Lilly vs. McCutchen

Daniel McCutchen, the pitcher, will face Ted Lilly and the Cubs Monday afternoon as the Northsiders visit Pittsburgh. There are two McCutchens, one is Andrew, an emerging star in center field.

Daniel made his debut on August 31, and snuck into a brief edition of New Arms of the Week. He throws a low-90s fastball, low-80s slider and change, and a curve.

Lilly, meanwhile, is one of the more consistent and unique pitchers in the Major Leagues. Amongst 122 pitchers who have thrown at least 1501 pitches in 2009, Lilly ranks:

• 113 in average speed, thanks to the frequent use of a cutter and a generally soft-ish fastball that often drops into the mid-80s


• 93 in maximum speed, just an eyelash under 94 mph


• 2 in pitches in the zone, trailing Cliff Lee .6315 to .6312


• 120 in ground ball rate, with a meager 35%


• 41 in whiff rate, but below .20

Soft tosser, extreme strike thrower, fly ball machine with good stuff (it's hard to miss a lot of bats when you throw a lot of strikes).