Breaking Samardzija

Not only did Jeff Samardzija "add" a curveball, but it may actually have started to live up to its name.

These are average spin deflections by pitch by game for Samardzija:



Here's the important chart:



Hey, wow, some drop (not a whole lot) on that sucker. A few notes and remarks:

• Sample sizes are small and vary a lot: 1-8 sliders per dot, 1-16 curveballs per


• I check by game and park, and compared other pitches. If anything his fastballs may have more "rise" on average.


• It's strange that his slider is (was?) more effective than this new curveball, but as the pitch changes/improves and gets used in more important counts that could change


• How 'bout working on this stuff in the Minor Leagues?