Which Starters, Relievers are Getting the Most Calls in 2012?

Livan Hernandez is 37 years old, adheres to the Body by Boomer Wells fitness program and hasn't consistently crossed the mid-80s with his fastball since the Expos still existed. Yet despite his limitations, Livan continues to lob low-velocity slop toward the plate well enough to hold a major league job. A big reason why is that he's the king of extending the strike zone. Dating back to 2008, only Mike Mussina, Justin Duchscherer and Mariano Rivera have received more called strikes on out-of-zone pitches taken by the batter than Hernandez (17.7 percent).

Livan is still enlarging the plate this season (16.4 percent called strike rate on out-of-zone pitches taken), if in mop-up duty out of the bullpen. Which other starters and relievers are Livan large on the edges this season? Here are the pitchers with the highest called strike rates on pitches taken outside of the strike zone:

Highest called strike rate on out-of-zone pitches taken among starting pitchers

Pitcher	Called Strike Pct.
Colby Lewis	18.0%
Justin Verlander	16.0%
Jered Weaver	15.5%
Felix Hernandez	15.2%
Vance Worley	14.0%
Matt Garza	13.9%
Bronson Arroyo	13.7%
Kyle Lohse	13.6%
Joe Blanton	13.5%
Yovani Gallardo	13.5%
MLB Avg. for SP	10.4%

Highest called strike rate on out-of-zone pitches taken among relief pitchers

Pitcher	Called Strike Pct.
Matt Belisle	18.5%
Rafael Soriano	16.7%
Joe Nathan	16.6%
Vicente Padilla	16.5%
Livan Hernandez	16.4%
Joel Peralta	16.3%
Jonathan Papelbon	16.3%
Brett Myers	16.2%
Darren O'Day	15.5%
Luis Ayala	15.1%
MLB Avg. for RP	9.9%

You'll note that every single one of these pitchers throws from the right side. The reason? Umps make life harder on lefty hitters by extending the outside corner of the strike zone, and righty pitchers take advantage of it. Check out the called strike rate by pitch location for lefty batters when they take a pitch against right-handed pitchers:

Called strike rate by location on pitches taken by LHB vs. RHP

Righty pitchers get a called strike on out-of-zone pitches taken by left-handed hitters about 12 percent of the time. That's much higher than any other batter-pitcher matchup:

Matchup	Called Strike Pct. on out-of-zone pitches taken
RHP vs. LHB	12
RHP vs. RHB	7.8
LHP vs. RHB	8.2
LHP vs. LHB	11.1

Righty pitchers seem to know they can extend that outside corner against lefties. They throw a bunch of out-of-zone pitches away to left-handed hitters. Lefty pitchers try it even more often, although as we noted earlier with less success than righties:

Matchup	Pct. of out-of-zone pitches thrown away to batter
RHP vs. LHB	63.4
RHP vs. RHB	55.6
LHP vs. RHB	43.6
LHP vs. LHB	67.5

Which righty starter has thrown the highest percentage of out-of-zone pitches away to lefties during the Pitch F/X era? Livan, of course. You didn't survive with high school stuff unless you have a Ph.D. in pitching.