Posted by Matt Sisson on Friday, June 26, 2009 at 1:44 pm

John Smoltz made his American League debut last night for the Boston Red Sox.  Smoltz, who was admittedly anxious before the game, describing the outing as being,”bigger than one start” and stated that time, “absolutely stood still” as game time approached.  Smoltz struggled in the first inning, throwing 34 pitches, the settled down retiring the side in order in the second, fourth and fifth innings. Smoltz’s pitching line wasn’t pretty (5.0 IP 7H, 5ER, 5K’s) but what can you expect in a situation like this.  After pitching 20 years for the Braves in the National League, Smoltz joins Phil Niekro and Warren Spahn as the only pitchers to spend at least 20 seasons with one franchise before playing a game for another. All three of these pitchers had their two decades of service with the Braves.

Now for the data…

Smoltz’s average four-seamer in ‘07 and ‘08 sat at about 92.6 mph…during last nights start against the Nationals, Smoltz’s four-seamer averaged 91.64 mph…off by about a mph but the average should increase as the season goes on and he builds up his shoulder and arm strength.

Here’s the a chart of Smoltz’s pitch speeds from last night:

Smoltz looked a bit wild in the beginning of the game and his strike zone scatter plot reflects it:

His release points were consistent throughout his start so he appears to be solid mechanics-wise.

There’s no doubt in my mind that the difficulty Smoltz experienced in his first start had more to do with nerves than anything else.  Injuries withstanding, there should be no reason why Smoltz can’t make 15 starts in 2009 and put together a successful second half of the season with the Red Sox.