Cubs Pitchers vs. Arizona Hitters

The Cubs finish their second road trip of 2009 with three games in Arizona. Several Cubs pitchers have faced Diamondbacks hitters. Here's a look at the six who have seen the most action. It includes all three scheduled starters and three key relievers (including one who may be healthy enough to pitch before the flight back to Chicago).

Pitch Mix

Click images to enlarge. Each of these charts includes a marker (a dark line) above the left-handed hitters. There are no hitters below Lilly's line, as he's only faced righties (and switch-hitters). Only active players included (so no Stephen Drew).













Here's the data behind the graphs - please take note of the minuscule sample sizes. Click headers to sort.

Carlos Zambrano

first	last	bats	#pitches	Sinker	Fastball	Splitter	Change	Slider	Cutter	Curve
Tony	Clark	L	14	21%	21%	21%		7%	29%
Felipe	Lopez	L	41	27%	5%	27%		0%	41%
Augie	Ojeda	L	6	50%	17%	0%		0%	33%
Eric	Byrnes	R	8	13%	50%	0%		25%	13%
Mark	Reynolds	R	7	0%	14%	0%		57%	29%
Chris	Snyder	R	7	14%	43%	0%		43%	0%
Chris	Young	R	12	8%	25%	0%		50%	17%

Carlos Marmol

first	last	bats	#pitches	Sinker	Fastball	Splitter	Change	Slider	Cutter	Curve
Felipe	Lopez	L	28		50%			50%
Augie	Ojeda	L	18		67%			33%
Chad	Tracy	L	8		25%			75%
Miguel	Montero	L	8		63%			38%
Eric	Byrnes	R	21		57%			43%
Chris	Snyder	R	18		50%			50%
Conor	Jackson	R	24		50%			50%
Mark	Reynolds	R	26		35%			65%
Chris	Young	R	19		53%			47%
Justin	Upton	R	11		45%			55%

Ted Lilly

first	last	bats	#pitches	Sinker	Fastball	Splitter	Change	Slider	Cutter	Curve
Tony	Clark	R	14		64%		0%		29%	7%
Felipe	Lopez	R	48		58%		6%		27%	8%
Eric	Byrnes	R	34		29%		15%		26%	29%
Augie	Ojeda	R	22		68%		0%		27%	5%
Chris	Snyder	R	47		49%		13%		21%	17%
Conor	Jackson	R	41		49%		24%		20%	7%
Mark	Reynolds	R	31		48%		6%		19%	26%
Chris	Young	R	48		35%		19%		15%	31%
Justin	Upton	R	25		40%		28%		12%	20%

Aaron Heilman

first	last	bats	#pitches	Sinker	Fastball	Splitter	Change	Slider	Cutter	Curve
Felipe	Lopez	L	3		33%		67%	0%
Augie	Ojeda	L	4		75%		25%	0%
Chad	Tracy	L	4		50%		50%	0%
Miguel	Montero	L	11		55%		45%	0%
Chris	Snyder	R	7		43%		43%	14%
Conor	Jackson	R	9		44%		33%	22%
Mark	Reynolds	R	10		60%		30%	10%
Justin	Upton	R	13		54%		31%	15%

Kevin Gregg

first	last	bats	#pitches	Sinker	Fastball	Splitter	Change	Slider	Cutter	Curve
Tony	Clark	L	9		56%	0%		44%
Felipe	Lopez	L	8		88%	13%		0%
Augie	Ojeda	L	2		50%	50%		0%
Miguel	Montero	L	6		83%	17%		0%
Eric	Byrnes	R	6		67%	0%		33%
Chris	Snyder	R	7		86%	0%		14%
Conor	Jackson	R	10		30%	50%		20%
Mark	Reynolds	R	13		69%	8%		23%
Chris	Young	R	13		69%	23%		8%
Justin	Upton	R	5		40%	20%		40%

Ryan Dempster

first	last	bats	#pitches	Sinker	Fastball	Splitter	Change	Slider	Cutter	Curve
Tony	Clark	L	8	25%	13%	50%	13%	0%
Felipe	Lopez	L	39	59%	21%	13%	0%	8%
Augie	Ojeda	L	10	30%	40%	30%	0%	0%
Eric	Byrnes	R	6	17%	17%	33%	0%	33%
Chris	Snyder	R	16	25%	13%	6%	0%	56%
Conor	Jackson	R	16	44%	13%	6%	6%	31%
Mark	Reynolds	R	13	69%	0%	8%	0%	23%
Chris	Young	R	14	21%	7%	0%	0%	71%
Justin	Upton	R	22	27%	5%	0%	0%	64%

Outcomes etc.

Starter	#pitches	Swing	Whiff	Chase	Watch	nkSLG	TBP
Ted Lilly	310	0.374	0.267	0.163	0.436	0.895	0.110
Carlos Zambrano	95	0.421	0.225	0.222	0.400	0.438	0.074
Ryan Dempster	144	0.410	0.322	0.269	0.424	0.261	0.042

Reliever	#pitches	Swing	Whiff	Chase	Watch	nkSLG	TBP
Kevin Gregg	79	0.418	0.303	0.296	0.429	0.100	0.013
Aaron Heilman	61	0.410	0.400	0.200	0.444	0.571	0.066
Carlos Marmol	181	0.387	0.286	0.218	0.457	0.773	0.094

Pitchers	#pitches	Swing	Whiff	Chase	Watch	nkSLG	TBP
Starters	549	0.392	0.274	0.201	0.427	0.650	0.086
Relievers	321	0.399	0.312	0.234	0.448	0.569	0.069
All	870	0.394	0.288	0.213	0.434	0.620	0.080

All told, the Arizona hitters appear to be patient, still whiffing a lot, but doing about average overall against these pitchers.

Swing=swings/pitches (average ~.46)
Whiff=misses/swings (average ~.19)
Chase=swing rate on pitches out of zone (average ~.27)
Watch=take rate on pitches in the zone (average ~.37)
nkSLG = total bases divided by balls in play (includes home runs) (average ~.51)
TBP = total bases per pitch (average ~.10)