It will be interesting to see if one could begin to use this kind of information to identify the tipping point indicating the decline of a pitcher. Do pitchers typically start to exhibit this change in release point due to age? Do the pitch parameters start to change in a typical fashion as a pitcher ages? Do we have enough historical data on the PitchF/X data to identify any correlational trend?

my issue with Izzy is that he’s afraid to throw his FASTBALL, not anything else.

Seems like every pitch is cutter, cutter, cutter, cutter…

I wish he and his coaches would look more at the Cub game on the Sunday night (May 4th) where he came in and simply BLEW AWAY the Cubbies. That, to me, was he best relief outing in years; back to the Izzy I remember seeing on the 4th of July, I believe, of ‘02, where he was throwing 94-96, and just mowin’ ‘em down.

That game against the Cubs, the radar gun was showing consistent 94 (straight heat, no cutter), and I liked his fired-up reaction once he closed that game.

Somehow, I believe Izzy’s problems are twofold; an injury that neither we nor the team know about, ergo his lack of “letting it fly” at times, and mental. Some games he goes out there and he looks like he has the world on his shoulders.

While I know he’s getting older, if we get the “mean” Izzy back, he and the Cards will be in good shape.