Most Squeezed Pitchers

Most Called Balls within Strike Zone (Data through May 8th)

C.J Wilson (TEX) has had a tough time with close pitches this season. According to PitchFX data, 59 pitches thrown by Wilson could have been called strikes but were not. Four of these pitches came with three balls, resulting in a walk.

Wilson's heat map indicates that the majority of these called balls were on pitches low in the zone.

C.J. Wilson Called Balls in Strike Zone 2011 (Click to enlarge)

Umpires tend to have a tougher time consistently calling pitches on the top and bottom of the zone due to the fact that player height slightly alters the zone. Wilson typically locates the majority of his pitches low in the zone, so it's not that surprising to find him near the top of this list.

It's one thing to lose a strike in the middle of a count. However, it hurts a bit more when the missed call comes with two strikes. Here are the leaders for missed called strikes with two strikes on the batter.

Called Balls in Strike Zone w/ Two Strikes (Data through May 8th)

Basically, these pitchers missed a chance at notching a strike out looking. Of course, they could have still gotten the K later in the AB. However, the walk column shows how many times they missed a K with a full count. Instead of gaining an out, the missed call resulted in a free base for the opposing team. And in case you're wondering, two players did so with a bases loaded full count this season resulting in a run: Joakim Soria (KC) and Jim Johnson (BAL) walked in one run each due to a pitch called a ball within the strike zone.

Matt Harrison's Dead Fish

At the top of his game, Tom Glavine owned a reverse platoon split.  His statistics would show him more effective against right-handed batters than left-handed batters, despite Tom throwing from the left side.  During my time at ESPN in the 1990s, I asked both Ray Knight and Greg Olson (Glavine's former catcher) why Tom owned that split.  Both gave the same answer, both calling Glavine's off-speed pitch, "a dead fish," one that moved away from right-handed batters.

Matt Harrison is showing a reverse platoon this season.  In his first three years in the majors, Matt produced a normal left/right split.  As you can see, his off-speed pitches to right-handers came in pretty straight, even coming a little in on righties:

Matt Harrison, off-speed pitch movement, 2008-2010.This season, those pitches started moving away from the righties:

Matt Harrison, off-speed pitch movement, 2011.He's shutting down right-handed batters so far this season, holding them to a .135/.224/.192 slash line.  He's showing righties something different, and they have yet to adjust to the change.

InDepth Spotlight: Brad Penny vs. Nelson Cruz

(Click to enlarge)

The Texas Rangers and Detroit Tigers square off this afternoon.  Brad Penny will have his hands full with a dangerous Rangers lineup.  Keep an eye on the Penny and Nelson Cruz matchup.  The above graphic shows all data dating back to 2008.  Cruz gets a lot of big hits up in the zone, and Penny tends to give up more hits there.

It will be interesting to see if Penny tries to come in on Cruz at all.  He's been fairly successful hitting that low inside corner against right-handed batters, holding them to a .136 batting average and .227 slugging percentage since 2008.  However, Cruz has done a lot of damage on pitches down and in from righties over that same period, producing a .649 SLG% and a 10.5% home run rate.

Will Penny challenge him?