Vazquez and Velocity

Perhaps no pitcher over the last decade has relied more on his fastball velocity than Javier Vazquez.
He isnt a pure flamethrower averaging 94-95 mph on the gun and batters arent typically mystified through the separation between his heater and offspeed offerings. But when his velocity drops he becomes a pumpkin. Certain pitchers can lose velocity and turn into effective. Tim Lincecum loses four or five miles per hour and pitches better
Vazquez loses 1-2 mph and suddenly resembles sub-replacement level dreck. From the beginning of last season through June 2011, his velocity dropped significantly and also the results were predictably poor. The narrative that Vazquez had nothing left was perfectly fueled. He wasnt posting solid peripherals while simultaneously being victimized by the luck dragon. He legitimately pitched poorly and looked washed up.
None of this is nece sarily strange except when considering Matt Conrath Jersey that his velocity somehow returned in the center of the growing season. Since that time, Vazquez looks like his vintage self, and doesnt look anywhere near done.
Having pa sed the 2,500 strikeout milestone this season, and recurring to pitch effectively, Vazquez may still pitch another few solid seasons and march for the 3,000 strikeout holy ground. He would become the Johnny Damon of pitchers in a sense, a person whose stats certainly fall consistent with previously established Hall of Fame benchmarks, but who doesnt really feel like an all-timer.
Vazquez has one of those gamblers fallacy seasons. The fallacy directs gamblers to avoid thinking that extreme results in an area Jack Ham Jersey will automatically lead to a serious set of opposite results, evening everything out. In baseball the topic gets broached regarding regre sion. Its simple to conflate the actual meaning of regre sion and also the concept that a good player stinking up the joint is suddenly going to turn on auto-correct.
But instead of performing at his established true talent level, hell go past that to pay for that suckitude in early stages. Well, Vazquezs season resembles the latter more than the former, although the velocity uptick is directly due to the turn-around. Have a gander at the following data points:
Full 2010 w/Yankees: 6.9 K/9, 3.7 BB/9, 5.32 ERAThrough Jun 11 2011: 6.7 K/9, 4.2 BB/9, 7.09 ERA
The ERA estimators all spat at his act as well. This wasnt the Javier Vazquez of old, whose ERA has a tendency to exceed estimators because of a recognised and poor track record of succe s with runners on base. That Vazquez still pitched well. This was a Vazquez who struggled to get batters out, who didnt mi s bats anywhere near as frequently, and who walked batters at an uncharacteristically high rate.
After allowing seven earned operates on June 11 his ERA rose to 7.09, its high point of the season, and Leterrius Walton Jersey also the time the Marlins organization and fans acro s baseball wondered as he might refer to it as work. Then, the speed returned, and thus did positive outcomes. Since that fateful June 11 start, Vazquez has the following numbers: 101 2/3 innings, 8.2 K/9, 1.9 BB/9, 2.21 ERA.
In the same span, Roy Halladay comes with an 8.6 K/9, 1.2 BB/9 and 2.32 ERA in just 11 more innings thrown. Some reference for Vazquezs recent surge.
Per Michael Barr, Vazquez threw his four-seam fastball 40 % of times from the beginning of the season through June 11. The heater averaged 88.8 mph. Last season with the Yankees, it averaged 88.7 mph, but he threw the pitch 53 percent of times. Perhaps he thought it best to go with more offspeed pitches as the season began to stave off the decline a sociated with his stop by velocity. It clearly didnt work.
But what did work was getting that velocity back. Also based on Barr, from June 11 so far, Vazquez threw his fastball 53 percent of times, and also the pitch averaged 91.1 mph, in line together with his career. Velocity returned, results followed suit.
Vazquez can serve as another instance of how easy it's DeAngelo Williams Jersey to prematurely render someone finished. Over the last several seasons we have considered David Ortiz washed up and handle at least twice. Within the following season both times he hit like David Ortiz. And that he can still rake. Exactly the same for Carlos Delgado, whose .258/.333/.448 in 2007, at 35, made him appear finished. The following season he hit .271/.353/.518, and followed up with 26 games at .298/.393/.521 in an injury-riddled 2009 season. His career ended due to injuries, not an wherewithal to hit as numerous pegged in the Mets collapse campaign.
The major distinction between Delgado/Ortiz and Vazquez would be that the former tandem Landry Jones Jersey still showed indications of decent offense. The outcomes werent nece sarily pretty however the underlying data suggested they werent completely done. Vazquez, however, showed absolutely no signs of turning things around. In that way, it wasnt really premature to point out he hang up his cleats. Mid-30s pitchers who lose 2 mph on their own heaters seldom have that velocity back. Whether or not this was no more a lengthy dead-arm phase, rejuvenated spirits and increased health, or pulling the plug with an experiment reducing velocity to preserve his arm, Vazquez began to throw harder, by direct extension, pitch better.
Vazquez is among the most confusing pitchers in baseball history, but a minimum of he gives us an easy puzzle to resolve: when his velocity goes, so do his results.