Posted by Matt Sisson on Thursday, April 23, 2009 at 2:27 pm

In case you haven’t noticed, Gil Meche has had a pretty good start to the 2009 season but you wouldn’t know by looking at his 1-1 record. In his first 4 starts, Meche has pitched 27.1 innings with a 27/4 K/BB ratio striking out at least 6 batters in each of his outings. During his last start in Texas, Meche complained that the flat mound limited his velocity causing him to give up 4 earned runs. After experiencing stiffness and diminished velocity in his start last Friday, Meche said he experienced no problems Sunday in his normal between-starts bullpen workout but just because a ball player says something, doesn’t make it fact. According to PitchFX, Meche did indeed bring his velocity back up to the level it was before his outing in Texas.

In today’s outing Meche was the hard luck loser but pitched well, retiring 16 batters in a row at one point in the game.

Here’s a breakdown of the pitch speeds of his previous so far during the ‘09 season:

One interesting trend that was taken from the PitchFX data is that each of Meche’s first four starts, his first two pitches of each of his four games have been four-seam fastballs all about the same speed.

Speeds and type breakdown listed below.

Meche’s velocity has returned so Royals fans need not worry. If you’re a lead off hitter, look for a four-seamer in the low 90’s coming your way.