A.J. Burnett's Curveball Racking up Ks

A.J. Burnett takes the mound tonight against Washington boasting the top strikeout rate (12.3 per nine innings pitched) among National League starters. His hook is the reason why. Burnett's sinister knuckle-curveball has already felled 29 batters this season, which is the highest total for any breaking or off-speed pitch in the majors aside from Yu Darvish's slider. Here are three reasons why Burnett's curveball is so effective, in honor of the many punch outs that the pitch has produced.

• A.J. almost never hangs his curveball high in the strike zone. He has thrown just four percent of his breakers in the upper-third of the zone this season. That's lowest among all starters who have tossed at least 100 curves in 2013.
• He's not just keeping the ball down -- he's also avoiding the heart of the plate. Burnett has placed 19% of his curveballs over the horizontal middle of the strike zone, well below the 24% average for MLB starters.

Burnett's curveball location in 2013

• Batters have swung and missed 47% of the time against Burnett's curve, tops among starters. The MLB average is a comparatively puny 27%. Almost all of Burnett's strikeouts with his curveball have been of the swinging variety (27 of 29, or 93%).

Bucs' Melancon Poised to Bounce Back

Mark Melancon's first and only season in Boston was brutal. The former Astro closer's combination of Ks and grounders intrigued the Red Sox enough for the club to surrender shortstop Jed Lowrie in trade last December, but Melancon gave up as many homers in early April (five) as he did during the entire 2011 season. He was banished to Triple-A Pawtucket by the middle of the month and finished the year with a 6.20 ERA, highest among all American League relievers tossing at least 45 innings. A few days ago, Melancon was shipped to the Pirates as part of a six-player deal that netted the Sox a new closer in Joel Hanrahan.

Ugly ERA and early homer woes aside, Melancon could be a steal for Pittsburgh. The 27-year-old righty showed better command upon returning from his stint with the PawSox in June, no longer throwing as many of the middle-of-the-plate cookies that crushed him in April and curbing home runs like he did during his Astros days.

In April, Melancon was an unmitigated disaster. Check out his pitch location during his first four outings with Boston:

Melancon's pitch location, April 2012

Melancon put the ball on a tee for hitters, throwing a major league-high 35% of his pitches to the horizontal middle of the strike zone. For comparison's sake, the average for relief pitchers last year was 24%. Pitchers who leave the ball over the middle get their heads handed to them -- batters slugged .492 against those offerings in 2012 -- and Melancon was no exception. All five of the April homers he surrendered came on middle-of-the-plate pitches.

The Sox demoted Melancon after his no-out, six-run, three homer pummeling against the Rangers on April 17. He turned things around in Triple-A, however, compiling a 27-to-3 strikeout-to-walk ratio and serving up nary a home run in 21.1 innings with Pawtucket. When he returned to the majors in June, Melancon did a better job of avoiding the middle of the zone:

Melancon's pitch location, June-September 2012

Melancon threw slightly under 29% of his pitches to the middle of the plate, not far off his 27% mark during his stellar 2011 season in Houston. With sharper command, he allowed just three home runs in 43 innings and posted a 40-to-10 K-to-BB ratio.

In two ghastly April innings, Melancon had a 49.50 ERA. In 43 innings following his Triple-A stint, he had a 4.19 ERA. Melancon has typically thrown a few more meatballs than the average reliever, but he showed command similar to his halcyon days with Houston from June on and continued to rack up strikeouts and grounders. If Melancon can bury those April memories, the Bucs might have landed a low-cost closer who won't hit free agency until after the 2016 season.

@GrillCheese49's Cheddar Earns 2-Year Deal From Pirates

Jason Grilli re-signed with the Pittsburgh Pirates on a two-year, $6.75 million deal, and the man known on Twitter as @GrillCheese49 is pumped: "So.....I have reached my decision! Time to celebrate and get back to work." The 36-year-old might just have the most apropos Twitter handle in the game, as he has transformed from journeyman recovering from a career-threatening quad injury to lockdown reliever (and potential closer) on the strength of his cheddar.

Grilli's fastball was pretty good after the Bucs plucked him out of Triple-A Lehigh Valley during the summer of 2011. He averaged 92.4 MPH with the pitch and got hitters to swing and miss about 19% of the time, slightly above the 18% average for relievers. But he toasted hitters high in the zone after adding an extra tick of velocity in 2012.

Sitting at 93.6 MPH with his fastball, Grilli employed a simple yet deadly approach. He fired his fastball about 71% of the time, daring hitters to put good wood on pitches placed at the letters:

Grilli's fastball location in 2012

Grilli threw about 48% of his fastball high in the strike zone, the tenth-highest mark among relievers and well above the 34% average. Suffice it to say, batters couldn't handle his high cheddar:

Opponent contact rate vs. Grilli's fastball in 2012

Overall, Grilli's 28% fastball miss rate ranked just outside the top 10 and bested that of better-known relief aces like Jonathan Papelbon and Jason Motte:

Highest fastball miss rate among relievers, 2012

Pitcher	Fastball Miss Pct.
Craig Kimbrel	38.2%
Aroldis Chapman	37.2%
Darren O'Day	35.6%
Ernesto Frieri	35.1%
Steve Delabar	32.0%
Brad Boxberger	31.8%
Jim Henderson	31.2%
J. J. Hoover	30.6%
Joel Peralta	28.6%
Jeremy Horst	28.5%
Jose Arredondo	28.2%
Jason Grilli	27.9%
Jason Motte	27.8%
Sean Marshall	27.2%
Koji Uehara	27.1%
MLB Avg. for RP	19.7%

Grilli could start racking up saves himself if the Pirates find a trade partner for Joel Hanrahan, who figures to earn around $7 million in 2013 before hitting free agency. The control woes that hindered Hanrahan's career with the Nationals cropped up again last year, as he issued the highest walk rate (5.43 per nine frames) of any qualified reliever this side of Carlos Marmol. With a souped-up fastball, @GrillCheese49's stuff should play just fine in the ninth.