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In order to grok Erasmo Ramirez, and the nature of his problem in putting together ML pitch sequences, there is one key idea you have to grab.  With crystal clarity, as in.  Start with this generic map of the strike zone, which tells us how frequently batters get hits with respect to each strike zone location:

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Obviously, the more centered the pitch is, the more likely it's going to be a hit.  It's a cliche, and it's true. 

But that hit chart is an industrywide chart.  It represents the typical MLB hitter against the typical MLB pitcher.  These charts can, and do, vary by hitter and pitcher.  Dustin Ackley's hot and cold zones are different from Michael Saunders'.

Erasmo Ramirez' vulnerable zone is much bigger, and much more scary, than that of other MLB pitchers.  Speaking of fastballs, you understand, Erasmo's vulnerable zone looks something more like this:

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Q.  Why in the world would Erasmo's soft spot be worse than somebody else's?

A.  The biggest reason is that he's short.

His release point is fatally -- in certain respects fatally -- below that of other RIGHT hand pitchers'.  Here, read it and weep:  Erasmo's release point, even standing on the mound, averages 5 feet 4, maybe 5 feet 5 inches above ground level.  

Compare Tom Wilhelmsen's, whose release points cluster at right around 6'.  Or check Grant Balfour's, which are at least as high as Wilhelmsen's.  That 6-8 inches is the difference between (1) releasing the ball from above the batters' eyes and --- > (2) releasing it from below the batters' eyes.  Stop a second and visualize yourself hitting, and the ball being fired from a point at about the level of your mouth.  Your eyes look down-to-down, not up-to-down.

You know how Stephen Pryor gets on top of the ball, comes over the release point real high, and get the ball going on a downhill plane that cuts across the hitter's swing plane?  Not that.

When Erasmo is high in the zone, the release is low and the arrival is high.  His pitch is taking a natural angle that is automatically on the same plane as the hitter's swing.  The batter is automatically Keeping the Bat In The Zone A Long Time (KBIZLT).  You don't want the pitch flying on the same plane as the hitter's bat is moving, not if you're a pitcher.  The margins for error all change radically.  Remember Ian Snell?

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Q.  So Erasmo is doomed?

A.  Nay verily.  It simply means that this huge hot spot will always be critical, and that he has to adapt his game to this fact.  Santana and Oswalt did.

As fans, we watch the pitch sequences with an awareness of this factor in the pitcher-hitter matchups.

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See also

1 June 25, 2012 - the Santana Game

2 June 25, 2012 - his Achilles' Heel

3 June 25, 2012 - his Key Weapon

4 June 25, 2012 - the Eckersley Clause

5 June 25, 2012 - Upside

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