=== Spin Rate ===
Also impressive is the RPM that Fister gets relative to these other pitchers:
- 2,200 - Ryan Rowland-Smith
- 2,500 - Ian Snell (with the 4-seamer that generates less air resistance)
- 2,250 - Jason Vargas
- 2,500 - Doug Fister
- 2,100 - Joel Pineiro (on the "sinker")
In other words, Fister is getting 15% more hair on his 2-seam fastball than RRS and Vargas are -- and 20% more spin RPM than super-swerveballer Joel Pineiro is. In fact, Doug Fister is getting as much spin on his 2-seamer as other pitchers get on their 4-seamers.
It's not hard to guess the reason. Assuming that the 6'8" Fister has longer fingers, the leverage is higher as he snaps his wrist.
In other words, he just has the hands to snap off super-tight-spin two-seamers that bend like Nintendo pitches. In 2009, his horizontal break was also 10.5 inches and his RPM was even higher (2515) than it is this year.
.
=== Outside Corner, Inside Corner ===
Most pitchers "jam" righties with their two-seamers. Fister, almost uniquely, throws it to the outside, where it acts like a lefty "backdoor" slider. (A hitter gave up on Randy Johnson's slider as a ball outside, whereupon it suddenly broke through the back door for a called strike.)
Take a look at Fister's 2010 strike zone chart compared to Ian Snell's.
Count the % of pitches above +2 feet and below -2 feet, for example. Vargas' and Rowland-Smith's look a lot more like Snell's than they look like Fister's.
Notice also how many green "ball" ripoffs that Fister is getting at the moment -- far more than Vargas, RRS, or Snell. Imagine if you were a control pitcher getting jobbed by the umps -- and your ERA was 1.65. What happens when the umps start buying into Fister's command and he gets more calls than the average pitcher?
.
=== Ramifications ===
In his first four starts of 2010, Fister's vaunted changeup has been gone, poof, up in smoke. He's got a -1.56 run value on it, and that's about what it looks like when he throws it. No surprise that he's lost the feel for it.
On the other hand, for whatever reason, his overhand change-curve is now biting hard, and he's also come up with a brand-new 84 mph two-plane slider that has embarrassed some people.
..............
The best part of this study, for me, was the realization of what this backdoor-slider will do against lefties. Felix, for a while, almost had to stop throwing his 2-seam to LH -- because this pitch breaks right onto the barrel of the bat where lefties crush it. Dave Allen explained all this.
But! Fister, strangely, apparently throws this pitch to break back and just catch the inside corner on lefties. In fact, lefties are slugging only .311 on Fister this year, despite the fact that he never walks them (only 2 walks in 50 PA's).
.................
There are two Fisters: the 2009 Japanese archetype, and the 2010 Joel simulator. As with Pineiro, the catchers are delighted to get weak contact, AB after AB, on this laser-guided swerveballs. As with Pineiro, you are not going to see 6+ strikeout rates (if ever) until he starts throwing offspeed with two strikes.
Which is fine. For now, they (and SSI) are happy to ride this Joel-simulator wave until it hits the beach.
Printer-friendly version