Carlos Marmol and Esmailin Caridad both happened to throw three two-seam fastballs during Thursday's win in Atlanta. This is nothing earth-shattering, as both have thrown the pitch before. It is unusual for both, especially for Marmol.
How unusual? Going back to 2007, I have Marmol throwing 1780 four-seam fastballs and just 37 two-seam sinking fastballs. All but 8 of those came in 2009, so maybe it's a trend. Cardidad's a different story. In 2009, 169 fastballs and 45 two-seam fastballs. It's important to note I also have Caridad throwing 6 change-ups at 85 mph.
Why is that important? Because it looks like Caridad is using, or can use, his two-seam fastball as a "change-up" rather than a "sinker". Why not? Randy Johnson did. Still, in Cardidad's case, is somewhere between change-up and fastball speed.
Let's break-down the pitches from the game in Turner Field. Marmol's four-seam fastball averaged 96.5 mph and his two-seam 95.5. That's a typical gap, although the sinker being a closer to 2 mph slower would still be in the normal range. The difference in movement, on the other hand, is substantial. Marmol's "sinker" added more than an inch of extra tail (movement away from left-handed batters) and dropped more than four inches relative to the four-seam heater.
Caridad's two-seamer has more tail and less sink than Marmol's, as a result of his more traditional arm angle. Caridad's extra movement comes as nearly four inches of extra tail and less than three inches of sink. When looking at average speeds, there's a bigger gap for Caridad. 94.2 on the four-seam, 90.1 on the two-seam. What's confusing, at least a little, in terms of labeling is that one of the Caridad two-seams came in over 92 mph (a typical four-to-two-seam spread) and the others at 89.
Is five mph off a change-up? Perhaps, but not a very good one. Maybe we'll get lucky and Caridad will throw both a slow change-up and a throttled two-seamer in the same game so we can know for sure. Or maybe someone can ask him. For now, I'm calling it a two-seam fastball.
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How unusual? Going back to 2007, I have Marmol throwing 1780 four-seam fastballs and just 37 two-seam sinking fastballs. All but 8 of those came in 2009, so maybe it's a trend. Cardidad's a different story. In 2009, 169 fastballs and 45 two-seam fastballs. It's important to note I also have Caridad throwing 6 change-ups at 85 mph.
Why is that important? Because it looks like Caridad is using, or can use, his two-seam fastball as a "change-up" rather than a "sinker". Why not? Randy Johnson did. Still, in Cardidad's case, is somewhere between change-up and fastball speed.
Let's break-down the pitches from the game in Turner Field. Marmol's four-seam fastball averaged 96.5 mph and his two-seam 95.5. That's a typical gap, although the sinker being a closer to 2 mph slower would still be in the normal range. The difference in movement, on the other hand, is substantial. Marmol's "sinker" added more than an inch of extra tail (movement away from left-handed batters) and dropped more than four inches relative to the four-seam heater.
Caridad's two-seamer has more tail and less sink than Marmol's, as a result of his more traditional arm angle. Caridad's extra movement comes as nearly four inches of extra tail and less than three inches of sink. When looking at average speeds, there's a bigger gap for Caridad. 94.2 on the four-seam, 90.1 on the two-seam. What's confusing, at least a little, in terms of labeling is that one of the Caridad two-seams came in over 92 mph (a typical four-to-two-seam spread) and the others at 89.
Is five mph off a change-up? Perhaps, but not a very good one. Maybe we'll get lucky and Caridad will throw both a slow change-up and a throttled two-seamer in the same game so we can know for sure. Or maybe someone can ask him. For now, I'm calling it a two-seam fastball.
Original Story:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Cubsfx...
