Is Yu Getting Squeezed?
David Golebiewski | Monday, April 23, 2012 at 10:18AM
While Yu Darvish sports a 2-0 record and a 3.57 ERA in his first three MLB starts, his control has left something to be desired. The 25-year-old righty, formerly of the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters, has walked nearly as many batters (13) as he has whiffed (14) in 17.2 innings pitched. Your first inclination might be to think that Darvish has been a Dice-K-like nibbler, preferring to throw pitches out of the strike zone and relying upon hitters to chase. That hasn't really been the case, though. Rather, Darvish appears to have gotten some tough calls from ups so far.
Despite his high walk total, Darvish's percentage of pitches thrown in the strike zone (52) is actually well above the 48 percent average for AL starting pitchers in 2012. But when it comes to getting called strikes on pitches taken in the strike zone, Darvish lags behind. Take a look at his called strike rate on in-zone pitches taken, and then the AL average for starters:
Darvish's called strike rate on pitches taken in the strike zone, 2012Average called strike rate on in-zone pitches taken for AL SP, 2012
Overall, AL starters have a called strike rate of 78% on pitches taken in the strike zone. Darvish, however, has a called strike rate of just under 67% in such situations. That's dead last among AL starters who have faced at least 40 batters:
Called strike rate on in-zone pitches taken by batters, 2012
| Pitcher | PA | ClStk% |
|---|---|---|
| Dan Haren | 68 | 90.2% |
| James Shields | 74 | 89.5% |
| Jeremy Hellickson | 52 | 86.7% |
| Brandon McCarthy | 80 | 84.2% |
| Matt Moore | 56 | 82.2% |
| Jason Vargas | 48 | 81.8% |
| Ivan Nova | 56 | 81.4% |
| Hiroki Kuroda | 56 | 80.4% |
| Brandon Morrow | 51 | 80.4% |
| C. J. Wilson | 52 | 79.4% |
| CC Sabathia | 61 | 79.3% |
| Tommy Hunter | 52 | 79.2% |
| Matt Harrison | 52 | 79.1% |
| Francisco Liriano | 48 | 78.9% |
| Felix Hernandez | 48 | 78.8% |
| Bartolo Colon | 52 | 78.6% |
| Jered Weaver | 58 | 78.3% |
| Ricky Romero | 67 | 77.6% |
| John Danks | 77 | 77.0% |
| Colby Lewis | 66 | 76.7% |
| Derek Holland | 57 | 76.4% |
| Justin Verlander | 71 | 76.1% |
| Carl Pavano | 66 | 75.8% |
| Blake Beavan | 52 | 75.5% |
| Jake Arrieta | 68 | 71.9% |
| Neftali Feliz | 56 | 71.7% |
| Henderson Alvarez | 55 | 68.8% |
| Justin Masterson | 62 | 67.9% |
| Ervin Santana | 63 | 67.9% |
| Yu Darvish | 58 | 66.7% |
The umps' skinny strike zone and a low chase rate by batters when Darvish has thrown a pitch out of the zone (22 percent, compared to the 28% average) have led to Yu's control woes. Yu has to hope he stops getting squeezed so much starting on Tuesday against the Yankees.
Reader Comments (2)
Some of this may have to do with Mike Napoli being the catcher for two of his starts. Not exactly a good framing catcher: http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=15093
Interesting, how about Orioles Wei-Yin Chen's result? He faces batter 77 times and also AL Starters...