Keith Law: Right On the Money
Posted by Matt Sisson on Friday, August 14, 2009 at 3:25 pm
On Tuesday Keith Law wrote about how Junichi Tazawa’s solid start was somewhat overlooked due to Youkilis’ meltdown and more importantly, how Tazawa improved how the game went on. Law goes on to say, “After the first inning, his command improved, and in his final three innings he pitched confidently and showed a sharper, more consistent curve, mostly 72-78 mph, with good depth and a tighter break.” I know Keith knows his stuff and is usually dead on with this kind of analysis but I always like to check this stuff out and you know what? Law was right on in his analysis. I checked the Pitch-f/x data and plugged it into everyone’s new favorite template to see what it looked like.
Here are the results:
As the game progresses, Tazawa’s curve does in fact, become sharper and as Law predicts, “The Junichi Tazawa who threw in third, fourth and fifth innings on Tuesday night would be a solid No. 3 starter in a good rotation, and if his confidence builds off this outing he should be an asset to the Red Sox for the rest of this season.”
Except for the discussion of his curve, that’s pretty much what I wrote in my “Pacific Perspectives” BDD post, too, Matt
Tazawa got better as the game went along, ignored the high-octane emotions swirling around him, and rebounded from a tough first inning where he did his best to get himself out of a bad situation. He’s got it going on in his head, which is every bit as important what he can do with his arm.