Beyond the Box Score: An SB Nation Community

Navigation: Jump to content areas:


Sports blogs for fans, by fans.
Around SBN: Fedor vs Rogers Results and Live Coverage

New Arms of the Week - Fu-Te Ni and Clayton Mortensen

Fu-Te Ni delivers for Detroit.

More photos » by Tom Olmscheid - AP

Fu-Te Ni delivers for Detroit.

Two newbies took the mound for major league teams last week. One of them is still in the majors. Clayton Mortensen was called-up by the Cardinals to work three poor innings. Fu-Te Ni, on the other hand, has stuck with the Tigers. Ni looks good, dealing some fairly nasty stuff and working both sides of the rubber, a la Trevor Hoffman.

Here are the basics (speed, spin movement in inches lateral and vertical, spin direction and speed). More goodies after the jump.

Clayton Mortensen # MPH PFX_X PFX_Z DEG RPM
Change 8 84.1 -9.7 -0.5 273.1 1,845.1
Fastball 36 91.9 -9.5 4.7 243.6 2,191.0
Splitter 6 87.2 -3.8 0.7 265.3 812.7

 

Fu-Te Ni # MPH PFX_X PFX_Z DEG RPM
Change 14 80.4 7.9 2.7 108.8 1,502.7
Fastball 51 90.7 9.6 7.0 126.3 2,393.2
Slider 22 78.5 -3.6 0.0 258.3 757.2

Star-divide

First up, Ni's release points. The reason some folks have noted a different release point for Ni's change, relative to the fastball/slider, is actually set-up by uneven usage of the pitch against left- and right-handed hitters, and combined with his shifting towards the first base sid of the rubber against lefties.

Click to enlarge; blue dots are change-ups, yellow fastballs, black sliders. This is measured in feet, catcher's view.

Ni01_medium

As a result of the two release points, we need two flight paths.

Against lefties:

Ni02_medium

Against righties:

Ni03_medium

 

Mortensen isn't as exciting. He has a weird mix of pitches, not real breaking pitch, everything works back in towards righties, in varying degrees. Red is for his splitter.

Mort01_medium

Mortensen got killed on his splitter, his fastball was below average and the change-up was OK. I'd like to see him come back if only to get another look at the "splitter". Ni has three solid pitches, and has been successful with each (although he's given up a home run off his fastball). He's picked up ground balls on 58% of balls in play, against just 8% line drives. That's a good start, we'll see how it goes from there.

0 recs  |  Comment 8 comments |

Story-email Email Printer Print

More from Beyond the Box Score

Speed Check - AFL vs. MLB

Nov 2009 by Harry Pavlidis - 4 comments

Comments

Display:

Interesting

Mortensen has always been sinker, slider, change as far as I know. He went back to AAA with a vengeance and struck out 8 in 7 IP, and I think just allowed 3 hits.

godfather of futureredbirds.net

by erik on Jul 7, 2009 5:34 PM EDT reply actions   0 recs

I wonder about that one, though

I need to do some more snooping on the data from that game.

by Harry Pavlidis on Jul 7, 2009 5:39 PM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

Oh, and the fastball is a sinker

There may be a few four-seamers, same deal for Ni.

by Harry Pavlidis on Jul 7, 2009 5:40 PM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

it was just

first ML outing jitters

that and the fact that he wasn’t ready

Of course, hope means being cut down on some street corner, as you run like mad, by a random bullet.

by prophetjohn on Jul 8, 2009 1:36 AM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

fu ti ni

isn’t that what the jawas are always yelling in Episode 4?

I am a nerd.

godfather of futureredbirds.net

by erik on Jul 7, 2009 6:18 PM EDT reply actions   1 recs

ha

I am like your Dan Aykroyd and biglow would be Jane, the ignorant slut. -Chad

Good ol' KO

by thecoolest on Jul 7, 2009 11:22 PM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

“Need” = Ni
“Food” = Fu-Te

and his name “Fu-Te” is the name of the Earth God in Taiwan _

by PTT.bbs on Jul 9, 2009 8:40 AM EDT reply actions   0 recs

Comments For This Post Are Closed


User Tools

We use numbers and stuff.
Community Guidelines
Why be a member?
Start posting on Beyond the Box Score »

Join SB Nation and dive into communities focused on all your favorite teams.

FanPosts

Community blog posts and discussion.

Recommended FanPosts

Small
PZR-based Win Values 2001-2006

Recent FanPosts

Small
The "30 parks on a budget" challenge
Sunflower_small
World Series Simulation, Game #6
Small
JT20 Dynasty League
E52205a2_small
New Look
Sth70021_small
Exploring Hit f/x, Albeit Badly
Redcap_small
Ricky Nolasco: 4 WAR or 1 WAR?
Redcap_small
Apparently I can't do park adjustments
Small
Which tells us more: The last 7 at bats or 7 at bats against this pitcher?
Sleepy_jeff_small
How Efficient and Effective Were the Rockies in 2009?

+ New FanPost All FanPosts >

FanShots

Quick hits of video, photos, quotes, chats, links and lists that you find around the web.

Recent FanShots

The Mistake Lottery
On the Field, the Yankees Are The Team of the Decade. Off It? The Red Sox.
Tigers' all-time WAR leaders
Primer on Runs Created
How to improve basketball
LB Keith Bulluck uses a sabermetric analogy to explain the Titans' quarterback situation.
Alcides Escobar "abandoned his daughter before she was born"
UZR, Scouting, and the Fans
Not-So-Lousy Lineup Optimizer, Playoff Edition: New York Yankees

+ New FanShot All FanShots >

BtB on Twitter

Main Feed: @BtBScore

Tommy B: @tommy_bennett
Sky: @BtB_Sky
Dan: @dturkenk
Harry: @harrypav
Jinaz: @jinazreds
Jack: @jh_moore
Erik: @Erik_Manning
Tommy R: @trancel
Justin: @justinbopp

Subscribe to BtB via Email

Enter your email address:

Delivered by FeedBurner

Most Commented

Limes_125_small
Time To Move On
Nando_small
A Complete and Lenghty List of Baseball-Related Things Miguel Olivo is Good At
770insig_small
Negative Team WAR - 2009 Edition
Aviles_small
Minnesota: Fielding TargetView Before & After JJ Hardy
E52205a2_small
New Look

Managers

Nando_small R.J. Anderson

Limes_125_small Sky Kalkman

E52205a2_small Tommy Bennett

Editors

Face_small Harry Pavlidis

Rawlings_baseball_bigger_small Dan Turkenkopf

770insig_small Jeff Zimmerman (TucsonRoyal)

Aviles_small Justin Bopp

Authors

Banny_small erik

Raysring1_small Tommy Rancel

Jinaz-reds-avatar_small JinAZ

Jmlogo_small Jack Moore

1753738656_110919ebe9_o_small vivaelpujols

1_small Graham

Baseball_small Mike Rogers

Redcap_small SFiercex4

Small Patrick Clark

Walter_album_small Walter Fulbright