I also believe it’s a cutter. It has lateral movement rather than the downward movement of a changeup. It would make sense to throw this to right handers to get them to roll over on it rather than swing and miss.
Sheets joked when he first threw a bullpen session for the Braves that Fredi Gonzalez said all his pitches looked good, even the cutter, which is definitely a new addition. Sheets clearly thought Fredi was full of doggy doo doo, as Jack Horner would say.
watching the game, i thought that pitch was kind of a show-me slider that didn’t slide much. regardless, if he can get his fastball velocity up to 93 consistently, which he tickled a couple times sunday, he’s still got a nasty enough curve that he won’t need a polished third offering to be effective. he was very impressive, especially control-wise, for having endured such a long layoff.
Agree with most others here. Maybe a four seam changeup that he cut or slider or cutter. Either way it wasn’t impressive but he did throw it for strikes.
Josh M says:
July 16, 2012 at 11:22 am
If Sheets is going to have success going forward he is going to need a decent changeup.
Andrew says:
July 16, 2012 at 11:41 am
I think this post is actually about a cutter, and not a change up.
Andrew says:
July 16, 2012 at 11:44 am
I say that based on this comment from Braves radio man Jim Powell (who was with the Brewers for Sheets’s entire MIL tenure)
http://twitter.com/Jim_Powell/status/224849164150915074
Bryz says:
July 16, 2012 at 11:52 am
To make the graph easier to read, you can sort by pitch type on Texas Leaguers at the top of the page (next to the date cutoffs). Now the strike zone chart looks like this: http://pitchfx.texasleaguers.com/charts/gen/2826562012070120120715AAACHlocation.png
Don Draper says:
July 16, 2012 at 12:21 pm
Always thought this guy was underrated
Ralph says:
July 16, 2012 at 1:21 pm
Sheets whiffed 5, not 10. I’m rooting for him, hope his elbow doesn’t blow up…
David says:
July 16, 2012 at 1:50 pm
10 swing and misses doesn’t always result in 10 K’s…think about it for a minute.
Sebastian says:
July 16, 2012 at 2:15 pm
I also believe it’s a cutter. It has lateral movement rather than the downward movement of a changeup. It would make sense to throw this to right handers to get them to roll over on it rather than swing and miss.
Sheets joked when he first threw a bullpen session for the Braves that Fredi Gonzalez said all his pitches looked good, even the cutter, which is definitely a new addition. Sheets clearly thought Fredi was full of doggy doo doo, as Jack Horner would say.
John says:
July 16, 2012 at 2:42 pm
84 would be a pretty slow cutter for a guy throwing 91fb.
John says:
July 16, 2012 at 2:51 pm
Answer…
Some of that 21.6% are change-ups and some of those (the faster ones) are his cutter.
He used to go 92fb/84ch, for that ideal -8.
His change wouldn’t have added 1.5mph.
Ralph says:
July 16, 2012 at 3:47 pm
Yeah, I saw whiff and thought K, since that’s pretty common usage.
midgley's folly says:
July 16, 2012 at 4:00 pm
watching the game, i thought that pitch was kind of a show-me slider that didn’t slide much. regardless, if he can get his fastball velocity up to 93 consistently, which he tickled a couple times sunday, he’s still got a nasty enough curve that he won’t need a polished third offering to be effective. he was very impressive, especially control-wise, for having endured such a long layoff.
Englishman Who Lost His Beard says:
July 16, 2012 at 9:30 pm
Agree with most others here. Maybe a four seam changeup that he cut or slider or cutter. Either way it wasn’t impressive but he did throw it for strikes.