Friday, May 18, 2012
A splitter from Buchholz
Posted by Lucas ApostolerisDuring Wednesday’s start against the Rays, Clay Buchholz began toying around with a new pitch in his arsenal: a splitter. Buchholz used it on an 0-2 pitch against the left-handed hitting Elliot Johnson, leading off the fifth inning.
Below is the spin chart from Buchholz’s most recent start, with his typical offerings—four-seam fastball: brown, two-seam fastball: grey, cutter: red, change-up: blue, curve: orange—as well as the new splitter, marked in purple.
Buchholz started using the splitter when he couldn’t get a feel for his change-up and used the pitcher’s count/bases empty situation to try it. You may have noticed on the spin chart another outlier (with a bit more velocity) that looks like another possible splitter, but apparently Buchholz threwonly the one splitter in that at-bat to Johnson (the other pitch was likely a slow sinker).
Big thanks to Brian MacPherson of the Providence Journal for answering my questions on Twitter and confirming my suspicions that Buchholz was throwing a split.
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.
Nice catch! His changeup has been so awful this year(with the exception of a few innings here or there). I wonder how much he’ll throw the split now, if at all.