Last time the list was ten names long. This week only five pitchers debuted. Five. Pitchers. Jon Van Every goes with Cody Ross in the novelty pile (located elsewhere, somewhere around the Nick Swisher region).
- Mark Melancon (NYY) - Welcome addition to the Bronx 'pen.
- Ken Takahashi (NYM) - Lefty veteran pitched 14 years for the Hiroshima Carp as a swing man.
- Fernando Rodriguez (LAA) - The pitching impoverished Angels got two outs and 34 pitches in this debut, against the Yankees.
- Robert Ray (TOR) - The Blue Jays have some young arms behind Doc, don't they? A little wild, but worked into the sixth inning in his first start.
- Arturo Lopez (SDP) - The Padres 422nd pitcher of 2009, the lefty got this call after 7pm so the Friars could use their anytime minutes.. He was an NRI and a late cut this Spring, now has a roster spot.
Lopez and Rodriguez (who is already back in Salt Lake) both stuck around through the Spring season and made exhibition appearances in their big league parks, so I've included the resulting PITCHf/x data for their profiles. Melancon has already made two appearances for the Yankees, so the data is piling up. Let's have at it.
Mark Melancon
Fastball 93mph
Sinker 93
Curveball 83
Ken Takahashi
Fastball 89
Change-up 82
Slider 77
Curveball 73
Robert Ray
Sinker 91
Splitter * 90
Fastball 92
Slider 81
Change-up 81
Cutter 89
Fernando Rodriguez
Fastball 92
Sinker 91
Curveball 76
Cutter 89
Change-up 87
Arturo Lopez
Fastball 92
Slider 83
Change-up 83
Sinker 94
*that ain't a splitter, it's a sinker thrown from a another arm angle. Maybe.
Flight paths, I'm splitting Ray into two so you can see it more easilty. Notice the "splitter" has more sink but less tail than the sinker.
I sure hope you can see the tail difference, look closely for the sink (click images to view a larger version).
Seahawks colors?
Moving on to Takahashi:
Lopez:
Rodriguez:
And Melancon to wrap it up: