Jeff Samardzija - Updates on Pitch Types

Another good outing by Jeff Samardzija picked-up Carlos Zambrano and helped the Cubs take a weekend set against the visiting Pirates. Samardzija threw 2 1/3 innings, allowing just one walk and one hit, while striking out two Pittsburghers.

Updating his pitching profile is still a dicey task, so, for now, I'm going with FA, CH, SL and FS. The splitter does differentiate within games, and the slider is pretty clear. Bottom line, the Wide Receiver is turning out to be a good Pitcher.

Samardzija can really rifle the fastball, and it moves. The slider is pretty good, and he can throw it for strikes. So far, he hasn't been able to throw strikes with the change and splitter. I'm also seeing an interesting difference in release points pretty clearly, which might not be a good thing.

cfx	L	R	mph	pfx_x	pfx_z	deg	rpm	B:CS	corner%	Sw%	Whiff%	SwOZ%	TaIZ%	HR%	NKS	G:AO
CH	6	8	86.2	-6.3	5.8	228	1,053	7.0	7.14	42.86	50.00	36.36	25.00	0.0	0.000	2.0
FA	38	46	96.0	-9.3	6.9	233	1,585	1.2	20.24	40.48	2.94	26.19	32.20	0.0	0.429	0.3
FS	3	4	86.2	-7.2	2.7	250	955		0.00	57.14	75.00	40.00	0.00	0.0	0.000
SL	1	18	83.2	-0.9	2.0	200	266	2.5	0.00	26.32	40.00	11.11	60.00	0.0	0.000
	48	76	92.4	-7.5	5.8	229	1,287	1.7	14.52	39.52	18.37	26.87	34.67	0.0	0.316	0.7

That fastball doesn't miss bats, but it sets-up the off-speed stuff in astounding fashion.

Lumping the non-fastballs together drives that home a little more.

cfx	L	R	mph	pfx_x	pfx_z	deg	rpm	B:CS	corner%	Sw%	Whiff%	SwOZ%	TaIZ%	HR%	NKS	G:AO
	10	30	84.8					4.0	2.50	37.50	53.33	28.00	43.75	0.0	0.000	4.0
FA	38	46	96.0	-9.3	6.9	233	1,585	1.2	20.24	40.48	2.94	26.19	32.20	0.0	0.429	0.3

That's just 40 pitches, but the outcomes are overwhelmingly in his favor. No hits, a 4:1 GO:FO rate, an insane whiff rate, over 50%, and more than 4 out of 10 pitches in the zone are taken for strikes. All things considered, a 4:1 B to CS ratio isn't horrible, either.

Just five Samardzija "secondary" pitches have even been put in play. The results kept D-Lee busy, with one exception. 1-3, 5-3, 6-3, 7, 5-3. The lone fly-out was also by the lone lefty, Nate McClouth. That's an opposite field fly, for those of you keeping score at home.

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Here are graphs of the pitches included in the above tables. Above and below, I've excluded four pitches that don't quite fit. Two are from his debut, which is understandable. One might be a cutter....shhhhhhh.......and don't forget, images can be clicked-to-enlarge, and the above tables are sortable. Yes, the two row table is sortable. Why not.



An aggregated view of his release points is the first hint of a possible tip.



Aggregated spin movement, while we're at it.



Flight paths. Pretty clear that his pitches do cross-over and are, in flight, could be tough to pick-up early.



Here are the plate locations. Note the lack of diversity in the zone.



And, last, but not least, all the release points.



That fastball is lower, at 55ft. from home, and that's interesting. Based on the flight paths, you can hope his delivery obscures that release enough to negate the effect. For now, hitters are sitting on that fastball (what choice do they have?) and trying, unsuccessfully, to adjust to the rest. They'll catch-up with him, so he'll have to start throwing "the rest" for strikes more often. It has been said quite a bit, he spent a lot of time in the Minors working on his secondary pitches. He's got a ways to go.