many people answering this were looking at a video game?

[Gopher74]

How many people answering this were looking at a video game?

I doubt anyone. I think we all have better sources of Brewers insight than X-box.

 

[And That]

Are there any pitchers in MLB, besides maybe knucklballers, that don't throw some sort of fastball?

All knuckleballers (or at least, everyone I've ever seen or read about) throw a fastball.

 

I guess you could argue that a Doug Jones-esque fastball is only a fastball by grip.

[bork]

Here's a timely article about Riske thriving as a one-pitch pitcher.

 

http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=732591

[adambr2]

Shouse:

Fastball, Slider, Change/Sinker

 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Heh heh...well in name only, really.

[brewers19]

If one goes to FanGraphs and looks at the season stats for a particular pitcher, there's a breakdown of the pitches that they throw at the bottom of the page.

[jazzytrav]

Villanueva obviously has a change-up.

Isn't Villy's change considered a circle change?

[Kpanz20]

looking at their pitches on fangraphs is pretty interesting, however it only goes back to 2005.

 

for instance, i learned that in 2006 mariano rivera threw his regular fastball 57% of the time, and his cutter 43% of the time.

 

then last year in 2007, he threw his fastball only 27% and his cutter was thrown a whopping 73% of the time.

 

 

very interesting...

 

I also learned that Wakefield throws his fastball 12-13% of the time at about 75 mph

 

p.s... shouse came in at an ave. of 80.6 mph for last year.

[RightFieldCoder]

All pitchers throw a fastball. The other pitches all work better if you can threaten throwing a straigter but faster pitch.

 

Shouse's slider is also called The Frisbe. And I believe Hall has been working on his S Pitch, last seen in a game of RBI Baseball.

[Blazer25]

Gagne's change is really closer to a splitter than a true change-up.

 

It's been called a "vulcan change" for the way he grips it between his middle and ring fingers. That combined with the higher velocity of the pitch than a typical change give it more splitter life than change-up life.

 

Change-ups typically fade to the pitchers arm side and sink a little (Santana's sinks a lot). Splitters typically go straight down.

 

Gagne's goes straight down.

 

Others:

Bush was a FB/CB/CH guy last year

Sheets FB/CB occasional CH

Soup FB/CB/SL/CH

Villy FB/CH/ also SL/CB

Yo FB/CB/SL/CH

 

Mota FB/ CH (Splitter-type like Gagne)

Riske FB (sinker)/ Splitter/ CH

Torres FB/ Splitter also has a SL

Turnbow FB/SL occasional Splitter

 

I think Parra is a sinker/ slider guy who also has a CH but I could be wrong.

[TooLiveBrew]

It's been called a "vulcan change" for the way he grips it between his middle and ring fingers. That combined with the higher velocity of the pitch than a typical change give it more splitter life than change-up life.

 

Why does it get classified as a CH, then? The grip, the movement (not surprisingly, from the grip)... it's a splitter - am I wrong? Is his arm action different from that of a splitter? I guess by definition & technique a split. isn't that far from a CH anyway, huh?

 

Turnbow FB/SL occasional Splitter

 

This is something abuot which I've wondered - is Derrick's actually a splitter, or is he just altering the release of his slider/slurve? Does he grip it as a splitter, or does it just end up moving that way?

[Blazer25]

is Derrick's actually a splitter, or is he just altering the release of his slider/slurve? Does he grip it as a splitter, or does it just end up moving that way?

I'd say it's a true splitter. He probably threw 4 of them in all the games I watched last year (60+).

 

 

Why does it get classified as a CH, then? The grip, the movement (not surprisingly, from the grip)... it's a splitter - am I wrong? Is his arm action different from that of a splitter? I guess by definition & technique a split. isn't that far from a CH anyway, huh?

I'm not sure why. I guess if you look at the grip he does make a circle with his index finger and thumb but that is about where the change-up similarities end.

 

 

Here's a couple of pics of the grip FYI:

 

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b18/blazer25/Gangevulcan2.jpg

 

 

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b18/blazer25/Gangevulcan.jpg

 

 

Here is a true circle grip for comparison sake:

 

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b18/blazer25/santanacircle.jpg

 

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b18/blazer25/MadduxCircle.jpg

 

 

 

Notice that the fingers are together on circle and spread apart on "Vulcan". Also the ball in Gange's grip doesn't make contact with his index/thumb circle as firmly as Santana's and Maddux's do.

[TooLiveBrew]

I'm not sure why. I guess if you look at the grip he does make a circle with his index finger and thumb but that is about where the change-up similarities end.

So it's kind of a splitter where he reinforces his handle on the ball using the thumb/forefinger circle? Would that have anything to do with having short, stubby Canadian fingers?