Stat Line: 2.1 IP, 6 R, 10 H, 1 SO, 0 BB
Bartolo Colon struggled throwing his fastball against the San Diego Padres leading to a 6-1 deficit by the middle of the third inning. This article explains the reason behind Colons poor fastball velocity and command.
Lack of Spin
MPH on a pitch is measured by the amount of revolutions per second made by the baseball.
Colon’s velocity was down three miles per hour on each pitch. Colons four-seam fastball, usually thrown at 91 to 93 mph occasionally hitting 94 mph, was down to 89 to 91 mph occasionally thrown 92 mph. The same two mph drop off was seen on his two-seam fastball. Since Colon throws fastballs 85% of the time, any reduction in mph translates to a much larger deficiency in performance.
It’s fair to assume that Colon produced less spin on the baseball due to his velocity readings. Additionally, pitch movement is effected by lack of spin on the baseball.
Last night, all of Colon’s pitches exhibited lazy or flat movement. Many people use the term “hanging” to describe this lazy movement. While Colon’s pitches were in their trajectory towards the hitter, the pitches seem to move up slightly before they break downward. That is known as a flat or hanging pitch.
Conversely, sharp movement is seen when the baseball is continually moving downward. Due to the constant trajectory downward, those pitches are more apt to be located down in the strike zone translating to optimal pitch command.
As a finesse pitcher in the MLB, all pitches must move sharply downward as one hanging mistake could be the three-run homerun that loses your team the game.
Looking Forward
Colons next start comes on Monday against the Miami Marlins. In three starts this season against the Marlins, Colon’s ERA is 3.48 with nine strikeouts to no walks.
Stat of the Night
Thanks to @BrooksBaseball: Colon produced three swings and misses translating to a miss rate of only 5.5%.
Follow Chris Zaccherio on Twitter @ziography for more Mets pitching insight that goes beyond statistics.
