Q. OK, what's Paxton's template? What's a "physical" lefty?
A. Bill James characterized this Pitcher Family as "The Blow 'Em Away Lefties," referring to attack LHP's with high velocity, high K's and sometimes some funky things that went with their games. (He pointed out that this kind of pitcher tends to look very humorous in the batter's box.) Steve Carlton, Randy Johnson, Lefty Grove, Sandy Koufax being the colossi of the genre.
Somebody in the M's org, McNamara maybe, characterized Paxton as a "physical lefty."
I imagine that he was talking about the facts that:
- Paxton's a big, tall, thick-chested guy
- He has "easy velocity" compared to, say, Erik Bedard
- And he can reach back to overpower guys on 2-2
- He is expected to chew up 200+ innings
- He doesn't need to Jamie Moyer it every AB
Max Scherzer is a "physical" starter, a guy whose game revolves around physical and metaphorical power. Curt Schilling was. Baseball types love to have them on their teams. It charges the whole ballclub with macho.
It's a colorful phrase that captures the CC Sabathia, David Price, Randy Johnson, Steve Carlton type. I hope it catches on in the stands.
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As with Price, Sabathia, Chuck Finley, Jeff Fassero, etc., Paxton gets on top of the ball, and his curve breaks down. Hard.
That's unusual. Most lefties' centrifugal arc is fundamentally sideways to the hitter. Randy Johnson being the reductio ad absurdum.
The overhand lefty, the Finley type, is making things harder on himself, so to speak, but if he can manage it ... well, a 94 LHP fastball high in the zone is vicious enough. Now what if the hitter doesn't know whether it will stay letter-high, or drop to the knees?
SOOOooooooo many two-pitch overhand LHP's dominate right out of the gate.
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Q. Got a visual for us?
A. If you want a video reel, to remind you just how easy an overhand LH fastball and yellow hammer can make a game of baseball, check out this video of Clayton Kershaw.
You'll see the two-plane effect -- Kershaw going up in the zone with the heater, then dropping the curve off the same plane.
They're caught "in between" -- they swing belt-high and they're always wrong :- )
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Q. Is Kershaw a two-pitch guy?
A. Of course. Here's the F/X. Every seven pitches: 5 are heaters, 2 are power curves. He averages 93 mph with the heater.
The two pitches, of course, are why Kershaw could debut as an excellent ML pitcher at age 20, barely two years out of high school. It is simply easy for these pitchers to execute their games.
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