Gorzelanny and Grabow PITCHf/x

Kevin Hart, Jose Ascanio and Josh Harrision were dealt to Pittsburgh for left-handed pitchers Tom Gorzelanny and John Grabow. Grabow will join Sean Marshall as the second lefty in the Cubs bullpen. Gorzelanny could be off to Iowa, no word yet.

I took a look at Grabow yesterday, and figured he's not much different than George Sherrill or Joe Beimel. Gorzelanny has also been covered here before, most recently before a game against Sean Gallagher.

I just updated Gorzelanny's fastballs. To expedite my re-introduction of Gorzelanny, I didn't bother to split his fastballs into two- and four-seamers. His fastball, as shown below, will have a lot of movement. In your mind's eye, think of two fastballs, one with a little more movement (tail and sink) than shown, one with less.

Type	#	vs LHH	vs RHH	MPH	PFX_X	PFX_Z	DEG	RPM
Change	631	24	607	83.8	9.4	4.9	117.9	2,014.6
Curveball	268	38	230	74.8	-3.2	-2.6	288.7	764.9
Fastball	1837	328	1509	90.4	8.3	9.0	137.5	2,516.1
Slider	308	122	186	81.4	-0.5	1.5	196.2	545.5

Gorzelanny will throw a little harder (94) when he's working in relief. His slider and curve can be tough to split apart some times, and, as I mentioned above, he throws both a four-seam and a two-seam fastball, blended together here.



Notice the more over-the-top release point on the fastball.

All said, Gorzelanny is a little below average. Maybe a better emergency starter than Casey Fossum, but a slight step down from Grabow as a LOOGY. My main concern, or concerns, are his lack of command, a tendency to pitch up in the zone, and, along with that, a high fly-ball rate. Not my kind of pitcher, maybe more of a San Diego guy. Perhaps they have a lefty outfielder the Cubs can flip Gorzelanny for.