Braden Looper f/x

The Cubs and the Cardinals will battle for first place this weekend. Tonight's game will be highlighted by a fireworks display going off sometime in the middle of the game, nearby at the Arch. Carlos Zambrano comes back, on a pitch count, to face Braden Looper.

I'm working on a some analysis of recent and upcoming pitching staff moves for the Cubs, but I'll leave you with a quick look at Braden Looper in the meantime.





Dude, nice splitter. Looks like he's mostly working a two-seam fastball.



Pitchf/x Breakdown - Braden Looper

cfx	L	R	mph	pfx_x	pfx_z	deg	rpm	B:CS	corner%	Sw%	Whiff%	SwOZ%	TaIZ%	HR%	NKS	G:AO
FA	800	995	91.1	-8.1	8.1	225	1,489	1.9	16.32	42.06	10.33	28.93	25.87	0.8	0.530	1.0
FS	372	97	82.3	-7.7	1.9	219	954	5.2	11.73	56.50	24.91	43.44	11.27	0.9	0.561	1.1
SL	70	427	85.1	-1.1	4.6	192	611	2.3	13.88	45.88	19.74	30.07	24.64	0.6	0.405	0.9
	1242	1519	88.5	-6.8	6.4	218	1,240	2.2	15.10	45.20	15.14	31.83	23.60	0.8	0.512	1.0

Pitch by Situation v LHH - Braden Looper

		#	FA	FS	SL
L	first	318	77.7	18.6	3.8
L	ahead	307	48.9	40.7	10.4
L	behind	284	77.1	20.8	2.1
L	even	267	52.8	40.1	7.1
L	full	66	65.2	33.3	1.5

Pitch by Situation v RHH - Braden Looper

		#	FA	FS	SL
R	first	403	65.0	1.2	33.7
R	ahead	420	55.5	15.7	28.8
R	behind	332	85.2	0.3	14.5
R	even	313	58.8	7.7	33.5
R	full	51	64.7	2.0	33.3

The slider just isn't as tough as the splitter, so righties may actually have an easier time with Looper than a lefty hitter would.

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I'll be back with a handful of things on the Cubs' staff:

1. Carlos Zambrano - Recent Pitch Count Effects


2. Jose Ascanio - Bad Location In and Out of the Zone


3. Sean Gallagher - Reliever vs. Starter


4. Sean Marshall - Reliever vs. Starter


5. Carlos Marmol - Fatigued or Unlucky or Tipping

I reserve the right to add/drop items at will. I'm done with the Marmol bit already, so that's gonna stick. Spoiler: he's wild.