Tonight is Daisuke's first pitching appearance at Fenway Park. We Love Daisuke will be on hand to take pictures and provide in-depth analysis of his second start. Check back tomorrow! In preparation for his home debut, let's discuss the pitches he uses.
Daisuke Matsuzaka uses a combination of eight pitches to get the job done. Daisuke has an amazing amount of control over how his pitches move after they are thrown. The gyroball is not one of these, but he does have a couple of pitches that have similar movement.
1. He has a a four-seam fastball that tops out at 96 mph. His four seamer has some slight late movement, and he can really place this pitch well.
2. Daisuke's 2-seam fastball is slightly slower, but breaks more than the 4 seam. He has used this pitch effectively to freeze and strike out hitters thus far.
3. The cut fastball Daisuke uses appears similar in delivery to his 2-seam, but is slower and breaks more sharply.
4. His curveball is your usual 12-6 drop that is usually seen in the MLB. He is very adept at effectively fooling batters into swinging at this pitch just before it scrapes the dirt.
5&6. Daisuke's slider is also a garden-variety slider that breaks away from the hitter (in either direction, as he also throws a reverse slider, which is technically a different pitch) and appears to be precisely the same delivery as his fastball.
7. The type of splitter that Daisuke throws has a healthy amount of forward-rotation, and gives him another option on the speed of his pitch with the same fastball delivery.
8. The Shuuto - erroneously called a reverse screwball, or even the elusive "gyroball", this is Daisuke's secret weapon. According to wikipedia: "The shuuto begins as a fastball, taking a straight path toward the plate. However, the pitcher has put a slight spin on the ball, such that as the ball's velocity decreases, it "rolls over" and drifts back toward the batter." The spin on the ball not only makes it go slower as it approaches the batter, but it also drifts diagonally downward as well.
What this all amounts to is Daisuke's amazing command of where a baseball goes and how it gets there. While Daisuke is still feeling out the dimensions of the MLB strike zone, he is well on the way to owning it. Picture from New York Times.
Labels: pitches, pregame
Coming off of the strongest outing of his short MLB career, Daisuke Matsuzaka will be facing off against Braves veteran John Smoltz on Saturday. Matsuzaka scattered 6 hits, no walks, and only gave up one run (on a solo homer) while striking out five in a complete game domination of the AL-Champ tigers. Daisuke's MO in Japan was having control, low numbers of walks, and giving up runs on the homer rather than a string of hits. Daisuke's return to form with the Red Sox is encouraging, as he's starting to look a lot like the pitcher they scouted in Japan.
