Petti: Yu Darvish, defining “change of pace”
From SABR member Bill Petti at FanGraphs on May 14, 2013:
So, Yu Darvish is off to a pretty good start to 2013. Through eight starts this season, the Ranger’s right-hander currently sports the following statistics:
GS K% BB% HR/FB ERA- FIP- SwgStr% 8 39.0% 8.8% 13.9% 62 56 15.7%
Darvish currently ranks first (or tied for first) among qualified starters in K% and SwgStr%, and he has posted the 6th best adjusted FIP in the league (56 FIP-). After a blazing start, his ERA- has dropped to 20th and his HR/FB now ranks 84th, but overall it’s clear Darvish has been a beast in 2013.
After watching this wonderful footage from Darvish’s dismantling of the Angels last night I was struck by how slow is curveball actually is.
Our own Carson Cistulli isolated his four slow curves from that night — check out the final bender to Mike Trout, resulting in a strikeout in the 6th inning. And, yes, that was 61 mph.
I wondered whether the differential between Darvish’s fastball and curveball was the largest in the league. And, so, to the data I went.
Read the full article here: http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/yu-darvish-defining-change-of-pace/
Originally published: May 14, 2013. Last Updated: May 14, 2013.