First Pitch Strikes from Wainwright are No Surprise

Of the 33 Pirates batters Adam Wainwright faced last night, he threw 24 first-pitch strikes, 22 were in the strike zone, 15 were swung at, four were missed, five were fouled off, nine were called strikes, four were chased, and one went for a hit.

But first pitch strikes from Wainwright should be no surprise to anyone who has watched him pitch this season.

2013 Regular Season First Pitch Strike Leaders

	P	Strk#	Zone#	Strk%	Swng#	Miss#	ClStk#	Foul#	Chas#	InPl#	H	AVG
Adam Wainwright (STL)	956	617	548	64.5%	273	47	344	113	62	113	29	.269
Patrick Corbin (ARI)	862	604	537	70.1%	314	65	290	112	73	137	41	.308
Justin Verlander (DET)	928	603	471	65.0%	294	78	309	108	84	108	37	.352
Cliff Lee (PHI)	876	599	568	68.4%	278	66	321	110	58	102	34	.347
Clayton Kershaw (LAD)	910	591	533	64.9%	286	57	305	109	58	120	28	.248
CC Sabathia (NYY)	910	589	537	64.7%	246	54	343	85	47	107	39	.402
Jordan Zimmermann (WSH)	865	579	511	66.9%	261	47	318	100	47	114	32	.296
Cole Hamels (PHI)	908	576	516	63.4%	299	77	277	105	65	117	47	.431
R. A. Dickey (TOR)	947	575	559	60.7%	247	54	328	85	32	108	31	.292
Derek Holland (TEX)	894	568	520	63.5%	271	60	297	109	61	102	39	.406
Ervin Santana (KC)	862	567	504	65.8%	238	50	329	80	45	108	34	.318
Jeremy Guthrie (KC)	907	562	524	62.0%	210	26	352	86	46	98	27	.278
Mat Latos (CIN)	882	561	503	63.6%	255	73	306	73	58	109	40	.396
Jon Lester (BOS)	904	550	477	60.8%	252	46	298	100	56	106	35	.333
Hisashi Iwakuma (SEA)	866	549	521	63.4%	250	53	299	86	44	111	35	.330
Chris Sale (CWS)	866	549	512	63.4%	198	43	351	69	40	85	28	.333
Jose Quintana (CWS)	834	548	507	65.7%	219	41	329	86	40	92	30	.333
Homer Bailey (CIN)	851	548	476	64.4%	235	56	313	79	67	100	30	.323
Jeff Samardzija (CHC)	918	547	477	59.6%	283	64	264	108	69	111	43	.398
James Shields (KC)	948	546	481	57.6%	268	54	278	113	59	101	26	.271
C. J. Wilson (LAA)	914	546	493	59.7%	182	53	364	52	45	77	28	.384
Lance Lynn (STL)	858	543	461	63.3%	258	61	285	109	58	88	29	.363
Max Scherzer (DET)	837	539	472	64.4%	236	72	303	86	51	78	23	.307
Bronson Arroyo (CIN)	825	539	496	65.3%	208	24	331	63	40	121	43	.368
Kris Medlen (ATL)	823	532	452	64.6%	262	75	270	79	62	108	25	.236

Created by BaseballAnalytics.org on 10/10/2013

2013 Postseason First Strike Leaders

This doe not include the one and done Ohioians

2013 Postseason First Pitch Strike Leaders

	P	Strk#	Zone#	Strk%	Swng#	Miss#	ClStk#	Foul#	Chas#	InPl#	H	AVG
Adam Wainwright (STL)	57	37	33	64.9%	23	7	14	8	7	8	2	.250
Clayton Kershaw (LAD)	50	31	29	62.0%	19	5	12	10	2	4	2	.500
Francisco Liriano (PIT)	50	29	23	58.0%	14	3	15	5	5	6	2	.333
Alex Cobb (TB)	51	29	24	56.9%	10	1	19	5	4	4	1	.250
Max Scherzer (DET)	37	25	22	67.6%	14	2	11	9	0	3	0	.000
Gerrit Cole (PIT)	40	24	18	60.0%	9	2	15	5	3	2	0	.000
Jon Lester (BOS)	29	21	17	72.4%	9	4	12	1	3	4	1	.250
David Price (TB)	31	21	18	67.7%	9	0	12	5	1	4	1	.333
Mike Minor (ATL)	26	19	14	73.1%	8	0	11	5	1	3	0	.000
Freddy Garcia (ATL)	26	18	16	69.2%	8	3	10	2	1	3	1	.333
John Lackey (BOS)	26	17	15	65.4%	13	3	4	5	2	5	2	.400
Clay Buchholz (BOS)	27	17	14	63.0%	7	1	10	4	2	2	0	.000
Sonny Gray (OAK)	29	16	17	55.2%	4	0	12	3	1	1	0	.000
Michael Wacha (STL)	25	16	15	64.0%	7	1	9	3	1	3	0	.000
Matt Moore (TB)	32	16	13	50.0%	9	3	7	5	4	1	0	.000
Dan Straily (OAK)	22	16	14	72.7%	8	4	8	2	3	2	0	.000
Jake Peavy (BOS)	20	15	12	75.0%	4	2	11	1	1	1	0	.000
Bartolo Colon (OAK)	26	15	12	57.7%	7	0	8	3	3	4	2	.500
Anibal Sanchez (DET)	24	15	14	62.5%	9	4	6	5	2	0	0	-
Joe Kelly (STL)	24	14	11	58.3%	7	1	7	1	2	5	1	.250
Jarrod Parker (OAK)	20	14	14	70.0%	7	1	7	4	0	2	0	.000
Kris Medlen (ATL)	23	13	9	56.5%	8	2	5	1	2	5	2	.500
Zack Greinke (LAD)	22	12	11	54.5%	6	0	6	4	1	2	0	.000
Justin Verlander (DET)	26	12	9	46.2%	8	3	4	3	2	2	0	.000
Doug Fister (DET)	25	10	13	40.0%	3	0	7	3	0	0	0	-

Created by BaseballAnalytics.org on 10/10/2013

Tonight's ALDS Matchup

2013 ALD Game 5 Probable Starters First Pitches

	P	Strk#	Zone#	Strk%	Swng#	Miss#	ClStk#	Foul#	Chas#	InPl#	H	AVG
Justin Verlander (Reg & Post)	954	615	480	64.5%	302	81	313	111	86	110	37	.346
Sonny Gray (Reg & Post)	290	172	159	59.3%	57	10	115	22	8	25	8	.320

Created by BaseballAnalytics.org on 10/10/2013

3-2 is a Pitcher's Count for Max Scherzer

In yesterday's great Tigers' 8-6 win over the A's yesterday, in relief, Max Scherzer pitched out of a bases loaded no one out jam in the 8th inning without allowing a run, in this case the tying run in a 5-4 game, to score.

What made this Houdini-act even more impressive was the fact that Scherzer went to a 3-2 count on two of the batters.

Perhaps the most impressive feat of abracadabra was how he came back from down 3-1 to strike out Josh Reddick with no one out.

On the first 3-2 pitch to Reddick, Josh fouled off a 95 MPH four seamer that was over the plate. But on the next pitch, Reddick went down swinging on a 85 MPH change that was slightly inside.

Then with two down, on another 3-2 pitch, Alberto Callaspo lined out to center fielder Austin Jackson on an outside 95 MPH four seamer.

Here's how Scherzer addressed 3-2 counts during the postseason

Max Scherzer on 3-2 counts

	PA	P	H	BB	K	POUT	Swng#	Miss#	ClStk#	Chas#	AVG	SLUG	OBP
Postseason	4	5	0	1	2	3	3	1	1	2	.000	.000	.250
Fastball	2	3	0	0	1	2	2	0	1	1	.000	.000	.000
Change up	2	2	0	1	1	1	1	1	0	1	.000	.000	.500

Powered by TruMedia. Created on 10/9/2013

Here's how Scherzer addressed 3-2 counts during the regular season

Max Scherzer on 3-2 counts

	PA	P	H	BB	K	POUT	Swng#	Miss#	ClStk#	Chas#	AVG	SLUG	OBP
Overall	114	156	8	30	40	75	117	32	8	32	.096	.193	.342
Fastball	61	90	5	13	23	42	70	17	6	15	.106	.170	.311
Change up	31	36	3	9	9	19	26	8	1	10	.136	.364	.387
Curve	5	6	0	3	2	2	2	1	1	1	.000	.000	.600
Slider	17	24	0	5	6	12	19	6	0	6	.000	.000	.294

Powered by TruMedia. Created on 10/9/2013

Shane Victorino's HBP Strikes?

As I wrote this morning on Billy-Ball.com:

Shane Victorino is the winner of the this season's Black-and-Blue Award, or if this were an official award, MLB would make sure it was The Johnny Walker Black and Blue Award.

Victorino was hit by 18 pitches in the regular season and another four times by Rays pitchers in the four games of the ALDS and more than once pitches that hit the Flyin' Hawaiian were very close to being, or may have been, strikes.

Take a look at Victorino's 2013 regular season HBP

Still feeling unsure whether any were strikes? 

Here's another look:

There was one HBP, delivered by James Shields on August 11, that was regarded as being "on the black."

Now take a look at Victorino's 2013 ALDS four HBP

These are close, but you can see they are not strikes.

Let's watch...

It will be interesting to watch in the rest of the Red Sox postseason run whether a manager complains about a Victorino HBP as to whether he is actually hanging too much over the plate and if that complaint gets into the head of the ump in the future. 

We also have to watch how many more kerplunkings Victorino can survive.