Cardinals throwing fewer changeups.

by DriverZn on May 7, 2008 11:00 PM EDT

An interesting note came up in a recent game thread. Our pitchers seem to throw fewer changeups than one would expect. To see if this is my imagination or possible real, I looked at the fangraph data for players that changed teams and had reasonable sample sizes with the cards and other teams.

Pitcher	% changeups with cards	% with other teams
Kyle Lohse	8.6	18.1, 14.4, 11.9
Looper	8.2, 8.8, 6.8	7.2
Wellemeyer	9.2	15.6, 28.7
Pineiro	13.2	11.5, 12.2, 14.0
Villone	6.6ss	11.6, 12.7, 13.5
Franklin	3.4, 6.7	8.5, 11.8
Kip Wells	10.6	8.2ss, 13.2, 12.6
Marquis	9.9, 5.6	6.0, 10.8

No pitchers appear to be throwing more changeups with the cards than their other teams. Where multiple numbers are listed is one entry per year. I marked a few (ss) for small sample.

Looper, Pineiro, Wells, and Marquis all threw about the same percentage with the cards as their other teams. However, Lohse, Wellemeyer, Villone, and Franklin all appear to be throwing fewer changeups as a cardinal.

I don't have an explination for this. Only theory I have is the changeup isn't a groundball pitch which is a focus of our team. It hower is a pitch to contact pitch.

The one concern I would have is the changeup is the pitch that puts the least stress on the arm. By throwing more other higher stress pitchers this increases the chance of fatigue and injury.

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Comments

Thanks for breaking this down

I suspect that Lohse may be substituting some curves for changeups, with Duncan advocating he use that as his in-the-dirt pitch more. (Although that strategy is the opposite of an essay at ussmariner during the off-season).

by liam on May 8, 2008 2:47 AM EDT reply actions

You are right. It is a pitch to contact pitch.

It’s also a swinging stike or, egads, a strike out pitch….......Um, need I say more?

She isn't crazy, she's just not impressed.

by jillsinmo on May 8, 2008 8:23 PM EDT reply actions

I am not 100% in agrement.

As a team we seem to throw a lot of sliders and curveballs. Both are very much swing and miss pitches. Well, they are with the right pitchrs throw them, Lohse and Franklin not so much.

I don’t think that alone explains it.

by DriverZn on May 9, 2008 1:11 AM EDT up reply actions