Twins pound the strike zone
Inside Edge looks at the Twins' pitching staff:
CONTROL FREAKS
• Strike-throwing is obviously an area the Twins pride themselves in:
Staff Strike Percentage | |||
Category | Twins | MLB RANK | MLB Avg. |
Overall | 65.4 | 1 | 62.5 |
Fastball | 66.3 | 1 | 63.8 |
Behind in the count early (1-0, 2-0, 2-1) | 69.4 | 1 | 66.0 |
3-ball counts | 75.1 | 2 | 72.6 |
Off-speed Pitches | 64.8 | 2 | 61.4 |
First-pitch | 60.5 | 5 | 58.5 |
• Any pitch for a strike: Twins pitchers are above average strike-throwers with every pitch (fastball, curve, slider, changeup, other). Interestingly, and somewhat relevant, the Twins do not have a pitcher who throws a split-fingered fastball or knuckleball (2 pitch types that are typically harder to control).
• Any time: Their AL-leading 64.8 strike percentage with off-speed pitches is important because they can use those non-fastballs on any count. Twins pitchers throw off-speed stuff 28 percent of the time while behind in the count (league average is 25 percent). They pump strikes 69 percent of the time with those off-speed pitches while behind, fourth most in MLB.
• Young starters pound the zone: The Twins feature four starting pitchers in the top 11 in all of MLB in terms of overall strike percentage:
MLB Strike Percentage Leaders (min. 250 PA) | ||||
Pitcher | Pitcher Team | Strike% | Strikes | Pitches |
Lee, Cliff | Indians | 69.4% | 1837 | 2647 |
Baker, Scott | Twins | 68.9% | 1374 | 1994 |
Slowey, Kevin | Twins | 68.5% | 1348 | 1968 |
Byrd, Paul | Red Sox | 68.2% | 1359 | 1994 |
Perez, Rafael | Indians | 67.8% | 671 | 989 |
Oswalt, Roy | Astros | 67.8% | 1648 | 2432 |
Sonnanstine, Andrew | Rays | 67.7% | 1603 | 2369 |
Blackburn, Nick | Twins | 67.5% | 1565 | 2318 |
Hamels, Cole | Phillies | 67.4% | 1870 | 2773 |
Nolasco, Ricky | Marlins | 67.2% | 1759 | 2618 |
Perkins, Glen | Twins | 67.0% | 1271 | 1896 |
• Only 2 pitchers on the Twins’ current staff (Craig Breslow and Francisco Liriano) have strike percentages below the MLB average (62.5 percent).
• First Pitch Strike Percentage: Kevin Slowey leads all starting pitchers with a first-pitch strike rate of 67.8 percent (min. 180 batters faced). The Twins’ next-best first-pitch strike percentage belongs to Glen Perkins (63.5%, twentieth among starters).
Every current Twins pitcher except Liriano throws first-pitch strikes above the league average rate (58.5%). Here are the first-pitch strike percentages for each Twins hurler:
Pitcher | 1st Pitch Strike % |
Kevin Slowey | 67.8 |
63.6 | |
Glen Perkins | 63.5 |
63.0 | |
62.8 | |
62.7 | |
60.4 | |
60.1 | |
59.8 | |
Craig Breslow | 59.3 |
Francisco Liriano | 44.5 |
• Base open, still going after hitters: The Twins’ strike percentage in situations where there is a base open is the highest in the league and they are easily the least likely club to walk a batter in that situation.
Performance with base open | |||
Twins | MLB Rank | MLB Avg. | |
Strike Percentage | 62.0 | 3 | 58.6 |
Walk Pct. of PA | 10.6 | 2 | 15.0 |
Perhaps even more telling of their philosophy with bases open is that the Twins still throw strikes with 61.2 percent of their pitches while behind in the count with a base open, second best in MLB. The rest of the league throws strikes just 56.1 percent of the time in this situation.
