It’s like Christmas for stat hounds when baseball savant releases a new measurable. We got just that this week when the minds at MLB’s Statcast put out a Pitch Movement Leaderboard. Pitches have been measured before. What makes this unique is that it’s in comparison to pitches of similar speeds. Gravity works uniquely on a pitch at a certain speed and affects break more or less for pitches that are faster or slower. The image above is all qualified pitch types from pitchers in the majors. What do we do with this new toy, besides ogle the stunning visuals? Take a look at who has the nastiest stuff in all baseball, of course.
Top 20 In Horizontal Movement
Chaz Roe ’s slide-piece is utterly filthy. It’s elite in both horizontal and vertical movement. There are plenty of other sliders of note on there for guys like Adam Ottavino , Trevor Bauer , and Yu Darvish . It’s no surprise Ryan Pressly isn’t giving up runs with a weapon like his curveball. That’s a Kluber-esque offering. One name that did surprise me was Sonny Gray . His slider has always been his money pitch so it’s encouraging to see he’s getting elite movement on it.
Top 20 In Vertical Movement
The pitch mix is a bit more varied here. It’s no wonder Joey Lucchesi sticks with two pitches when he has a ridiculous changeup. Everything’s down with Zach Britton, you just have to guess whether it’s his power sinker (which has decent movement of its own) or this wipeout slider. Keep an eye on Sean Newcomb the reliever. He’s ditched the changeup and pumping stellar curveballs off of a heavy fastball. Of course Trevor Bauer has a pitch on both lists. The guy knows how to spin a baseball.
Great movement is only one of the criterion for being an effective pitcher. You need command, sequencing, and guile, among other things. The guys on these lists can make a baseball dance, though. That’s something only a select few in the game have the ability to do. We’ll take a more encompassing look at movement and effectiveness once we get some time to digest this new toy down the road. For now, enjoy wasting an afternoon getting Statcast to spit out the ridiculousness these pitchers create.