Haren Loses His Cutter

Dan Haren of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim saw his ERA expand in his last starts.  His most popular pitch, the cut fast ball, seems to have abandoned him.  You can see part of the problem by looking at a map of the location of the pitch:

Dan Haren, cut fastball, 2011 through August 4th.Haren caught the strike zone with 52.3% of these cutters.  Since then, that percentage dropped:

Dan Haren, cut fastball, 2011 since August 9th.That chart shows only 41.7% of his cutters ended up in the strike zone.  With Dan missing the zone more, Haren is forced to come in with his cutter, and batters are waiting for it:

Haren's Cutter	Through 8/4	Since 8/9
BA Allowed	.195	.316
Slugging Pct.	.298	.592
Chase %	.195	38.5
Called strike %	.195	25.0

Haren gave up four home runs on the cutter through 8/4.  Since then he allowed five long balls.  Until he gets control of the pitch back, Dan will be vulnerable to the long ball.

InDepth Spotlight: Dan Haren vs. David DeJesus

In tonight's A's-Angels game, keep an eye on how L.A.'s Dan Haren pitches to Oakland leadoff hitter David DeJesus. Haren has been relying heavily on his cutter this season, throwing it 35.1% of the time, the most of any pitch. The results have been good; opposing batters have hit only .148 against the pitch (4 hits, 27 PA, 68 total pitches).

Meanwhile, DeJesus has not hit cutters well in his career.

David Dejesus vs. Cutters (2008-Present) (Click to enlarge) DeJesus has hit only .171 against cutters since 2008, with no extra base hits (6 hits, 38 PA, 165 total pitches). Against righty cutters, he's only hitting .130. Expect Haren to lean heavily on the pitch when DeJesus is in the batter's box tonight.