Colon getting by on number 1

By On May 19, 2011 · 5 Comments · In PitchFX, Player Analysis

Bartolo Colon pitched a great game last night. He went eight innings, allowing zero runs while surrendering just three hits and a walk while striking out seven. And, once again, he did it while relying heavily on his fastball. He threw 87 total pitches last night and 80 of them were either four seam or two seam fastballs (91.95%). That percentage was the second highest of the season for Colon and it got me wondering about the rest of his season.

During the game, Jack Curry of YES tweeted the following:

Colon, who used his slider more in his last start than he had all season, is back to being Mr Fastball as 36 of his 38 pitches have been FBs

I responded:

I think his pitch usage will depend on the team. Vs. BOS, going fastball only will get you reamed; it’s safer to do it against a team lke the O’s.

Including last night, Colon has made six starts against six different teams:

4/20 vs. Toronto (89 P, 75 FB, 84.27%)

4/27 vs. Chicago (99 P, 90 FB, 90.91%)

5/2 vs. Detroit (97 P, 91 FB, 93.81%)

5/7 vs. Texas (76 P, 67 FB, 88.16%)

5/13 vs. Boston (103 P, 83 FB, 80.58%)

5/18 vs. Baltimore (87 P, 80 FB, 91.95%)

So aside from Boston, the best hitting team of that bunch, Colon has been fastball heavy to everyone. I said in my interview the other day that the one thing about Colon I’d be worried about is his reliance on the fastball. How much longer can he keep going to it until guys figure it out? Well, after last night, the answer is apparently “at least one more start.” Don’t get me wrong, I’m not upset about this, nor do I think he needs to mix his pitches more. He’s getting good velocity that he’s sustaining through games and is getting just incredible movement on them. What’s encouraging is that Boston start. He did well in that game despite throwing a season low percentage of his “bread and butter” pitch. That shows me that Colon can still perform at a reasonably high level without using his best pitch so if the fastball does go south or does betray him, it appears he can still get the job done.

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5 Responses to Colon getting by on number 1

  1. Larry Koestler says:
    May 19, 2011 at 11:31 am

    Good stuff, Matt. I know everyone’s waiting for the wheels to come off, and maybe they still do, but it’s been wonderful watching him work quickly and pound the strikezone. He’s currently tied for fourth-highest Strike% in the AL.

    Reply
  2. Andrew says:
    May 19, 2011 at 11:47 am

    It shows that he’s got a good idea in terms of match ups and preparation when you see that the only three games he was below 90% with the FB were against the 3 most potent, fastball-hitting offenses he faced in TOR, BOS and TEX. And his results were good in all but the Texas start, but even in that game he settled down and gave them some innings and a chance to come back after a very ugly start.

    His slider is still good enough to mix in (see, the one he threw to Andino last night in his last AB) and if memory serves, he was featuring something close to a decent change up during the spring, so it seems like he can get by on a day when he can’t pump the heater. As long as they don’t run out of stem cells to shoot into his shoulder, I feel good about Bart.

    Reply
  3. Moshe Mandel says:
    May 19, 2011 at 12:11 pm

    I think its important to note that his two seamer has so much arm side movement that it doesn’t really function like a typical fastball.

    Reply
    • bornwithpinstripes says:
      May 19, 2011 at 3:01 pm

      moshe, you can compare that pitch like maddux movement..he is not maddux ,but seems to have the ball break back over like maddux’s ball only faster..lets hope his arm holds up..he could be come back player for sure..he is built solid, and looks like he don’t perspire .. does anyone know how many innings he had in the DR?

      Reply
  4. 72'Yankees says:
    May 19, 2011 at 3:02 pm

    Just loving to watch Bartolo pitching right now!
    Baseball Reference says, and I trust them, that he leads the league in looking stikes per pitches thrown and looking strikeouts per strikeouts. And there’s few things I like more, than to write down that backwards “K” when scoring Yankees games.

    Reply

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