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Nick Swisher is the greatest Yankee of all time

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Nick Swisher once won a game of Connect Four in three moves.

When you go to see Nick Swisher play, you have to buy two tickets. One for the game, and one for the gun show.

Nick Swisher’s intangibles are tangible.

Nick Swisher let the dogs out.

Carlos Delgado stood for the National Anthem because Nick Swisher told him too.

I would go on, but we only have so much bandwidth. Once again Swisher the best player on the team last night, hitting his team leading third homer while being the only pitcher to not allow a run. Forget chasing the MVP trophy, Swish is going after the Cy Young too.

Here’s a look at his pitch trajectories, via Pitch f/x. Remember to click on each graph for a larger view.

Bird's Eye View

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Joba through the eyes of Pitch f/x

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Before Joe Girardi managed to grab defeat from the jaws of victory with his bullpen moves, Joba Chamberlain pitched well in his first start of the year, allowing just one earned run in six innings. He threw only 88 pitches because he hadn’t gone beyond the 75 pitch plateau during Spring Training, and predictably worked off his fastball. Here’s the breakdown:

Pitch Selection

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Looking at Pettitte’s start with Pitch f/x

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You gotta love baseball. Given all their big money signings and returning young starters, who would have guessed that the first Yankee pitcher to fire seven innings of one run ball this year would be the 36-yr old number four starter who wasn’t even on the team as recently as January 25th? Granted, it was against the Royals, but Andy Pettitte was brilliant yesterday afternoon, and he did so by using every trick in the bag. He threw 99 pitches in total, and here’s how they broke down according to Pitch f/x:

36 fastballs (88.1 mph on avg)
24 sliders (80.9)
19 cutters (85.6)
10 changeups (79.3)
10 curveballs (75.3)

That’s quite a bit of variety, especially compared to CC Sabathia, Chien-Ming Wang, and AJ Burnett, all of whom operated primarily with two pitches. Forgive the clutter, but here’s the pitch trajectories. Remember to click for a larger view.

Bird's Eye View

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AJ f/x

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For the first time this season we can take a look at some Pitch f/x data and not have to try to figure out what went wrong. Except for a minor third inning hiccup, AJ Burnett handled the Orioles well yesterday afternoon, throwing 98 pitches in five and a third innings of work. You’d like to see him be more efficient, but it’s only April. Plus the ump was a little tight on the corners, which certainly didn’t help AJ or Alfredo Simon.

Those 98 pitches were made up of 59 fastballs, 34 curveballs, and just 5 sliders. Pitch f/x says he didn’t throw any changeups, which is kind of surprising, but whatever. Burnett was pretty overpowering at times, but when he missed his spots the O’s really put a charge into it. It was great to see a Yankee pitcher be able to get out of a tight spot by striking a guy or two out; in years past we were stuck watching contact oriented pitchers rely on a shotty defense to escape a jamb.

Let’s kick this off with the usual, the flight paths. Hopefully you’re familiar with these by now. Remember, click on any graph in this post for a larger view.

Bird's Eye View

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Breaking down Wang with Pitch f/x

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Well, two games, two stinkers by the Yanks’ starting pitchers. It wasn’t what we all expected when the season started, but it is what it is. When I took a look at CC Sabathia’s start using Pitch f/x, we found that his velocity was fine but he struggled to find a consistent release point, likely causing his command issues. The data shows something much more interesting for Chien-Ming Wang, who threw 73 pitches on the night. Just three of those pitches were sliders, seven were changeups, and the remaining 63 were some form of fastball (either sinker or four-seamer).

Let’s start with the flight paths of the fastballs, his two main weapons on the night, to get them out of the way. I was too stupid to realized that not everyone had seen a Pitch f/x graph before Tuesday’s post, so I labeled these a bit more clearly. First up, bird’s eye view, and as always you click any graph for a larger view.

Bird's Eye View

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CC f/x

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During the letdown that was Opening Day, CC Sabathia labored through 96 pitches, throwing just 50 for strikes. Of those 96 pitches, 84 were either fastballs or sliders. This is nothing new for CC, who’s worked off these two pitches for the last seven years, mixing in the occasional changeup. Let’s take a look at how his two main pitchers were looking yesterday afternoon, via the magic of Pitch f/x. You can click on any graph in this post to open up a larger view.

First up, bird’s eye view, and what you’re seeing is the average flight path of his fastball and slider:

Bird's Eye View

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