Friday, August 05, 2011
A new approach for Strasburg?
Posted by Lucas ApostolerisStephen Strasburg will make his first rehab start on Sunday, less than a year after undergoing Tommy John surgery.
A Buster Olney ESPN Insider piece from Friday morning reports that Strasburg is willing to make changes, including some adjustments to his rehab that focus on upper-body strength. Olney also said that Strasburg will change his pitch mix:
During Strasburg's brief window of professional baseball last summer, about 95 percent of the fastballs he threw were four-seamers—fastballs in the range of 97-100 mph, hard but with comparatively little movement.Last summer, Strasburg threw 469 four-seamers and 153 two-seamers, which is more like 75 percent four-seamers as opposed to Olney's number of 95 percent. Still, that's a lot for a pitch that's very flyball prone—Strasburg's four-seamer generated a groundball less than 35 percent of the time it was put in play. The two-seamer had a rate of 47 percent, which is below average compared to the league average two-seamer, but is a better batted-ball option than the four-seamer.
At-bats against Strasburg tended to be longer—3.91 pitches per plate appearance. In the aftermath of his reconstructive elbow surgery, Strasburg has focused on throwing a two-seam fastball—a pitch with a lot more lateral movement.
Strasburg's changeup and curveball were lethal last year (54 percent and 34 percent whiffs per swing, respectively), so going to the two-seamer early and the change/curve combo late could be nasty. As if Strasburg wasn't nasty already.
You can read more of Lucas's work at Beyond the Boxscore and Don't Bring In The Lefty. Also, you can contact him at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) or on Twitter @DBITLefty.
Can someone please explain how taking steroids is considering cheating but Tommy John Surgury is not? I mean didnt all the outrage come from the fact that Ruth and Maris couldnt take roids so McGwire had an advantage over them? What about Strasburg’s advantage over Sandy Koufax.