Pujols is Going to Get You
Posted by Matt Sisson on Thursday, July 2, 2009 at 11:41 am
This list is long. It includes pitchers who pitch in the AL and pitchers who pitch in the NL. It includes a future hall of famer and 500 game winner (RJ x2), proven veterans (Harang, Meche) , one of the league leaders in wins for 2009 (Slowey x2), and some pitchers who have less than 100 major league innings under their belt (Perry)….Albert Pujols does not discriminate who he hits home runs off of and in June he hit 14 off of 11 different pitchers, bringing his season total to 30. A pretty amazing accomplishment considering its July 2nd and hitting 20 HR’s during an entire season is an accomplishment for most players.
Looking at the Pitch f/x data for the pitches Pujols hit out, the data paints a pretty clear picture of where the pitches are located that he hits out…right over the middle of the plate. Of the 14 home runs Pujols hit in June, all but 3 were located in center part of the plate. Three HR’s were located on the outside top third of the plate and none were located on the inside of the horizontal plane of the strike zone.
Here’s a strike zone chart of the pitches Pujols hit out in June:
The data shows, at least for June anyway, that if you make a mistake, Pujols will make you pay.
“This list is long. It includes pitchers who pitch in the AL and pitches who pitch in the NL.”
‘… AL and pitchers who pitch in the NL,’ I’m sure you meant to type.
And, “This list”? What list? I don’t see a list. Maybe, “The list is long … ” would have not had me looking for a list. I’m just saying …
Thanks for the info on Albert, Matt. Just messing with you a little.
I’d like to see where Ryan Howard’s homers arrive at home plate. He just might hit more out-of-the-strike-zone homers than anyone since Babe Ruth. Again, I’m just saying, since I know that can’t be researched.
- Bob J.
Thanks for the catch!
The list includes:
Aaron Harang
Jorge de la Rosa
Andrew Miller
David Huff
Toma Ohka x2
Ryan Perry
Brian Bannister
Gil Meche
Jamey Wright
Kevin Slowey x2
Randy Johnson x2
When I was looking at Pitcher vs. Batter data daily, at some point during the day Rob McQuown would get an Instant Message that said “Albert Pujols kills”
Why would ANYONE throw anything down the middle to Albert Pujols unless they wanted whiplash?
As Mr. Moyer often says, after getting a case of whiplash, “I’m not hitting my locations.”
And, Zooooom! there goes another one.
- Bob J.