Third Out Strikeouts - the inning's exclamation point

"He struck him out, and the side is retired!"

I'm not a fan of exclamation points but if we could ascribe a punctuation mark to an inning, it would be the strikeout that ends an inning. There is something both dramatic and discouraging about the end of inning whiff, obviously depending upon which side of the whiff you are on.

The end of the inning strikeout may come after six runs have scored which means it evoke a sigh of relief or discouragement. It may be the third (or even the fourth) strikeout of the inning, which invariably deserves the same number of exclamation points as there were whiffs, as in "He struck out the side!!!"

It's a great race this season for inning-ending strikeouts

Nine to Know

Great pitch location for Hernandez

• Felix Hernandez has 35
• Max Scherzer has 34
• Yu Darvish has 33
• Clayton Kershaw has 33
• Matt Harvey has 31
• A.J. Burnett has 31
• Justin Verlander has 30
• Jeff Samardzija has 30
• Adam Wainwright has 30 

Top 10

Let's up the ante - Inning-ending strikeouts with runners in scoring position

• A.J. Burnett has 16
• Felix Hernandez has 14
• Yovani Gallardo has 12
• Justin Masterson has 11
• Tommy Milone has 10
• Madison Bumgarner has 10
• Justin Verlander has 10
• Jeff Samardzija has 10
• Gio Gonzalez has 10
• Clay Buchholz has 10 

A.J. Burnett has had two strikeouts with the bases loaded and a 3-2 count!

Super Six

Pitchers who have ended the 9th or extra-innings with a whiff

Chapman has 41 Ks, 25 on pitchers 95+ mph

• Aroldis Chapman has ended 19 innings
• Jason Grilli has ended 13 innings
• Sergio Romo has ended 10 innings
• Mariano Rivera has ended 10 innings
• Fernando Rodney has ended 10 innings
• Craig Kimbrel has ended 10 innings 

Elite Eight

Pitchers who have ended the 9th or extra-innings with a whiff w/RISP

• Aroldis Chapman has ended seven innings
• Fernando Rodney has ended six innings
• Addison Reed has ended six innings
• Mariano Rivera has ended five innings
• Greg Holland has ended four innings
• Grant Balfour has ended four innings
• Craig Kimbrel has ended four innings

Two Sides to every coin

For every pitcher that throws an inning-ending strikeout, there is a batter who returns to the dugout with his head down.

The leader in that category this season is Mike Napoli, who so far has 27 inning-ending strikeouts.

Chapman, Marshall a Dominant High-Low Duo

Aroldis Chapman and Sean Marshall are both left-handed Reds relievers dominating in 2012, ranking in the top ten among 'pen arms in Wins Above Replacement and punching out more than six batters for every free pass issued. Aside from that, however, the two don't have much in common.

Chapman has record-setting heat that he uses more than 80% of the time. Marshall barely gets above 90 MPH with his fastball, using it less than a third  while breaking off lots of curveballs and sliders. Chapman lets his sublime stuff ride high in the strike zone, while the Marshall Plan stops the spread of base runners by pounding hitters at the knees.

Take a look at Chapman's pitch location this season:

Chapman's pitch location, 2012

Chapman lives in the upper third, throwing the highest percentage of pitches up in the zone (42%) of any qualified relief pitcher. And, as Chapman's opponent slugging percentage by pitch location shows, hitters aren't touching those high pitches:

Hitters are slugging .085 against Chapman's high pitches this season, compared to the .347 average for relievers. That's fourth-best among relievers, behind Craig Kimbrel (who hasn't given up a single hit on a high pitch yet), Steve Cishek and Jim Miller. Congratulations, Josh Willingham: your June 24 homer on a 97 MPH fastball is the only extra-base hit on a high pitch against Chapman this season.

While Chapman is all about the high heat, Marshall goes low:

Marshall's pitch location, 2012

Marshall has thrown 43% of his pitches down in the zone, above the 41-42% average for relievers. When Marshall keeps the ball low, hitters head back to the dugout:

Marshall's opponent slugging percentage by location, 2012

Opponents are slugging .231 against Marshall's low stuff, more than 70 points below the MLB average for relievers.

High heat, low breaking stuff -- Chapman and Marshall couldn't be more different in terms of approach. The results are the same, though -- quick outs and Reds wins.

Aroldis Chapman on Target

Right now, Aroldis Chapman is scary. And not scary in the "might decapitate some dude in the third row" way that he was last season. The lefty with the turbo fastball has stepped up with Ryan Madson out following Tommy John surgery, striking out fifteen batters in eight innings pitched. Perhaps more importantly, Chapman hasn't given up a single walk after issuing 7.4 BB/9 in 2011.

Chapman has made grown men with immaculate reflexes look like late-inning beer league softball players by pounding the strike zone with his fastball. His velocity is "down" a tick, but he's hitting his spots and inducing swings and misses like no other reliever in the game:

Aroldis Chapman's fastball

Year	Fastball Zone Pct.	Fastball Miss Pct.	Velocity
2011	45.3	31.2	98.1
2012	67.9	47.6	97.1
Avg. RP	51.9	18.2	91.6 (for LHP)

Chapman's fastball zone percentage is fourth-highest among MLB relievers, behind just Javy Guerra, Fernando Salas and Greg Holland. And no other 'pen arm comes close to Chapman in whiffs: Kelvin Herrera (36%) is a distant second in fastball miss percentage.  

In 2011, Chapman often missed to his glove side and high out of the zone with his fastball...

Chapman's fastball location, 2011

Early on in 2012, however, Chapman has pelted hitters with high fastballs catching the plate: 

Chapman's fastball location, 2012

Opponents are a combined 2-for-20 against Chapman's fastball in 2012. Props to Jose Reyes, the only batter to get an extra-base hit on a Chapman heater (he tripled back on April 8).

Chapman's game revolves around his fastball, which he has thrown nearly three-quarters of the time. But he has also done a better job of locating his slider and changeup in 2012 (65 Zone%) than in 2011 (37%). It's only mid-April. But there might not be a harder late-inning assignment right now than squaring up Chapman.