Picture Perfect Phil: Humber throws the 21st ever

On April 21st, Philip Humber was dominant in Seattle on the way to posting the 21st perfect game in baseball history. Humber was extremely efficient in his dispatching of the 27 Mariners he faced, needing only 96 pitches to complete the feat. On top of the low pitch count, Humber managed to accumulate nine strikeouts; his use of all of his major pitches while commanding the strike zone was masterful. In his post game interview, Humber showed humility, giving credit to AJ Pierzinski and his defense for getting him to that point. In this column, we'll look at how Humber mixed up his pitches en route to his perfecto.

What might be most amazing about Humber's start was his ability to live in the upper two thirds of the strike zone and still be effective; over 70% of Humber's pitches were at or above the horizontal middle of the zone. Below is a breakdown of Humber's pitch location throughout the game.

Humber's Perfect GameOver the first three innings, Humber set down the first nine by focusing mainly on his fastball and curve, using those eighty percent of the time. He threw only 37 pitches while notching four strikeouts, all swinging, three on curves and one on a changeup. By using his off speed pitched effectively early, he was able to set the Seattle hitters off balance. All other outs were contained within the infield, which can be seen below.

Humber's pitch location and outs through the first three innings

 The next time through the line up, Humber featured his slider 31.6% of the time, 5% more than the fastball or the curveball. This stretch was key to his success, as he needed only 20 pitches to retire the nine batters he faced. This allowed him to stay strong all the way to the end of the game. As can be seen below, worry may have arose as Humber gave up seven outs in the air, though only one were hit particularly hard but directly at the right fielder.

Humber's Pitch Location and outs the second time through the lineup

Humber's Pitch Location and outs in the final three innings

Through the final three innings, Humber labored the most, throwing 39 pitches while racking up four strikeouts. He focused specifically on spotting his fastball, throwing it 41% of the time, thirteen percent more than the slider and the curveball. The first batter of the ninth watched the first three pitches for the first three ball count of Humber's night, but he battled back to get the strikeout on a slider. The second batter of the ninth inning flew out to right field and Humber was one out away from his date with destiny. After battling to a 3-2 count, Humber went to the slider down and away, catching Brendan Ryan on a check swing called out by the home plate umpire. Pierzinski had to block the pitch and throw down to first to close the deal, but Ryan was so convinced he had walked there was no effort to run to first. 

After the game, Humber was mobbed by his teams and drenched in the typical ice bath of success. A Perfect Game: not too bad for a guy with 30 career starts.

Chris Sale's First Start

Yu Darvish wasn't the only guy making his first MLB start last night. After two dominant years in the bullpen, White Sox power arm Chris Sale is shifting to the rotation 2012. The 13th overall pick in the 2010 draft was a starter at Florida Gulf Coast University, and he impressed while navigating the lineup multiple times against the Indians. Sale struck out five and walked two in 6.2 innings, allowing just three hits and one run. Here are some notes on Sale's first start.

- Not surprisingly, Sale's fastball sat a few ticks slower as a starter (92.3 mph average) than as a reliever (95.1 mph). The 6-5, 180 pound lefty opened the game sitting around 93 mph, reached back for more in the third inning and tailed off in the fifth, but he regained some oomph after that:

Sale's fastball velocity by inning

1st: 92.8

2nd: 92.5

3rd: 94.2

4th: 91.6

5th: 89.9

6th: 91.9

7th: 92.2

Sale's fastball didn't get a bunch of whiffs (three in 24 swings), but he succeeded by keeping the pitch low in the strike zone:

Sale's fastball location vs. Indians, 4/9/12

Cleveland's hitters went 2-for-13 against Sale's fastball, grounding out seven times.

- Sale's slider was also down a couple of mph out of the rotation (80.2 mph yesterday, 82.3 mph as a reliever). His breaking ball was a big bat-misser out of the 'pen (49% miss rate), and the Indians came up empty four times out of 10 cuts yesterday.

- Facing a lineup featuring five right-handed hitters and two switch-hitters, Sale still went much more heavily to his slider (31%) than his changeup (12%). His change (yellow in the graph below) was about eight mph slower than his fastball (orange-red) and was pretty similar to his heater in terms of horizontal and vertical movement:

Release velocity and movement of Sale's pitches vs. Indians, 4/9/12Sale rarely used his changeup out of the bullpen (seven percent of his pitches). The development of that pitch could be key to his performance against righties, considering that the slider is typically much more effective against same-handed hitters (lefty batters slugged .292 on sliders from lefty pitchers in 2011) than opposite-handed hitters (righties slugged .346 versus lefty sliders). For what it's worth, Sale's slider was deadly against both righties (.148 slugging percentage) and lefties (.133 slugging percentage) as a reliever.

Fukudome To the South Side

Prior to the 2008 season, the Chicago White Sox reportedly made Kosuke Fukudome a more lucrative offer than the four-year, $48 million deal that he accepted from the Cubs upon leaving the Japanese League's Chunichi Dragons. Four years later, Fukudome is headed for the South Side. The 34-year-old outfielder signed a one-year, $1 million contract that includes a $3.5 million option for the 2013 season.

It wouldn't be fair to call Fukudome's MLB stint a "bust" -- he has a career .361 on-base percentage -- but a lack of power and issues with left-handed pitching have made him a league-average (100 OPS+) hitter. As a platoon outfielder making little cash, he could have some value. Assistant GM Rick Hahn says the Sox are looking for Fukudome to "give us quality at-bats vs. righties, play some defense and get on base."

As Fukudome's 2008-11 splits show, he has worked the count and posted high OBPs against right-handers:

Pitcher Hand	PA	BA/OBP/SLG	BB Pct.	K Pct.
RHP	1826	.261/.367/.405	14.1	16.9
LHP	409	.251/.328/.364	10.3	21.5

For Fukudome to have offensive value, however, he'll need to prove that he still has some vestige of power left in his bat. His Isolated Power dipped from .150 during his first three seasons in the majors to just .108 in 2011, and his percentage of ground balls hit climbed from 49 to 53.  He at least punished belt-high pitches from 2008-10...

Fukudome's in-play slugging percentage by pitch location, 2008-10

...But he only drove the occasional high-and-tight pitch in 2011...

Fukudome's in-play slugging percentage by pitch location, 2011

He held his own against fastballs, with a .441 slugging percentage that was a couple points above the big league average for non-pitchers. But "soft" stuff -- curveballs, changeups and sliders -- gave him all sorts of problems. Fukudome's slugging percentage vs. soft pitches fell over 100 points, and his ground ball rate spiked:

Player	SLG Pct.	GB Pct.
Fukudome 2008-10	.366	48
Fukudome 2011	.258	60
MLB Average	.360	48

Those extra grounders came on low-and-away pitches, with changeups especially giving him fits (his ground ball rate when pitchers pulled the string increased from 51% in 2008-10 to 68% in 2011). Check out Fukudome's ground ball rate by location against "soft" pitches in 2008-10, and then last season:

Fukudome's ground ball rate by pitch location vs. "soft" stuff, 2008-10Fukudome's ground ball rate by pitch location vs. "soft" stuff, 2011With the White Sox needing a minor miracle to contend in 2012, Fukudome figures to come off the bench as Dayan Viciedo takes over for Carlos Quentin in right field and some combination of Alejandro De Aza and Brent Lillibridge handles left field duties.  Whether he provides an OBP boost against righties or plays himself out of the majors may come down to his ability to fight off breaking and off-speed stuff.