Pelfrey Has a Splitter? What Splitter?

by Eno Sarris on Apr 28, 2010 9:46 PM EDT

Here is a screen shot of the pitch selection for last night's start by Mike Pelfrey.

via TexasLeaguers.com

Now, I know that pitch f/x is still a baby, but I also don't see a splitter on that list. And I don't remember everything from last night's game (I blame beer and the basketball game), but I do remember very clearly that a splitter was mentioned. So which pitch is it? Here's a screen shot of the locations of the pitches.

From this screenshot, I would guess it was the change that is called the splitter, since they all show up in the bottom of the strikezone. The good news is that the changeup got whiffs 13.3% of the time yesterday and 16.7% of the time this year - provided it's the same pitch we are talking about here. The bad news is that Texas Leaguers also says that the change doesn't drop half as much as his curve - 4.50 vertical inches of movement for the change, and -2.27 for the curve. Compared to his 8.81 number on the fastball, the changeup is dropping, but I guess we can forgive the pitch f/x system for not calling the pitch a splitter.

It's also worth noting that the BIS section of FanGraphs shows that Pelfrey is throwing a (new) splitter 4.8% of the time this year (at 84.7 MPH, close to the 83.2 MPH speed of the changeup), and that the splitter has already been worth 2.1 runs in linear weights. Since the speeds are close, this is another notch in favor of the changeup / splitter link.

One last screenshot - spin movement w/gravity by type for the year. You'll see that there seem to be two groups of changeups, with one dropping further than the other (or am I imagining things?). It seems like the splitter is indeed mixed in with the changeup, and that BIS is out in front of MLB pitch f/x on this one. (PS: just checked Edward Mujica's page, as he's famously added a splitter this year, and it has the same problem. Guess MLB pitch f/x doesn't like the splitter.)

This FanPost was contributed by a member of the community and was not subject to any vetting or approval process. It does not necessarily reflect the opinions, reasoning skills, or attention to grammar and usage rules held by the editors of this site.

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His change up is his splitter.

He is throwing a changeup with a splitter grip.

by twon8 on Apr 26, 2010 2:58 PM EDT reply actions

you're right

it’s a changeup. during ST, i heard pelfrey himself refer to it a couple of times as a “split changeup”. of course to confuse the matter i’ve since heard various commentators refer to it as a split fastball.

more importantly, he seemed pretty excited about it as he explained that this new offering gave him a lot more control over an offspeed pitch than he’d previously had over his traditional changeup (though w/ a bit less differentiation) or over his slider. as long as pitch f/x doesn’t differentiate between his standard change and the splitter that statement will be hard for us to test but based on his results so far i’m inclined to believe him.

by Rob Castellano on Apr 26, 2010 3:02 PM EDT reply actions

I believe Darling and Warthen

called it a split change as well.

by Sokojoe on Apr 26, 2010 3:21 PM EDT up reply actions

Like everyone else said

it’s classified as a change up

And to top off their greatest season yet the new jersey nets scored 86 points...in double overtime. yes a professional basketball team only mustered 86 points in 58 minutes of basketball.

by Gina on Apr 26, 2010 3:45 PM EDT reply actions

its a well done post though

cheers to that

by gbaked on Apr 26, 2010 4:15 PM EDT up reply actions

ah well

If I’d only heard Darling call it that, geez. Mystery solved. Interesting that Mujica’s split has same problem then. Guess there are some split changeups floating around baseball.

by Eno Sarris on Apr 26, 2010 4:19 PM EDT reply actions

I thought a lot of the pitches he missed with during the game were extremely close

The wet ball might have been causing him to miss just that little, and the home plate ump was not being generous at all.

by Rickfansince76 on Apr 26, 2010 4:22 PM EDT reply actions

It is indeed a changeup

Just an alternative to the more traditional circle change.

At least you guys are smarter than Cerrone. I’m pretty sure I saw him say last week that Pelf’s spliter was a 2-seam fastball…

by Steeeve on Apr 26, 2010 4:24 PM EDT reply actions

The best thing about Pelfrey's new pitch:

It has a high swing-and-miss rate, as mentioned, which will result in more Ks, which will minimalize the damage that Castillo’s bad defense will do to Pelfrey’s ERA, and psyche.

"Blinding ignorance does mislead us. O! Wretched mortals, open your eyes!"
Gil Hodges IS a Hall of Famer.

by Brooklyn Dodgers Mets Fan on Apr 26, 2010 6:03 PM EDT reply actions

Yes it's the change

The bad news is that Texas Leaguers also says that the change doesn’t drop half as much as his curve – 4.50 vertical inches of movement for the change, and -2.27 for the curve.

Another thing here, is that that’s really not a big difference in drop. The vertical “zero” in this case is a theoretical ball with no spin, which no one actually throws. This tends to be misleading, as a fastball that looks “straight” is usually up around +9 on this scale.

So really, the -2.3 split-change appears to drop more like 11.3 inches, while the curve appears to drop more like 13.5 inches. A fastball around +8 would actually appear to sink a bit. A slider around +3 still has some decent drop.

I do find this confusing, and it’s interesting that Texas Leaguers, in your last chart above, now shows this data instead “w/Gravity” where everything drops, just some pitches drop more than others.

by acerimusdux on Apr 27, 2010 4:28 PM EDT reply actions