Duke used the pitch as a nice “complimentary” offering that may have kept hitters that much more off balance. Duke has been pitching a bit over his head all season anyway (using his low BABIP against as an indicator) and hitters may have simply made the adjustment. Or perhaps balls that were outs before are now falling in for hits.

A good comp would be Jarrod Washburn, who also added a two-seamer this season. The low BABIP didn’t last when he moved to DET.

If he is better with the pitch, then why has he sucked so bad since the ASB? How can we quantify the value of the 2-seamer?

I think Andy S was being sarcastic. And he was DEFINITELY referring to the sexual double entendre, which is actually quite funny in it’s own, unintentional way.

If Andy S wasn’t being sarcastic, he’s probably a 65 y/o accountant who wants to kill Carson.

On Duke: I never had much faith in the guy, and can be counted as one who found his early season performance surprising, to say the least.

I’m curious about this “two-seamer” phenomenon… According to Pitch F/X he did add a 2-seamer that he throws 10% of the time. The pitch is lumped with his 4-seamer in pitch values, however, so we cannot determine the value of this pitch… His 4.38 FIP is actually much better than I would have expected…

Thoughts on Charlie Saponara’s suggestion? What do we make of this new pitch?

Anyway, good article.

As you can tell from the “Recent Stories” box, my headline was already too big. The meaning I was trying to convey was “accurately projected.” My choice of phrase was succinct and to the point.

Dictionary.com lists 15 different definitions for “nail” and #7 is “to accomplish perfectly” Projecting an ERA within 0.06 fits this in my mind.

Meanwhile, the sexual slang term that (I think) you are referring to did not make their list of 15.

My own rule of thumb is to avoid using anything I would not say around my elderly parents. I have used the word “nailed” to describe things like making a jump shot or hitting a ball hard in front of them and would do so again without a moment’s hesitation.

I apologize if I offended you but it was never my intention. Nor was it designed with any double-entendre in mind.

Thanks for being a regular reader and commenter and I hope this clears things up somewhat.

I feel like there really had to have been a better way to phrase that.

The addition of a two-seamer is what I think really helped his O-Swing%. In my opinion Duke can do more of the same in 2010, which is post an ERA around 4.00, but I’d be hesitant to keep him around due to the fact that he relies so much on the result of balls in play and that he just doesn’t contribute enough in the WHIP and SO categories.