Graph of the Day: Harden and Greinke Fastball Locations

by Harry Pavlidis on Jul 9, 2009 6:00 AM EDT in Visuals Above Replacement

I happened to notice a difference in fastball locations between Zack Greinke and Rich Harden. Does Harden go up and out of the zone more by design, since he really throws two pitches? Greinke has a wide arsenal at his disposal.

The gray box is the approximate region of the strike zone, which accentuates the difference between the two pitchers.

x-axis is height in feet, from ground (left) on up. y-axis is percentage of pitches in each height bucket; lines are smoothed

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I could look this up myself, but does Grienke get more groundballs than Harden?

by Dan Turkenkopf on Jul 9, 2009 8:07 AM EDT reply actions

From FanGraphs

Harden – 38% on the year (40.7% career)
Greinke – 41.7% on the year (38.5% career, but 42.7% last year)

It could be that Greinke has started inducing a few more groundballs.

by Tommy Bennett on Jul 9, 2009 10:02 AM EDT up reply actions

HP, how does this compare with 2007 Harden?

He’s been a homer run machine this year

People should remember that while they have the right to their opinion, they are not entitled to be taken seriously. -- Bruce Bartlett

by berselius on Jul 9, 2009 9:57 AM EDT reply actions

We have very little 2007 on Harden

He’s not throwing as hard, that’s for sure. He’s low-mid instead of mid-upper 90s.

by Harry Pavlidis on Jul 9, 2009 2:16 PM EDT up reply actions

Fastball type

I’m guessing here but does Harden throw more 4-seams and Greinke throw more 2-seam/sinkers. The high 4-seam FB sets up the change whereas the 2-seam is more likely to pound the bottom of the zone (ala Pineiro’s pitch-to-contact!!).

Minor quibble but I would reverse the axes, since you’re presenting height.

by JBrew on Jul 9, 2009 11:37 AM EDT reply actions